AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you like this story! It took me a while to write it and I definitely need some comments! Please review!

DREAMS OF THE SEA

It was happening again. She screamed as a wave of water went over her head, pulling her under. She struggled to swim to the surface. Another stroke and she was up, choking, gasping for breath as the rain pounded on her head and face, each drop a knife, stabbing through the skin. She couldn't see, but in the darkness of the night, other screams could be faintly heard over the howling wind. She tried to shout for help, but she knew it would be useless. Suddenly, she heard a thunderous roar. She looked up just in time to see a monstrous wave come crashing down on her.

"This is the end," she thought calmly as the wave crashed into her, pulling her under the water. She tried to swim up but she could not. The undertow was too strong. She tried to fight it, but the blackness closed around her, an endless void of darkness. then. she woke up.

She screamed and sat up in her bed, the sweat soaked sheets clinging to her long, narrow legs. She gasped, breathless with the memory of the dream. So vivid and real, she could still taste the salt water on her lips. She pushed her matted brown hair away from her face, let out a long, unsteady breath, and put her feet down on the hard stone floor. It was cold, and she felt goose bumps running up her arms. She stood up, shivering with cold and fright, and walked towards the heavy oak door of her room.

She opened it and stepped into the hall. The moonlight shining through the window made tiny, flickering shadows on the walls that danced, as if laughing, when she walked past. She shuddered as she made her way to the bathroom at the end of the hall. The door opened with a creak and she slid inside, closing it softly behind her. She turned on the light and ran the tap, washing her face with the cool, clear water. She stood up straight and looked at herself in the mirror. Staring back was a girl with a pale, thin face and deep green eyes the color of the sea.

"Why is this happening to me?" she thought to herself, "What is happening to me?" She did not know the answer. All she knew was the dream. The dream that kept happening over and over every time she closed her eyes; the water, screaming, pain, death.

"Calm down," she thought. " Everything will be fine."

She was tired, but she knew she could not sleep again. She was afraid of the dream, afraid of its meaning and what it was doing to her. She left the bathroom and walked downstairs, trying to clear her mind of the confusion. She walked into the kitchen and pulled open the curtains. She was amazed to find the sun already rising from the sea. It glowed like the dying embers of a fire.

She opened the back door that led onto the beach. She stepped outside, feeling the cool sea breeze on her face. She walked closer until her toes were covered with the salty green water. She smiled as the sun turned its rays of warmth on her face. Here she was happiest, the sea was the one thing that made her alive. Its strength gave her strength; its power gave her power. She only wanted the sea.

She shook all thoughts from her head and started back to the house. Suddenly, she felt a chill, a threat from all around her. She turned around swiftly, her back arched like a startled cat. She stared at the sea. Something was changing. She felt the power of it in her blood, as if she were the sea itself. She felt the strength, the raw force of it. Something was wrong; turmoil was in the sea, and it was coming towards her. She ran back to the house wanting to warn, to save, and yet. and yet she was unsure.

"This is absurd," she thought, "I cannot feel the sea. Perhaps there is something wrong with me." She ignored the feel of danger and walked back to the house.

"So. You have made your choice sea witch," a silent voice spoke from the depths. "Now. Now we shall truly see." In the distance, the heavy sound of thunder could be heard. The first sign of a coming storm.

She stepped into her house, oblivious of the distant voice and the coming storm, only knowing the feel of danger that crawled up her spine. For the rest of the day she was nervous, unsettled, wanting to go to the sea but wanting to stay away. For the first time in her life she was afraid, afraid of the sea.

The night came and she drifted off to sleep. The warning inside her did not disappear and for the first time in many months she did not dream the dream. She could only remember a voice, a voice from the deep calling to her.

"Remember what you are. Remember what you can be. Only then will I destroy you. sea witch."

She woke up not with fright but with a calling. The storm was brewing, coming closer, and she felt it inside her. Her entire essence screamed the warning but now it was to late. The storm was there. She ran outside to the sea, her long, brown hair splaying out in all directions. She looked up at the sky. The gray clouds swirled and broke, a vortex of darkness pulling at her very existence. She raised her arms to the heavens and the rains came down, claiming her into their wet embrace. She had realized what she was and with that realization came the knowledge, the full awareness of what was to happen. She was a sea witch, a daughter of storms, a child of the water. She knew, she foresaw, she had the sea in her blood, she controlled it; but it was too late. Everything would be gone.

She felt the raw power in her body and looked towards the sea. The emerald green waves turned black with hatred and frothed like rabid dogs. She heard the screams of the villagers behind her, but the world had gone silent in her ears. All she heard was the water, the waves running up to their massive height, then crashing down on the sharp rocks below. Her heart broke with every crash of the water. The sea had escaped her, and she knew there was no chance of taming it once more. Then she heard the silent laughter from the deep.

"You are too weak. too long you have kept me prisoner. the sea is against you now."

The next wave was coming, the black hate spilling in drops on top of her. It pulled her into the sea. She knew she would fight, she knew the sea was now her enemy. She cleared her mind and plunged into reality.

She screamed as a wave of water went over her head, pulling her under. She struggled to swim to the surface. Another stroke and she was up, choking, gasping for breath as the rain pounded on her head and face, each drop a knife, stabbing through the skin. She could not see, but in the darkness, other screams could be faintly heard over the howling wind. She heard a thunderous roar. She looked up just in time to see a monstrous wave come crashing down on her.

"This is the end." She thought calmly as the wave crashed into her, pulling her under the water. She tried to swim up but she could not. The undertow was too strong. She tried to fight it, but the blackness closed around her, an endless void of darkness. The sea had claimed her. She had foreseen her death. The unheard voice laughed at her cries.

"I have you."

She opened her soul to the sea.