Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine #6

The reef was alive. Turning, struggling, refusing to stand on this living mass, to touch this history she didn’t belong to, Karen made her way back to the shallows, her breathing punctuated by the screams of the birds that grew more frantic as she kicked. It was alive.

A fish swam beneath her, paying her no attention, and then she saw it.

It seemed feminine, yet fish-like. It was no more than five inches tall. It wore no protective gear. Its elongated body glided through the water holding onto a harness attached to an angelfish. Tendrils flowed like hair. The smooth creases in what might have been its face tilted into a smile. The small creature looked up at Karen.

She struggled more, harder, foot cramping. Corals gave way to sticks, gave way to sand and Karen broke the surface, the screams of the birds filling her ears as she spit out the snorkel and couldn’t hear her breathing for the first time since her face had hit the water.

Was she still breathing?

Some of the snorkelers were making their way back to the boat.

Karen looked out across the water in disbelief. A familiar figure lumbered down the beach toward her, skipping awkwardly from dry sand to wet sand. It was Noah, looking like a swollen blueberry in his too-tight stinger suit.

Karen called to him.

“Did you see the creatures?”

Karen was waving her flippers at him, skirting along the searing sand.

“They’re gorgeous, mate!” Noah said enthusiastically, moving past her and pointing toward the boat. “Boat’s leaving.”

Karen tiptoed across the searing sand and up the gangplank.

On the boat, she looked out at that blue, roiling surface and thought it had a lot to hide. Noah sat next to her, his arms resting on his belly, a grin plastered across his face. The wind whipped her hair into dreadlock tangles. Wind and motor made it almost impossible to talk.

“Did you see the human-like creatures?” Karen practiced saying it in her mind.

“Did you see the aliens?”