A Lost Keychain

Caily looked up from her spot on the rocks, up to the bright azure sky, while the navy-colored sea rolled greedily at her ankles. She watched as the few clouds that were in view drifted languidly through the sky. They were white and fluffy, reminding Caily of the cotton candy that Touto and her had tried on the pier earlier in the day. She couldn’t help the smile that arose at remembering the fond memory. The two girls had met up earlier for an outing at the pier. Caily had wanted to spend some time on land, but she was too anxious to go alone. When she had mentioned her predicament to her friend, the sailor had offered to go with her. “It’s been a while since I’ve been on land, and I know a great board walk!” Touto had said, and Caily had been quick to accept the offer.

They had spent all morning walking around, enjoying the boardwalk’s views, taste testing the food, and window shopping through the stores. In one of the stores they had visited, the two Marighouls had even found some merchandise from an anime they had watched together. After some discussion, the two ghosts had decided to buy a keychain each, as a way to commemorate their little outing.

Caily looked down to said charm, holding it gently in her hand. She had decided to go with a keychain of a purple haired girl with curled, flowing hair. The girl sported a moon themed magical girl outfit with a wand and a meek pose. Touto had decided to go with a different character, a pink headed girl with a braid. While Caily’s had a more princess like attire, Touto’s reminded her of something along the lines of fairy’s. Full of ribbons and flowers and sparkles.

Caily smiled at the thought. She was skeptical when Touto had first come to her wanting to watch the show. Not that Caily disliked anime or magical girl themed things, rather, it was Touto’s description of the show that had her wary. A dark story about obsession and toxicity masquerading as a friendship-centric, cute show about fighting cute monsters. Despite being dead herself, Caily was never a fan of horror. It was something she probably would have never watched on her own, but somehow, Touto had made it a fun and memorable experience that she wouldn’t trade for the world. Touto was just like that, she made everything fun.

Caught in her daydreaming, Caily didn’t notice the wind and waves picking up until they had already ripped the keychain from her hands. Snapping out of her thoughts, Caily gasped in horror as the charm sank into the deep sea. ‘No no no no no – I - oh no I can’t just lose it!!!’ Caily thought in a panic as she dived down into the ultramarine abyss.

Luckily, Marighouls had good underwater vision, so seeing on the dark water was no problem at all for her. Unfortunately, the water was always quick to drag things around, and spotting such a minuscule thing in such an infinite void was easier said than done. Caily’s rising panic wasn’t helping either, as she looked around frantically. The charm was nowhere in sight, and Caily could feel her breathing start to pick up, slowly becoming suffocating. “No, no, breathe.” She reminded herself, trying to calm her racing breath. After taking a quick moment to calm down, she set to work searching for her missing keychain. After some inspection, the undead realized that the water near her was racing downward, pulling everything lower with it. The keychain had probably been pulled down. Letting the water pull her further under, Caily couldn’t help but berate herself for losing such an important thing, “Stupid, so stupid, you always make mistakes like this.”

As she reached the ocean floor, she couldn’t help but feel disheartened. On the way down she had searched as best she could, but to no avail yet. “It HAS to be somewhere around here. It wouldn’t have just vanished…. unless…. a fish ate it…” Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and halt the rising anxiety, Caily blinked a few times to adjust her vision to the darkness of the seafloor. Considering how far some of the sea floor could be, she realistically wasn’t that far down, yet the sun still only provided a dim light to the sandy floor. As her eyes finally brought everything into view clearly, she was surprised to find a shipwreck only a few feet away. Maybe the missing charm was there?

Gliding through the water and onto the deck, Caily couldn’t help but look at the towering mast. Though broken, it was still quite the enchanting sight. The sunshine peaked through the dark waves like streams of sunlight through an inky azure forest. The broken mast cutting through the blue leaves like a sword atop a hill, strong, striking, and unwavered by the passage of time. Caily marveled at the sight. Remembering her original reason for boarding, she shook her head and focused on her task.

Focusing was easier said than down though, as Caily couldn’t help but get distracted as she searched the sunken ship. It was old and covered with algae. There was a fair-sized hole that Caily could easily slip through on the vessels hull, no doubt the reason for its sinking. It was also a good size, easily able to fit a crew of at least 10. Through the oceans wear and tear, Caily could still tell it had been a beautiful ship. With golden trims and intricately carved designs in the now rotting handrails, doors, and hallways. She couldn’t help but wonder who the ship had belonged to and where had the crew ended up after it’s fall. Upon finding a treasure chest in the captain quarters, the ghost couldn’t help but humor the thought of the ship once belonging to pirates.

 The chest was large enough to be a dresser, with delicate and swirling carvings now covered in barnacles and algae. Curious as to what secrets the chest held, Caily tried to pry it open. To no avail though, as the container was set on keeping its secrets lost under the pressure of the ocean and time. Not dissuaded by the resistance, Caily adjusted herself to gain a better grip on the trunks top, pulling up will all her might. She was sent flying upwards as the thing finally gave way and laid its contents bare for her to see. More algae had made a home for itself inside, as well as a small sea slug. Caily gave the creature a small wave before something glimmering caught her eye. Reaching down into the chest and clearing some of the underwater moss away, Caily pulled a small metal medallion out of the trunk. Despite the pendant being trapped under the waves for an undoubtedly long time, it had kept its golden color. ‘Probably real gold.’ Caily’s mind supplied.  Wiping some of the remaining moss and bringing it out onto the deck, the ghost took a closer look at the jewelry. It was round and smooth with intricate engravings on it. It spiraled around into a scenery of a frog sitting on a flowering lily pad.

At the sight of the carved frog, Caily couldn’t helped but think of her friend Maz. Maz almost always had a beanie of the amphibious creature atop her head, and with the lily pads and cattails that erupted from her watery mane, Caily had always thought that the hat suited her. Caily frowned as she realized that it had been a while since she had seen her friend. Maz could be a lot to handle, with her boundless energy and erratic nature, but Caily had always loved that about her. It got her outside of her own head and inspired her to try new things. Maybe she would use the pendant she had just found as an excuse to visit Maz. After she was finished with her current task, that was.

Her task? What WAS she doing again? Caily tilted her head to the side, trying to remember why she was down here in the first place. It was for something important. “A gift for Maz.” Caily said aloud to no-one. “A gift… gift? The keychain!” Caily gasped as she remembered. During her exploring, she hadn’t found any sign of the charm. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here... It’s probably long gone by now…’ Caily thought as she sat down in defeat on the ships railing. The charm was supposed to be a special souvenir from her and Touto’s outing, how could she lose it, and not even half a day after receiving it.

She felt pathetic as she began weeping into her hands. Touto was forgiving and would probably understand that Caily hadn’t mean to lose it, but that still didn’t stop the pain welling up inside her chest. Self-deprecating thoughts raced through Caily’s head as sat there, alone on old and rotting ship. The once beautiful and freeing view of the ocean above now felt suffocating and claustrophobic. As if the dark waters were coiling around her and trapping her in place. Caily cryed into the inky abyss as it closed in on her, “How could I have lost it! I’m really not good at anything!” Caily began to feel her throat tightening up as sobbed, with the cold and constricting shadows her only company.

Suddenly, something cold and smooth touched Caily’s hand. Jolting upwards and pulling her hands from her faced, she stared wide eyed at a school of fish who eyed her warily. Slowly surrounding her, they encompassed her in a calming pressure as they rubbed against her grey skin, trying to comfort her. Caily appreciated the company, and slowly she began to calm down in their embrace.

After taking a few minutes just breathe, Caily finally spoke to her new fish companions, “Thank you so much, and sorry for bothering you like that. It’s just hard to keep calm when you lose something important.” At the fish’s confusion and curiosity, she continued, “You see, earlier today I went on a trip with my friend, and we got matching keychains. But, when I was on the water’s surface, my keychain slipped out of hand and fell into the water. And I can’t find it anywhere!” The ghost struggled to keep from crying again as she told the fish of her mistake, sorrow once again filling her.

In response to Caily’s story, the fish distanced themselves a bit from the undead and huddled into a circle as if conversing, before swimming back towards her. They looked at her curiously again, swimming around her before darting off in different directions, then quickly swimming back. Caily tilted her head in confusion, trying to figure out what they were trying to communicate, before a thought suddenly appeared in her head. “Do you want to help me find it?” she asked. After receiving what she thought to be a yes from the school, she couldn’t help but let out a sad chuckle, “I’ve been searching this ship for a while. It’s probably long gone already, taken by the ocean’s waves.” Not to be dissuaded, the fish continued to look at her expectantly.

At the waiting eyes of the fish, Caily couldn’t help the small smile that made its way onto her lips. “Gosh, if you all look at me like that…What can I do but take you up on your offer. Thank you so much.” She took a moment to think about the charm before continuing on, “It’s um, it’s a small keychain, it fit into my palm easily. It looks like a small human with purple hair and a black and purple dress with white lace. And she uh, has a wand in her hands. It has a crescent moon on one end of it.” As she finished, the school slowly swam around her in thought, before one of them quickly darted of to her left. The others quickly followed, leaving Caily scrambling to catch up. After a small but speedy swim, Caily saw the school of fish swimming tightly around an area in the sand. As she approached, the fish dispersed a bit to let her through.

Stepping onto the gritty floor, Caily slowly knelt down to take a better look at the spot the fish surrounded. There, partially covered by sand and shadow, sat Caily’s keychain. She gasped and quickly grabbed in the charm, tightly wrapping her oversized hands around it. “Th-thank you s-so mu-much!! This-this is it! My-my keychain!” Caily managed to squeeze out through relived sobs. The fish around her came in close for a makeshift hug as she felt a waterfall of relief wash over her.

After taking sometime to once again calm down, Caily thanked the school again for their help as they departed off on their way. After sending the school off, Caily collapsed onto the ocean floor, feeling lost and exhausted with all emotions she went through in such a short amount of time. She looked to over to her right, where the shipwreck sat in all it’s quite glory, marveling at it once again. The water around them had begun to turn a muddy mixture of fire orange and midnight blue, a telltale sign of the sun starting to set above her. As the open ocean stood vast and proud, consuming all in its grip, there, stood in mock defiance of it, was the shipwreck. Though rotting and covered in algae, it stood strong against the harsh ocean waves, no doubt reminiscent of how it fought against them when it had sailed. It really was an awe-striking view, and Caily couldn’t help but revel in it as she rested.

It wasn’t until long after, as the sea waters turned a near black and moon had taken the suns place in the sky, that Caily finally got up from the gritty ocean floor and made her way to the surface. Breaking through the darkness and out into the night sky, the ghost took a deep, calming breathe as she took in the shining night sky. She stayed there for a while more, floating lazily as the waves lapped at her, simply staring up into the sky. It had been a long day, and she was more than ready to go home. After taking her fill of the scattered stars, she finally looked down into her hands. She held in them the keychain she had gotten with Touto, and the golden medallion she wanted to gift Maz. That, however, could wait until tomorrow. Caily began her swim home under the midnight sky littered with pale and twinkling specks.