Fiona was neck deep in the water with the sea God starring her down. Only ten more feet to make it until the small buoy was reached and Fiona could stop struggling against the cold water she was not becoming accustomed to and let the cinderblock out from her grip.
The sea God was relentless in making this swim difficult for Fiona.
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With the high tide brought stronger currents. Fiona could see the bubbles around her popping, signaling that some creature was near her, enjoying their time in the cloudy water.
The sea God lifted his arms again, and before Fiona could look at him, ripples began coming towards her from both sides.
The slithery deviled snakes were headed in her direction, headed to give her Hell.
The sea God grinned seeing Fiona struggle to decide what to do. She should have never entered the Bay; she was never as brave as her brother.
With only moments to spare before the slithery creatures would come at her with their teeth bared, Fiona let go of the cinder block that had a loose knot around her ankle. The rope tugged her below the surface as she blew bubbles of CO₂ way too quickly as her bottom sank to meet the sand. A decent that she never thought would end.
* * *
The day of Devon’s plunge was just like the ordinary days Devon had come accustomed to in the following weeks. He woke up quietly, ate his breakfast quietly, put on his shoes, outfit, and new analog watch on quietly, and slipped out the door.
Fiona saw the note written on the counter for her.
Don’t know when I’ll be home. I love you.
Night fell over the Nelson household without Devon there. Fiona’s parents drilled her about the note he left and if she had heard anything him other than the note.
She hadn’t.
Devon’s phone went straight to voicemail every time his parents tried to call. Fiona paced in the living room, making sure to check the living room window on every pass to make sure Devon wasn’t walking up the street. The clock on the wall had stopped tick-tocking.
Fiona just starred at the clock, wondering when the batteries had run out.
* * *
Down, down, down Fiona sank, trying to get to the bottom of the Bay away from the snakes that waited on the surface and the sea God that mocked her voyage.
When she finally met the bottom, she took in the silence the Bay had to offer. The only sound was her beating heart and the small bubbles she let escape from her mouth.
She needed to feel what Devon had felt. She had to understand why he chose the Bay to allow his body to be taken from him and not the closet that Rodney decided was best for himself. She had to feel the murky water cover every inch of her skin and feel as if she was invading the creatures of the Bay’s space.
After a few seconds of trying to understand, a new sea God appeared in the depths of the Bay. Fiona starred back, disbelieving that she could see this God so clearly without being able to see the clouded sky trying to penetrate the surface of the water above her.
This sea God had the face of a white-haired ancient figure. His long beard hung effortlessly in the water, while his crustacean, eel-like body accompanied the rest of him. He wasn’t intimidating like the God who summoned the tide and the snakes, this God seemed calm.
The calm that stills the angry water during a storm. The calm that helps a diver focus on the task at hand.
The sea God moved closer to Fiona, with one claw outstretched towards her. Fiona, under a trance of the murk and God, opened her hand. The God dropped the object to the right of her. Fiona quickly went after the object, gripping it into her hands, before realizing that the God had lifted the rope around her ankle off and gave her a big push towards the surface.
She kicked her feet and wiggled her body as she came closer to the surface. Finally emerged back to the cold, October air, Fiona looked around to see that the snakes were nowhere near. The tide, still high, had calmed. She looked down in the murk, but without seeing a trace of the mysterious God that helped her.
Remembering he left something for her to pick up, she began a slow paddle back to the shore with one arm as she looked in her other hand at the object.
Starring back at her was an analog watch.
* * *
Six days after Devon said he wouldn’t know when he would be back home, a boater was enjoying the unusually warm day in October when he motored across a floating body.
Fiona’s parents decided to have a closed casket for the funeral. A brave choice by the act of Emmett Till would not be repeated for their family’s sake. They couldn’t bear to see their baby boy decomposing from the Bay or the way his face resembled sopping laundry wrinkles.
The local news ran stories the day of the funeral of what had happened. Everyone speculated what had become of Devon Nelson and why he decided to anchor himself to the bottom of the Bay.
Fiona soaked up the clues of his decision to sink to the bottom of the Bay and wondered what could have been different for him to fight against the sea Gods who summoned him to go further.
Fiona spent her nights in the room that used to be Devon’s on the days leading to his body’s discovery. The nautical theme echoing his choice to go to the Bay to clear his mind. The fish nets reminding Fiona of her own trapped feelings over Devon’s death.
After Devon’s body being discovered, Fiona decided to live through Devon’s experience and understand the draw of the Bay. They had grown up loving the Bay, their parent’s continually pushing them to pursue the water. Devon’s themed room was chosen for himself, while Fiona chose a lavender and fresh theme. Fiona grew up in the same environment, but she didn’t feel the pull of the water Devon had felt. She had to understand.
* * *
Disbelief struck across Fiona’s face as the watch and her starred at each other. She paddled faster, making her way back to the shore. Out of breath with adrenaline pushing her forward, she made it to the shore and sat staring at the watch.
The same style and make of Devon’s watch she had given him not even two weeks prior near the same location she knew he took the plunge at. When they had found his body, the watch wasn’t on his wrist and Fiona could not find the watch in his room, only the box with the instructions on how it would work.
As she sat starring, she was unaware of the snake making its way to the shore to its home in the rocks just passed her. The snake had a piece of rope attached to its tail that fell off just as he was passing Fiona.
Looking down moment later, Fiona saw the rope as she tried to rationalize the situation.
She knew that the sea Gods that seemed to hurt and help her were not real, but she could swear that she wasn’t making up what she saw both outside and inside the water.
If Devon was wearing the watch when he sunk to the bottom of the Bay, he could have taken it off and let it drop to the bottom, allowing Fiona the chance to find it. He could have known that she would try to figure out his death, but that seemed unreasonable in Fiona’s mind.
The Bay could have deteriorated his skin before he become detached from the loose rope around his ankle, allowing the watch to slip off his wrist. This would give no intentional reason why Devon left the watch, another unreasonable thought Fiona thought would explain the coincidence of the find.
Fiona allowed herself to conclude that the sea God she saw was just a creature that had come across her and decided not to cause any harm, unlikely of wild animals. It just so happened to have picked up the watch on the Bay floor, just like animals tend to do, thinking things are natural elements. It was all coincidence, Fiona let herself believe as she pushed up from the shoreline, walked past the raft, and up the paved road back to her home where Devon’s room waited.
As Fiona turned her back and walked away, the sea God with the ancient white face starred back at her. What looked like a faint smile came across its face, the same smile that Devon used to allow across his face.
* * *
When Fiona was born, Devon doted on his sister. She was his best friend the second her pink skin hit the air of the Earth. Devon used to sneak into Fiona’s room when they were both children and ask her to read him the sea stories he kept in his room. She would read them, allowing the words to flow out of her mouth, until Devon decided he could finally sleep.
As they got older, Fiona would still read the stories for Devon when he asked.
Devon was always afraid of the water, but was fascinated by the waves, the way time changed the tide, the way the creatures in various waters interacted. Fiona was the brave one. Fiona was always the one to pull him away from the depths of the sea, until he allowed the murk of the Bay to cloud his view of Fiona and her ability to save him.
Devon became a god of the Sea when he drowned in the Bay. Devon was sent to watch over the brave sister he left alone. He was sent to stop her from making the same mistake. He was sent to let her know that he was the one who unclasped the buckle on the watch after his soul left his body. He was the one to unhook his dead body from the loose rope on his ankle, since he didn’t want her to find the body in search if the watch.
He wanted to let her know that it wasn’t her fault.
* * *
Fiona made her way back home. She went into Devon’s room and found the watch box with the instructions still folded inside.
Shake watch until activation of ticking begins. Set time and keep moving to allow watch to keep ticking.
Fiona sat on the edge of Devon’s bed for what felt like hours shaking the watch to try and bring life back into it.
Nothing happened.
She went downstairs for the rest of the evening and spent time with her parents when they came home from work, the signs of her adventure wiped away from the fresh clothes and shower she had taken after giving up on shaking.
They sat in the living room together, lightly talking about their days.
The living room clock was tick-tocking.
Fiona headed to be that night without looking at the watch. She couldn’t handle the watch not working anymore that night.
The watch sat on the dresser, quietly clicking its gears into place and starting to tock.
