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The smell of salt was so thick that Ariel could almost taste it. Despite the warm sunlight beating down her back, Ariel shivered. A sudden rain had descended the night before, sending the ocean into a frenzy. She'd sat atop her bedroom's balcony watching the waves crash against the shore, each new one far larger than the last. Even if she were to suddenly kiss her dreams, if not Eric, goodbye, she couldn't imagine the raging waters accepting her back.
Other than a few fallen tree limbs, last night's storm was now nothing but a memory. Glistening waves lapped lazily against the shore. Yet though Ariel took a few shaky steps towards the ocean as the waves retreated, her bare feet sinking into the wet sand, she hurried like a mouse from a cat whenever the tide again pushed forward. The water's icy fingers, once so familiar that they might as well have been one of her own limbs, now clawed greedily at her feet and ankles - as though it were curious about her newfound appendages. She stumbled back, her feet nearly falling out from under her, to escape the water's grasp.
Ariel panted, hearing nothing but the sound of air passing through her throat. The waves beat on. She kept walking backwards, giving herself as much space as she could away from the place she had once called home.