Photo Credit @C Hase
Cast Away – A Pirate’s Tail
Her iridescent tail unfurled and snapped a farewell. The handsome pirate, no longer a threat to her soul, gasped and exhaled the sea. The chains broken, each unbound and cast away, never to reunite.
The natural order restored, the tumultuous waves lay down once more at peace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Photo Credit @Darby Ann Photography
You can find more flash fiction here.
What's for dinner, Doc? 
Pretty language here, Tracy. I can see the hint of a sea serpent swimming away amid the tumult.
All my best,
MG
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Thanks Marie Gail.
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A mermaid? You stumped me, Doc.
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Yes Russell. A washed up love story. Mermaids are fickle creatures.
Thanks for reading,
Tracey
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I envisioned a mermaid also. I guess I’m not imaginative enough, nor sufficiently chemically enhanced to see sea serpents. Good tail tale. 🙂
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My muse was ethereal today, no chemicals needed. Thanks, Tracey
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I especially like the line “gasped and exhaled the sea”l it’s quite wondrous in my imagination.
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Dawn,
I couldn’t just let her love him and leave him for dead. He had to exhale.
Tracey
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Dear Tracey,
I’ve always fancied myself as being part mermaid. A bit of unrequited love there, at least no one died. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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She seriously thought about letting him drown but alas, she had sort of loved him until he wanted a bigger share of her treasures.
Swim on,
Tracey
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the pirate must have lost his fake eye patch. this enabled him to see her clearly for what she really was. 🙂
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Nope, he still loves her. She just got bored with his swashbuckling, over bearing human frailty.
🙂
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I love me a mermaid story and it appears the upper hand, as she would, of course! Beautiful writing, miss.
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Thanks Amy. A siren’s call and a strong upper hand will serve this Mergirl well.
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Mergirl. Love that!
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Fickle creatures, these mermaids. Nothing wrong with a bit of swashbuckling anyhow.
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Patrick,
I married a swashbuckling sailor but we both understand that I could return to the sea any day. 😉
Tracey
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At least she let him go, I’ve heard some dark tales (tails?) of mermaids!
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Ali,
Never trust a merperson. I think they’re particularly upset about global warming. ha ha
Tracey
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Sometimes, you just have to let him go. Weighted and headed for the bottom, that is.
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Dave,
I think she’s a “catch and release” sort of Mergirl.
Tracey
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Kind of makes up for the rough deal the little mermaid gets in the original Hans Anderson ( mute and walking on knives I seem to recall).
I like the poetic ambiguity in this – mermaids, serpents, real or metaphorical chains – it could go many ways.
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MJ,
I seriously didn’t see the ambiguity until your comment. Of course this washed up love story could refer to any relationship’s end. Your comments are always so thoughtful.
Thanks,
Tracey
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That’s mermaids for you. Cold fish. Nicely done Tracey.
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Cold fish, warm heart?
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I love how her tail snaps a farewell. That says a lot. Kudos
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A sassy farewell.
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A mermaid? How interesting!
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But there’s a switch here. He merges with the sea, she goes on to life on dry land, like two ships passing in the night. Was it not meant to be this way? Or was it a correction to the natural order of things that had somehow fallen out of order.
How dare you be so profound in so few words!?
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Uh, yes. I mean, no.
What? I’m so confused.
Profound or just a pirate fantasy?
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I love the wordplay. I don’t think the story is sad at all. Each of them goes their merry ways, love isn’t enough when both want very different things from life. Great story.
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Right? The pirate couldn’t breathe and the mermaid couldn’t tolerate his greedy chauvinism another minute.
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I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood. I didn’t see any chauvinism.
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Gah,
You didn’t miss anything. It was just my supposition that a pirate would be chauvinistic and that a mermaid would not tolerate that. I don’t really know what happened under the sea to cause the break up.
😉
Tracey
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A lovely story about the end of a fairytale romance, but somehow it feels right that it should end. I think the pirate will wake up wondering, and I’m glad the waves will be at peace. That’s important.
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Thanks Margaret. I did write this as a fairytale romance but the references to the real world were too good to ignore.
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Cute story with some great description (chains, unbound, etc.) well done.
KT
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Thanks KT
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Pirates mistaking dolphins for mermaids again? Too much rum!
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What Mick? You don’t believe in mermaids! I suppose there’s no tooth fairy either.
😉
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I don’t believe in much, Tracey.
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Very sad. But perhaps that’s how we all should break up…never to be seen again 😀
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Maybe so Jan
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Intriguing writing, reads well, very, but confusing. Could have been a touch longer.
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Hamish,
The original post was one sentence and 18 words so this was a compromise. I read somewhere that “flash fairy tales” should never go over 50 words.
Thanks for stopping by,
Tracey
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That’s what you get for angering a mermaid.
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Joseph,
Exactly
🙂
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An irridescent tail has to be a mermaid – shades of Jack Tar here I think.
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Liz,
Yes, the end of a mermaid’s watery affair.
Tracey
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Loved it – !
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