mermaid | The Last Krystallos

So we’re back to NaNoWriMo and last year a few of us posted weekly snippets from our unedited, very rough first drafts…and I thought I’d do the same this year.
For the uninitiated NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month (November) where us rather mad writerly types attempt to write 50,000 words in one month. I’m on track…
Here’s my first teaser:

This gives you an insight into Jasmine’s character in ‘Beneath the Stormy Sky’.
A teeny bit of background is necessary…in lunch break Jasmine got carried away applying eye liner, and pencilled blue waves from one eye and a shark fin, and a mermaid beneath her fringe across her other eye. Their teacher is losing her patience with the class, having already had altercations with other pupils…

Photograph by Bekah Shambrook (Please do not use)

The class opened their books and began getting pens and pencils. Jasmine grinned, casting a smug sideways glance at Tayla and Amber.
“Will you be joining us Jasmine? Got your maths book with you?” Mrs Rhodes fixed her eyes on the back of the room. Jasmine started and unconsciously flicked her fringe away from her eyes as she opened her bag. She hunted for her book and pencil case. Her maths book appeared to be hiding and Jasmine’s skin prickled beneath the teacher’s stare. The book was nowhere in her bag. She searched again, flicking through books and junk.
“Miss Scott, we’re waiting.”
“The book probably fell through her fingers Miss, that’s what happened in netball…repeatedly!” Tayla scowled.
Jasmine buried her face in her bag, frantically rummaging. She heard Mrs Rhodes’ footsteps tapping on the classroom floor and…there it was, squashed down underneath her lunch box. She retrieved it with relief and dropped it on her desk. She looked up, right up into the teacher’s face.
As Jasmine met her eyes, Mrs Rhodes squinted.
“And who are you today Jasmine?”
Jasmine shook her head, not understanding the question.
“Are you in the right place or were you expecting a field trip to the beach?” Mrs Rhodes fixed her with piercing eyes.
Again Jasmine shook her head. “No, Miss…”
“Then why the face paint? I can see the shark…is that me?” Her lip curled in what Jasmine could only perceive as a sneer. “And you’re the…” she reached down and with barely a touch, gently lifted Jasmine’s fringe. “And you’re the mermaid.”
Jasmine recoiled and shook her hair back across her face. She reddened and licked her lips, her fingernails pinching her palms beneath the desk.
“So sweet, but, this isn’t an art class, we’re a maths class and art doesn’t belong in a maths class.”
Jasmine began to burn as students stared and Tayla grinned.
“So, please take a moment to remove your work of art and return back to us when you’re as plain as an equation.”
Denis snorted, and snickers spread across the class.
Jasmine sat, simmering, her heart pounding and her head throbbing. “No,” she said quietly, “I’m not taking it off, it doesn’t hurt anyone.”
“Pardon me?” Mrs Rhodes raised her eyebrows so high Jasmine thought they’d fly off her forehead.
“No.” Jasmine bit her lip and glowered. Daggers prickled her body and she burned.
“I think you’ll find I’m the teacher here, and what I say goes.” Mrs Rhodes pursed her lips. “Now please go and remove the make-up. It’s against the rules for one thing.”
Tears stung Jasmine’s eyelids.
“If you won’t remove it then you can stand outside.”
Jasmine slammed her maths book back into her bag and slung the bag over her shoulder. She kicked the chair backwards and let it fall, clattering to the floor as she stood. She held the desk with one hand, gripping it for all she was worth, and smoothed her hair out of her face, tucking her fringe behind her ear and exposing her make-up, with the other. “I won’t stay where I’m not wanted!” she spat out the words, spittle landing on her teacher’s face.
Mrs Rhodes watched as her pupil marched out of the class. “Stand outside!” she called as Jasmine slammed the door. The door bounced against its frame.
“Yeah, right!” cried Jasmine and her feet thudded down the corridor.
The classroom door flew open. “I said, wait outside!” called Mrs Rhodes.
“You never said wait…you said stand…and I’m taking one!” shouted back Jasmine.
“Taking what?” yelled Mrs Rhodes.
“A stand, I’m taking one!” and Jasmine was gone.

Over to The Tsuruoka Files for another Mid-Week Blues-Buster…inspired by the song Tinta by Faun, and my love of all things oceanic:

Photo by Kimberley Collins Photography

Model Jess Brown, MUA Masterpiece FX

Moonbeams silvered the sand and Ophelia’s fingers traced a sweeping arc, a lazy circle, and she sighed rolling from her elbow onto her back. Stars littered the night sky, twinkling and shimmering in the firmament above, and a soft smile parted her lips.
Night’s tantalising breeze floated over the sea, and across the beach, and caressed Ophelia’s naked, sand-glittered skin. She closed her eyes imagining the air to be a lover’s touch, and melted into the shore and her dreams.
She lie with her hands linked behind her head, waves rippling across her lower body, and thoughts of love and desire coursing through her soul. The ocean whispered sweet nothings and she breathed them back.
The tinkle of soft laughter interrupted her reverie and brought her to her senses, and she rolled back onto her belly. Now alert, she hugged close to the black-as-midnight rock, letting bladderwrack drip into her hair. She swept wet hair away from her eyes, letting it cascade instead, mingled with seaweed, down her back and over her shoulders as she rose onto her elbows.
Through the gap in the rocks she watched a young couple wander along the deserted shore. They stopped just shy of the rocks, as she knew they would, and she gazed as they kissed beneath the stars.
Moments later, giggling carried on the breeze as the couple, stripped of their clothes, raced into the sea.
Ophelia twisted and slipped back into the waves, feeling the ocean’s embrace, and she swam like a fish past the rocks and beyond the surf, until she was adjacent to the amorous pair. She dived, flying through the water, rising only to catch a glance of the couple bathed in nothing but moonlight. Ducking back beneath the spray she caught handfuls of broadleaf weed and dead man’s bootlaces and twisted them in her hands.
Splashes guided her until two pairs of legs hung from the ocean’s roof. As they untwined she rose and weaved seaweed about the stocky set of legs. Moments later she tugged at the weed pulling it beneath the surface. She ignored his resistance; her muscular tail and her arms were stronger than his.
As he sank, she glided through the water, rising to meet him, and adoration filled her eyes. Her arms entwined with his and love saturated her aching heart. All it would take was a kiss, just one kiss, and he’d be hers, and trapped within her arms he was already hers.
But his eyes betrayed fear, and terror, and the wonder she’d expected was absent. He stared into her eyes misunderstanding her sentiments…and Ophelia knew his love would never truly belong to her.
She held tight, her eyes piercing him deep, but with a tug of regret her soul let him go.
He kicked free of the weed and propelled upwards, exploding out into the moonlit surf, and within moments the couple were gone, dressed and running across the beach, never to return.
Ophelia rose, and bobbed on the waves, watching the loss of her heart. Moonbeams accentuated briny tears as they slipped down her cheeks, and each tear dropped into the ocean of lost dreams.

(527 Words)