Bones of the Sea
Genre: Contemporary / Fantasy
Length: 3,059 words
Publisher & ISBN
JMS Books LLC / 9781935753025
Siobhan is a sullen young woman who lives with her father in New Jersey. When he dies, she goes to live with her older sister, who works as a photographer down the shore. The sister tries her best to draw Siobhan out of her shell, but the sudden changes in her life keep her locked inside herself, unwilling to let anyone get too close.
But late at night, she hears strange sounds coming from the ocean. Haunting sounds that call to her like giants from the deep.
This story appears in the print collection, Bones of the Sea and Other Stories.
Excerpt
I helped Siobhan take her bags up to her room. I set them down on her bed and she went to the window, opening it wide. A cool breeze whipped back the curtains, blowing up for the storm. Leaning on the sill, she looked out at the ocean. I started to unpack her bags.
“What do you see?” I asked.
She shrugged but didn’t answer. She still wasn’t talking to me.
I pulled her wrinkled clothes from the bags and smoothed them out on the bed as best I could. Siobhan stayed at the window. The past few days had been a blur of people and emotions—she would want to catch her breath, get situated. “There’s a storm brewing,” I cautioned, leaving her door open as I left. “Be sure to close the window when it starts.”
Behind me I only heard the wind outside and the sea crashing against the sand.
The storm broke before I went to bed, and on my way, I stopped outside Siobhan’s door and listened. I could hear the rain beating loudly against the roof of the porch, right outside her window. I pushed the door open slightly. She lay with the covers up to her chin, the window open a few inches. Wind whistled into the room, a cold, damp draft. Rain soaked the curtains and pooled on the hardwood floor.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the room. Water ran down the windowpanes, rivulets casting gloomy shadows over the bed. Siobhan’s face looked blue in the glare, streaked with shadows. With her closed eyelids and slightly parted lips, she looked as if she were lost in the storm.
In my own room, the soothing sounds of the rain and surf lulled me to a dreamless sleep. Siobhan will be fine, I thought before drifting off. Just give her some time.