The sea called her as he was dreaming. From that day, she loved his breaths...  His waves as they break and get lost upon the dewy rocks to scatter bits of crystal and revive the atmosphere, or to reach continuously and kiss the doorstep of the blown sand.  

She walked barefoot by the extent between the land and water where the sea starts or ends its long journey. The sun emits proudly every forenoon, as usual, on the tourist groups that hide in that small, pretty city, from the chocking, noisy buildings. 

From a distance she saw him meditating the sea, as usual, and his sight staring at the never-ending horizon, where the blue meets the sky in a never-ending hug. She approached. The salty, humid air dallied her hair on her cheeks and friendly moved the edges of her white dress. His sad face looked at her even with the smile that wet his lips. Every time he saw her he said:

- Don't you ever get board of walking alone?  

She answered with a sigh:

- Perhaps it’s a way to escape.   

- Escaping doesn't solve a problem.

She stared far at the sea and said:

 - One day I'll change my fate, and travel far away on one of those far ships.

He said smiling:  

- We escape from our fates to our fates.

She questioned:

- Don’t humans build their own fate?

- Not exactly, or we would have been done with tortures like sadness and failures of hope.

-  As if you are speaking of prison.

-  A prison we can't escape from, that lives inside us. It stays the largest prison in the presences because it is without bars. But you have a choice. 

- I don't own the courage, and you know why.

-  From my experience, I tell you honestly that fear has a slow death. And a human has only one life.

He continued:

- Make your choice. You either leave him or live a normal life with him.

She whispered as if to herself:

- Nothing with him is normal.

- Anything is better then staying …

She cut him saying:

- I'm stuck in between the sky and the ground… Say it.

He said as if apologizing:

- Young like you, he's an oppressive.

Then as if he remembered something, he said correcting himself:

-  But, better to be wronged than to be an oppressive.

She looked at him with sympathy and said:

- When will you stop torturing yourself?

 He said in a shining sadness accent:

- It's my fault the most expensive creature in my life got lost.

- It was judicature and fate.

- She pleased me to slow down but I was enraptured by the drunk of happiness. I never felt anything till I suddenly woke up on the nightmare of her death and her small body trembling on my arms filled with blood.

As she looked in his eyes, she said:

- Tell me. Did you want to cause the accident? Did you want to intend her death? Answer me. 

He stayed silent head down. She looked at him, at his skinny fingers, like an artist's fingers. She meditated his bonny body, his deep, black eyes like the eyes of an affectionate wolf. The scares on his cheeks added manly characteristics on his face. They had a moment of silent sadness. It was interrupted by the noise of teenagers in beach clothes running after a colored ball. He had his head down when he asked her in his calm voice:

- Why did you marry him?

- They choose him for me.         

- Why didn't you reject?

- I did, but no one listened.

- Then leave him.

- And my daughter? He'll take her from me. You can't imagine how mach I'm attached to her. She is the lung I breathe with. She is the string that connects me to this world and without her…

He interrupted:  

- Never think like that.

She was breathing hard from the anger as she looked toward the sea that was filled with secrets, heaved with worries, and going on forever, covered with foam.

White sea gulls flew in the extent with freedom resting for today and tomorrow to break the wide silence with their echoes of the sharp calls from time to time.       

She grabbed a pile of shining, warm sand with her hand and let it fall in-between her fingers like a sand watch fling in the breeze. Many colorful sand atoms and small snail peals that were one day part of this explosive alive world. She meditated them as they fell and gave up life. 

She walked toward the sea, her footsteps called her as soon as they got erased with every coming wave. She stepped in the turbid waters, where the long rainbow-colored mosses easily rocked along with the water. The sea called her to step in closer. She rowed with her weak arms in the azure waters, till she reached the depths of the turquoise lakes, and there the full overwhelm obtained her, in silence pumping with life. She listened to the voice of the sea as it revealed its secrets. She was not fearful. Then she raised her head to take a deep breath. The sun was sending its last silver shine, sparkling on the dancing surfaces.

His voice reached her filled with fear:

- Return, you are now too far!

With tired steps, she approached the sand. He looked at her and his face's convulsions reveled his suffering. He said admonishing:

- I worried about you.

She replied with an exhausted voice as she caught her breath:

- We are late. Let us return.  

The sound of the tourists moved away gradually to shadowy echoes as she shivered with goosebumps. She gave them her back and slowly pushed the wheelchair.          

Translated by: Said Alwaely