Atlantis

Chapter 1

Brighton, England, 10:47 P.M.

Fishermen had been toiling all morning and all through supper. Their nets were full of shimmering, scaled fish, and they had no more nets, no room for more. Captain Mathew ordered his men to cease, and prepare for the journey home. It looked like it was going to storm and he did not want to be caught in the middle of that.

"Alfie! Lead us back to shore! I cannot see through these clouds and this fog." Matthew ordered his lookout. Alfie was the youngest at seventeen, and most likely his favorite. There have been rumors about some of the crew overhearing...some strange sounds...coming from the Captain's quarters.

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Cried Alfie, and yelled directions and locations to Mathew. The other crew members reeled in their nets as told and prepared to head for shore. But unfortunately, before the ship could even move an inch, everybody flinched as thunder crackled. They could already feel the waves beneath them become rocky.

More thunder echoed through they gray sky and droplets started to fall. Lightning flashed around them as the ship finally started off.

Most of the crew was working hard on the ship. Except, of course, the cabinboy, Vikram. He was hated by the whole crew for his inability to do anything right, or anything at all for that matter. The reason for this was that he never really wanted to be there. He could be with his son instead of putting himself in the dangers of the deep. He wasn't hydrophobic, but he did get seasick and the thought of possibly falling into the ocean made him even queasier.

As Vikram, or Vik, as he called himself,
sat in the bunker with a beer in his hand, he started to feel uneasy. The ship was rocking more than usual. As he listened closer, he realized that it was raining pretty hard. He felt his heart start to skip around in his chest. What if I never make it back to Angelo?

Vik's son, Angelo, is the light of his life. He was a year and a half old and had yet to walk or speak. So the thought of losing that and leaving him alone to grow up without a father made Vik want to curl up in the corner into a ball. However, suddenly he felt that he should help. He had never really helped, and the crew didn't like him at all, especially Captain Mathew. Even so, thinking of Angelo always pushed Vik to do the right thing. With that, he stood up and exited the cabin, and with all eyes on him, Vik walked up to Mathew and said,

"Excuse me, Captain. I was wondering if there was something I could do to help."

"P...Pardon?" Mathew asked after a few moments. He was shocked. Cabinboy Vik? Help? Was there a full moon?

"I...I said...I want to help." Vik repeated, slightly nervous now based off of the Captain's reaction.

"Um...well I suppose you could climb the sail. It's tangled up there. Do you think you're up for that? It might be dangerous...you hardly do anything, so..." The Captain proposed.

"I can do that. I...I wont let you down, Captain." Vik said cheesily, and saluted.

"Okay. Just please don't hurt yourself." Mathew warned, finding himself feeling compassion toward the lazy cabinboy.

And Vik slunk over to the ropes. He stared up at them warily. Hopefully they were sturdy.

With an apprehensive deep breath, Vik gripped the ropes with his right hand. He leaped into the air and snatched them with his free hand. With Angelo his his mind, he scaled the ropes like a spider.
He neared the top, and he glanced down involuntary, perhaps idiotically.
He gasped and shut his eyes. He was very high up. His heart started to pound and sweat dripped from his face.
Just when Vik thought he would have a panic attack, things managed to get worse.
"Everyone! Everyone, abandon ship! Abandon ship!"
Vik's heart sank. What now?
He peered down at the ship below him and he gasped.
There was a ginormous whole in the bow, even visible from Vik's height. Water poured into the ship and Vik watched as his crew mates dove into a dingy and rowed away.
"Wait!" He cried. "Wait for me!"
Vik took a deep breath and slid down the ropes, ignoring the burns on his hands.
Halfway down Vik heard a tearing sound, and before he could realize, he was plummeting downward, to where, he knew not.
Would he land on the boat, break his spine, and die, or would he land in the water, drown, and die?
He didn't even bother emitting a scream.
And with a splash, Vik was thrown into the waves, his arms flailing. He knew he couldn't last like this. There was no land nearby, and he watched as the massive boat broke in two and sunk underneath the raging sea.
Vik's arms grew weak and dumb, and he sunk deeper and deeper.
Salty sea water made its way into his mouth and he choked.
Finally, his body gave out and he was swallowed by waves.
After only a few moments, he was out of oxygen, and everything went black.
*****
"I really don't think we should be up here, Hera." Desiree said, looking around and making sure they weren't being followed.
"She's actually right, for once, you know." Added Jocelyn. "You know what happened last time there was a splash like that."
Hera rolled her eyes and giggled.
"Wow, even you, Jocelyn? Come on, guys! Doesn't it ever get boring down there? There could be something up here..." Hera argued, getting butterflies in her stomach at the thought of an adventure.
Her friends stared in silence.
Hera sighed. "Fine. Go back if you want. I'll catch up."
Without hesitation, her two friends swiftly swam back down into the depths, leaving trails of bubbles behind them.
Shaking her head, Hera carried on.
The surface was closer now. She could see the luminous reflection of the moon. She could no longer hear the steady pitter-patter of the rain; all was calm now.
Hera's head finally rose from the water.
"The moon," She said aloud, her eyes full of wonder. "It's so beautiful."
But then she remembered what brought her to the surface in the first place.
She poked her head back underneath the waves and gasped.
There was somebody sinking! And they didn't have a tail.
"A...man?"
Hera swam over to him and wrapped her arms around his chest from behind and dragged him back to the surface.
She felt for a pulse. There was a faint one. It wasn't too late!
She had only done this once before, on a younger boy, but it had to work again.
Hera took a deep breath of fresh, salty sea air, and pressed her lips against the human's. She blew as hard as she could, and let him go.
After a few moments, the man's eyes fluttered open.
Hera grinned. The man was confused for a long while, but then he looked around and realized where he was.
He clutched his throat and panicked up to the surface, but then stopped.
He turned back to look at Hera and made his way back down to her.
He took a deep breath and his eyes widened.
"H-how...how can I...what..." The man stuttered.
Hera giggled. This man was funny. After they resurfaced, she took a look at his features.
He wasn't very tall, but he had very nice muscles. His soaked tan skin glistened in the moonlight.
"What are you doing here in the water?" He asked her.
She dove underneath the waves, and when she realized that the man wasn't following her, she motioned him towards her.
She swam to the dockside, and he climbed up on the wood.
She looked at him for a moment. She really wanted to talk to him, but she couldn't. Mer-people weren't allowed to speak to humans. But they could still interact.
To answer his previous question, Hera swam over to a nearby rock, and propped herself onto it. Barely containing her excitement, she swung her shimmering turquoise tail onto the rock, and waited for a reaction.
The man gasped and rubbed his eyes, as if he was hallucinating, or dreaming.
"You're...you're a mermaid!" He exclaimed. There was a twinkle his intriguing brown eyes.
Hera nodded and slid off of the rock.
After arriving back at the dock, Hera's eyes met the man's. He blushed a tad, and shook his head.
" I can't believe I'm talking to a mermaid..." He said, and pinched himself. "And I'm not even dreaming..."
Hera giggled.
"So...what's your name?" He asked, to which he received no answer.
"Can...can you talk?" He inquired, tilting his head slightly sideways.
Hera shook her head no matter how badly she wanted to say something.
"Oh...well, here." The man said, and handed her a twig. "Write your name in the sand."
Hera took the stick and wrote in cursive:
H-E-R-A
"Hera?" The man said, reading the letters. "That's a beautiful name."
Hera bit her lip and nodded a thank you.
"My name's Vik. Well...Vikram, but I go by Vik."
Hera grinned and extended her hand to her new human friend.
He shook it and blushed again.
"It's nice to meet you, too."
Suddenly Vik glanced at his wrist and frowned.
"I have to get home!" He exclaimed.
Hera frowned. They'd only just met!
"Don't worry, I'll be back." He consoled with a slight smile. "It's just that it's late and my son needs me."
Hera's eyes widened and se titled her head as if to say, "You have a son?"
Vik  seemed to read her mind.

"Oh, yeah, I've got a son. His name's Angelo. He's my whole world. I'll have to bring him down here sometime."

Hera clapped to show her excitement about his idea. He laughed.

"Okay, well, I'll be seeing you!" He said, and waved. "I promise I'll be back soon."

Hera waved back sadly. How soon was soon? She didn't want to go back down there to her boring home. She wanted to do much more. To explore places she's never been, to see things she's never seen! To meet people she's never met, starting with Vik.

But she'd have to return home for now.

So she watched dejectedly as he walked away, until his figure was nothing but a shadow.