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IT’S DARK DOWN HERE, but something about the darkness feels familiar. My boots are dragging me down and I let my arms float to the side as gravity pulls down at me. I don’t want to look down. I don’t want to look up, either; it will call me back to the surface. So, I look straight ahead.
I don’t know why I did this, why I jumped in, but I knew if I did I would sink. Somehow, I knew my boots would yank me down as if they had already done so before though I never reached the bottom.
The bottom. It’s where I feel like I belong. I have no family, have never been in love, and I just broke a guy out of prison because, if I’m honest with myself, there is an itty-bitty place in my heart that wishes he was a merman who needed my help, which is lunacy.
Ridiculous. I’m ridiculous. Wherever my parents are, I belong with them. I know it. I’ve felt it my whole life. Aunt Cora even said so. “Earth is to water as water is to earth,” she used to say. “Let yourself soak in the pleasure of the sea.”
So, I belong down here, except I’m not just going to soak; I’m going to drown or...be eaten!
Straight ahead, I swear I see something move. My heart starts pounding and I feel like I need to breathe as something is coming straight at me. It looks like it’s picking up speed as it glides towards me in a side-to-side motion.
Holy fuck! I can barely see the whole thing, but I do see the inside of its jaws strewn with hundreds of jagged teeth coming to gnaw on me!
I kick my legs and try to scream, but I only end up gulping water. I keep kicking and my heart is throbbing; I need air so bad. I’m going to die.
The mouth of a shark opens wide and I stop to face my death. I pray the pain will be over quickly, but then I feel a yank on my arm.
My head and legs jerk wildly in the water and I feel the scrape of the shark’s back fin across my legs. My arm is gripped tight by someone’s hand pulling me, but I’m more worried about the fact I can’t breathe. I grab my throat and kick my legs as hard as I can—the shark is coming back.
The hand gripping me lets go and I see its connected to the arm of a man with an enormous fishtail. The man swims head on towards the shark and punches it.
I swallow more water as the man punches the shark again, which seems to stun the massive devourer. With one flick of his fishtail, the man swims towards me and grabs my arm again. He pulls me swiftly into the deep. I feel like we are racing so fast, I can’t keep my eyes open so I close them.
As fast as we are going, my heart is slowing. The shark didn’t get me, but I’m still going to die. I swallow more water and the hand guides me into a structure of some sort as I hit my boot on the rim of the opening, which hurts, but I don’t care. I pull the hand that is gripping me, pulling me, and I really feel like I’m at the end of my rope. I need air!
The man comes behind me and lunges me upward above water and I can breathe.
As I come crashing back down into the water, the man takes my hand and leads it to grip on something over the surface of the seawater. I pull myself up and take a big breath. Water gets stuck at the back of my throat and I cough. I take another big breath as my heart pounds again, trying to absorb the oxygen it was desperate for.
Wiping my eyes with one hand, I realize I’m in the dark. I cough again and the sound of my hacking hits a few walls and echoes back into my ears. I’m in a room of some type. I wait for a few minutes, but nothing stirs except the sound of ocean water knocking.
“Hello?” I call out except I’m not sure I should be saying anything. Perhaps I should not be trying to attract any attention—especially not from anything that might try to consume me.
It’s pitch black and I have no idea which way is out. I’m dangling in the water, my boots still trying to pull me down, but my head is able to stay above the surface as long as I hang onto what feels like a beam. I reach up to grab the beam with my other hand and listen intently.
The rhythmic plopping of droplets resounds as ocean water continues to knock against the walls of the underwater space. I’m not sure what I am in—an old ship perhaps, but it’s so dark I’m more afraid right now than when I first jumped off the boat.
“Hello?” I call out softly once more and hear a small splash. “Who’s there?” I ask with a quiver. I recall the man who came to my rescue and punched the shark. Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen that made me imagine he had a fishtail.
A light below the surface of the water comes into view. It’s a fish with another one right behind it and the room begins to glow. I’m relieved to have some light until I see a shadow underwater at the corner of the room not more than ten feet away moving towards me. It could be another shark ready to eat me or it could be the strange creature that is half a man that brought me here to be its next meal.
It pops its head out—it’s Blue.
At least, I think its Blue. It has Blue’s face, but when I look down, he has the tail of a fish.
I sigh. Why am I not surprised?
“This isn’t fair,” I tell him. Blue squints and cocks his head. “I was beginning to like the wheelchair and now I have to get used to the idea of you with a fishtail, instead.”
Blue smiles that big beautiful smile of his and it lights up the whole underwater chamber.
“You still can’t talk?” I ask.
He shakes his head.
“Did you jump in after me?”
Yes, he nods.
“And your tail grew back?”
Yes, he nods again and reaches out to touch my cheek with his thumb. The feeling is comforting and I wonder if he has any kind of mystical power, which he might later try to use on me to seduce me like sirens so he can eat me—or so I’ve been told.
“Are you planning to turn me into a meal?” I ask and Blue slaps the water and rolls his eyes so far up into his head it makes me feel silly for asking. “It was a fair question,” I say and he chuckles. “Are you magical?” I ask.
Blue’s eyebrows crinkle at the center. He’s thinking hard about it, but then he points to me.
“Me?” I question with a chuckle. “You think I’m magical?”
Blue nods and I laugh so loud, the vibration bounces off the walls in every direction until Blue wraps his hand around the back of my neck and kisses me.
The wet surprise of his lips on mine forces me to let go of the beam I’m holding and I fall into the water. I’m waving my arms wildly, but Blue grabs a hold of them, pulling me up, and helping me to reach the beam with both hands so I’m dangling again with my head just above the water.
Blue moves my wet hair out of my face. “You can’t do that!” I blurt and wipe my face with one hand. “You can’t surprise me like that.”
Blue bites his lip, bows his head, and floats backward. This action surprises me, too; I don’t want him to be so far away.
I speak softly. “I meant you can’t keep scaring me.”
The space between his brows crinkles again. He’s confused and floats even farther away. The distance pulls at my heartstrings—I want him closer.
“Blue,” I say in all seriousness, trying to get a grip on the fact that I’m attracted to him, “you looked like you were about to attack me in the hospital. Then you took a dive off the stairwell, and just now you popped your head out of the water frightening me because I didn’t know what kind of creature you were. Plus, you kissed me out of the blue and without warning. You’re a little unpredictable.”
Blue’s face sinks below the surface of the water, so only his eyes are showing. I can’t help but speculate he dipped himself under because he doesn’t want me to see him upset.
You’re scared and now you’re scaring him. Fix the flame in your mouth and stop messing this up, Shelley!
I adjust my hands holding onto the beam to get a better grip. “What I’m trying to say is I wish we could communicate better so I wouldn’t have to be so nervous worrying about you and what you’re thinking.”
Blue’s whole face floats back up above the water and he glides towards me leading with his hands like he’s reaching for me, which makes me uneasy. I feel so vulnerable, dangling like a fish on a hook deep in his lair. As he comes towards me, I wish he could speak. I wish he could say what his intentions are.
Each droplet of water on every corner of his face illuminates from the glow of the underwater creatures below as he closes in on me. I’m not sure what I’m going to do if he tries to kiss me again and then I feel the bulk of each of Blue’s strong arms wrap all the way around my back and squeezes as he buries his wet face in my neck.
He’s hugging me; I can’t remember the last time someone hugged or squeezed me so tight. It must’ve been my mother or father—they used to squeeze so tight I couldn’t breathe. But the lack of air felt good in a way; to be held that tightly made me feel safe and secure. To be held this tight almost feels like home.
A sliver of an animal slips across my bare legs and I can’t help but jerk my lower half and yelp. I kick the animal and Blue grunts as he lets go of me, looking at me with a crooked face.
I tilt my head down and I see it’s him. It’s his fishtail that got me feeling squirmy. “I’m so sorry!” I cry and he looks like he’s pouting. “This is just going to take some getting used to. You know?”
Blue nods with a devilish grin and leans far back into the water to splash me in the face with the fan of his fin.
“Hey!” I exclaim as I dangle with only one hand and wipe my face with the other.
He laughs at me so I splash him back, but I hardly throw anything at him. He uses his hand like a wall against the surface of the water and splashes me again. I try to get him back, but my one hand slips and I sink underwater again.
I kick with my boots and Blue grabs my wrists and pulls them once more to the beam where I grip a hold with both hands. I feel his hands grip the beam, too. When I open my eyes I see we are both hanging, his face in front of mine. His lips are glistening wet along with his arms and shoulders while the rest of his body is hanging, leaning against me and I against him.
I feel like I can’t breathe. My chest is heaving though my lungs expand so I know everything is working, but the thought of his wet, bare chest against mine makes me weak. I take in as much air as my body can possibly hold and blow it right back out, right into his open mouth.
He opens his mouth a tiny bit wider as he inches it closer. I know what’s coming, so I close my eyes...
The soft pressure of his chilly wet lips sends a tingle through my core and I kiss him back harder. I sense Blue let go of the beam and dip slightly downward; I don’t want his lips to part from mine, but he quickly swims back up and wraps one hand around the back of my neck as the other grabs my waist.
I grip the beam firmly as Blue tilts my head with his hand as he slips his tongue into my mouth kissing me again. His fingertips move across my belly and down between my legs as his fishtail brushes against my inner thigh.
“Wait!” I say and I pull my face away. “What are we doing?!”
Blue entangles his fingers at the back of my hair and grips at my scalp, pulling my hair to force my eyes to look straight on at him. He stares me down without flinching. Except for the ocean, which is causing us both to sway slightly, he doesn’t move.
I understand the look he’s giving me and I get what he’s implying, so my lower jaw is trembling when I dare to ask, “Can we do that? You and me? Can we—”
Blue grabs a hold of the front of the waistline to my shorts with his other hand and yanks me towards him. I bang against what feels like a hard rod at my groin. I guess we can.
Blue tugs again at the waistline of my shorts; I don’t say anything, but I know he’s asking for permission, so I take a breath and nod.
I watch Blue dip his head below the surface and tug at my boot. My feet become weightless as he takes one boot off and then the other. My jaw starts trembling when he slides his hands up my legs to my waist where I feel him messing with the button then the zipper to my shorts.
Looking around the underwater room, there’s no sound except for the creaking of walls and soft knocking of seawater against each corner. It’s peaceful, that is until I feel the sliver of Blue’s tongue along the slit between my thighs and I want to let go of the beam, but I clench my hands tighter to hold on.
Blue rubs his tongue up and down on my clit and I thank God this man can stay down there without air. Blue glides my legs open, placing them over his shoulders, and I see tiny waves moving along the surface of the water from the turbulence of his swirling head rotating between my thighs below.
My body tenses as his head swirls faster and I slip, accidentally letting go of the beam. I slip below the surface, entangled with Blue, but he quickly grabs my wrists once more, pulling me back up to the beam.
Blue lifts my top and we both struggle to get it off; he ducks his head below the surface where his lips find my nipple and he licks and nibbles. I realize he enjoys me naked, vulnerable, and dangling from the beam like a fish caught on a hook.
Blue pushes my legs open again and grabs my hips as he pulls his body up and pops his head out of the water. I feel his lower half move between my legs and I don’t know what to make of the sensation of a man that is not completely human but half of something else.
Grasping my hips, he stares me down again. Falling water droplets slowly run down his beautiful face and he enters me. The friction of the water seems difficult for him to easily glide in until his tail flicks and he thrusts himself deep within me.
“Ah fuck!” I cry. I tilt my head back, taking in every inch of him. With each thrust, I gasp as each bang of his animalistic power enthralls me. Using the water as leverage to maneuver himself, he grips and pulls up on my hips with his hands to plunge deeper and deeper.
My gut aches, but it’s not just a physical pain; his carnal, robust actions make me want him. I want to be with him, to stay with him or he with me—in the ocean or on land, I don’t care where. My heart aches for him and I want to wrap my arms around his lean, muscular build.
My gasps turn into moans and I grip the beam more firmly. With one of Blue’s hard thrusts, I yelp—this time from the physical pain as my pussy engulfs his length and he floods me with his cum. The force of his seed feels like a drug taking over my body as I explode with pleasure.
The euphoria makes my body immediately go limp as I lose hold of the beam and sink below the water. Blue scoops me up and within seconds we are out of the submerged wreckage and surrounded by blackness. I can feel the power of Blue’s fishtail as he propels us upward until we reach the surface near the beach house.
I come up to take a breath as my feet find the sandy bottom and Blue dive’s back down into the water, but he doesn’t come back up.
So, I wait.
After a few minutes, my teeth chatter from the cool night air blowing against my naked body. Has he left me? I turn my head searching for any sign of him, but the only things visible are the stars in the sky. I call his name though only the whispers of shallow waves as they crash along the beach respond.
I walk up the beach and seat my butt on the sand facing the ocean—my merman has abandoned me. Merman. I close my eyes and wrap my arms around me as a warm breeze passes over me, stimulating my skin and penetrating into my soul.
Blue pops his head out of the water and swims as far as he can towards me then drags himself the rest of the way up, spreading my legs, then getting in between them. He lifts the coin in his sand-covered hand and I’m smiling as he places the chain over my head and around my neck.
“Hey!” cries a voice.
I turn around only to be blinded by the flashlight pointed at me as Pike comes towards me. I hear a splash and look back to the ocean; Blue has made it safely back into the water when I feel Pike pull on my arms.
“You’re coming with me, missy!” Pike yanks me up to standing. “Why the fuck are you naked?” he asks me. “Are you turning into a loony like your mother?”
I say nothing as Pike moves the flashlight up and down, not once, not twice, but three times.
Now, I feel exposed.
“Where’s the stranger?” Pike asks as he starts to handcuff me. “This isn’t a joke, Shelley. I know it was you and your friends who helped John Doe get out of prison. I get you all feel sorry for him, but helping a prisoner to escape is going to put you in jail for a long, long time and I’m not going to allow you to use any insanity pleas to help you.”
I have no idea what to say as Pike pushes me towards his police car. My feet stumble through the sand and I turn around, barely making out a dark silhouette of what might be the top portion of a person, hopefully Blue, bobbing up and down in the water and making an occasional splash.
He’s not clearly visible and I really have no idea if it’s him I’m actually looking at, but my heart tells me to believe. I know I’m looking at a merman.
