Fish Tails

Chapter Four

K

I don't bother opening my eyes. I don't want to.

I feel sore and achy, and my body doesn't feel like my own. I must have taken quite a tumble in the water.

I'm tired. I should sleep some more. I haven't gotten those dreams in a while. Maybe I'm on a sleeping drug? It would make sense. I feel a hand on mine. It is small and warm- my mom? Or maybe Riley?

I hope she's okay. I know I should open my eyes and make sure it's her. Troy got her to the hospital. I got to the hospital.

I'm okay now. I'm okay.

I feel movement by my legs. I feel the air on them, the way it changes. Strange. I guess since I was so pumped up with adrenaline, I must be feeling the air so much because my senses are heightened.

The hand let's go of mine. I wait to hear the door opening or something but I hear nothing. I hear nothing, not even the beeping of a heart monitor or the AC or a bird outside or something. My heart starts to race. It beats so fast and loud, it feels like a horse galloping on top of me.

I open my eyes. It's bright out and the sky keeps shifting. Things fly through it, birds? I feel the sand below me. I must have washed up on the beach. I sit up but in doing so, I float up.

No. I'm not on the beach. I'm underwater. 

I hold my breath to keep from drowning and close my eyes. I wait for the pressure in my ears, the adrenaline, the fear and for me to float up. Nothing happens except a burning sensation in my neck, which is strange. I open my eyes but fear keeps me from taking a breath. I want to but I know I'll only drown. 

It's not so bad being down here. I can see the sun's ray's through the water. It was nice and warm down here, not cold like the water usually is. 

The lack of air finally kicked in. I struggle to keep from breathing until I break. I breathe in. 

I'm fine. 

I'm perfectly fine. I feel refreshed; my heart rate went down and the pounding in my head left. 

Maybe I'm dreaming again? What an odd dream; I can breathe underwater. I try to move my legs to swim up but nothing happens. In fact, I can't even feel my feet or my swim pants. 

I don't have feet. 

Where the hell is my feet?

I look down and I almost pass out from the sight in front of me. A long blue tail hangs from where my legs usually are. It's scaly and shimmers, changing from blue to green all the time. I shove my fingers into my hair, at least I still have those. But its different. My fingers don't rake through my hair. I bring them down to look at them. I jolt back on fright and due to my tail thing, I fly backward through the water.  They're webbed.

I have webbed fingers and no fucking feet.

They're thin and connect all my fingers together. My nails are long and sharp, even my hands have dark scales that disappear into my wrists. I begin to examine the rest of my body.

I have small fins on my arms and my chest is rock hard. I mean, they were before from working out but this time, they're rock hard. It doesn't feel soft like skin, it feels like a crab shell. It's like armor has been placed on my body. I lift up my shirt, which remained on my body (as well as my watch) and found some cracks and outlines to define my chest and a break in the plates where my elbows are. I place my webbed hands on my shoulders and move them. They move just like before but it's rigid and hard as well. My entire back is like that.