Surface

Chapter 16 - Half Girl, Half Fish

The water was my home. There was no point where I ended and the water began. We were one.

I was swimming in the ocean, my home. But my home was isolating. There were no others in the water with me. I was completely and utterly alone. This was dangerous. Being and feeling alone was deadly.

It felt like an abyss of darkness that chilled my bones. There was no sense of direction as I let myself float along with the currents.

Looking down, I realized that my legs were bound together. No, I didn't have legs. I had a tail from the waist down with shiny, swamp green scales on them. For some reason, this didn't scare or surprise me. I was use to them.

The water around me started to scatter, mimicking the feeling of the vibration of sound. My head tilted towards the direction I thought was down and saw strongly built legs propelling themselves to the surface or at least they were attempting to.

Should I swim closer to get a better look? Was I even allowed to let humans know I existed?

I decided to just get a tad closer - just to sneak a peek.

My heart sunk to the ocean floor.

He was drowning. He was reaching with all his strength to get to the surface but the boy was about half a mile from the air. His skin was paling by the second, his face turning a sick blue. Blonde hair swirled around him, his white shirt flowing around him like wings trying to lift him up. The movements were slowing down as his muscles cramped, his lungs emptied, and his heartbeat faded.

I was watching the life leave his body. Watching him die.

And I could have done something about it. I could have saved him at the cost of making my presence known. All I had to do was reach out, bring him back to the surface.

I had made up my mind. I was going to save him, even if it meant changing everything he thought he knew about the world around him.

My tail moved in curvy motions, bringing me to him. My hands grasped him by his shirt, I would pull him up.

The sunlight was seeping through the water. It wasn't a far swim for me. I could feel its warmth. He'd make it.

He didn't react to my presence. He didn't flinch, he didn't scream.

His eyes were open and bloodshot but they weren't looking at me. They weren't looking at anything because I was too late. He was dead.

I shook his limp body, feeling a horrible aching pain manifest in my chest: Guilt. Overwhelming guilt that I couldn't handle.

"Wake up!" My voice was a high pitched shriek that should have sounded ugly and mournful but it came out in a melancholy musical note.

I pulled him closer and scanned his face with my sea blue eyes. He was familiar. I knew him.

He was Pete.

I let him drown.

"No!" The shriek continued to echo throughout the ocean, sending violent waves in every direction. A whirlpool formed around us, raging and disorienting.

"You can't die! Please! Wake up!"

My head fell off my hand and slammed onto the desk.

"Ouch!" Someone yelped at my side. "I only meant to wake you not give you a concussion." When my vision cleared up, I saw the guidance hovering over me and the whole class staring at me like I grew three heads.

"I-I'm sorry . . . I didn't mean to fall asleep in class." I rubbed my head and sat back feeling my cheeks redden.

"Its okay-" Mrs. Pillsbury began to say before she was interrupted by my history teacher.