To those who care, this is Calypso Anni Silversmith, the lonely weird girl who lives on a beach. Except that there's nothing weird about me. I lost my parents when I was young and my grandmother took me in. She passed a couple years ago leaving the house and all the family knowledge to me. It almost seems like I am living the mythical curse of my namesake.
Pale like a ghost, a non-existent waist and known to villagers as little girl. That seems to be a part of my curse along with never being able to leave this dreadful island. The place isn't too bad on its own. Crystal clear beaches, pretty fishes to look at, endless hours in the sun and swim whenever you like. But all the pleasure in life gets monotonous in life after a while now, doesn't it.
So about the mythical curse that I was talking of, the islanders say that there was once a family here with two sisters Circe and Calypso. Circe was a lovely sister although she could be a pain sometimes and the parents let them run wild and taught them all about the herbs, potions and spells that you could think of.
But then Circe always wanted more than she could have. With her charm and beauty she could seduce men and gods alike. When the sea-god, Glaucus came to seek her for a love potion that he could give to Scylla a maiden he had hopelessly fallen for so the guy could finally get him to love her, she didn't spare him too.
She fell for him and later when he rejected her advances, enraged she poisoned the water that Scylla used to usually bathe in. Trust elder sisters to do something like that!
Scylla turned into a monster (of course), cursed her with a life of eternal suffering but also said that anyone in her family won't be able to leave the island until someone who truly loves them will sacrifices themselves. She died in a few decades with painful warts looking like the grandma you must have seen in Howl's moving castle and that's the story every grandma tells their children here.
And after my truly very long and lonely existence, I have figured out that I have no way of getting out of here, kinda like Calypso. It's not like there haven't been men. There have been loads of utterly terrible, horrible men. You name them, I've had them, be it pirates, merchants or the wandering seafarers. Men, I have realised, Gods or not are pretty much a disappointment.
Now, I just spend my days brewing medicines for the townsfolk , reading books, sailing and sitting with the wind at the beach. It sounds like a lonely existence but I have a few friends who come and visit me often, sometimes to get one of my concoctions but more often so that we can talk and watch the sunsets from the lighthouse together.
Through all of this you'd have realized that I absolutely never get visitors and so I was pretty shocked to notice someone lying on the beach during one of my morning strolls. It was only when I got closer that I realised what a state he was in.
Completely drenched from top to bottom, matted hair, very well defined and sinewy muscles ewww… don't think of that right now. The poor man is probably already dead.
I hurry along, sit beside him and turn him around. After some struggling (yes, I should be in better shape but girls like me are not known to be fitness freaks!) and more huffing and puffing, I turn him around and my breath is caught for a second. I think I get Circe now because in all my years of existence, I have never seen quite a spectacular unconscious man. Please let him not be dead, o mother Hecate:)
I quickly check for a pulse and almost can't catch it as it is barely there. Now, I know modern medicine and hospitals would be able to do zilch in this case but lucky for this guy. He has landed on my doorstep.
I conjure up all my strength and start dragging him towards the cliff to my modest cottage and given that my physical prowess is not one the skills bestowed upon, I struggle on every step. I eventually manage to drag this beast of a man to my home.
Nobody ever tells you how heavy these six foot five inch tall beasts are. It seems like my lungs are on fire by the time I am able to drag him to the bed in my sister's room.
As soon as I lay him on the bed, I hear the sound of a soft purr almost like a puppy who's hurt. Knowing the island has no dogs or any of the other land animals and it was probably my old brain playing tricks on me again, I start to check up on my human stranger. Let's call him that for now.
He looks like he needs something to help with all the sea water that he must have stomached throughout the journey. I quickly get to work and after tending to him for a while, leave him to get some rest for a while, going out to check up on my plants.
The weather is clear after the storm that we had last night and there is a mild breeze. The pennywort seems to be thriving, I would have to mulch it for some of my concoctions soon.
My garden gives me pace but even though I am out here, all I can think of is the handsome man lying in my house. What could he be doing in the sea on such a night.
Have I saved someone who had been meaning to kill themselves and why would someone like him want to die with all the youth and beauty in the world. Well, nice joke Anni, people could say the same about you.
Let's not think too much. He must be waking up anytime now. I walk back up to the house and notice a strange smell as soon as I enter. I walk up to the bed only to find the man already stirring a little and then he opens his eyes. And oh golly! they are entirely iridiscently turquoise, the colour of the sea that I have come to love. Right then, I knew these were the eyes that were going to haunt me in my dreams and that is if I ever get a wink of sleep after seeing them now. Oh Anni! stop behaving like this is the first man that you have ever laid eyes on.
After regaining my composure, with some apparent difficulty I might add, all I could get out of my mouth was- " Oh! you up?" Damn you! stupid, old, geezer brain. After a brief moment of silence, he answers - "It seems so" with a chuckle that shows off a tiny dimple on his left cheek. If the velvety voice is not, that slight supposed imperfection on his face would definitely be the death if I wasn't cursed already.
Pulling my mind back to the stranger in front of me, I say- "Now that you're no longer sprawled on my bed, I need answers beginning with- Is getting tossed around in the sea on a stormy night your idea of fun?!!".