Categories > Original > Fantasy > Collision
I opened my eyes, but the salt stung them. Everything was blurry and dim. I didn't know which way was up. Everything was backwards. Then, suddenly, I broke the surface.
Air. It filled my lungs like... well, air. I treaded water for a good five minutes, gasping in oxygen as if I would never breathe it again. Not for the last time, I cursed Poseidon.
The water was warm and the sun was blinding. The faint drone of voices and laughter hit me like a wave. Followed by another wave… an actual one… of water.
“Hey you!”
A boy in some sort of black suit, somehow floating effortlessly above the water, waved at me. He leaned down and paddled his way over like a dog. I was having difficulty keeping my head up and was spitting out water as he came closer.
“Are you… a son… of Poseidon?” I asked, spewing water from my mouth like a fountain.
“What was that?” he asked, still drifting towards me.
“Son of Poseidon? Are you one?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, a mythology joke.” It was then I noticed that he was straddling some sort of flat, oval-ish shaped, board. I felt like a fool.
“Mythology?” I said, after I recovered.
His expression was confused. “Yeah, like Zeus and Poseidon and stuff. You just referenced it. You should know what it is.”
“Well, yeah, but it’s not mytho-” I stopped, realizing that he was a mortal. He wouldn’t and couldn’t know that it was real. I decided a change in subject would be the best.
“What’s that… thing you’re floating on?”
He looked down at me with an even more confused look. “You don’t know what a surfboard is?”
“Oh, well, of course I did. I just didn’t recognize it… in the water… because of the water… blocking my view,” I stammered, trying to redeem myself.
He grinned. “Sure,” he said slowly. He raised his eyebrows and pointed at me. “I came over here for a reason.” He paused. “God, sorry, I do this all the time.”
A wave pushed my head under the water. I waved my arms around until I hit air and coughed.
“Oh! That’s what it was! Two things actually.” His pitch raised and lowered awkwardly, the way Shaun’s does sometimes. Well, did. “One, why are you wearing a dress and a backpack in the ocean?”
I looked down, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, but he interrupted me.
“You don’t look like you really belong in the water.”
I smiled. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“I can take you back to shore,” he offered, holding out his hand.
I tried to take it as gracefully as I could, as a daughter of Zeus should, but I did a sort of flip in the water as another wave came by.
He smirked at me and paddled closer. He could easily kick without moving his foot a far distance.
“Be careful,” he said. “It’s easy to flip over a board.”
My hand was on his surfboard when he said it, and I froze. I didn’t want to knock him off.
He noticed and smiled. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind if I get a little wet.” He held out his hand again, and this time, I was able to take it without making a complete fool of myself.
As he helped me onto the board, he leaned opposite the side I was pushing down to get up so that I didn’t flip it over. I straddled the board behind him, stock still, trying not to throw my balance more towards one side than the other.
He laughed. “Just relax,” he said, turning his head to look at me. He frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. “I never caught your name.”
“I am August,” I said quietly. My cheeks felt hot, and I looked down so he couldn’t see them. Now that I was looking at him, he reminded me of Jasper, even though I barely knew either one of them. He had the same curly blonde hair that was swept back away from his face, the same gray eyes that reflected the water, the same long, bony fingers, the same bright teeth that could blind someone.
He didn’t seem to notice my awkwardness and grinned. “Like the month, got it. I’m Jason.”
Ja-son. I mouthed his name slowly. “Like the Argonauts.”
“Yeah,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. I didn’t understand why his attitude changed so quickly.
He paddled to the shore, using the waves to push the board further in less time. As we got closer to the sand, my cheeks grew hotter and hotter. I started to feel faint, and I gripped either side of the board so as not to fall off. I’d read mortal books where the heroine falls for the boy and then actually falls unconscious, but I’d never put effort into trying to be one of those girls, and I had no desire to fall face-first into the water.
Once the water got shallow enough, he helped me off the board and picked it up, carrying it in one arm, steadying me with the other. The water was somehow rougher than it was out deeper, and without him I would’ve been knocked down.
My dress was sticking to my legs as the wind tried to tug it off. My hair hung over my eyes, which were stinging and probably bloodshot. I noticed people glance in our direction, but Jason kept leading me past them.
He led me to a wooden bridge, which was new to me. Olympian bridges are made of stone, not wood, which can easily break. Past the bridge and back onto stone, a deep black rough kind.
“What is this?” I asked quietly, staring at the ground. “What kind of rock is this? I have not seen it before.”
“You mean asphalt?” Jason looked shocked. “Where the hell are you from? The bottom of the ocean?”
I glared at Jason and felt my face grow hot. “How dare you imply that I am the offspring of that irritating, capricious, lax piece of gulfweed!” My hand moved to my forehead as daggers of pain shot to it. I fell to my knees, but Jason’s valiant effort to catch me was in vain. My arms went up to protect my face, and my bare elbows slammed into the asphalt, as Jason called it.
Red tendrils snaked into my vision as it tunneled, my head growing faint, and my body weak. Whatever this was, it was much worse than a simple adolescent swoon.
Air. It filled my lungs like... well, air. I treaded water for a good five minutes, gasping in oxygen as if I would never breathe it again. Not for the last time, I cursed Poseidon.
The water was warm and the sun was blinding. The faint drone of voices and laughter hit me like a wave. Followed by another wave… an actual one… of water.
“Hey you!”
A boy in some sort of black suit, somehow floating effortlessly above the water, waved at me. He leaned down and paddled his way over like a dog. I was having difficulty keeping my head up and was spitting out water as he came closer.
“Are you… a son… of Poseidon?” I asked, spewing water from my mouth like a fountain.
“What was that?” he asked, still drifting towards me.
“Son of Poseidon? Are you one?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, a mythology joke.” It was then I noticed that he was straddling some sort of flat, oval-ish shaped, board. I felt like a fool.
“Mythology?” I said, after I recovered.
His expression was confused. “Yeah, like Zeus and Poseidon and stuff. You just referenced it. You should know what it is.”
“Well, yeah, but it’s not mytho-” I stopped, realizing that he was a mortal. He wouldn’t and couldn’t know that it was real. I decided a change in subject would be the best.
“What’s that… thing you’re floating on?”
He looked down at me with an even more confused look. “You don’t know what a surfboard is?”
“Oh, well, of course I did. I just didn’t recognize it… in the water… because of the water… blocking my view,” I stammered, trying to redeem myself.
He grinned. “Sure,” he said slowly. He raised his eyebrows and pointed at me. “I came over here for a reason.” He paused. “God, sorry, I do this all the time.”
A wave pushed my head under the water. I waved my arms around until I hit air and coughed.
“Oh! That’s what it was! Two things actually.” His pitch raised and lowered awkwardly, the way Shaun’s does sometimes. Well, did. “One, why are you wearing a dress and a backpack in the ocean?”
I looked down, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, but he interrupted me.
“You don’t look like you really belong in the water.”
I smiled. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“I can take you back to shore,” he offered, holding out his hand.
I tried to take it as gracefully as I could, as a daughter of Zeus should, but I did a sort of flip in the water as another wave came by.
He smirked at me and paddled closer. He could easily kick without moving his foot a far distance.
“Be careful,” he said. “It’s easy to flip over a board.”
My hand was on his surfboard when he said it, and I froze. I didn’t want to knock him off.
He noticed and smiled. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind if I get a little wet.” He held out his hand again, and this time, I was able to take it without making a complete fool of myself.
As he helped me onto the board, he leaned opposite the side I was pushing down to get up so that I didn’t flip it over. I straddled the board behind him, stock still, trying not to throw my balance more towards one side than the other.
He laughed. “Just relax,” he said, turning his head to look at me. He frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. “I never caught your name.”
“I am August,” I said quietly. My cheeks felt hot, and I looked down so he couldn’t see them. Now that I was looking at him, he reminded me of Jasper, even though I barely knew either one of them. He had the same curly blonde hair that was swept back away from his face, the same gray eyes that reflected the water, the same long, bony fingers, the same bright teeth that could blind someone.
He didn’t seem to notice my awkwardness and grinned. “Like the month, got it. I’m Jason.”
Ja-son. I mouthed his name slowly. “Like the Argonauts.”
“Yeah,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. I didn’t understand why his attitude changed so quickly.
He paddled to the shore, using the waves to push the board further in less time. As we got closer to the sand, my cheeks grew hotter and hotter. I started to feel faint, and I gripped either side of the board so as not to fall off. I’d read mortal books where the heroine falls for the boy and then actually falls unconscious, but I’d never put effort into trying to be one of those girls, and I had no desire to fall face-first into the water.
Once the water got shallow enough, he helped me off the board and picked it up, carrying it in one arm, steadying me with the other. The water was somehow rougher than it was out deeper, and without him I would’ve been knocked down.
My dress was sticking to my legs as the wind tried to tug it off. My hair hung over my eyes, which were stinging and probably bloodshot. I noticed people glance in our direction, but Jason kept leading me past them.
He led me to a wooden bridge, which was new to me. Olympian bridges are made of stone, not wood, which can easily break. Past the bridge and back onto stone, a deep black rough kind.
“What is this?” I asked quietly, staring at the ground. “What kind of rock is this? I have not seen it before.”
“You mean asphalt?” Jason looked shocked. “Where the hell are you from? The bottom of the ocean?”
I glared at Jason and felt my face grow hot. “How dare you imply that I am the offspring of that irritating, capricious, lax piece of gulfweed!” My hand moved to my forehead as daggers of pain shot to it. I fell to my knees, but Jason’s valiant effort to catch me was in vain. My arms went up to protect my face, and my bare elbows slammed into the asphalt, as Jason called it.
Red tendrils snaked into my vision as it tunneled, my head growing faint, and my body weak. Whatever this was, it was much worse than a simple adolescent swoon.
Sign up to rate and review this story