Now I Must Go

“Now I must go,” she whispered out towards the black bay and distant lights beyond.
He felt her hand harden into resolve, and then she slipped away from him, slipped down the rocks and into the invisible waves with hardly a splash.
For hours he stood gazing out into the bodiless night. He imagined her soft stroke as she glided through the long, arctic waves. He imagined the blue dress clinging to her as she felt her way up the rocky shore beneath the distant town.
Eventually the bitter daylight came and froze him, and he knew she still swam.