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| Sea by Leonid Afremov |
Ariel... he called her. And she winced and smiled at the same time. The ordinary her. With an imperfect face and everyday eyes. She was not a shiny sea princess. With star dust in her eyes. But he still loved her. No, he loved Ariel. Neptune’s baby. Spritely. Light. Impish. Not Earthly. She belonged to another world. A never-there-land. Neverland. A parallel universe. Where fireflies danced in front of everyone’s eyes. Magic. Not the world where they shine briefly and evaporate into evanescence before you can tell someone — look! She was not Ariel who glided along the surface of the world with a liquid grace. She couldn’t be. Ariel never had cavities. In her mouth or in her heart like she did. Worldly maladies. Mortality. Ariel was a wisp of air. Floating on the world’s eye. Ariel was transparent. The world’s colours reflecting through her shimmery self. Ariel was no one. Ariel was not one. Ariel with a shiny orange pearl. Her sceptre. Her crystal ball. She’s not Ariel. She of mundane ways. With hungers to be fed. Thirsts to be quenched. Desires to be burnt. Longing. A feverish one that melted into her skin. Under it. To fill her up. A molten ache. Golden. Magical. She looked out into her world. Small human face looking out of a big window face. Starry eyed. She wanted to be Ariel. She could. All she had to do was spin. Spin fast. Spin wild. Spin out of control. Shake off the Earthly pains. Shake off the mundane ways. Shake off the cavities (both the toothy ones and the ones in the heart) Spin faster. Spin wilder. Spin. Shake off the imperfections. The hungers to be fed. The thirsts to be quenched. The desires to be burnt. The longing. Her sceptre shines brilliantly. Her crystal ball. Her orange pearl. Spin. Fast. Wild. Shake off the everydayness. The everyday eyes. The molten becomes golden. The golden becomes molten. Spin. As fluid as her watery eyes. Spin. Till she became Neptune’s baby. Shiny sea princess. With the magic of secrets. With secrets of magic. Ariel. Spritely. Light. Impish. Not Earthly. She was Ariel. She could never love him.
