“Hey, do you guys hear that?”

But Marcus’s voice got lost in the music of the sea and radio. The Spellbound swayed gently under his feet, the deck littered with splashes of beer and remnants of their party. There was an island in the distance; their main reason for stopping to party. They were so close, yet so far. His crew was in various states of disarray around him. Adrian, Sam, and Eliza; one of which was still conscious.

“They’re all passed out, so no, they didn’t.” Eliza snorted, sitting down on the barrel next to him.

The cold wind shaped his breath. “They’ve always been light-weights.”

She seemed close to passing out. Her caramel skin was flushed and she swayed on the barrel. Eliza’s blue-green eyes were glassy as she glanced lazily at Marcus.

“What did you hear, anyways?” Her words slur together.

 “I swear I heard a woman singing opera.”

She looked slowly at the radio – which was playing music –  and then back at him, with her eyebrows raised.

He gave her a lopsided grin. “It didn’t sound like the radio!”

Eliza giggles. “Sure.”

They both look at each other for a few giddy beats until the moment sobered out. The flutter of her eyelashes matched the beat of his heart.

“Do you think… After we get to the island… We can live a normal life? Together?” She asked hesitantly.

His heart jumped into his throat. He didn’t want to be tied to someone. People always ended up disappointing him.

“I…  you know I’m not built for what you want.”

Her beautiful blue-green eyes snapped into his. “You can’t say that. Not after all we’ve been through together.”

“Nothing was guaranteed when you stepped on this ship. What did you expect? That we’d get to the island, and all our problems would be solved? We’re in the middle of nowhere!” He swallowed, his bitter words worsening his sore throat. “You think running from our problems would give us any solutions?”

“Yeah well, that’s your thing isn’t it?” She cracked her knuckles. “You want everything from everyone, until they ask for something in return. Then you run.”

“I never said you should have followed me, Eliza.”

She shrugged and toppled off the barrel heavily, sighing. “Fine.”

Their eyes tied together once more and between a single blink, Marcus imagined what their future would look like with a normal life. He felt the thought melt away thinly, like strings of cotton candy.

Another heavy sigh. “Good night, Marc.” She glided to her cabin without another word.

“‘Night…” The words got lost like his cotton candy thoughts.

Marcus flicked the grime from under his fingernails as he swung off the barrel and walked to the edge of the deck. Leaning over the rail, the smell of desperation and salt mingled in the air. The moon reflected onto the glassy ocean; it reminded him of Eliza’s eyes.

The sound of opera slid through the air. As he rotated the knob of the radio into the off position, the music continued to float out across the sea.

“Maybe I am crazy…” He muttered. “Or drunk.”

Trying to find the direction of the music, he scanned his eyes across the ocean. A singing lady appeared on the waves between his slow, drunken blinks. Marcus closed his eyes, yet she remained imprinted on his eyelids.

The sight of her was so vivid, yet she seemed to slip in and out of his consciousness. She looked like hazy traffic lights through squinted eyes. The song she sang was his favourite, although he had never heard it before. His mouth picked up the words, shaped like someone’s fingers reaching for a hot stove. He leaned closer. The woman shifted into his childhood celebrity crush, a girl from a bar, and Eliza.  She let out a giggle that felt like popping candy.  

She beckoned with her finger, her mouth sounding out the words, come down, and suddenly he was 12 again, with his mother asking him to jump from the playground monkey bars. Marcus blinked again, and he was balancing on the handrail. He felt safe. Like she would fulfil any promise she made. The beer made his head hurt; his cotton candy thoughts were hazy. Marcus momentarily lost his balance as he tipped his head back. Somehow, his brain immediately cleared. It was a mess. What was he doing? He should get back, he thought.

Her voice jumped through the air and suddenly he stopped thinking. The song told him to join her, to come into the water. Marcus felt giddy. She reached out her hand, and he mimicked the action. Again, her song called him. Come to the water. 

This time there was no hesitation in his sigh, no stumble in his stride. Marcus let gravity take him down. She smiled, stitches at the end of her lips, her hair snaking around her body. He did not hear anything except the wind in his ears and the melody of her twisted song.

And then he plunged.

Writer – Alvia Farooqui
Editor – Sophia Oblefias
Artist – Natalie Choi

–August 2024–