03 Oct Taletober 3: La Mer Azure

Inspired by @megchikhani

When she thought of the sea, she thought mainly of its color. A rich, vibrant shade of blue like the stripes on the swimsuit she purchased during her first day on a new continent. But when she stepped from the beachside dressing room she found that everything was white. The morning sun reflected off the sand and overwhelmed her eyes. She looked away, down the coast, but the sky had also turned to white. Even as her eyes adjusted, it resolved into rows of bright white clouds that floated stationary along the horizon.

She focused on the clouds, trying to decide what direction they were moving, and as she did other colors began to fade in. First the pale green hills, dotted with homes in rose and peach. Next the golden grass marking the border between bone white sand and the olive-toned coastal vegetation beyond. Then finally it was there, pouring into her periphery, the deep azure she had dreamed of for so long.

The water filled her vision as she turned to face it, causing her breath to catch and a brew of conflicting emotions to well up in the corners of her eyes. It was a view she had seen many times before, in books from her favorite library or late at night on the antiquated computer at home, but whatever lenses had attempted to capture those vistas that sparked her imagination, she knew they had left behind everything that now touched her soul.

She blinked away the tears and lowered her eyes as these memories of home came to her. Home was far away now, even if her troubles had tracked her across the Atlantic, following the faint contrails her flight left behind.

It was enough. Here on the beach, she would make her stand. She would banish all thoughts of the life she lived before and step into the blinding sunlight of this moment. She had no idea what was to come next. All she knew was that her new life would begin here, on the shore of the Mer Azure.