Anita stared at the water lapping gently around her knees, her chocolate skin glistening in the clear water. Somehow she was pulled here yet again by an invisible rope that had latched around her wrist and dragged her here. There was only ocean and the thick sheet of fog that surrounded the island like some sort of wall. We don't know what's out there and out there probably doesn't know that we exist because anyone who dares to break the curtain of condensation never comes back alive. Anita considered the clear water again, it’s so painstakingly pristine and beautiful, and she knew she had nothing to complain about. Her island has everything that could be asked for. She has a place among plenty of skilled warriors and amazing hunters that always get the fattest fish so there is always a good feed. She has a comfy hut, weaved from grass and animal skin that keeps her warm at night. She has an island with hard to reach places and so many things to keep her busy but somehow, she always ended up here, in this very spot.

 Anita tucked her shoulder length hair behind her ear. The dark strands of hair moving with a scratchy noise from the salt of her swim that morning. Her name –Anita­­­– meant water meant “water breather”; it made sense to why she always ended up in the place that her tribe said she didn't belong. Today she didn't dare go any deeper. Other days she wouldn't have cared, waded into the water and submerged herself, transporting her instantly to another dimension that was always open but Anita didn't fully believe it existed until she dived in, and even then it seemed surreal the moment she broke the surface.

 Her village was preparing dinner from the days gatherings, fish and some nuts, so nobody was at the beach to watch her as she turned herself away, stepped back onto the sandy shore with slow, stiff movements.  It was like a tall tree being bent by strong winds. It does not want to obey the winds commands but nobody disobeys the wind so it's only option is to bend.

 Anita looked back at the fog. Why does nobody question why it's there, and why doesn't anybody go outside of it? Surely someone would have been outside and survived, right?

Her thoughts were obscured by the sudden desire to stick her foot back in the water. It was like the urge that usually got her to this very same spot. She tentatively moved her foot close to the wave when something strange happened. What the-

“Anita! Foods ready!”

Her mother called from somewhere up the beach. It completely snapped her from the trance. Did my foot just do that? It went completely see through but it felt normal, like my skin wasn’t there – it turned into water.

“ANITA! Come on, tuckers getting cold.”

Her Mother’s voice echoed eerily into the cavern of her ears. Anita walked up the beach trying to ignore the nagging questions that nipped at the edges of her ears like a pack of hungry dogs.

                                                                     ~

The stars were sprinkled so delicately that night. They were outshone by the bright sphere in the sky that seemed bigger and closer today than it ever did. The dark sloshing of the waves unfurled themselves onto the sand. It was the only thing that seemed to calm the rapid beating of Anita’s heart. The moment felt electric as she dipped her toes back into the water and they blended into the waves perfectly. With a stiff sigh she put her whole foot onto the surface and instead of feeling the squishy sand all she felt was a coolness race up her leg.

It was something Anita probably should fear, the water becoming part of her being.

But she wasn’t, not in the slightest. The liquid run its slippery body all the way up Anita’s body as she stepped out further into the ocean. The feeling that suddenly flooded into her made her feel whole, like a part of her was missing – a life full of holes now full.

By now Anita had reached the middle of the reefs and stood admiring her body now made of the salty clear water. The world around her was captivating, but curiosity could not be quenched by the desire to walk the ocean like this until sunrise. With grace she walked up to the fog and paused at the edge. It almost felt wrong but it also felt right, the kind of right that sits deep in your joints and forces you to move on will alone. So with that Anita stepped through the curtain that blocked the outside world.

It was nothing like she had expected of broad ocean and nothingness.

Instead it was ugly, bleak and dirty.

The sky was dark, there was no ocean and no fish. It was only a floating disgusting thing, but that wasn’t the worst of it. There was so much ugly noise. No birdsong, no laughter, no song, no music. It was screaming and wailing and crunching and grinding.

The fog had been protecting the island all this time. It wasn’t a cage; it was a barrier that sheltered the island.

Now Anita would do the same. It was a good thing the villagers had their stories to keep rules and traditions alive for future generations.

No going outside the fog. We have all we need here.

An island with hard to reach places, an island that provides us with colour and animals and water to drink; it provides us with a family, a tribe, an ocean and me. Who will shield us from the outside world?

“I will – I am now a water god,” Anita’s final thoughts envelop her as she becomes one with the ocean.