Oceanic Wilds

I patiently waited, dying to see what possibly could live inside a shell so large. Two legs eventually emerged. I had never seen anything like it before. Striped in shades of black, yellow and orange hues the creature slowly began to reveal itself. As two antennae began to poke through I realised it was a hermit crab, but nothing that usually appeared in our rock pools. 

Two bright blue fish with yellow fins came tearing past, almost knocking the poor hermit crab off the rocks leaving a trail of bubbles in their wake. Siblings playing? Or just in a mad rush to get somewhere?

Heading towards the undergrowth of the thick khaki green seaweed that wavered amongst the anemone, a shadow appeared above the hermit crab. Protruding from the rock shelf I noticed a tentacle mimicking the strands of seaweed. The octopus had been camouflaging itself well against the rocky hues, quietly waiting to make its move. The hermit crab hadn’t noticed the sunlight beginning to disappear, as it clambered on towards the protective comforts of the underground cave it ventured towards. Approaching a rather large rock it stumbled to get a grip of the slimy surface and kept falling backwards. Slowly, the octopus’s tentacle ventured down following the ebbs and flows of the water. I couldn’t watch. 

No! I had to know. Eyes glued between the dance of the tentacle and the hermit crabs awkward meander I waited for the inevitable. As the octopus approached the hermit crab from behind it gently pushed the crab up and over the rock. Sending the hermit crab into quite a tumble, but it was at its destination. Alive. Tucked into where it had intended to be. Wow. An octopus helping a hermit crab.

‘What are you looking at?’, Alice asked as she edged towards me from the other side of the rock pool. 

‘You wouldn’t believe it! I just saw an octopus help a huge hermit crab over a rock. Look there it is and the octopus is against the rock shelf,’ I said pointing. 

‘Holy crap! How big is that hermit crab!’, Alice squealed excitedly, ‘The colours on the octopus are amazing. I wonder what kind it is?’, she said as she joined me on the rocks. 

‘Who knows.’

‘You are looking a lot less anxious now.’

‘I guess. I think just staring into the pools and watching the little worlds takes the edge off. Well, it stops me from over-thinking if only for a little while.’

‘You should come down more. Spending all that time inside isn’t doing you any good.You always did love the ocean. I was so jealous at how fast you could swim.’

‘I don’t miss training, but I do miss the water. It’s just hard to pick myself up some days and get my legs to actually move beyond the couch. I don’t know. Does my head in, thinking about it.’

Alice placed her hand on my knee as she turned to face me, ‘If you ever need that kick in the ass to start moving just message me Bec. You know I’ll come over in a heartbeat. Don’t suffer alone.’

‘I know, I know. It’s just sometimes easier said than done. It's a mix of my head and my uterus being on fire. I sometimes just really can’t deal with anything. The pain is so bad and then there are the multitude of spiralling thoughts that just hit me like a fucking freight train.’

‘I won’t pretend I understand, but you can call, okay.’

Clasping my hands over my face I breathed deeply taking in the salty air as the ocean mist hit my face. It was like a jolt to my system. I can’t explain it, but water had a way of bringing me back to life.

‘Did you just see that?’, Alice jumped to her feet pointing. 

‘Are they dolphins?’

‘Ummm like fifty or more! Come on, let's get a closer look.’

Making our way to the rock pool’s furthest edge I stood there feeling a wave of relief for the first time in weeks right down to my fiery uterus. 

‘Let’s check out the rock pools further down. I don’t want to go back yet.’

Alice smiled cheekily, ‘Either do I, but wish we were surfing. Look how many there are! You know, I have a spare board and swimmers in my car.’

‘Seriously?’

‘You get to see dolphins. Like hello! Dolphins! Plus you could do with a wash,’ Alice winked.

Taking in a deep breath I looked out onto the ocean’s horizon and realised I wanted to be out in her swell. I ached for it. Plus Alice was right, I wanted to let the salt water roll over my body and heal whatever the fuck was eating my insides.  

Turning, I smiled at Alice. 

As we ran to the car we could hear the dolphin squeals behind us in tune with our wild laughs. 

To be continued…