Chapter 29 The Sea in Your Heart

Chapter 29 The Sea in Your Heart
She wasn't late, she was just anxious, and so she walked fast, as if shortening the distance to the mentioned place would finally let her finish with the promise that bound her to Jade in a romantic rather than moral way. She reached the other side of the beach and looked at the time. 9:36 pm, she finds herself waiting for Jade on the boardwalk for another 13 minutes or so. No one can know that Paula is there, and especially no one can see her with Jade.

Paula was very scared that night, she did not want to be discovered, although she has fed sharks and piranhas hundreds of times before, as a veterinarian she has all the permits along with the necessary licenses to work and handle wild, exotic species and marine animals, that night she felt very uncomfortable. She had never done it with a human corpse before.  Jade picked her up in the van at 9:45 p.m. Paula got in the passenger seat and Jade drove in silence. Looking at Jade, she felt somehow calmer, admiring the face of this beautiful woman who had driven her to madness. Although Jade did not know the address of the pond where Paula fed the fish and sea creatures, Paula gave directions on the GPS and Jade drove in silence. Arriving at their destination they both quietly got out of the jeep, Jade went to the back of the truck and with Paula's help pulled out the body wrapped in a black bag.

Jade, who remained coolly attentive to Paula's every sign, asked.

"Isn't it dangerous if the blood seeps out?" She asked Paula with her wild, beady eyes.

"No, it's frozen, it's been in the fridge all day." Paula assures him.

Then they both carried it, wrapped in one of those suitcases that Everth used to transport the dance costumes of the academy's students when they traveled to some competition in Costa Rica. In all, they used three costume carriers to wrap the body. Far from feeling guilty or on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Jade remained calm, thinking only that her heart and the man she loved were safe. Paula then led her to a small house built next to the pier that overlooked the main aquarium on the beach.

"Follow me, hurry."

"God, it weighs over 80 kilos."

"We can handle that weight, it's what we lift at the gym." Paula said, making a little joke in that tense moment.

"Be careful not to step on any turtle nests." Paula warned her. Jade stared at her and a wild, passionate feeling enveloped Paula from Jade's eyes.

"Thank you for helping me with this."

"Don't worry, I'm glad you're alive."

At that moment, they both looked at each other in silence.

They entered the aquarium and Paula turned on all the lights with one hand, then turned to Jade and helped her carry the body as they walked until they placed the body on a table.

"Very well." Paula said firmly. "It's time to feed the piranhas."

Then, without hesitation, she unwrapped the body and, with Jade's help, threw it into a pond where hundreds of piranhas swam, the aquarium allowing them to see all the fish through the glass, many of which were endangered animals or species being studied by marine biologists.  The piranhas immediately began to devour the body, and a few minutes later only the skeleton floated in the red water full of piranhas.

6 Months Earlier

The song of hummingbirds is heard and the wind buzzes in Jade's ears along with the song of songbirds, seagulls flying over the sea before the last warm rays of the sun are lost in the feathers on their wings. The silhouette of a woman's body glides to the edge of the beach where the waves lace the sand. The shadow moves and lengthens until it is reflected in the water caught on a rocky pebble, the silhouette of her body, along with her delicate, feminine face, framed by two tender, shining black eyes and thick, red lips like cherries under the trees.

Jade, a beautiful 26-year-old woman, dances barefoot on the stones, her white skin and curly black hair illuminated by the imposing moon and its silvery rays as the hours pass and night falls. Time seems to glide unchanged on the waves of the sea, while she dances and performs different movements in her hands, like a gypsy enchanting the night.

The foam of the sea reaches the shore of the beach. Jade turns, dances, and moves the bells that adorn her skirt. A hummingbird flies over the rocks and circles Jade's face, she smiles and follows the bird with her eyes, the flutter of its wings approaching the evil and reflecting the shadow like that of a cotton mop and a sharp beak on the water. Jade, sitting on the step of the rocks, washes her feet with the water trapped in a circle of stones, the sea splashes again and again and a small cliff of water is trapped where she washes her feet.

The night passes and the moon hides behind the clouds giving way to dawn, the sky begins to lighten with the rising sun of a new day.

Paula, an athletic and beautiful 30-year-old woman, stands in front of the beach, resting on two arms in a handstand, with her legs stretched out towards the sky, drawing the shape of a straight arrow. Paula stands on her head, carries all her weight on her stomach and shoulders in a somersault in the air, and lands on her feet. The sun pierces through the clouds, sending faint rays that illuminate Paula's face and pale skin. She covers her eyes by gently raising her hand to her forehead, clasping her fingers together to form a solid roof over her eyebrows, and glances toward the sea.

Paula takes a deep breath and her chest heaves, she sighs and sits in an Indian position on a yoga mat facing the sea.