Mermen in Melbourne

The Fall

"I'm terrible at fishing and everyone knows it. Don't make me go." Austin Nguyen stood on his driveway, bright red hair flopping in his eyes. He was on the shorter side- 5 foot six at most. Summer had just sprung in his bustling city of Melbourne, Australia, and Austin was already over it. During Summer, it was  expected that he go outside, do sports, talk to people. Austin, though, was pleased more by being indoors and sleeping and doing anything that didn't involve people. Of course, there was one exception to that.

Noah stood across from him, glasses wedged up the bridge of his nose. His brown eyes were unmoving, and he had an eyebrow raised sarcastically.

"Uh-huh. Yeah. Bullshit. You just want to stay home and play video games all day," Noah said.

"So what if I want to play video games. Video games are fun. Fishing? Fishing stinks," Austin said. "Literally."

The two of them, Austin and Noah, had only just started their life together. They were renting a small house in the suburbs with just enough room for them both. The boat, a motorboat with racing stripes and tacky decals, had been a present from Noah's parents.

"Well yeah, but, we would like, spend time together on the ocean, watch the sun go down, just you and I. That's pretty romantic, don't you think?" Noah said. Austin sighed, glancing up at him. Noah knew he'd won Austin over. It wasn't that hard to do.

Austin weighed his options. Romantic date with Noah Sikee, or sitting alone in his pyjamas while his boyfriend went fishing by himself, in the cold, all alone...

"Whatever, you dork. Let me go get ponchos, I'm in no mood to be accidentally soaked," Austin said, turning back and entering the house. He wasn't letting Noah win. He was just, uh, sick of being alone. Yeah, that's it. He just wanted some company. Right.

Noah and Austin had been dating for a while. And, while Austin might deny it from time to time, they were pretty serious about it. Noah was special, under all his button-up shirts and fake hipster façade. It took Austin a while, but he wasn't afraid to admit that he loved the guy.

"Back so soon?" Noah joked, and Austin tossed the poncho at his boyfriend.

"Let's go now so we're not in open ocean when sun falls. Drowning isn't exactly my idea of a perfect evening," Austin said. Noah smiled, and began to attach the boat to the back of his truck. He slid into the driver's seat as Austin sat shotgun.

Half an hour later, the car was parked and their motorboat was started in the past the center of the sandbar. They were out in open ocean, just the two of them. "I told you that I'm shit at this." Austin insisted. His line was caught to something, and he wasn't sure what it was. He suspected a boot or a can of some sort.

"Austin, babe. You're doing fine. Just hold the rod, just like this..." Noah said, putting his arms around Austin.

"Okay. Great. I'm holding the rod. Perhaps I should win an award for that," Austin said sarcastically. Noah chuckled.

"Well it takes more that that, goofball. You pull the line back, like this," Noah said, tugging the line back further. It became unstuck from whatever was attached earlier.

"Yeah, alright. Now what?" Austin said. His patience was growing thin. Fishing really wasn't his thing.

"Now you've just got to flick your wrist. Ready? Okay, on the count of three. One, two... " Noah said, counting down.

"Three!" Austin called, flipping the line forward. It fell into the water, only inches from the boat.

"Maybe I could have explained that better," Noah said. Austin shrugged.

"Wait- hold on. I think there's something on my line," Austin said.

"I don't know, Aus, fish don't usually swim that close to the boat," Noah said quietly, eyeing the water curiously.

"Well it happened in Nemo, so who's to say it doesn't happen in real life?" Austin said. "Now help me out, I have no idea how to do this."

Just as Noah leaned to help Austin out, however, there was a loud thud. The line fell slack in Austin's hands. Austin sighed, muttering curses under his breath.

"Um, Aus? Do you hear that?" Noah asked, looking around. Austin looked up, removing his focus from his loss. The waves pushed rhythmically upon the boat, but no other sound was heard.

"Hear what? Noah, what do you hear?" Austin said. It seemed everything was quiet. And then, Austin heard it.

A voice chimed through the water, echoing against the walls of the boat. It was a male's voice, silky, soft, and low in pitch. Noah blinked heavily, and Austin eyed him warily. "Noah, you getting tired, babe?" Austin said. Noah didn't respond, just faced the ocean. That's when he began leaning towards the water. "Noah? Um, Noah, what are you doing? You do know that's dangerous," Austin said, but it was as if Noah didn't hear him. Noah continued to lean towards the ocean. "Noah? Noah, what the fuck!"

The boat lost its balance, lurching both boys into the water. It splashed loudly, and Austin took a deep breath. He felt himself fall under the water, a cool feeling stretching over his body. Austin opened his eyes suddenly, looking around the colorless stretch of ocean. He tried to swim up, but felt his head collide with the boat. His vision blurred, and he attempted to swim around the boat, to surface for air. He saw Noah float by. Austin blinked hard, focusing, as the blurriness wore off as quickly as it had arrived.

That's when he saw it. A near translucent hand, reaching up and snatching Noah's wrist. Austin grabbed Noah's other wrist in response, and tried to pull the brown haired boy free. Almost instantly, a gut wrenching scream replaced the eerie music. Austin, surprised, looked to find the source. There, gripping onto Noah with unnatural force, was a creature of beauty. Blonde hair flopping in his face, chest toned and mighty. The creature was screaming, pulling Noah towards him. His skin was switching from translucent to opaque rapidly, and he seemed to want nothing more than to keep Noah. The creature was beautiful, and Austin was not tempted by this. He knew that in order to save his boyfriend, in order to stay alive, and in order to get away, he needed to free Noah. He tugged, fighting the water around him.

Austin's legs began to tingle. He credited it to the lack of oxygen.

The air he once held was escaping. No matter how much he tried to fight it, his lungs were screaming. Austin teetered on the verge of consciousness, pulling weakly on Noah's arm. I need to save him, he thought, mind growing numb. I need to... I need to...