WHERE THE MOON MEETS THE SEA(Francys Wagner) THIS IS THE NEW VERSION OF "GONE WITH THE SEA", REWRITTEN. ENJOY !!!



It is a summer night and the moon, round and full, like a silver sphere, floats among the stars casting its brilliance on the waters of the sea, revealing a deep indigo blue carpet, which moves, forming gentle waves that rock his boat, which sits waiting for him, moored at the small pier.
He is a tall, vigorous young man wearing old trousers and an open cotton shirt, exposing his chest to the sea breeze, that ruffles his untrimmed hair, while he walks in rustic sandals on the still warm sand, from the sun that has already bid farewell to the day.
As he goes down the cliff to the cove, towards his boat, he hears a low, muffled groan and when he turns, he sees a shadow moving on the rocks.
At first he can't believe his eyes. It must be an optical illusion or a trick of his mind, pulling in the memory of tales told by the locals so many times, fantastical stories from the island...
He stares at the figure and realises that it's not an illusion… there, in front of him, is a beautiful naked woman, with dark hair that falls across her body, contrasting her fair skin and barely covering her voluptuous breasts.
Wonderfully haunted, his thoughts don't connect to his vocal cords. His mouth opens, gaping, but the state of ecstasy prevents him from uttering any words.
Then she, in a melodious voice, asks for help, showing him her wounded legs.
It sounds like an order, which he obeys without hesitation...
Taking her in his arms, he comes to his senses as he feels her soft-skinned body come into contact with his…
It provokes sensations in his mind that he tries to control, so as not to feel ashamed, since parts of his body stubbornly show an involuntary protuberance…
He takes her to his wooden hut, where he lives alone with his memories, among objects, furniture and belongings inherited from his parents.
In an old chest in the bedroom, he finds a floral dress she can wear, while he waits for her in the small living room to tend to her wounds.
Under the effect of yellowish light of the lantern, she appears like an enchanted being, with a smile drawn on her lips…
The flowers on her dress seem to come to life.
He can even smell a fragrance in the air that takes him back to a distant past… and for an instant, as he looks at the stranger, in his mind forms the image of the woman he loved so much, a distant memory...
In her eyes, dark as the night outside, lie mysteries to be unravelled.
He, still shocked, applies the medicinal liquid to her long legs.
There are cuts that puzzle him, but he keeps his eyes down on what he is doing and between them there is no conversation.
He has several questions in his head...where she came from, how she came, why she got hurt, why she was without clothes, but he doesn't verbalize them...
She also doesn't ask anything... she just observes him languidly, as if also fascinated by him…
Soon after, still perplexed, he offers her some food, some drink and his bed for her to rest in for the night. He needs to go to work. Back to the sea to fish and be back just before the sun wakes up…
Day will dawn on the horizon any moment. Albatrosses are rising from the water and seagulls are already walking on the beach, when he returns to his hut…
He finds her lying on his bed, on the sheets. Standing on the threshold of the bedroom door, he watches her sleeping. Her breathing is light, like a rustle of leaves touched by a soft wind.
He lies down carefully next to her, so as not to wake her up.
The first rays of the morning, filtering through the thin curtains of the window, slowly dissipate the last vestiges of darkness in the room.
With his eyes fixed on the wooden beams that support the roof, he tries to fall asleep, but he can't ignore the heat of her body. She's right there, just a few inches from him, yet he controls his natural instincts…
He closes his eyes. There is a roar of life outside. A myriad of clicks, hisses, trills, squeaks, squawks and shrieks…
Nature celebrates the new day. Accustomed to this morning racket, for him it sounds like a lullaby. Which long ago replaced the ones his mother used to hum when she put him to bed.
A time, that the house where he lived was much bigger, far away from this island…
A time when he could not even imagine that one day he would leave the life of luxury in the big city to live a simple life as a fisherman...leaving behind a past of pain.
Turning to the blank pages of the book of his existence and creating a new chapter, giving a new plot to his life story…
His eyes grow heavy and finally he falls asleep…

“I'm late for the meeting. I can't talk to you now”, he says, as he fixes his hair and straightens his tie in front of the full length mirror in his bedroom.
“You never have time for me”
“I need to work, think about our future…"
“And you don't think about us?”“Yes, that's why I have to work…"
“I think you exaggerate…”
“You're talking nonsense…"
“You don't have time to come home anymore... I'm alone most of the time…”
“It's not like that…"
“Yes it is, you just don't realise it…"
“You must be like this because of your condition. Pregnancy makes a woman more sensitive…”
“You know it's not that…”
“Okay, I promise I'll pay more attention to you…”
“Hello my son, how are you?”
“Mum, dad, what are you doing here?”
“We came to visit you…”
“But you both died ….”
“No my son, we're fine…”
“Dad, the plane crash, you didn't survive. It was my fault…”
“Of course not, my son…”
“It was dad. I gave you the plane tickets. If I'd known what was going to happen. I sent you both to your deaths…”
“My son, nothing was your fault. It had to be like this…"
“No, mum, I can’t accept that…”
“Don't torture yourself, son. Everything is fine. Your father and I want you to be fine, as well as we are.”
“It's true honey, everyone here is fine. We just want you to remember the good things…”
“Wait a minute, what's going on? I can't be talking to you guys. You're all dead…"
“All is not as it seems my dear…”
“I don't understand anything. I'm late for work…"
“You're not... Have you forgotten you're not an executive anymore?”
“How am I not? Of course I am…”
“No, my dear, things have changed…”
“Wait a minute. You were pregnant earlier. Who is this boy next to you?”
“That is our son, my dear. Isn't he beautiful? Looks just like you... same blue eyes…”
“It's not possible. You and the baby died in childbirth…”
"As you can see, we are doing well, my dear…’
“You are all driving me crazy. I can't understand it. You're all dead.”
“Don't worry my son. We want you to be alright…"
“Dad... I miss you…"
“Don't torture yourself anymore, my son. Be at peace…”
“Oh mum, I miss you too so much”
"Please don't go away, stay a little longer..."
"Your father and I have to go now, son. Remember we love you very much..."
"Mum, dad, please..."
"Your son and I are going with them, my dear..."
"Where are you going"
"To a place where we're all together and happy..."
"My life without you has no meaning…"
"You will find a meaning to live...be at peace...I love you..."
"Oh honey, I love you too..."

Bewildered, displaced, he tries to recognise where he is. He is not in his big, luxurious room in his mansion and everyone has gone...
His senses realise that he is in his bed and there is a stunningly beautiful woman, her head resting on one arm, looking puzzled at him…
Her gaze is penetrating, hypnotic and it is quite impossible to resist the pleas of her mouth when she asks if he is alright...her plump, red lips, the colour of a ripe strawberry…
A fever takes over his body. His mind can no longer reason...all he sees is that attractive face.
On an impulse, he kisses her. She doesn't stop him and surrenders to his ardor.
He hugs her to make sure it's not a dream or his imagination. The softness, the pulsing warmth of her body give him the certainty that she is real.
She exudes a fragrance, which is not manipulated perfume, but something natural.
A female smell mixed with sea air. Enveloping. Intoxicating. That stimulates and excites all his senses…
In quick, clumsy movements, he gets rid of all his clothes and removes her dress, exposing the statuesque and curvilinear body that had fascinated him the night before…
He runs his fingers over her face and body. Exploring every inch...
She is perfectly shaped, as if she had been sculpted by a very talented and sophisticated artist, resulting in a surreal, otherworldly creation, so perfect is she.
All her skin is uniform, no variations, no blemishes or imperfections. Except for the small cuts on the legs, which will soon disappear…
She has desire shining in her dark eyes... He in full eruption...
His body joins hers, intertwining, bringing their mouths together. Both of their breaths quicken. She gives in to his pleas…
He plunges unknown depths. The sounds heard in the room overlap the noises outside.
Like a tropical storm...everything shakes, shudders and collapses.
Leaving everything wet and even hotter, and after blasts, sparks and explosions, it passes, comes the stillness, the silence, as if nothing had happened…
The two catch their breath lying side by side. They stay like that for minutes as if nothing else in the world exists. As if life could be summed up in the square space of the rustic and its antique furniture. In the bed under the window, the daylight darts boldly through the curtain and illuminates their naked bodies.
“Who are you? Where did you come from?” he asks.
“Does that matter to you?”
“Of course it does. I want to know more about you… I know nothing…”
“How about you tell me who you are first?”
“You know, I'm a fisherman.”
“I mean, before…”
He looks at her puzzled. "Do you really want to know?”
“Yes, tell me. I want to hear…”
"I am a man marked by personal tragedies, a survivor on this island, which I have known since I was a boy, when I spent my holidays here in this hut that belonged to my parents… I had a completely different life before I came to live here. A stressful job that was making me sick. Living with no time for anything. Not for my family, not even for me. After the loss of my parents and my pregnant wife who died giving birth to our son... I lost all of them and with that, even the will to live. Then I decided to leave everything behind. To change the course of my life in order to survive, and here is my refuge…"
“And how do you feel now?”
“I can't say I'm a happy man, but I have found some peace of mind. The day to day business helps to distract my thoughts, not to focus on the past…”
“I understand what it's like to be alone…"
"Are you also alone in the world?”
“You could say that I am…”
“So tell me about yourself... how did you end up here?”
“I have come by the call of your lonely heart”
“What do you mean? I don't understand…”
“You don't need to understand…”
“Where do you come from?”
“From a place where evil doesn't exist…”
“Where is this place?”
“Far away from here…”
“Aren't you going to tell me where it is?”
She stares at him with an inscrutable face, saying nothing.
“Not even your name?”
“No need for a name…”
“What is this, a game, a riddle?”
“In a way yes, just need to know if you're up to playing…"
“Are you challenging me? What have I got to lose?”
“Actually, I think you have to gain something…”
She smiles mischievously...
“Then I'm up for it, what are the rules?”, he inquires. “Here's what we do. Since there are no names, we will call each other by a codename...I will call you Handsome Man…”
“Do you think I’m handsome?”
“Oh yes, you are… of features, of course, but I’m referring to your soul...”, she sighs deeply.
He kisses her tenderly.
“Okay, your turn now, pick one for me…”, she says.
“Let me see. I found you on the rocks, by the sea, I guess I can't call you anything else but, mermaid… That’s it, I'll call you My Mermaid…”
“And so, what's the next rule?”
“Well, maybe I'll let you find out my secrets…”
“And what do I have to do to do that?”
“Nothing, just be yourself…”
“Is that all ?”
“Yes, when you think it's time, you'll know all about me…”
“I can't wait…”
She laughs amusedly…

After that, their life together goes on like a boat sailing on calm waters. He falls more and more in love with her. She seems happy living with him without being disturbed by the rumours going around the island. The locals find their relationship very strange. No one, like him, has a clue where she came from and nobody knows where she comes from and they refer to her as the mysterious nameless woman and just call her "Lady"...
Some even believe she is a sorceress who used some magic potion to bewitch him or a diabolical being in human form.
Many women on the island, especially married ones, turn up their noses when she walks around, with a cadenced gait, moving her hips like the waves of the sea, attracting the glances of men…
He doesn't care what they say, what they think of the two of them, or even that she has not yet revealed her secrets...
What matters is that he knows and feels that she loves him as much as he loves her.
He, who once thought he would never love anyone else in his life.
He now has a reason to live…
Even the words of the dream he had some time ago, which were engraved in his mind, "You will find a meaning to live", seemed to make sense. Or was it just a coincidence?
Did his wife really mean something?
Do the dead know what will happen in the lives of the living?
Or was it just him trying to find the logic for what he could not understand?
Whatever the answer, what matters is that after years of bitter loneliness and living through the pains of the past, he has found some peace…
She brought joy into his life...
His heart rejoices when he returns from the sea and she is waiting for him...
On nights when he doesn't go fishing, they sit in front of the hut, by a small fire, and she sings to him accompanied by the guitar that he plays…
He wishes for a long life at her side and even to have children, as beautiful as she is…
What more could he want or dream of?
He has never felt so free, and why not say, happy, in his entire life…

Summer is beginning to run out of days…
Autumn is approaching, making its presence felt, bringing a colder wind and cooling the sea waters …
Last night he braved a storm on the high seas and had his boat broken down. Had having to wait for help, he arrives home later than usual.
Upset, but thinking that he will soon be glad when he gets home and she'll be waiting to welcome him with a passionate kiss...
The cabin is all closed, which he finds strange. He opens the door, and does not see her in the room. He calls out to her. There is no answer. He searches the kitchen, the small guest room, used as storeroom, and his bedroom. No sign of her.
"She must have gone to buy something for lunch...and should be back soon"
He opens the windows and puts the water on to boil to make some tea.
But there is a nagging feeling creeping up the back of his head.
He goes to his room again and looks in the cupboard. All the clothes he bought her are there.
“What nonsense is going through your head, man? You see? She didn't leave you…”, he reprimands himself.
Sitting now at the small kitchen table, drinking his tea, he keeps his eyes on the door, waiting for it to open at any moment. From there he can also see the old clock on the living room wall. As the minutes tick by, his concern grows, leaving him on alert, even though he is tired and his body cries out for a bed.
But she doesn't show up…
When an hour has passed, he decides to look for her in the nearby huts, although she is not in the habit of frequenting the neighbours' houses.
Few people talk to her. Most are afraid of her for they think she is not human.
But no one saw her even on the beach that morning…
He then takes the cobblestone street that leads to the shops.
As he walks he asks the people he meets along the way about her. No one saw her pass that way either…
The sun has warmed up and the dreariness mixed with tiredness gives him the impression that he is heavier than he really is, and dragging his feet, he continues, as he seeks the shade of the trees.
In the shops where she might have gone or been, in none of them, had she appeared. Only one shopkeeper had seen her, but the day before, when she had gone to buy some food...
More concerned now, he goes to the local police station to report her missing.
The police officers tell him to wait a little longer, but faced with his distress, two policemen set about searching every corner of the island, which is not large however. They advised him to return home and wait for news.
Anyway, could have missed each other or she could have come home and also be looking for him…
A few hours later, the policemen visit him and find him even more anxious. She had not yet turned home, and unfortunately the policemen do not bring good news. They did not find her anywhere…
To reassure him, as if that were possible, before they leave, they promise to carry out a more thorough search in the wilderness. Wherever she was, they would find her, since no one saw her leaving the island on any of the transport boats.
But the sentences have an accentuated effect that increases his fear. He imagines that the worst might have happened…
The wind blows the leaves of the coconut trees in front of the hut, bringing a warm air with the smell of the sea that reminds him of her…
He at the door, looking into the infinite, says.
“Where are you my mermaid? Why did you go away?Please come out. Don't leave me like this, in this agony…”

Days goes by, and he clings to a thread of hope so as not to go mad for good. He can't bear any more loss in his life.
He is more desolate and lost than when, years ago, he came to the island in the naive illusion that he could rid himself of the hardships of the past.
This time, he has nowhere to hide from the pain of her absence, which is as intense as his love for her…
He no longer has the vigour and contentment of the few months they were together.
Nothing has any significance to him anymore…
Everything disappeared like a magic trick…
The sound of her melodious voice. The singing. The laughter. Her captivating smile…
The taste of her soft, luscious and plump lips.
Her penetrating gaze that enticed him…
The heat of her body…The smell of her…
The softness of her skin in contact with his body hair.
The sounds and moans she uttered as she reached the peak of pleasure…

Time passes and the phases of the moon are changing, as he observes every night, remembering her telling him that the moon influences and interferes in the life of all species, who inhabit the dimensions of the planet, and that for her it was like a calendar, by which she oriented herself.
She disappeared on the New Moon, and has not yet been found.
He is told that she might be dead or has been killed and the body is hidden somewhere, which they might find one day. But he refuses to accept or believe this. Deep in his heart he knows she is alive. Somewhere, but where?
He has no way to look for her. She never said where she came from or even her name…
His thoughts, now and then are invaded by words spoken by her, like parts of a conundrum he has not yet deciphered….
Words he believes he heard her whisper to him when he was asleep. Or was it a dream?
"I've come for your cry
And I stayed for your love
I'll go after the sun has set
And return when the moon is full” , or…
"Our love is strong enough to overcome all barriers that prevent us from living in harmony in a parallel world…"

The days are getting cloudy and shorter with the new season. The landscape is losing colour, losing leaves, losing its vitality. The shades of grey give the few colours that resist, a depressing and dull tone. Faithfully reproducing his state of mind.
He is no longer in the mood to do anything and doesn't feel like working anymore.
The few hours he sleeps at night are restless and he has nightmares that torment his soul.
He is always drunk and wanders around the quay or along the beach, dirty, crumpled, bearded.
The handsome man, with strong, muscular, sprightly body seems to have shrunk. Ageing before his time… Sitting sometimes on the stones, staring into the space, drinking the bitter, burning bottle of alcoholic liquid, he hums a melancholic melody…
Someone would say “Take care man. If you keep this up, and she comes back one day, she won't recognise you. Is that how you want to wait for her?”
In response, the sad eyes that say more than the words that do not come out, but that scream in his mind…
“If she comes back and finds me like this, she will know that I was suffering, missing her terribly…”
There are rumours that he may be going mad, as he talks gibberish to anyone…
His close friends try to help him but he is living in a world of his own where no one is allowed to enter. They are saddened at the times they find him fallen on the beach, bare-chested, pants open, partly undressed, wet and dirty sand with a whiskey bottle dropped beside him. Fast asleep… drool dripping from his open mouth, showing he is still alive, by the heavy and noisy breathing...

Crescent Moon, Crescent Quarter, Gibbous Crescent…
Life on the island continues to go with the flow, following the variations and rhythm in the waves of the sea, that behave according to the power of the sovereign of the night sky. Who, at times, chases away the annoying clouds, so that it can appear in all its splendour.
The Full Moon Majesty…
The neighbours miss him. He hasn't been around for two days. The last time they saw him, he was in front of his hut drinking…
No one saw him leave the island. His boat is still moored at the quay.
They look in his hut. The windows are closed and the door unlocked. He's not there…
They find the bed untidy. Clothes lying on the floor. The kitchen with dirty pots and pans. Used cups on the table. A feeling of abandonment in the air…
Once again the police are called. They conduct a thorough search in the island but they can't find him anywhere…
They imagine he might be dead, but just as with the disappearance of the strange woman, they can't find any evidence to conclude what really happened to the two of them.
They don't even know if they will ever have the answers...
But someone said and even swears, that they saw him, on one of the nights with a full moon, him descending into the cove, down the rocks and a naked woman came up to him. It was her.
The mysterious nameless woman...
The two then hand in hand walked along the quay and together jumped into the sea...
Thus was born on the island the legend of the lonely fisherman, who fell in love with a mermaid who took him to discover the secrets hidden across the ocean, in its mysterious waters, beyond the horizon, as far as the imagination can reach, where everything is possible…

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