Sleeping Woman, Scarlet Sea

I see her in the distance surrounded by the red. She rests under translucent covers of stars. A ravine curls around a far-off island where the woman sleeps. We stand on rocky cliffs overlooking the red. Women from earth are so guarded, you’d never find one sleeping naked out in the open like this. She has auburn red hair that folds into dazzling surreal shapes, like a gentle breeze pushing a cloud across the sky. The images in her hair form at her scalp and then travel downwards until becoming disfigured like a grand wave crashing into foamy nonexistence. She’s impressive, not just for her beauty, but for her scale. The curves of her body loom in the distance like a mountain range, intimidatingly beautiful, tempting to climb.

The men point and talk about her, disgusting words spit from their pallid tongues. I hope she cannot hear their filthy lustful comments. 

Black serpents slide between the jagged rocks where we stand. One serpent cautiously raises its head, poking just slightly above the hole. A man’s heel crushes it.

“Let’s get closer” the man says gruffly. “Watch out, they are probably venomous,” says another.

“I want to get a better look at her,” says the snake-stepping man. I remain quiet, I usually do. I want to get closer too. I want to softly warn her of our presence so not to startle her. She sleeps so peacefully. 

“How are we supposed to get closer?” one man asks. “We swim,” says another. “But we don’t know of the water is safe,” says the first man who crushed the snake. “I don’t think it’s water,” I say. They ignore me as usual. 

The third man bends over to observe it. The second man dips his finger in it. The first man tastes it and gags. 

“It’s blood.” I said. His eyes are on fire, but he resents me so much he doesn’t dare look at me. He cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, “WAKE UP.” She doesn’t stir. “This giant woman is dead and all bled out,” he says. 

“She isn’t dead,” I say quietly. “She’s sleeping.” The first man submerges himself in the red and swims toward her. The two other men dive in after him. 

The men make it to the other side, on the shore, where she sleeps. I watch, tensing my fingers as they touch her. At first they touch her lightly, afraid too at the chance of her waking. Maybe she’ll be angry. She could destroy them with ease, faster than the first man who crushed the snake with his heel. They become angry at her idleness. They begin pulling out strands of her hair. They kick her. They throw rocks at her. 

“She’s dead, she’s dead!” They cry.

I shriek for the men to stop hurting the sleeping woman, but they can’t hear me. They won’t hear me. Suddenly I notice the serpents slithering up from their cavities in the rocks. They hush me to silence. I listen.

More of the serpents emerge from the ground and from the depths of the red. The three men yell and cry out. Soon so many of the snakes entangle the terrified men that they cannot be seen, only heard. 

Then it is silent and serene again.

The serpents glide back to their crevices, down beneath the deep red. There is nothing left of the men. In fact, the only remnant of the earth men is a pool of their own red.

Suddenly the woman opens her eyes. They are as glowing as the sun. She laughs and softly opens her hand for me to join her in her slumber. I do join her. I cannot sleep though because I cannot stop watching her. I don’t want more visitors to hurt her. I want to protect her. She cradles me and tells me not to fear them. “But you’re bleeding!” “My blood does not weaken me. It only weakens man.”