Cerulean Cape Seven Matches

WC:1763. Lyrics from Gord Downie's "Seven Matches" from "Secret Path."
@Coelacanth @Stockholm @Six @Grayling @Koi just for reference <3

She gave me matches-
Seven little wooden matches;
She put them into a small, slim glass jar with a screw-top lid.

I fingered that jar,
I put it in my pocket;
She said can't go into the woods without them- I smiled at her and left. 

And I kept them dry....And as long as there were six, I'd be fine...
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The morning played out just like any other. As she woke, her mother was there to kiss her cheeks, and her father was there to lean against as she yawned and stretched against his side. Her brothers- so full of energy and life, had already bounded out into the open, snapping playfully at one another and letting their yips and barks echo throughout the labyrinth. Her sister was slower to wake than she, but still greeted her with affection despite her reluctance to rise. Patient, Thresher would wait- as she did every day- until everyone was awake and up, and ready to start the day, before she would pick her way carefully out into the open, squinting as the early morning light passed over the oceanside, reaching out into the waves and creeping inside the cave system that made their family’s home. It was secret, and it was quiet; and life on the island went, for the most part, without any remarkable events from one day to the next. The only place where danger could possibly lurk was at the land bridge- but so seldom was it that another wolf would wander across that Thresher had made the stretch of sand and rocks into a play area.

She made her way past the tide pools along the shore, choosing to meander along the coast which faced the mainland rather than the Western edge where all she could see was the expanse of the ocean. The breeze was fair, but didn’t hold any ominous promises, though as she listened, she heard something peculiar; something she had never heard before. The winds shifted slightly, and she flinched as suddenly, there was a resounding CRACK that filled the air. She looked back toward the island, figuring that something so loud had to have come from a branch snapping; but the wind wasn’t strong enough to break a branch hard enough to make that sound. She waited for a few moments, frozen on the spot as the waves crept up to her toes, but her patience eventually wore out, and she continued along the beach calmly, having almost forgotten about the sound, until-
CRACK

It happened again, making her whirl, tail tucked, and watching along the coast with wide eyes. It had come from the water, hadn’t it? This time, she was fairly certain that it wasn’t from the island, but from the water. An idea came to her, and calmed her mind as she began to search her gaze over the deeper waters, rather than along the shore. Perhaps it had been a whale, slapping its fluke against the water. She had seen the humpbacks doing that- as they made such a wonderful show in the summertime, when the capelin rolled in along the shores, leaving food for birds, fish, whales and wolves alike. She didn’t see any signs of blow or fins, but resolved that it must have been a whale to make that loud of a sound. They could be hard to spot sometimes, this she knew. She would sometimes hear the sound of blow, as they exhaled a fine mist of water and air sharply, but they would disappear below the surface before she was even able to catch sight of their dorsal fin. It was just a whale, she told herself; and whales were beautiful creatures. To be admired at a distance, for sure- but beautiful nonetheless.

She made her way down toward the land bridge where she’d been spending a fair amount of time recently, leaving behind a small set of perfect footprints which would likely later lead those she loved on a search for her, but as soon as she breached the border between island and land bridge, her tracks would eventually be consumed and washed away by the raging waves that would gouge at the landbridge, shaping its path slightly, and erasing all trace that Thresher had made her way across. Until then, though, she was content to chase hermit crabs this way and that, and was even able to catch herself two crabs to eat. Seafood was a delight for her, especially crab meat. She’d gotten quite good at sneaking up on them and bounding around to their back side where she could get a god hold on them and crack her teeth through their shell, and had clever, quick jaws to disarm their powerful pinchers. She felt strong and free and happy, but had wandered nearly to the coast by the time she heard the sound again.

CRACK.

And again.

CRACK.

She looked out for any sign of whales and noticed only now that the waves had begun to reach up into the air in an odd way she hadn’t seen before. They crashed into watery shards against the rocks, and to her horror, she noticed that the waves that slapped against the rocks of the landbridge now arced and fell upon it, covering it completely before drawing back and slapping at the landbridge again. CRACK. It was the waves making that sound, and it was the sound of a whip that she heard, though she had never seen or heard one before. This wasn’t the same woody crack a branch would make when it broke; this was the sound that water made when it crashed with tremendous force against stone. She’d gone too far- but her instinct made her make a dash not toward the mainland that was so close to her, but to the landbridge and to her home that lay suddenly so far away across the ocean.

Had she stopped to process the frequency of the massive waves, she might have realized that there was no way she could make it across the landbridge without being thrashed by wave after wave. Ahead of her she saw a ridge of water approach the landbridge and rear its frothy head up above the rocks and lean over, falling down upon the landbridge and making it disappear from view altogether. This was a broad wave that stretched toward her, so when it reached her area she shoved herself against the stones hoping they would protect her, and she held her breath as the water came crashing down upon her. This was the tail-end of a wave, and she survived it without being budged. But now the footing was loose and the ground was wet, and she made a mad scramble to break past the next approaching wave, and felt the air draw past her toward it, racing up from beneath her as it drew the wave high above her head and only at the last minute did she give up and smash herself desperately against the rocks once more- only to find that the water fell and tore her away from it before she could find shelter by bracing herself.



Her legs were washing out from under her and the water surged forward, carrying her over the land bridge and out into the ocean a few metres- until she could feel the sand beneath her. She tried to stand up, but the water was sucking back, pulling her out, and getting lower and lower...Which only meant one thing. Hopelessly, she looked up just in time to see the shadow of yet another wave- this time, approaching from the opposite side- hover over her before it plucked her from the sand and engulfed her. She pedaled as much as she could- and she was a strong swimmer- but her small body was smashed against the rocks of the landbridge and left there as the water pulled away again, coughing and spluttering. She heaved, trying to pull in a breath but the wind had been knocked out of her. She stood wearily, and began to move yet again toward her home, until a wave crashed before her, splashing her with foam and sending her staggering until she collided with a stone, cracking the side of her temple against its hard, wet side. She was dazed and weak on her feet, but she somehow managed to do what she was supposed to do. That one had merely been a warning- and though she could hardly breathe, she got the hint. She turned, and tried to draw in breath, but it was like trying to pull in a terrified breath through a tiny straw. She bolted, heading for the mainland, but would hear the thunderous, roaring sound- the same CRACK as before, but stretched out as the wave crashed behind her, catching up with her in an instant and sending her flinging forward upon the water.

When the wave pulled away, she was left quite near the shore, soaked through to her skin and still heaving, trying to pull in the air that had been knocked out of her. Shock held her in a state of shivering and spluttering, and she slowly crawled further away from the water and onto the beach past where the waterline was, past where thin, bleached and smoothe limbs of driftwood gathered. She pulled herself to safety, and tucked herself into a small nook alongside a large piece of driftwood where she was protected from the storm. She closed her eyes and concentrated only on breathing while the high winds raged around her, wishing it would just all go away, and that she would wake up back in her underground home in the labyrinth on the island. Her ribs ached from where she had been slapped against the rocks as though she’d been no more than a plaything for the waves, and a small trickle of blood ran down her left temple, trickling past her eye, past the corner of her lip and down along her jaw. She was too tired and in shock to notice, and she’d buried her nose under her wet tail, which she’d wrapped around her feet until its feathered tip touched her forehead. Shivering, dejected and exhausted, she remained curled where she was and quickly succumbed to a deep slumber against the soft, pale wood that arched around her almost protectively. For the first time, it seemed that the ocean had turned against her, and the land had warmed to embrace her. She wouldn’t notice for hours, yet; for now, she had drifted off to a place where no waves could toss her about, and where she dreamt of playful whales breaching in the bay. Her breath returned to normal, and her eyes slid this way and that beneath her eyelids as she dreamed vivid, but gentle dreams.

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...As long as there were five matches in that jar.