I swam as far from the beach as I dared. The ocean was drenched in sunlight. I floated adrift, feeling free, until electric prickles seared up my limbs.
Turning my head, I saw the water swarming with cellophane forms. They looked so delicate. So harmless. I reached out to them. Feathery tendrils wrapped around my arms and legs. The pain turned me translucent. I became atoms on the surface of the water.
My rescuers told me I was lucky. The amount of venom in my blood should have killed me. But they don’t understand.
I brought death back with me.
By Antonia Rachel Ward
First published in Oceans: A Dark Microfiction Anthology by Black Hare Press, April 2020.