**I MARRIED MY HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART — ON OUR HONEYMOON, I DISCOVERED SHE WASN’T REAL.**
We arrived in the Maldives, paradise found. Sarah seemed nervous, avoiding the water.
The third night, I woke to find her gone. The patio door was open, and a faint, shimmering light pulsed from the ocean.
I followed the light, wading into the warm water. The closer I got, the more it intensified, revealing a figure beneath the surface.
It was Sarah, but… different. Her skin glowed, her eyes were black pools, and seaweed replaced her hair. She turned to me, a sad smile on her lips. “I can’t stay here, not anymore. They’re calling me back.” ⬇️
Panic clawed at my throat. “Back? Back where? Sarah, who are you?” My voice was a shaky whisper, lost in the rhythmic crash of the waves.
She reached out a hand, its touch icy despite the tropical warmth. “I’m a Selkie,” she whispered, her voice like the sighing of the wind. “A creature of the ocean. I… I took human form to be with you. I loved you, truly.” Tears, shimmering like captured starlight, streamed down her face.
“But… the wedding, the life we planned…” I felt a crushing wave of betrayal, mixed with an impossible, burgeoning empathy. This wasn’t a cruel deception; it was a desperate, heartbreaking love story hidden beneath the surface.
“It was real for me,” she insisted, her voice rising in desperation. “The love… that wasn’t a disguise. But I can’t remain. The pull is too strong. They’ll… they’ll consume me if I don’t return.”
Suddenly, a monstrous shape emerged from the depths – a swirling vortex of darkness, radiating an oppressive coldness that chilled me to the bone. Other figures, vaguely humanoid but undeniably monstrous, rose with it, their eyes burning with an unnatural light. They were calling to her, their silent screams echoing in my soul.
Fear warred with my love for this ethereal being. I lunged towards her, grasping her hand. “Don’t go! I’ll find a way, I’ll help you!”
She looked at me, her eyes filled with a profound sadness. “There’s no helping it, Liam. This is my fate. But… before I go…” She pulled a small, intricately carved wooden box from her shimmering gown. “This contains a single, perfect shell. If you ever need me, if you ever truly need me, place it by the ocean, and I will return, no matter the cost.”
The vortex pulsed, its grip tightening. The monstrous forms moved closer, their eerie cries intensifying. Sarah’s glowing skin dimmed, her seaweed hair tangling and obscuring her face. With one last tear rolling down her cheek, she slipped from my grasp, vanishing into the depths as the vortex swallowed her whole, leaving only the churning ocean and a chilling silence.
I stood there, numb, clutching the small wooden box, the cold reality of her words searing my heart. The honeymoon had ended not with a blissful sunrise, but a horrifying descent into the unknown. Was it a cruel trick of fate, or the beginning of a desperate, impossible quest to find her again? The ocean stretched before me, vast and enigmatic, a promise and a threat, a reminder of a love both real and impossibly ephemeral. The shell, smooth and cool in my hand, was all I had left – a fragile hope clutched in the face of unbearable loss. The open-ended nature of their love story – a love beyond the boundaries of reality – left me with a gnawing uncertainty, a desperate hope, and a bittersweet promise hanging in the salty air.