Title: Albatross Author: bookishtype Character: River Rating: PG Word Count: 572

River stood on the shoreline. The water lapped at her feet. In the horizon there was no land and behind she didn’t know. The sand was coarse beneath her feet. Each granule moulded to fit around the small feet that found it’s way its shore.

Above her seagulls twirled as they flew and it was as though there was nothing else in this world but this shoreline and those birds. It was a scary thought for River for her mind had quietened to such an extent that she now could hear her own thoughts. And they were scaring her.

River did not know how she got here or why it was a paradox in her system, her world that didn’t compute or connect like it should. She squatted down looking into the water, her blue dress becoming wet, the hems swirling around her when a wave flowed in and out.

I am at Ebb and Flow, she thought. Someone is deciding whether I should stay or go. It disturbed her, this outside person, this one entity who could decide her fate. The seagulls above squawked and she looked up. Floating in toward her was a rather large bird, long billed and lean and muscular in build.

“Diomedea exulan, the Wandering Albatross”, River whispered as the waves brought the bird closer to her. The albatross swam past her to the waters edge and walked a few steps towards closer to River and then sat looking at her.

River.

Startled at the voice, River swore she heard her name, but the bird didn’t move. It was in her mind.

River, you know why you are here, don’t you? Do you know what happened to cause this?

The albatross asked, River shook her head and spoke “I believe that my fate is being decided but how I got here I do not know.”

The albatross cocked its head slightly in understanding.

River, you are in the balance between life and death and your decision to go back or not is up to you. You are hear as a result of a fight that took place on Whitehall. You have been shot and have gone into cardiac arrest. The next few moments are precious, your decision will be the coup de grace. Will you allow yourself to be killed and die or will you save yourself and live in the hypersensitive, tormented mindstate you previously held?

River looked from the bird out to the water again, her mind comprehending everything. She thought of Simon, what would her brother do without her. He would die inside too if she did. The captain would lose the sliver of faith he carried and built on with her around. Serenity. It was her home could she leave it to go to a place of calm, a place of peace in mind and body. Where she could dance without music.

Coup de grace. This was her deathblow, her defeat. Would she let herself be killed or live knowing what life offered her?

The albatross sat quietly beside her. He could hear her thoughts and knew that the was a decision solely hers. The girl sat looking out to sea, tears slowly tracking her face and finally joining the water beneath her. She looked over to him. He got up and so did she. He knew her answer, for she thought it clear as day.

Quietus.

They walked down the shoreline together.

Definition of quietus: release from life; death