Page 91 of Drown Me Gently

Not a body. Not a shape.

But a shadow.

A mark in the sand like a scorch or a stain. The outline of a collapsed man, but lower—lower the silhouette of nine long, coiled tentacles sprawled across the beach like ink spilled from a dying god.

Auren choked.

He reached forward, trembling, and touched it.

Sand.

Just sand.

Blackened grains, fine as powder, warm from the sun. But it had shape. His shape.

Auren’s fingers clawed through it, trying to find something beneath—bone, cloth, anything. But there was nothing. No weight. No resistance. Just dust. Ash. Absence.

“No.”

His voice cracked. Broke.

He grabbed at the sand again, holding it in both hands, letting it sift between his fingers like spilled time.

And truth descended on him like a messenger of death. Ulric was gone.

“No, no, NO!”

Auren’s howl split the sky.

“DAMN YOU!” he screamed. He was gasping now, all the breath gone from his body. Wasted in his wails. But the cursing didn’t stop in the confines of his mind, even as his body began to reject the land it rested on.

“Damn you, Poseidon! Damn your oath, damn your laws, damn your fucking judgment!”

He slammed his fists into the earth. He clawed at the sand until his palms bled, until the black grains were embedded under his nails.

“You took him!” Auren sobbed. “He broke the rules for me… and you punished him for it!”

His tail thrashed behind him, kicking sand and rocks, drying fast in the heat. His gills fluttered, gasping. His whole body screamed for the water, but Auren stayed.

He crumpled over the mark in the sand, clutching the last remnants of the only man who had ever truly loved him.

“You bastard,” Auren whispered with the last of his held breath. “You left me. You said you’d follow. You said you’d be right behind me…”

He curled around the mark as if he could shield it.

Hold it.

Hold him.

He buried his face in the sand, fingers tangled in the shape of Ulric’s memory.

“Please come back…”

But no one came.

No great hand reached from the sea.

No dark figure appeared on the horizon.