Gemma

I can feel her. The soft caress of her marshmallow skin as she steps into me. The feeling of her toes on my sand tickles, and as she wades further, I can sense more of her.

Her name is Gemma Magdalene. By the age of her skin I can feel that she is the age of sixteen years. I climb around her head as she swims, and I can feel that she was born on the sixteenth day of the sixth month. But enough of that.

As she swims further, I can feel her essence. She is sweet. A kind and generous person. I can feel the inner vibrations of her soul. Her favorite number is 723. She likes the way it sounds. I can hear it repeating in her thoughts as I wrap myself around her ears.

Ah, now I know the reason for that particular number. It is not just the way it sounds. Her thoughts tell me that it means something more. A verse from a book called the Bible in something called Dan. Oh, what is that? It is a section of the Bible. Daniel, to be exact. The New Testament. Oh, I can hear the verse repeating in her head as she delves further into my velvety bliss....: "The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it."

I read these thoughts, and I see the city in her mind. It is a huge underwater city with lots of tall and shiny blue buildings and millions of people, with strange tails that remind me of the fish that often pass, whom her thoughts tells me are a species called "mers". This is the city of Atlantis as she sees it, but she can tell that it is not the kingdom previously described, although she likes to believe it is. This is what it reminds her of -- why she likes that number.

Slowly, as if hesitating, she stops and hovers in the water, her honey golden hair flowing in smooth streaks across my expanse of green, kicking her feet slowly as she enjoys the feeling of my underwater swells caressing her face. She opens her blue eyes and waves a pale hand at me, then smiles her peach pink lips, and slowly blows a kiss deep into the depths of my soul.

Then she begins to rise. She re-closes her eyes, and I can tell that it is because of the stinging pain of which I am giving her, but that I cannot help, no matter how I wish I could. I swirl meekly around her as she kicks up, higher and higher, until all I can see are the undersides of her shimmering golden feet kicking above my white sand.