Mary stood poised at the shallow edge of the sea shore and closed her eyes. The sun was warm against her porcelain skin, pale despite the days she had spent relaxing on the beach. She smiled contentedly as the tranquil sounds of gentle waves unfurling upon the wet sand transported her to another, more peaceful place. A place unfettered with the stresses of modern living. Here, there was no ring tones or deadlines. For a moment, Mary was free of mortgage repayments, bills, parking tickets, advertising and family. Now it was just her, the sun, and the ocean. After an idyllic minute daydreaming, the sound of a child laughing broke the meditative spell, and Mary resumed her place in the world. She took a sip from a bottle of water and surveyed the sparkling ocean, as still as a sheet of glass. The water was cool between her toes and slowly she resumed her walk along the tranquil beach.
Mary had loved the sea ever since she was a child, and found that as an adult she could never be far away from the coastline. The love affair had begun with family holidays to Dorset, the yearly excursions with her parents affording her endless lazy days by the sea. That they were teachers meant that Mary had the whole summer to indulge her passion for the water, doing little but swimming or playing at the waters edge with only herself to keep her company. With her pale skin and auburn hair Mary had appeared an awkward child, the freckles and sunburn only confirming this to those who watched the happy little girl building sand castles in the sunshine. But as the summers passed Mary matured, and the awkward girl became a curvy young lady who filled her bikini nicely. Like the flowers in the garden, she had blossomed. Now she strode confidently across the sand in her two piece bikini and straw hat, her shock of red hair pulled away from her pretty face and the scent of sun-screen strong on her polished, pale skin. Mary had always loved this particular beach, not just for the memories of those family holidays of her youth, but because it was here that she had seen the boy on the rock.
She had been sixteen when she had encountered him. At first she thought it was her imagination playing tricks on her, sunstroke perhaps, that had made her think she had seen a boy sat on a rock a short distance out from the cool lip of the ocean. Mary had wandered off by herself as her Mum and Dad were busy packing away the beach things at the cusp of the evening. It was still warm, and being adventurous and ditzy, Mary soon found herself walking alone along the near-empty beach. Sometime soon she came upon a gathering of rocks where the shoreline gently curved and here, amongst the seclusion of the of the giant stones, was where she first saw him.
He sat silently on a rock that protruded from the water some fifteen meters from the shore. He was carefully surveying the adjacent shoreline expectantly, as if he was looking for something. When Mary came into view climbing upon the smooth rocks the boy's eyes widened in amazement and he became agitated. It took a few moments for Mary to notice the boy but when she finally did she stopped dead in her tracks and her small mouth fell open wide in disbelief. For he was devastating, the prettiest boy she had ever seen. Mary figured he too was about sixteen, and more beautiful than she thought humanly possible. He had thick, curly brown hair and a slim muscular body that Mary thought must have been developed from a life spent in the water. A swimmer, like herself. Droplets of water ran along his naked torso like falling tears, and Mary's heart skipped a beat. She found she was unable to move or speak, which was a nuisance when the boy finally called out to Mary.
"Hello!" he shouted, waving earnestly to Mary. Mary looked around her. She was all alone, save the boy. He was talking to her.
"Hello" Mary replied eventually. She was feeling a bit odd, talking to a boy far out on a rock. "What are you doing?"
The boy grinned.
"Waiting."
Mary stood stock still, not knowing what to say or do. She frowned curiously.
"What for?"
The boy laughed, as if Mary should know the answer already.
"Why, for you of course, Mary."
Mary arched her eyebrows incredulously.
"For me?" Mary asked, amazed. "But how do you know me? How do you know my name?"
The boy fixed Mary with a warm smile.
"Because I've seen you here every summer for the past couple of years and knew you would find me, eventually."
Mary was confused.
"But I've never seen you before," she said.
The boy nodded.
"Alas, that is true. But I have watched you from afar, out here in the deep ocean, whenever you came into the sea or played on the beach."
"So why did you never approach me before now?" Mary asked reasonably.
"Because you were never alone. You were always with your parents, or there were other swimmers in the sea with you."
Mary was still confused.
"But why did that matter? Why could you not have come up to say hello?"
"Because I have something that makes people afraid of me."
Mary took a step back.
"Have you a disease or something?" she asked nervously.
The boy laughed.
"No, nothing like that. But I have something I want to tell you."
Mary paused, waiting.
"Well, what is it then that you have to tell me?" she asked.
The boy smiled, softly now.
"That I love you."
Mary went to make a stunned reply, but before Mary could speak she heard the concerned voices of her parents calling her name anxiously. The boy looked startled in the direction of the shouting, then looked back at Mary one last time before slipping silently off the rock and into the ocean. Mary was aghast, unable to believe what she had seen. She was still wide eyed when the boy resurfaced for one last look at Mary, and again when he ducked back beneath the sea. For when he flipped into the water Mary thought she saw a tail where legs should have been.
As Mary digested the unbelievable thing she had seen the frantic shouting of her family became ever closer, and Mary then felt two strong arms sweep her off her feet.
"Mary!" her Father exclaimed. "Don't ever put us through that again. We thought we had lost you."
