CONTEST WINNER: THE PROMISE by Michelle Bassett
Mother warned me not to go the beach. Of course, she never wanted anyone to. Not since the day my sister ventured too close to the shoreline, and never came back.
I remember clearly, my sister—so headstrong, so beautiful. Longing for the unfiltered warmth of sunshine, for the gritty freedom of sand between toes. Forever wanting more than our simple life offered. She swore me to secrecy that day, insisting Mother was being overprotective, and promised to return.
She promised.
I believed her.
My sister wouldn’t lie. Not to me.
Even now, after all this time, I do not doubt she would keep her promise, if she could. Something must be preventing her, something beyond her control. So, I’ve come, finally, to see, to hear, to feel for myself what it is about this place that enthralls my sister, keeps her from me.
I blink saltwater from my eyes as I emerge wet and slick from the surf and slide across sand, pebbled with dragonstones and seaglass, aglitter beneath the unfiltered face of the Sun. The crashing curl of waves against rocks thunders in my ears. A steady current of air, not water, flows in from the vastness of the ocean at my back.
I am alone.
Awkward at first, I struggle higher onto the deserted beach, bark out her name. “Marina!”
And again. “Marina!”
Only the trade winds answer, their steady course laid since before time began. Sand sifts and swirls atop a dune, caught in a whirlpool of breeze. And then, her blurry silhouette appears against the glaring curve of endless sky.
“Marina?” I whisper, the sound stolen by a riptide of air, dragging her name out to sea.
She’s running now, toward me, on two coral-brown legs, wild tendrils of dark hair streaming. Even before my sister drops onto her knees to throw human arms around my neck, my heart sinks.
“Marina,” I murmur, already knowing. “Is that truly you?”
“Yes, yes, little sister, it’s me.”
Fathomless joy shines through the tears in her eyes. Though the shape, the size, even the color has changed, in them I recognize Marina’s unabashed soul.
I lean closer, press my whiskered face to her shoulder. “But—but, you promised.”
The arms—her arms—tighten. “I know. And I shouldn’t have. Not before knowing what I would find once I came.”
“And what have you found?”
She runs a comforting hand down my smooth, stormcloud-gray head. “A new world. Limitless. Filled with wonders beyond imagining.”
“But isn’t our world full of wonders?”
“Yes, the familiar ones I’ve known all my life. No less wondrous, but they hold no mystery.” She touches her nose to mine, the way she used to when we were young. “Do not be sad, little sister, for I’ve found who I am, where I’m truly meant to be.”
I place my flipper over her hand, the allure of our dual nature breaking in swells against my resolve. I imagine sealskin shedding, muscle and bone becoming slim fingers, so that I may hold hers. I tamp down the temptation. “Come home, Marina. Come home before it’s too late.”
A wistful expression crosses her brown face, just as beautiful in her human form. “Even before I came, it was too late.”
I struggle to hold back my tears. “You promised.”
A sad smile touches her lips, her selkie heart naked in her eyes as they meet mine. The torn pain I see in them gives me hope—a hope dashed upon the rocks with her next words.
“Sometimes we make promises we can’t keep.”
