Maddeson's Selkie

There was something soothing about the darkness that cooled his simmering frustrations. In the dark he could smile, he could act like everyone else, and in the dark the beach was rendered beautiful, free from any signs of life save him—

A sound of pain and frustration cut through the still, chill air and Maddeson found himself running towards it before he could stop himself. Despite his movement, it took him a moment to realise where the sound came from, where his body ran to without consulting his mind. A dark shape, half-in, half-out the water, a darker spread in the sea. He skittered to a stop at the water's edge long enough to see where the shape was, then splashed into the surf.

He didn't know what he was expecting. For it to be a seal, most likely. Only when he was up to his ankles in water did he realise it wasn't a wild animal at all: it was a person. It wasn't entirely blood that marred the sea: the hazy starlight showed him the ragged shape of a net spread across the water, criss-crossing blackness over shadow, with the person's leg trapped in the middle. As Maddeson reached their side they began to pull themself more firmly up the beach; dark stains streaked the sand as the tide ebbed out, washed away as it flowed back.

"Wait," Maddeson gasped, dropping to his knees in the water beside the leg. "Just let me—" He began working at the net, fighting with wet fingers to loosen some of the slippery knots and free the limb from the ropes that were sinking still further into the flesh. The leg twitched at every accidental contact — and why wouldn't it, as the ropes pulled free and fresh blood flowed into the sea? — but it was only a few moments longer before he'd untied enough to pull the netting down and over the bare foot and cast it away into the water.

When he turned back there was no-one there. Wet footsteps slapped over the sand, hesitating a short distance away. Maddeson felt the impression of a gaze on him, not heavy with judgement the way the villagers' was, but suspicious nonetheless: he stared through the chill mist at the figure and the figure stared back, barely visible but with eyes that glittered in the low light, before spinning on one heel and sprinting away into the sea.