Family Bonds

She sat on the counter staring out at the water. The usual calm green waters gently spreading out on the white sandy beach was no longer there. Koh Samui, an island in southern Thailand, always had the most picturesque scene, especially there on Chewang Beach. Situated on the eastern part of the island, the beach faced the gulf, where the storm was churning. The sun came down on the resort, but the dark clouds filled with thunderous roars loomed off in the distance. Waves were pounding the once tranquil beach. Winds slapped the palm trees over and over again. A few coconuts had already fallen.

“Come inside,” her older sister suggested behind her, in a tone that was just less than caring. They weren’t quite on speaking terms after all.

“You go inside,” She muttered.

“What?” asked her sister as she sat next to her.

She just sat there quiet, staring out in the distant.

“Get off!” yelled she as her sister, not giving her a chance to put her arm around her. Today was not a day for apologies.

Her sister let the screen door slam as she went inside.

In fact, she wasn’t on speaking terms with most of her family. Years and years of being told what to do led up to a heated argument last week. Her sister was the attention of the family. Graduating college with a Masters, running her own business, and now married with a kid on the way, she was everything her parents wanted. For her though, she was still trying to find out what she wanted to do. And that was the key word ‘wanted.’ Her indecisiveness throughout school had been misunderstood as lack of concentration. But how can she concentrate on anything when the family relies on her to get all the grunt work done. Running a resort was no small feet. Her family always tasked her with errands. Find a better deal on the ingredients for the new menu they had put together. Buy new, but cheap, parts for the jet skies that had broken down. Go check on the house back on the mainland. Everything drained all the time out of her life. According to her family, there was still plenty of time for her to go to class and study. That was the problem though. It was just enough for that. There was no time for herself. All her friends had time to hang out eating dinner, watch the latest movie, sit around late at night telling ghost stories, or even talk to a cute guy at the coffee shop. For her, it’s been years of solitude.

The only time she really had was in between her studies on the resort. She had made a necklace of seashells, alternating in a variety of designs. No two were identical. In fact, none of them were identical to any found on the beach. She started collecting them on the first day he met him.

It was night and she couldn’t sleep at the resort. The moonlight was just enough to make out his features. He was out in the water alone. He was like no other person she’s met, tall, muscular, light braided locks in his hair, and mysterious under the veil of darkness. He definitely wasn’t Thai. A foreigner from a land she’s only seen on television. He held out a seashell for her. It was the color of mercury with strands of white crisp as pearls. The moon did it enough justice under the light. Before she could strike any sort of communication with him, her father pulled her inside to deal with a kitchen fire. Kicking and screaming, she only got a chance to turn around to see him swim away. However, the next day, she found the seashell on the beach. Although she never got to see him again, she knew he was back to look for her. Each week, a new seashell was left for her. Today was the fifty second one, the one year mark.

“You want a coconut to hit you on the head?” Her mom shouted as she walked by.

“If I were so lucky,” She muttered. This time she was heard.

“Are you stupid? I didn’t raise a stupid child. Get inside.”

“No.”

“Get inside now!”

Her mom put a blanket around her shoulders but she threw up her hands. The decorated blanket with it’s strands of flowers fell onto the floor.

“Go away!”

Her mom looked around at the mess, then back her sister who was staring out of the window. Without anything to say, she stormed back inside.

The storm was far away. It wouldn’t be another hour before they even felt a drop. Yet, her family still insisted on showing love through bitter acts. All of her friend’s family had such caring parents, a total opposite of this one. Never had she gotten a heart felt apology or a warm enduring embrace. She’d consider it lucky to have a warm plateful of her favorite pasta slapped down on the table as a form of apology.
Then she thought for a second. Did they know? No one saw her encounter with him. The only person would be her father. But he came straight from the kitchen in a frantic state of mind. There was no time for him to even catch a glimpse of him. Maybe her mom or even her sister had seen him and not mention anything. Then with her growing necklace they deduced what was going on. Her blood boiled again. It was another attempt to keep her life in misery. She scowled at the thought that all she wanted was another glimpse of him. They wouldn’t even let her have that. Her fist tightened and pounded the table and then rubbed her burning eyes.

She looked back at the house and saw two figures cower behind the curtains. She turned back and couldn’t hold back the tears.

But before even one drop could spill she saw it. Right there in the middle of the beach. The most magnificent shell, a golden shell with a spark of emerald around it’s edge. She had to rub her eyes to see if she was hallucinating. There was no such thing as a golden sea shell. Right? Her mind raced on. She shook herself out of thought. That wasn’t what she was looking for though. It was him. Had she missed him? Was it always there and the water just uncovered it?

Then a set of arms wrapped around her waist. They were a man’s arm, definitely a man’s arm. They came from behind her and held her. Her heart raced in anticipation, but then her mind took over. She knew this scent. It was her father’s. She turned around.

Still in his arms her father said calmly, “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to…”

She tried to break free from him. His grip was tight. “No!”

Her family had always done things strangely, especially in the past year. Was this a sick game they were playing on her? The tears spilled from her eyes splashing all over him. She let out a scream and drove her nails into his neck.

He let out a cry in agony and collapsed to his knees. She raced toward the beach, oblivious to her now crimson tipped fingers. Stumbling and falling from a strange force trying to hold he rback.

It couldn’t be. It couldn’t have been them. They wouldn’t have the audacity. The sea shells, the encounter, it wasn’t a dream. She held up the seashell. Had they bought them? Had they planted them? All the while laughing at her as she collected them and wore them? Keeping her childish fantasy alive so she could be the little errand girl? The cruelty was unbearable to think about.

Everything then became calm. The rain dropped against her numb skin. The thunder rang out against her deaf ears. The scent of the storm failed to tickle her nose. It was just her eyes. They were fixated on him. He was even more captivating under the ominous storm. A still figure in a turbulent storm. Then, without a single moment of hesitation her legs decided to walk to him.

In most stories, it’s usually the alluring songs that draws people. Songs so beautiful and captivating, whole ships would follow the melody into dangerous waters. Searching and searching for days on end. All would meet great tragedy at the end. However, for those who lacked the vocal ability, mostly that of the male sirens, they lured people with gifts and treasures. In this case it took seashells.

The water thrashed at her ankles. Her eyes cried in happiness. She was going to him. And he, he was slowly going back into the ocean. The water was to her thighs and she could feel the violent waves around her. The undertow was getting stronger, tugging at her feet waiting for her to give in. His eyes were barely visible above the water now. She panicked; her trance was broken by the water entering her nose. The salty sting burned as it traveled down her lungs. But it was too late. Her feet had slipped and she fell under. Waves pushed her deeper into the water. It became dark with only flashes of light thundering over head. The current would have pulled her clear to him, but the rope that was fastened around her waist by her father held her. A sudden jerk forced out the last bits of air in her lungs. Tug after tug, she was pulled away from the siren and back closer to the shore. As she came out of the waves, she let out a gasp. The sea water emptied out of her lungs and she inhaled the life giving air around her. They all huddled around her. Holding and cradling her in their arms. She was limp but alive. Emotionless and weak, but still holding on to the last seashell.