far

Fiction

Jellyfish Tears

Dana Leung
issue five

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They say that if you go down deep enough into the caves near the ocean, you’ll find them. A girl with molten silver tear tracks. A boy with a skeleton face, skeleton arms, and legs. They say they all live down there, doomed to wander the caves forever or to try and swim their way back to the surface. The young adults would laugh and shrug the story off. “It’s just a fairy tale, good for

bedtime stories.” Some of the young ones, just barely older than babes, would shiver in fright, and ask why they didn’t just walk up the caves, up through the passages we take to explore the deeper mysteries.

“Oh but they can’t,” the mothers would say. “Our lights, they’re too bright for the eyes of the Forsaken. Their ears are too sensitive for our noisy trucks and sounds. Their pale skin burns from our sunlight.”

“But how could they see with no sunlight, Mama?” I had asked one evening. My mother smiled and pet my hair gently as she tucked me into bed, a rarity since I often claimed to be ‘too old’ for those things. But to get her to talk about the Forsaken, about the mushroom freckles and jellyfish tears that glowed on the faces of the Sea Children, I’d do nearly anything.

She smiled conspiringly at me and leaned in as if telling a secret. “They glow,” she told me. “Their eyes, their hair, even the tips of their fingertips sometimes, they glow like the full moon on a summer evening.”

“But Mama, don’t they get lost in all those caves?” I pressed, thirsting for the knowledge of these unknown beings.

“Of course not, they know those caves like the backs of their hands. They know each

fungus lining the wall, and every crack from floor to ceiling. And if they ever get lost, they sing their siren song to let the others know they need a way back.”

In a way, these Sea Children became my kindred spirits. My mother always knew what to say about them, comparing me to them in a way to make me feel better. When I came home crying because the girls at school mocked the discolored birthmarks on my chest and arms, my mother had held me tight in a hug, her own arms sharing the same lighter hue of skin than the rest of her body. “The Forsaken have skin that glows,” she whispered. “Their skin is lighter than the rest in some spots like your’s, with wrinkles and crinkles that glow light blue.” After my crush rejected me, my mother came to my room with chocolates and tissues. “They live as a big family, with no need to court each other. They fall in love with the seaweed under the water, the gems in the caves, the slope of each crevice and downhill that resides down there. They love each other like the brothers and sisters they are.”

Perhaps she did too good of a job offering this kinship with a woven fantasy. Perhaps I should have realized that my obsession with these bedtime stories was too great to be healthy.

Perhaps that was why I found myself standing deep in the caves that lay close to our little coastal town, on the eve of my 15th birthday. I can’t remember exactly how I got there. I remember excited good nights and hair ruffles from my older stepbrother, and a surprise pre-birthday gift from my stepfather. I remember my ever strange mother giving me a little wink as she urged the family to bed, leaving me to lock up the house. I remember staring at the full moon through our

front door window with a sense of wonder, as if I was just seeing it for the first time. The rest was a blur of bare feet on sand, stumbling towards a moonlit cave entrance while the water lapped at the shore nearby.

I should have been scared. Here I was, stranded in a cave, in the middle of the night no less, with no flashlight, coat, or shoes. But all I could find myself doing was tracing the cave walls with a loving hand, feeling the rocky texture under my fingers as I wandered deeper and

deeper. My feet moved without me even knowing the way and I decided that I was already lost, so I might as well keep moving. The lack of fear in my body surprised me. I was the type to normally refuse to even go downstairs after the lights were turned off, my mind creating

monsters and boogeymen waiting to snatch me. Maybe it’s a sign you’re getting older, I thought hopefully. The texture of the cave floor changed from rocky to algae-like, and I sighed as my feet dug into the soft substance. Deeper and deeper I walked, pushing away the fleeting thought of turning back while I still had a chance to figure out how to get out.

The first bioluminescent room I found made me gasp out loud. I had heard of them from my mother, of course, but no words could truly explain the raw beauty that poured out of it.

Delicate mushrooms glowed with tiny spots, fungi scattered on the roof reminiscent of the glow-in-the-dark stars I had stuck onto my ceiling when I was six. The small cave glowed.

Breathless laughs escaped my lips as I spun around, drinking in the sight. There would never be anything more beautiful, I decided. My laughter echoed back at me, but a different tune caught my attention. The lightest of giggling at the edge of the cave, opposite to where I had entered. I froze. “Hello? Is someone there?” The question felt dumb just coming from my mouth.

Obviously, no one would ever answer that. Despite that, more giggling followed, and I could feel my heart rate pick up in my chest.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod. My joy was chased away by fear, my heart thumping in my chest like a metronome at high speed. “I-I’m sorry if this is your cave, I didn’t mean to intrude.” What was I saying? Who on earth would even be here with me, let alone own this cave? The answer came slower than it should’ve. No way. No, you are going crazy, Evie this is insane. Clearly you’ve got cave madness. But it made sense. I knew so much about the Forsaken, why wouldn’t I suspect they’d be here? These were literally their caves!

Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed the small shadow scrambling away through a little passage in the wall. “Hey! Wait up!” Before even thinking, I chased after it, diving into the tunnel and crawling after them as quickly as I could. Another giggle echoed around me. The tunnel gave way sooner than I expected, and I found myself falling in an unceremonious heap in the dark. Delicate footsteps pattered away from me, and I followed them, running blindly in the dark as fear melted from my bones, anticipation taking its place. “Come back! Please?” More giggles. Dammit. I huffed, bare feet slapping against the wet stone as I barely processed the

footsteps in front of me. I ran for who knows how long before stopping, realizing I couldn’t hear the person in front of me anymore. I leaned against the wall, chest heaving while my eyes finally adjusted to the dark. A gust of wind chilled my skin, turning the layer of sweat cold.

“H-hello?” I called out between breaths. “Please, I know you’re there!” There were whispers like the sound of straw rubbing together, the rasp growing louder and louder as it

sounded like more people joined. Dark blobs shifted in front of me as my eyes continued taking in the dark, working hard while shadows came into focus. That’s when I saw them. It wasn’t much really, just the lightest smattering of dots in a glowing pale blue colour, something you might imagine when your eyes were closed. But the young face illuminated by those freckles

was real. Wide, brown eyes stared back at me as the freckles came more into focus. Her face was dirty and smudged, and brown hair hung to her waist. Sea Children.

I saw the boy next. Glowing skeleton hands, looking almost like they were tattooed on, nudged the girl’s shoulder. The skeleton markings went all the way up his arm and under his ratty t-shirt. His eyes, though not lit up by anything, were a violet colour that bore into me. Beside him was another boy with sandy blonde hair and a pair of glowing wings painted on his bare back.

He was talking to a girl with silver lines running down from her pale white eyes that flitted playfully between the blonde boy and me. They seemed to speak in a series of clicks and whistles; sounds I could only pretend to understand echoing around the cavern.

More and more children filled the room, chirping and shoving each other playfully, each with a unique glow ornamenting their bodies. Silver fingertips, hair, smiles, anything you could dream of. They all seemed to be between the ages of 11 and 16 and yet all were treated as equals as they conversed. The younger ones carried conversation with the older ones just as easily as they did with the others. They live as a big family, brothers and sisters. The words repeated

themselves back to me. Amazing.

It didn’t take long before the tear track girl spoke to me. “You,” she said in a fairy light voice, “you know of us?”

I nodded my head so fast it almost hurt. “Yes! Yes, I would read all I could about you

guys online, and my mother told me all these stories, I have spent my whole life learning about you all!” Some of them smiled while others looked confused. I was too busy bouncing with excitement to care.

“What do you know?”

I slowed my bouncing as I thought out my words carefully before speaking. “I was told. .

. I was told that you are the lost souls of the water, people who had their life cut too short, so the Moon gave it back to you, but now you bear its mark permanently. I was told you can breathe for long periods of time underwater, but never long enough to swim all the way back up to the surface. That our light and sounds hurt you because you’re not used to it.” The girl smiled at me, and I saw that her teeth shone a silver sheen too.

“You are more knowledgeable than most who venture down here. Who taught you so

well?”

I grinned proudly, “My mom! She’s taught me nearly everything I know.”

“And who are you?” the freckled girl asked.

“My name’s Evie Mjesec. What about you guys?” The large chamber was fully visible now, with glowing seaweed hanging from the ceiling and large piles of greenery in different areas. Turning back, I found myself facing furrowed brows and wide eyes.

The skeleton boy stepped forward. “And what was your mother’s name?”

I frowned, not understanding why that was relevant. “Sylvi? I’m sorry if I said something wrong, I mean no harm, I swear.” Another thought hit me as the Forsaken’s shocked faces were replaced with shark tooth grins. “Do you know her?”

“Of course,” the skeleton boy said. “She’s our sister.”

Oh.

“That’s impossible, she’s like, twice as old as you guys.” Out of all the confused thoughts running through my head, that was the one that made it out. “I mean, no offense, but you guys

are kids!” The argument was weak, and I knew it.

The blonde boy with wings shrugged. “She aged under the sun, but was born of the moon. The two defaulted each other into human, normal.”

“But you. . .” the teary-faced girl walked closer in a way that made it seem like she was floating. “You have not been in the eyes of the moon yet. Your skin doesn’t light up.” She glanced down at my birthmarks with an odd expression, and I scowled, bringing my arms into my chest. “We could fix that for you?”

I barely opened my mouth to answer before hands grabbed me, lifting me upwards and carrying me along. “Woah! Hold on, what’re you doing?”

All I could hear were mumbles and whispers of the others.

“Baby. .- taken”

“Thought missing-,”

“-sink or swim.”

It got darker and darker until all I could see was the light coming from the Sea Children’s skin, pale blue and silver hues doing little to brighten the darkness. For a moment, there was silence. And then, I was falling.

The hands that held me aloft moved in sync to toss me away from the group, and in a quarter second, I thought I was going to die. When I hit the icy cold water and went under, I

knew it to be true. A dark abyss surrounded me as I sank deeper and deeper, unable to see even

the slightest hint of light. I held my breath as I tried to swim upwards without a clue on where up even was. Is this what space feels like? On all sides was nothing but blackness while I hung suspended in the water. My lungs felt like they were going to explode. I stayed there, just floating, for who knows how long, until my body forced itself to breathe.

Water filled my lungs, flowing through every inch of my being. This is it, this is where I die. I waited for the inevitable unconsciousness that I had read about in stories before. The moment where I just couldn’t control my movement and would fall to a watery grave. But that moment never came. Instead, I felt warmth spread through my body as my breath hung suspended, not breathing, but not drowning either. The stars that had danced across the backs of my eyelids faded and were slowly replaced by a different light. A pale, silvery blue light, incredibly reminiscent of the ones that had tossed me in here in the first place. Light that luminated the darkness, letting me finally find my way in the abyss. Light that, when I finally pulled myself out of the water and onto the cave floor -coughing and spitting out the water in my lungs- was coming out of my body. The marks of my arms glittered in the darkness, glowing through my sopping wet clothes. The tear tracked girl stood in front of me, an arm reached out to help hoist me up off the ground. In the reflection of her eyes, I saw my own, glowing right back with the same lunar intensity. She smiled at me.

“Welcome home.”