Beneath the Waves

Truth

Ria woke in her favorite way, with Chris in her arms. She buried her nose in her girlfiend's hair, the smell of lilies making her feel like home. Pure comfort is what this was, and before starting what would be a really stressful day, she allowed herself to indulge and enjoy this moment. A perfect moment where nothing seemed to be able to pierce their bubble. She breathed in the smell of lilies, pulled Chris closer and tightened her grip around Chris' waist. If this wasn't heaven she didn't know what could be.

Chris stirred, waking up slowly, she turned around to face Ria. Nobody cared about morning breath in a 4 year relationship. They kissed. Remembering the soft touches of the night before. Chris' hand stroked Ria's cheek. Soft kisses on her nose, lips, chin.

Ria smiled into a kiss and asked "Would you like some breakfast?"

"I think I'm having breakfast right now" came Chris' response

Ria laughed, belly laughed, "you're silly in the morning, I forgot about that"

She made to get out of their makeshift bed, but Chris pulled her back in, grabbing her around the waist and locking her fingers, refusing to let go.

"Stooppppp let me make you something to eat. Knowing you, it's been more than 24 hours since your last meal", Ria said through giggles

"Correct, guilty as charged" Chris responded with no guilt whatsoever.

Once Ria finally made it out of bed she decided a simple breakfast would do. She was anxious to get the whole sea monster thing over with. She had what felt like a giant hole at the pit of her stomach, gnawing at her. She fried some eggs and bacon in a pan, and made them into sandwiches. She brought it to Chris inside the tent, still snoozing and lazy. She loved seeing her like this. Relaxed. Long limbs spread across the entire air mattress. She looked so goofy, but at the same time more beautiful than ever. That was kind of Chris' charm. Goofy yet somehow elegant, she could pull off any look, any hair colour, just anything - or maybe Ria was just biased.

She put the sandwiches down on the small table at the entrance of the tent and moved to lay down next to Chris. She kissed her cheek and whispered for her to wake up. She knew this wouldn't work. But she knew what would.

She grabbed the one plate with Chris' sandwich on it and held it close to her nose. The smell of bacon worked like a charm and Chris opened her eyes. Ria laughed.. As she moved the plate Chris sat up, following her motion. Like a character floating after those scent lines of a pie in an old cartoon. She gave Chris the plate and watched her happily dig in to their simple breakfast.

She ate slowly, finding it hard to even swallow with the knot that was building in her stomach, making its way slowly up to her throat. Chris noticed and asked if there was something wrong with the food cause it tasted delicious to her. She was always easy to please when it came to food anyway.

Ria shook her head, "just thinking is all"

"...abouuuuut?" Chris fished

"You'll find out soon enough, don't you worry", Ria said with a smile in her voice, trying to make it sound less serious than it felt.

"Let's get cleaned up and ready for the day, then I'll show you why I brought you here" said Ria,

Chris frowned (a joke) "are you going to murder me and bury me here out in the middle of nowhere? I should have knownnnn this was why you brought me here"

"Ah damn, you caught me, now it won't be a surprise", answered Ria.

She took Chris' plate and got up, moving out of the tent. She washed them in the little makeshift washing basin and cleaned up everything from breakfast. No longer able to keep her hands from shaking, she called Chris who came out of the tent looking as fresh and put together as if they had a full shower setup inside.

Ria took a deep breath. She stepped into the tent, grabbing the knife, she threw on her swimsuit. She didn't quite feel like being completely naked right now. She already felt exposed as it was. She walked out and saw Chris looking confused. It was quite the sight, Ria in a her swimsuit with a really weird looking knife in her hand.

Taking a step back Chris said "I was joking about the killing me thing Ria... what the fuck are you doing?"

"Just wait and see, I promise I'm not going to hurt you. Please. Just remember that."

She walked to the edge of the crystal clear water and came to a stop ankle-deep.

"This is going to seem super crazy, but I promise it will be worth it" Ria said, hope in her voice, overwhelming hope that Chris wouldn't run, "just trust me okay"

"I trust you with my life Ria, but you're scaring me, why don't you put down the knife and we can talk this through? I know things have been bad but I promise it's going to be okay, just put the knife down"

"I can't. I have to do this. You have to trust me. I won't get hurt and I won't hurt you. Just please trust me" she begged.

Chris' eyes shone with tears as she took a step closer to Ria.

"No! Stay there! I don't want you to be too close to me right now"

She knew the desperation in her voice was out of character. She knew that Chris had never seen her this emotional before. She could feel tears staining her cheeks and could almost feel how badly Chris just wanted to run to her, hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay, because that's what Ria would have wanted to do. But she stayed. Did as Ria asked. She didn't try to move closer again (though part of Ria wished she would so she didn't have to do this).

"I don't want you to get scared when I start doing what I'm about to do. I promise it will pay off, it's just going to seem really really crazy, okay?"

She raised the knife to her neck, hearing Chris' audible intake of breath, she made the first cut.

"Ria! Ria stop this what are you doing?! Please don't do this, everything is okay I'm sorry if this is because of our fight, I"m sorry for going off on you, please stop" she was full on sobbing now, breathing shallow.

Ria made the second cut, then the third.

Chris started to move closer and Ria once again urged her to stop. Told her it's okay, that it doesn't hurt (a lie) and that she knows it's a lot of blood, but that it'l all be over soon.

Ria couldn't bear to look at Chris' broken face anymore, so she turned her back to Chris. Facing the water.

She continued making the cuts on the other side.

Before making the last one she heard Chris come up behind her and wrench her hand away from her neck, sobbing, begging Ria to stop.

Ria pulled her hand free and made the final cut, whispering "just look" as she did.

Chris' hand was there one second and gone the next.

Ria's transformation started, the same as last time. She waited for it to be over before she dared turn around.

Once facing their little alcove, the only thing she felt was confusion.

Chris was gone.