Drowning

Chapter 5

My hand gripped the sand. I moved closer. As I moved closer, I could feel the creature move away. Cora didn't look as nervous as I did, in fact, she looked curious. Just like Cora. Barely scared of anything. Me, I get worried over nothing.
Cora got up from behind the coral and peered over.
"Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!" I heard someone scream.
"Wait!" I saw Cora swim to the noise.
I swam over the coral also. There was a mermaid, frightened to death.
"We're mermaids too." Cora said calmly.
"I thought..." The mermaid breathed heavily. The mermaid had bright orange hair and a red tail. Her eyes were red too, which kinda creeped me out.
"I'm Cora." Cora introduced. "And this is Amy."
The mermaid looked at me suspiciously. "Why doesn't she have a mermaid name?" She whispered.
"She's a Changed mermaid." Cora whispered back.
"Oh." Her face brightened. "I'm Serena."
"Hi Serena. Do you live in here?"
"In the water? Yes. I live in a cave."
"But... We were just at the caves." Cora said.
"Those caves over there?" She asked.
"Yes." I answered.
"Those are the shark caves. Our caves our really well hidden so humans won't discover our spot." Serena swam away. "Follow me."
We both swam after Serena. She moved swiftly around rocks and practically ran into a rock. But she didn't, because we didn't notice a hole in the rock that she had swam through. We kept swimming deeper and deeper in the uncomfortable tunnel. It finally opened up to a large wall.
Serena put her hand on one of the loose corners. A blue light came out and scanned over her hand. The wall opened slightly and Serena swam inside. Before the wall closed again, Serena called, "Scan your hand. It needs to make sure you're a mermaid." The wall slammed closed.
"You go first." I let Cora scan her hand in the same spot.
She bursts out laughing and she laughed so hard, I could see her eyes start to water.
"Cora! What's so funny?!"
"The scanner... It tickles!" She laughed harder. The wall started to open and Cora slipped inside, wiping away tears.
I approached the scanner with caution. I tried not the have the same reaction as Cora, but I couldn't resist. I was laughing tears of joy and I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Finally, the scanner stopped and I swam inside. I heard it slam shut behind me.
The caves were marvelous. Tall caves were outlined against the walls and different mermaids swam everywhere.
"So... This is it."
"Great." Cora smiled. "Do you know what time it is?"
"Around seven."
"We need to go. Bye Serena!" We both waved goodbye and left the caves. We swam upward until our heads lifted above the water. Fishermen were in a boat and one had a camera.
As soon as our head lifted above the water, they both turned around and looked straight at us. They noticed our weird eye colors and our hair. The fisherman lifted his camera.
"Swim away!" We both swam away without looking back. I heard the fisherman click his camera as he got a perfect shot of my tail.
We both stopped once we were at the bottom of the lake.
"I think he got a picture of my tail." I gasped.
"Darn it!" Cora said, frustrated.
"Sorry."
"No. It's fine. I should have seen that coming. Now everyone knows that mermaids exist."
"They only got a picture of my tail, not me."
"Really? That's great! Other people will claim it's a fish, while only they will know the truth."
"Good. Now how about going home? We've gotten in enough trouble today."
I asked.
"Sure." We both purposely swam away from where we had seen the boat, and reached the surface. Once we located the direction of the beach, we swam in that direction. Since it was so late, there was no one there so we turned back into humans before anyone could notice.
We dropped off Cora at her house, and immediately I told my mom about the problem at school.
"Could I possibly skip school tomorrow?" I asked.
"Why?"
"We're testing a chemical reaction, and we need to wash our hands in class."
"Oh. You can, just tell your sisters you're sick."
"Thanks Mom." I smiled and walked upstairs.
By now it was late. But I didn't have school tomorrow, so I stayed up a little longer.

~~~

"Honey. Wake up."
I slouched forward in my bed. "What is it?"
"You've been asleep now and it's 11:30."
"11:30?!" I gasped and sat up straight.
"And your father found something in the paper this morning." Mom sighed and handed me the newspaper.
I read it silently to myself.
'FISH OR LEGEND?
Last night two fisherman were fishing off the shore of Lake Michigan, and they saw a surprising sight.
"I saw the biggest legend become very real and I could hardly believe my eyes." Quoted Mr. Dennis Hadley, who had been on the boat that night. But were his eyes fooling him? The picture they took looks just like a big fish tail. But it could be the tail of a mermaid. According to the witnesses, they saw two mermaids, half human and everything. They had only gotten enough time to get a picture of their tail. But is it true? Or is this just a prank or joke to confuse us? More further details will be written tomorrow. For more information, contact the newspaper company.' And underneath the article, there was a perfect picture of my silver tail.
"What happened? Do you know about this? Is this your tail? You were in Lake Michigan last night." Mom asked.
"It is my tail. I'm sorry." I whispered.
"I don't want to sound mean, but sweetie, your father saw this." Mom commented.
"He did?" I realized. Two years ago, for work, he was to research the evidence of mermaids. He found a lot of facts, but none were close enough to prove they existed. He was forced to give up, which Dad had never done before. He still tries to find some facts, now and then.
"And you know what he said?" Mom looked straight back at me. "He said he was going to search every grain of sand in Lake Michigan."
"But... What would happen if I told him I was a mermaid?"
"You know how your father feels about science. He would probably let them use you for experiments and get a lot of money."
"So don't tell him?"
"But he still loves you, so I don't know what he would do."
"What do I do?"
"It's up to you." Mom said as she walked out the door.
I sighed again as I got out of bed. I wouldn't tell Dad, I can't take chances.
I put on my robe and trudged down the stairs.
"Honey, please put this mail in the mailbox for me. I forgot to do it when I got the newspaper." Mom handed me a handful of letters.
I nodded and walked out the door. The mailbox was across the street. I quickly walked over there, put the mail in the mailbox, and started walking back.
"Amy."
I turned around sharply, looking for who called my name.
I heard a sharp hissing noise, though there was nothing behind me. Then, as if a fog had cleared, I saw a giant head of a snake in the air.
I widened my eyes and ran.
The rest of the body appeared. It was about twenty feet. It was HUGE.
The snake slithered after me.
I ran as fast as I could, my breath coming out in short gasps.
I reached the door and slapped it shut. A second later, I heard a large thump as the snake ran into the door. A large crack was implanted in the door.
I cautiously opened the door a sliver.
The snake, all twenty feet of it, had disappeared.
Mom was staring at me if I was a ghost.
"What happened?"
I whispered slightly. "Um... Some crazy guy tried to mug me." I lied. She would never believe me if I told her the truth.
"Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine."
"My door?!" Mom ran to it and looked at it from outside. "Are you sure you were mugged?"
"Why?" I followed her outside and looked at the door. The crack was even larger from the other side, but that wasn't the odd part. There were two needle sharp teeth implanted in the center of the crack. But the teeth were ice.
"I... Might have been mugged." I looked back shyly.
"What really happened?"
"This big blueish snake attacked me." I admitted.
Mom pulled me inside and didn't speak about the incident the rest of the day.

~~~

"Cora. Were you you at school yesterday?" I asked as we walked through the hallway to 6th hour.
"No." Cora answered. "Were you?"
"No." I replied.
We entered Language Arts together and sat next to each other. The bell hadn't rung yet, and we had extra time. I spent the whole hour playing, 'don't let Kurt catch you glaring at him the entire class period' game.
The bell had rang again, and we were dismissed.
I walked across the room and headed to the door.
"Amy, I would like to speak with you over the work you missed yesterday." My teacher addressed. I nodded and headed to her desk.
I lost my balance during one part, so I leaned against one of the chairs. The chair was broken, so it leaned to a different side, and fell over. So did I. I was on the floor, with the chair on top of me.
Embarrassed, I tried to get up. The weight seemed to lift off my back with no effort.
No effort, because someone lifted it off. I saw a hand to me left and I took the help and used to to get back up.
It was Kurt.
We both made eye contact.
My Eyes.
They started to blur in the corners and they got that weird feeling again.
My eyes were turning to silver. Kurt was my soul mate.
Kurt was enjoying the moment, but then, as he saw my eyes change, he became confused.
"Amy. Please." I heard the teacher call from behind.
My eyes changed back to normal. I gave a slight glance at Kurt, then hurriedly raced away.
Kurt still stood there, a awestruck but confused look still plastered to his face.
I walked out of the classroom without looking back.
I nervously followed Cora out.
"I saw that." Cora smiled.
"You did?" I blushed.
"Yeah." Cora laughed. "You guys are perfect for each other."
"Thanks."
We both walked to the next class with clean smiles shining across our faces.
I also had that class with Kurt.
He was there right behind me. Garrett was with him this time.
"Introduction..." I heard Garrett whisper. I could hear Kurt gulp behind me.
"Um... Hey." Kurt approached Cora and me.
"Hi." I smiled back.
"I'm Kurt. And this is... Uh..." Kurt awkwardly stood there, red reaching his cheeks.
Garrett whispered in his ear.
"This is Garrett." Kurt finished.
"Hello Garrett." I faced him. "I'm Amy and this is Cora."
Garrett looked at me, then at Cora. Their eyes met.
Cora's eyes flashed to blue. Cora didn't even flinch, she seemed lost in Garrett's eyes. Her eyes changed back to green, and she snapped out of it. Garrett was confused. Kurt was just staring at them.
Kurt scratched the back of his neck. "Do you know what just happened?"
"Cora... Likes the color blue more than green." I croaked.
"Oh." Kurt nervously looked back at Cora, then looked back to me.
How could I convince him we're not psychos?
"Would you like to sit by us in class?" I asked politely.
Kurt's face lit up. "Sure."
He excitedly sat down next to me, and Garrett next to Cora. Cora was next to me, and she looked excited but nervous. I hope I didn't look that way.
"So... Is this your first time here?" Kurt started.
"Yes." I smiled back.
"I don't think we'll have enough time to talk, the bell's about to ring. But, I was wondering, if you could come to my house later tonight. We're having a big pool party." Kurt asked.
"A pool party?" I asked. "I don't think I can make it tonight." I sputtered.
"Oh." Kurt saddened. "But maybe you would like-"
The bell rang and the whole class was silent. The teacher went to the front of the room and began teaching the lesson.