Depths

4. Tough Love

This chapter has been edited.

...

Jack Fenton groaned, dizzier than when his wife accidentally bashed his head with a piece of equipment they were working on. Pain shot through every nerve of his eyes and as he reached up to rub at a tender spot on the side of his forehead, he could feel the large bump that formed there. He winced when his fingers brushed over it but did his best to clear his vision and look around.

The first thing he noticed was he was on a rock, and above the crash of the waves, he could hear a strange humming noise. It was almost a pleasant noise, it would probably be more pleasant if his head wasn't pounding at the moment.

What had happened?

He and his son were on a boat, they were fishing, minding their own business, and then...

His eyes widened, searching around through blurred vision, "Danny?" where was his son?

Movement caught his eye, he looked over to where his son was leaning over the edge of their island. Suddenly his vision cleared and his heart stopped when he caught sight of one of those things that had attacked them. "Danny, no!" he scrambled to get up off his butt and rush over to Danny as fast as he could, but it was too late. The creature with white hair had dragged his son so far down that Jack couldn't even see him anymore.

Without even bothering to think as pure unadulterated fear bled into his chest, Jack dove into the water, sure that if he was quick enough he could grab Danny from the monster before it was too late.

But the water was too thick, he couldn't see a thing, he didn't even know which direction he came from. He desperately searched around the water, but he couldn't see anything but water and sand let alone his raven-haired son.

Soon he had no choice but to go up for air, but as soon as he caught his breath he went back down to search again. Repeating that over and over until his arms and legs were tired from swimming through the murky water and started to feel like jelly.

He climbed back up on the island panting for breath, his body feeling heavier than ever before. His son was gone, his pride and joy. He would never see him again, ever. He knew what those things would do to him, he knew the torture they would put his son threw as they ripped him apart while he was still alive.

Jack fell from his hands and knees, rolling onto his back and covered his face with his eyes. His son was probably being eaten alive at that very moment and he couldn't do anything about it but lay there, and wait for the tide to come in.

This was all his fault.

...

Phantom's eyes broke the surface, landing on the fat man lying back on the rock with an arm over his eyes. Phantom could read him just as clear as he could read the younger boy trapped below them.

The man was wallowing in self-hatred and blame, waiting for death to come and put him out of his misery.

Phantom hummed seeing that the tide had picked up a lot, the island that the man rested on was barely above the surface anymore.

The man looked fat enough to feed the mermaids for a couple days, a delicious meal that would be savory and satisfying.

Phantom dove down, purposely creating a splash, and watched as the man sat up in suspicion at the sound. Fear could be felt making its way into the older humans being as he stood up and looked around him at the seemingly innocent waters.

Jack couldn't see Phantom where he sat watching him in the deeper part of the cove through the murkiness of the water, but Phantom could see the man clearly as if the only barrier between them was a dusty piece of glass. He smirked, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. The older man was nearly unsuspecting, he didn't know what was going to happen.