Trench

Ropes

Before Harper could process anything, Momo had grabbed her wrist and pulled her down into the ocean. Momo used all their force as they quickly sped the two of them deeper and deeper into the freezing cold water. Momo didn't stop until they were safely inside Harper's house and the doors were locked.
"Momo! What gives!" Harper yelped, snagging her wrist from Momo's grasp and attempting to rub it. Momo stayed quiet and just swam to the window, sneaking a look out.
"Momo, there's nothing to worry about. We're deep in an ocean abyss, nothing can see us from down here" Harper said, relaxing into her sea sponge couch. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling so much salt water that it almost made her dizzy. She let it out slowly and closed her eyes, setting her head back.
"Momo, it's just a ship. There's nothing to worry about! We're much faster than them and we can come down here anytime we need" Harper said swimming to Momo. "We're safe now" Harper said gently, putting an arm on Momo's shoulder. She tried to stray from the incident, knowing that it was a sensitive topic for the both of them.
It had happened about 5 years ago, both of them being only 9 years old. There had been a ship, massive in size, equipped with endless supplies of nets and hooks. At the time, there was a whole population of sirens, all varied in size and color. They lived in the shallow waters, nourished and protected by everything that lived in the coral reef. They had built homes, some large and some small but nonetheless they were all happy. Momo and Harper had lived in that great city. They called it The Masomma. The name ran throughout the ocean, known for happiness and a safe place to stay. So the population grew, more and more sirens and mermaids traveling to that great city. Until one day, the ship came upon the great city, easily capturing and killing every mermaid and siren in sight. The ship had taken the life of her mother and the life of Momo's younger sister. The only reason Momo and Harper didn't face the ships fury was because they were out exploring. After that day, the city was destroyed, deserted and empty. No one dared to go to that city from that day on, so the remains slowly ruined away. The coral reef slowly built itself back up, but everything else stayed dead.
After that day, Harper and Momo decided that the only safe place to stay was deep in the ocean's waters, far away from the surface. They had traveled to the bottom of a deep sea abyss and built 2 small homes. They also had to plant a garden since Momo was terrified to be in any shallow waters.
After years of living on the deep sea floor, Harper insisted on traveling up for some fresh fish. They had only fed on bottom dwellers for the past 3 years and both of them were quite unhealthy. After weeks of convincing, Momo had complied and they slowly began to travel to the surface, going farther and farther every day. They finally reached a point where Harper was allowed on the surface again. Even today, she enjoyed every chance she got to feel the warm sunlight. She feared that it would go back to how it used to be though, just because of one lousy ship.
Harper pushed Momo aside gently and unlocked the door.
"No" Momo said quietly, ducking their head down to avoid eye contact.
"Momo, I'm not staying in this trench for 3 years again. I'm going to go up to see what's going on. The ship might've gone straight past us and even if it was coming here, it's far too small to cause much damage" Harper said opening the door and swimming up fast before Momo tried to stop her.
The ocean water stung her eyes a bit because of her speed but it didn't stop her. She burst through the surface of the water, making a bigger splash than she intended. She scanned the area, slowly making her way to the reef and the island at the same time. She spotted the ship easily since it wasn't too far from her. It had moved quickly, making its way to the island. The island looked large compared to the small ship. The ship wasn't exactly small though, just small compared to the giant that had taken out The Masomma.
Harper swam closer to the ship, trying to keep most of herself in the water. It didn't exactly provide much cover though since the waters were a brilliant shade of turquoise.
The ship was floating just out of the islands reach. Harper was so busy watching the ship that she didn't notice that someone was watching her. A small tapping noise drew her attention underwater and she submerged herself. She looked around and found the knocking coming from a small window that was near the bottom of the ship. She popped her head out of the water once more, noting that nobody had spotted her yet, and then popped herself back underwater.
She swam to the ship, slowly making her way to the window. She tried to stay cautious, knowing far too well what land-dwellers could do but her curiosity got the best of her and she continued on.  When she was close enough, she could make out a figure. The one that had been knocking had been a small fennec fox, maybe only 9-10 years old. He was grinning widely at her and waving, trying to get her attention. Harper swam closer and smiled a toothy smile. He was so cute.
When the fennec fox saw that he had gotten her attention his face brightened up. Her smile grew larger as she barely heard him giggling. The glass must not be very thick, she thought to herself. She had an idea and quickly swam to the sea floor, grabbing the closest shell and swimming back up. She cupped it in her hands and presented it to the small fox. He clapping his hands and laughed. She smiled and closed her hands hiding the shell. Now the fox only looked confused. She smiled again and opened her hand, revealing the shell and the small crab that lived inside of it. The fox's laughter could be heard clearly now as he jumped up and down and clapped his hands again.
Harper laughed as the small fox disappeared. She gently grabbed the rim of the window and tried to see what he was doing. He was running around the room, making quite a mess, as he searched for something.
After a good 2 minutes, he emerged from his search with a small glass figurine. Harper observed the figurine and noticed that it was a small siren. Her mouth dropped in awe as she let out a loud chirp. What a magnificent collectible!
She went to look up at the fox but his head was turned to the door. She looked to the door herself and saw that the handle was moving, jerking up and down.
She heard some kind of talking but the words were fuzzed so she couldn't understand a thing. 
The next thing she saw was netting, trapping her on all sides. Before she could even think about escape, the nets jerked up, bringing her out of water with ease.
Harper twisted in the tight nets, letting out cries of agony. The rough material was strangling all her limbs, as if it wanted to rip it into pieces. Her sight was blurry, blinded by sunlight and unadjusted to the hot air. She hissed and growled, trying to fight the pain as she was hoisted onto the ship.
She thumped heavily on the ships wooden deck as her captors drug her in. The wood was old, causing small pesky splinters to get stuck between her scales.
"Ow ow ow" Harper said, trying to sit up. In the next second, she was kicked down again and held in place with a worn, old boot.
"Heh" said a gruff voice.
"You're not too bad" the voice spoke again.
She cracked her eyes to see a large dog settled above her, looking at her as if she was pure trash. Her captor was quite young, unlike his voice. He wore loose clothing and heavy, worn out boots.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harper coughed out, giving the pirate a dirty look.
The dog raised an eyebrow and smiled a disgustingly mischievous smile.
"You aren't as ugly as the other ones" the dog said, pulling out a dead scale from his pocket.
Harper's mouth went dry.
Siren hunters.
"That's because the other ones are dead" Harper said, motioning to the sparkle of her living scales.
"Well you can only eat dead sirens" the dog said, leaning against a barrel and looking at his fingernails.
Harper was speechless again, trying to find any sort of lie in his face.
There was no trace.
"Well, you know what they say~ They're only good fresh!" The dog said with a hardy laugh.
He reached into his pocket, searching for something.
"Damn. Nothing's ever in its place" the dog grumbled, stomping away.
Harper watched him leave, releasing a breath when he was out of sight.
Then the realization came upon her.
He was going to eat her.
My god...
He was gonna eat her!
Harper laughed nervously.
"Oh, how the tables have turned" she said quietly, rolling straight onto her back and looking up at the sky.
It was a cloudless day, infinite blue stretching as far as the eye could see.
Harper bit her lip and let out a loud whimper. Momo would hear her cries, but it was far too late for her. Momo shouldn't come, it might put them at risk.
She let out another cry, one that meant "its over". She hoped Momo would listen to her and stay far away from here.
She heard footsteps coming back. Footsteps that slowly counted down the seconds she had to live. But they were fast and light, almost too soft to hear. Death was coming  quicker than she thought. Except, instead of death, she felt some of the ropes being loosened. Harper used all her energy to lift herself up slightly.
She couldn't believe her own eyes.
It was the fennec fox from earlier! He was quickly cutting away at the ropes with a knife. When he cut the thickest ropes, he made his way up to her face and began to cut there as well.
"I stole Jason's knife. This should buy you a little time to get away" came a small voice, full of youth and purity.
Harper only watched him, not sure what to say. The whole scene was still very shocking to her.
Finally, she felt the ropes drop to her sides. She sat herself up, snapping the thinner ropes as she moved.
"How are we gonna get you back into the ocean!" the fennec fox said frantically, nibbling the tips of his claws.
"I can usually move out of land but I've been in the sun too long and it's dried me up.." Harper said with dismay.
"At this point, there's not much I can do.." she said, letting her head droop.
The small fennec fox looked at her with sadness in his eyes.
"I'm not letting Jason eat you!" He said, looking quite determined.
Then he tried to pick her up, using his leg strength to push her up and barely lift her off the ground. Harper was speechless.
This kid was STRONG.
With slow, shaky steps, the fox made his way to the side of the ship. He set her on the edge and started to breath heavily. She wasn't surprised since she was pretty heavy.
"Thank you so much! I.. I don't know what to say. You saved my life!" Harper said happily, wrapping her arms around his neck to bring him in for a hug. She couldn't balance well though and almost fell but he caught her and hoisted her back up.
"It's no problem lady!" the fennec fox said with a goofy grin.
Harper shared the smile with him but before long a load groan came from somewhere below deck.
"Jack!! Have you seen my knife?" the voice from earlier called.
The fennec fox's eyes widened and he quickly pushed Harper off the boat. It took her a moment to register what was going on but before she hit the water, she outstretched her arms and dove right in. She popped her head back out, looking up to where the fox was. He was leaning over the side, grinning at her.
"Hey! I forgot to ask! What's your name?" He said in a loud whisper.
She smiled.
"It's Harper" she whispered back, cupping her hands around her mouth as if they were sharing secrets.
"Jack" the fennec fox said before he turned around and scurried off to somewhere unknown. Harper took one last glance at the ship and then submerged herself, heading straight for home.