Submerged

Face to Face

There was a man in the water. Not a man, but a young man. He had a charming face and soft lips, with eyes that looked deeper than the water he was treading in. I  couldn't stop looking at him. He got closer to the surface, then I saw his face. His pale skin was exposed now, first his face, then his neck and shoulders. Why was I not running for my life? There was a freaking man in the lake!

He put his hands on the dock, dripping with water. His fingers were pale with a bluish tint, and scales? Where those scales?

His chin was on the dock now, his deep blue eyes looking up at me, a smile tugging at his mouth. I got down on my knees and sat on my feet, putting my hands flat on the dock in front of me. I kept about two feet away from him, but he just looked at me. For some reason that was the moment I decided to remember i was wearing a miss matched bathing suit, and most of my skin was showing. I was embarrassed. It didn't seem to bother him much.

I watched his eyes move down, then back up to my eyes, and he was smiling.

"You are beautiful." His cool voice shook me out of a daze. "You look much better when you are not struggling for your life." He grinned and showed his teeth. He had remarkably straight teeth, but a couple on the sides were sharp, like fangs. He closed his mouth when he saw me look, and the smile was gone.

"What are you?" I whispered.

"What am I?" He repeated, looking into my eyes. "Well, I'm kinda a merman." He watched my expression change into disbelief.

"A merman?" I looked confused.

"Not like the flapper fined kind with a spear," he rolled his eyes, "the real kind." He could see I wasn't going to talk yet, I was soaking up the fact that the man who just saved me from drowning was now claiming to be a merman.

"I don't have a tail. I have gills and fins, scales in some places. Because I walk on land half the time, I got to keep my feet, but there is some webbing in between my toes. It's ok though, it helps me swim with little effort. Not that it is hard for me to swim anyway" He was talking fast, and looking around like I was just a friend he ran into and he was excited to tell me about his life since we parted. "I have relatives who live deep down in places who lost their feet long ago and have one fin where two feet should be. My father and I have feet, and live in the caves more than in the water, but once in a while I will sleep here," He gestured to the dock, "well under it I guess." He looked at me, a his lips were tight. He was waiting for me to say something.

"I-" I didn't know what to say. "There is more than just you?" Really Sophia? You are talking to a merman and that's what you ask? Jesus.

"Yep." He smiled. Not good enough, talk more.

"Thank you for saving me. I'm Sophia." I picked my hand up and stretched it toward him. He stared at it, confused.

"What are you doing, is your hand hurt?" He asked, concerned.

"What? No," I yanked my hand back and put it under my knee, "never mind." I looked at his hair. It was black and down to his shoulders, dripping water onto his shoulders. I bit my lip.

"So what now?" I asked with a sigh. "You saved my life and told me you are a merman, I know you live in this lake and that your kind exists now, I can't just go about my life and pretend this never happened." I said, leaning into him to star at him closer.

"I'm not expecting you to forget about me. Frankly, that would be the worst thing ever." He smiled.

I smiled back.

We smiled at each-other like idiots for couple seconds, then I shook my head and leaned back. "How long has it been?" I looked behind me to the camp and said, "I should let my mother know im alright." I looked back, and he was gone. I looked around the water and didn't even see a ripple. I leaned way forward almost to where it felt like I was going to fall in, and didn't see anything in front of the dock.

He left.

He went back to where ever it was he came from.

And I still couldn't believe what just happened.

~~~~~~~

What did I just do?

I just saved a human from drowning, and told her I was a mythical creature that wasn't thought to be real. I'm done for.

When she looked behind her to her camp I sunk back into the lake and backed away quickly, turning to swim back to the caves. If there was a such thing as groundation with merpeople, I would be grounded for eternity. No exaggeration.

I didn't even look back at her, I just kept swimming faster and faster. Then I told her it would be terrible if she forgot about me? What the hell! I really am trying to get myself killed. There is no way for a love between a merman and a human to work, unless the human is changed, and that only happens on the full moon, if the elders agree! That means practically never.

I had made it back to the caves by then and was standing on the ledge thinking. I noise in the corner jumped me, and I sighed, "What the hell do you want, Aquiam?" I said to my obnoxious cousin. he stepped towards me with his arms crossed.

"What do you think you are doing? I saw you with that human." His voice was dark and harsh. "You could be skinned for this."

I nodded, "I realize that, thank you." I looked at him, "I couldn't just let her drown."

He laughed out loud viciously, "You should have!" He waved his arms around, "All this? Is a secret we have made well to keep for years, Mikko!" He was yelling at me now, nostrils flaring. "You let a human see you, and whats worse is she knows what you are and that there are more of us!" He glared at me, waiting for an explanation, which I had none, so he continued.

"What if she freaks out and tells someone about you? About us." He stepped closer to me, his face inches from mine. "You know what has to happen, Mikko, and I will not stand to have her spared at our expense." With that he turned away and made toward the tunnels. At the opening he half turned his head, and spoke with a eerie calming voice, "and Mikko," I swallowed hard, he said, "If you dont do it by the full moon, I will." He walked away.

My heart skipped and I took a deep breath.

The full moon was in a week.

And I had to kill her.