Beneath the Waves

Too Close

Watching Ria cut lines into her neck was traumatizing. Standing there, unable to move, watching the love of her life inflict this type of pain on herself was more than she could handle. Her cheeks were wet with tears, her breathing erratic as the sobs ripped through her body. Her feet finally became unstuck to the ground and she immediately took off in a sprint towards Ria, yanking her arm away from her neck. Ria pulled the knife back to her neck, made one more cut and dropped the knife.

Before the knife could hit the ground something happened.

Everything went black.

She felt her body rise just barely off the ground, her toes not touching the soil below her feet. Her arms suddenly spread out and she felt really cold. She looked down at her body, she was glowing, just like Amma did. Oh fuck. Was she transforming? How was that possible. That means there were streams of light coming out of her mouth, ears, eyes and that Ria was going to get one helluva big surprise because in the next few seconds a gigantic sword was going to show up in her hands and she's going to have pitch black eyes and basically be a nun ghost thingy.

She felt her eyes roll back into place, terrified of what Ria's face would look like staring at her in this form.

"Huh?"

Confusion struck. She was in the dungeon. The only eyes looking back at her were those belonging to Amma.

"That was too close, my child" she said, sounding... nervous? Weird to hear that in her voice.

"What was close? What happened? Where is my girlfriend?" she asked frantically.

"Don't worry about that right now child, time is of the essence, we have to get you back into your human form first. Repeat after me, chayal endu ritime"

"Chayal endu riteme" she repeated

"No! RitIme not ritEme, oncemore, chayal endu ritime"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath (which apparently she didn't need to do anymore) and repeated "chayal endu ritime".

As if a life force was being sucked out of her, her limbs shot to the front, still raised off the ground. She screamed, the pain of it almost unbearable. As fast as it started, it ended. She landed with a thud on her knees, looking up at Amma.

"Does it always suck that much?" she asked

"I wish I could say it gets better, but alas, the pain remains, you just get used to it", a disappointed reply.

"So what happened to me out there? Is Ria okay?"

"She's fine, don't worry about her, you will find out soon enough what you need to know"

"How did I turn? I didn't have the crucifix or the incantations."

"When in close proximity with one of the monsters it is possible to turn without anything, an involuntary transformation"

"Involuntary... close proximity... does that mean someone else was there? One of the monsters?"

"We don't have time for more questions now child, you need to get back. I pulled you away to save you from becoming known in your true form. Try not to get into any more situations like this", she said half scolding.

Before she knew it, Chris was flung backwards, but didn't hit the wall. She landed with a thud in the woods, in front of her in the distance she could see their campsite. She better get back. She just disappeared. Ria must be worried and confused. What the hell was she going to tell her when she got back? She had better think of a good excuse.

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"Chris?", Ria whispered, barely audible

"Chris where are you? This isn't funny!", desperation staining her voice.

Fuck. What if she had seen her and was so freaked out that she just ran into the woods? She disappeared so quickly though how was that even possible. She would hear her footsteps or something, but she didn't hear anything. She was just gone.

"Chris!" Ria kept shouting as she walked towards the woods.

"Fuck" she realized she was still in sea monster form, she should probably change back in case that is what freaked Chris out.

Crossing her arms over her chest, one hand on each set of gills she whispered the words and felt herself starting to transform back into a human. She hurried to the tent and put on her clothes, lacing her boots she headed into the woods.

"Chris!" she kept shouting, her voice hoarse after a few minutes.

She returned to camp, hoping that maybe Chris was back there.

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Chris could hear Ria shouting her name, looking for her. She decided to make her way back to camp so they could get this interaction over with. She wasn't the only one who had something to explain after all, what she had seen Ria do was insane and she still had no idea why she did it - it's not like she got to stay for the grand finale.

She reached camp just as Ria came out of the woods on the other side. They both froze for a second and then ran towards each other, almost ending up on the ground with the force of their embrace.

"Oh my god Chris, where have you been? What happened? I'm so sorry if I freaked you out with what I looked like" Ria said through tears

"No I'm sorry for disappearing, I don't know what came over me, seeing you hurt yourself was just too much for me and I ran into the woods to try and collect myself, but I ran too far and got lost. I'm so sorry" Chris replied, tears staining both their cheeks.

"I think I have some explaining to do", said Ria, holding onto Chris tighter

They parted enough for Chris to look at Ria's neck and frown. She ran a finger up and down each side of Ria's neck. Confused.

"I know it's confusing", said Ria in defense

"Yeah it's more than confusing Ria, it's fucking weird, tell me what the hell is going on... please" she begged.

Ria made a fire and they sat down next to it. Legs touching, hands folded together. Close.

Ria sighed and said "promise me you won't look at me differently after I tell you this"

"Ria, nothing in this world could make me look at you in a different way or make me love you any less. You are my everything, I would choose you over every horror movie and even over Cate Blanchett and you know that's saying a lot" she replied.

Taking a deep breath Ria started from the beginning. Not leaving out even a tiny detail, she told Chris about the basement, the book the knife. She told her about the other creatures, the bible parts, literally every single detail. Halfway through she went to her card and got the book (not sure why she brought it but glad she did). Together they paged through it, images, words, everything Ria knew, Chris now knew too.

Chris was silent the entire time. Just a nod or a hmm here and there to show she was interested. Ria couldn't get a read on how she felt about it all. Chris' reactions were usually easy to read, but this was different. She felt as if there was a giant divide forming between them, a chasm growing as they turned page after page.

Chris had gone sheet white by the end. Ria was worried and told her that maybe it was enough for one day. She had a lot to process. So Ria made them dinner and they got into bed much earlier than they usually would. After such a long day Ria drifted right off to sleep, part of her feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, even though she was still worried, Chris hadn't run away again. Ria was off in dreamland softly snoring, unaware of Chris lying awake. 

Wide awake and terrified.