Turpitude

Chapter Three

Thursday, January 10th, 2019.

After what felt like around an hour and a half, we finally stopped somewhere.

“Is this where we’re staying?” I asked the ghost and picked up Shooter, who was laying in the grass. He didn’t look at me and just shook his head no.

“Just resting,” He told me. I groaned and rolled my eyes. We walked for a while, and I was both hungry and thirsty. I didn’t get to eat anything when I got home. 

“If you’re hungry, there are some animals over there in that field,” DD motioned over to the field, which was in fact, full of animals.

“No way am I going to kill an animal!” I yelled at DD, causing him to roll his eyes in frustration.

“You do want to eat, right?” He said and deadpanned at me. I nodded.

“Yes I do, but I don't want to personally kill an animal for it!” I exclaimed stubbornly, holding my ground. I made an effort to not look at the animals, showing DD I was not going to kill them under any circumstance. DD sighed angrily and shook his head. He looked to the darkening sky and cocked his head to the side.

“It’s getting dark”, He said. I looked at him with slight confusion.

“Uh-huh?” I agreed

“You should take a nap,” He told me. I looked at him like he was crazy.

“What!? We need to keep going! We need to get to where we need to be!” I exclaimed, angrily. I wondered if he cared about getting us to this place. I wondered if the place even existed.

“We’ll get there. Just go to sleep” DD persisted. We argued for around ten minutes until I agreed that I was very tired and went to bed. I lay down on the grass with Shooter laying next to me and fell asleep.

I had a great time resting, but when I woke up, I couldn't recognize where I was. I sat up and looked around. Everything was- weird. I was on a beach, laying on the sand. All around me were palm trees, small rocks, and some seashells. DD wasn’t with me anymore, so I looked around wondering where he went.

I thought about the absence of DD and remembered that Shooter was sleeping with me. I looked around to see Shooter sleeping not too far away. I stood up, looking around more to try to figure out my surroundings. This place didn't look real at all, the leaves on the palm trees around me were yellow fading into green at the bottom, and the sand was yellow with light blue glitter in it. Some of the rocks were sparkly and purple.

I went to the shore and looked out at the water. It was normal blue. I thought that was surprising but pleasing. I went back away but I was pulled back closer to the water. I looked down at where the pulling came from; my pant leg; and saw a girl pulling on me.

She was really strong. I tried to pull away but as I did, more girls came and pulled as well. Before long they got me in the water, and that's when I realised the water here dropped, instead of gradually getting deeper.

I opened my eyes slowly and looked over to see my captors. One of the girls had short, medium brown hair, which was gracefully floating in the water as she brought me down. Another girl had dirty blonde hair which kept getting in my face, it was very annoying.

I looked around, trying to process my new surroundings when I caught sight of the girl's legs. But they didn’t have legs, their legs were tails. I quickly assumed these were mermaids because that’s all I know that live in water, have a tail, and are part human. I wondered how mermaids would be here, cause they don’t exist.

The mermaids continued to bring me lower and lower, and I was starting to run out of breath. They stopped in front of a dark cave, and I stared at the cave. It was so dark, and terrifying. I didn’t know what could be in there. A small red dot appeared in the abyss-like space, and then a giant fish came out.

The mermaids started talking to the fish in a language that I don't understand, as they slowly swam closer, bringing me with them. They stopped when I was a few feet away. We were having a staredown. I blinked first, overcome by anxiety.

The fish opened its mouth wide and started to suck up everything around me, including me. I didn’t struggle or scream, I accepted my fate. I couldn’t even comprehend what was happening, and that might as well have been a dream, so I didn't care about dying at that moment. I closed my eyes, ready to be eaten, but I never was.

I slowly opened my eyes, preparing myself for whatever I would see, when I saw a quick black shadow glide around, hitting the fish. The fish tried to suck it in, but the shadow narrowly missed it every time. I noticed soon that it wasn't a shadow, but more of a ball of black moving around.

I recognized DD immediately. He was beating up the fish and saving my life. I wanted to continue watching, when something came by quickly and scooped me up, swimming me back to the shore.

I looked over and noticed it was another mermaid. A rush of anxiety hit me, but like with the fish, I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.

When I reached the air again, I sucked in as much as I could. I sat on the sand and coughed up some water. I looked over to see who rescued me and saw that the mermaid who scooped me up, was meant to save me.

I then saw DD fly out of the water, probably having defeated the fish.

“That was insane”, DD said, sitting on a big rock.

“Yes, yes it was… DD who is that?” I pointed to the mermaid, as she perked up.

“Oh! My name is Sereia! I’m one of the mermaids, but a kind one I promise”, The girl, Sereia introduced herself. I nodded.

“I’m Gray”

“Oh, I know! DD tells me about you!” Sereia points to the ghost behind me. Shocked, I turned to face him.

“This is my friend, she’s cool”, DD ignores my expression and goes on to explain his and Sereia’s relationship.

“Anyway, where is this place? Where did you take me?” I asked DD, and his face lit up immediately.

“This is Turpitude!” DD spread his arms wide with a big smile.

“Turpitude? Like chaos?” I asked, confused, and concerned as to why he took me and Shooter to a place named after chaos. I didn’t even notice that Sereia winced at the time.

“That name’s been around for a long time, it's not as chaotic anymore, I promise”, She spoke, with a nervous smile.

“... Are there more dangerous people here?” I asked cautiously. I do not want to be eaten.

“Some people, but most are chill. I can assure you that you’d get along with the people here”, DD exclaimed happily. “Now let's go find you some more friends! Bye Sereia!” DD grabbed my hand and started running towards somewhere else, while also waving bye to the friendly mermaid.

“Bye!” Sereia returned and disappeared back under the water.

I had no clue what I had gotten myself into.