Submerged

Dan has and always will have a massive fear of water. Not the little stream, like from taps, or showers, that would be stupid. No. He's scared of the large bodies of water. Oceans. Swimming pools. Hell, even torrential downpour scares him.

He doesn't know why. Does anybody really know why they have a phobia? It was just something he had known since he can remember. He would refuse to go in the bath and for some reason, his parents put up with that. They kept saying he was 'special'. Dan still doesn't know what they meant.

But back to the point, Dan was terrified of water. So hearing the news that Phil's krave challenge involved a swimming pool chilled him to the core. He was close to begging Phil not to do it. But he couldn't let his friend down. He just had to bite the bullet and face his fear.

That lead him to where he was standing, on the little grating beside an enormous indoor pool with no lifeguard, and these ridiculous shoes he had on. He was positive that they would have no impact on his inevitable drowning. Phil was sitting beside him, in a small paddling boat, with a grin that lit up his entire face. That was why Dan had to do this stupid thing. He needed to make Phil happy.

"Three, two, one- go!" Phil shouted, the noise reverberating around the damp concrete room. He pushed the boat off the concrete shore and started paddling furiously in the direction of the bowl of cereal acting as the finish line.

Dan took one last shaky breath before slipping off the grating and floating a few meters away from the edge. He very nearly screamed out for help, but he but his tongue and tried to walk a little with the bright yellow shoes.

Immediately, he spiralled out of control and fell straight into the crystal clear death liquid. He scrambled for purchase, hooking both his arms around one of the shoes and holding on for dear life. He panted for breath and as he did so, he noticed a very weird sensation.

His legs felt like they were joining together. But, only on one side. It didn't make sense to him, but nevertheless, there he was. Panting for breath. The oxygen deprivation must be causing hallucinations and strange sensations. He really didn't know, he quite frankly did not want to know. He just latched onto the bright plastic and waited for the feeling to pass.

It didn't.

The first thing he felt was his thighs starting to join together, just the upper part. Then the middle. By this stage the onesie was beginning to get uncomfortable. Dan didn't want to move. He was scared stiff. He didn't know what was happening, and he hated it. Did this happen to everybody that went in pools? Dan thought to himself, thinking that it was still just a sensation. Then his knees drew together and merged into one. Dan couldn't move his legs individually anymore. They moved as one. He didn't have joints either, it was kinda like his spine, continuing.

Then one of the legs of his stupid onesie started flapping around in the water, not occupied. Dan panicked and flapped around, suddenly not able to breathe above the water too. He sunk beneath the surface of the water, with no breath left, his eyes shut tight and now a burning sensation where his legs used to be. He still didn't know what was happening, but when a searing pain flashed through his feet, he screamed, underwater.

He opened his eyes and extended his hand above his head, trying to reach out for help. His feet were being squashed, his legs were now one and- what the actual fuck? Dan thought as he pulled his hand back to examine. He had grown a thick membrane between each of his fingers. Great. He looked down at where his feet used to be. The pain had stopped. He felt- normal. And- oh my god. He was breathing underwater. He was breathing. Surrounded by water. And not through his mouth or nose. Dan brought his webbed fingers up to his neck and almost screamed again.