Breathless

Chapter 7: Breathe

There was something wrong with my dream that night. I was with Anna, and we were on the ocean floor surrounded by coral reefs. I held my breath in, knowing that I would drown if the water ever got into my lungs. Anna smiled as me as her dark hair moved with the current.

"It's okay," she whispered as small bubbles of air escaped from her lips. The young girl sucked in a deep breath and then sighed. "You can do it too."

We both stood with our toes sinking in the cold sand below. I debated whether or not to trust her, but I was going to need to breathe soon. My lungs were beginning to burn from holding my breath so long. I opened my mouth into an 'o' shape and sucked in. The water poured into my lungs and I couldn't move. I began to scream from panic as Anna's eyes grew wide.

"No! Use your gills!"

My panic began to pull me back to conscioiusness. I opened my eyes and sucked in a deep breath of air. My eyes adjusted to the harsh light coming from my window and I realized that I was still in my room. It was just a dream.

Elise was next to me and she began to stir. My bed was too small for the both of us, but Elise didn't like the idea of sleeping on the hard floor in a sleeping bag, so we shared whenever she slept over. Her eyes opened groggily and she squinted from the light. She turned to my digital clock on the left and groaned.

"It's 7:30. Go to bed, Terra," she commanded sleepily while dropping her head back onto onto my pillow.

Elise was right. It was too early to be awake on a Saturday. I pulled my sweaty body back under the covers and tried to drift off again, but it was absolutely impossible. The only thoughts that would come to me were about me drowining. 

Finally, after a good thirty minutes of trying to get back to sleep, I pulled myself out of bed and walked down the stairs to get to the kitchen. I could almost hear my stomach growl as I poured my Frosted Flakes into a plastic bowl.

The silence in the kitchen was too much for me, so I turned on the TV to watch old cartoons I used to love as a kid. After finding my old favorite, Tom and Jerry, I put all of  my attention into the show to keep my mind off of everything.

Once I had finished with my bowl, the sounds of tapping feet came from the top of the stairs. At first I thought it was Elise, but then I remembered that 8:30 in the morning was practically a foreign concept to her. 

Emily yawned and ran a finger through her messy curls. Once again, I saw that she wasn't wearing enough clothing to cover her scales up. I huffed and rolled my eyes at the sight of my sister as she made her way down the stairs.

She chose to ignore my obvious displeasure to her choice of pajamas and pulled some frozen waffles out from the freezer. "Good morning, Terra," she said sleepily.

"Morning," I grumbled as I placed my empty bowl on the coffee table in front of the couch. I'd pick it up later.

She put two waffles into the toaster and glanced at the TV in front of me with a small smile. "Tom and Jerry?" Emily asked with a light tone.

I shrugged and kept my eyes on the screen. "Yep."

The conversation died shortly after that. She came to sit next to me on the couch, but I didn't move to make any room for her. My sister didn't get the hint that I wanted her to go away. I caught her glancing at me, more specificallly at my neck, in awe.

"So you have them too," she said with a sigh as she rubbed the gills on her neck.

My heart stopped as I realized what she was talking about. The dream flashed through my mind in a blur. Somehow, my hand found its was up to my neck. I felt three slits across the sides. Gills.

"Did you not know?" she asked with concern.

I managed to shake my head. No.

"If it makes you feel better, I had a good dream about yours." My sister looked at me with pure innocence. So we both had dreams about my gills. "Anna was there, too. She told you to breathe, but you didn't use your gills. So you started to drown, but then you didn't. You figured it out."

Emily had seen the end of my dream after I woke up from fear. What does that say about us? 

"I want the doctor to fix it, Emily," I said as I turned towards her. "You should, too." And with that, I headed back upstairs towards my room where Elise was still fast asleep. I saw her phone buzz on my nightstand. The name Carson flashed across the screen. I flipped it open and answered it for Elise before thinking about it.

"Hey-" I started to say, but his voice cut me off.

"Elise, Mom and Dad are freaking out. You need to get home." He sounded tense.

"This is Terra, but I'll tell her," I said, wondering what he would think once he knew it was me.

"Oh," he said as his breath caught in his throat. He coughed, trying to hide it. "Can you tell her to come home?"

I rubbed my elbow nervously. "I already woke her up once this morning. She's going to kill me." It was true. Elise hated to be woken up more than anything in the world.

I heard him laugh a little on the other line. "I'll protect you." As soon as he realized what had just come out of his mouth, I could almost hear his face turn red. He coughed nervously. "Just, bring Elise. Please." He hung up the phone quickly. 

I chuckled and turned to my friend who was laying across my bed in a less-than-graceful way. There was no way I was going to get within three feet of her when she woke up. I walked to the closet across the hall and grabbed a wooden broom. Once it was in my hands, I pushed the bottom of the broom towards her face, making her crinkle her nose. It didn't quite wake her up, so I tried one more time.

Elise launched out of the bad immediately, grabbing the broom with an iron grip. The crazy look in her eye made me laugh.

"What the hell, Terra?" she groaned, plopping back down on my bed.

"Get up," I chirped, pulling the covers off of her body. "You're in trouble."