Split the Sea

. 4 .

. 4 . House of Water

Water. It was everywhere. It went into my open mouth and up my nose, pulling on my body like the currents in the ocean. I reached for my pillow, my groggy mind trying to place myself back in my bed. I opened my eyes and a trail of bubbles escaped my mouth, trailing up to the ceiling where they were stuck on the smooth white plaster. My lungs automatically sucked in and instead of water, there was still air.

I was breathing under the water.

I tested out my voice. "Kggggtghey." It gurgled. Where was Katie? My heart thudded as I imagined her dead somewhere. What had happened while I had been... knocked out?

I swam past the window. I could see the rain still falling. The storm was silent, sound unable to travel through the thick water. The lightning lit ip up, moving from one window to the next. As it flickered, I saw movement. Something large was floating. When I turned my eyes to focus on it, it vanished, leaving behind wisps of black that looked like squid ink.

A cold hand touched my body and I spun around, fist raised. Katie was drifting there, her eyes wide with fear. She grabbed my hands and started to pull me away. I followed her into the kitchen. Everything was still in place. There were cups on the counter that were still there and a kettle on the stove that hadn't floated off. Papers were strewn across the table. Routes and plans for moms trip. They didn't even look wet. The TV was playing the news. The sounds was distorted but the images were clear.

"Whugh harpghhen?" I tried to form words. Katie shook her head. We swam between the ceiling and counter, heading to the couches. There was a noise behind us and Katie dove down, pulling me behind the couch. We stayed there for several minutes. I felt warm, even though we were swimming in water. I didn't feel necessarily wet. I was aware that I was wet, but my clothes weren't even sticking to my body. They drifted like they would in zero gravity. My hair also moved, a halo that surrounded me.

The room grew dark. I could sense something riding in on the currents that came in through the door. "You can't hide forever." A whispering voice came in. It tickled my ears. Katie pushed herself beneath the couch. I followed, grabbing onto one of the couch legs and pulling myself beside her. The water swirled around us as the voice grew closer.

"I split the sea to find you two. I have divided myself from my kingdom in order to be here. The least you could to is listen." There was a moment of silence. I hardly dared to breath, the small bubbles of trapped oxygen trapped beneath the couch. I twisted my head and looked at Katie. Her face was ashen and she was biting her lip.

"Fine, leave it as that. I already know where you are." The raspy voice sent shivers down my spine. I let out a scream as the entire couch was thrown off of us, leaving us exposed to the creature hovering in the water. In another light I would've said it was a mermaid, human from the waist up and a tail. In the faint light from the lightning, I could make out the startling features that told me she wasn't a mermaid, at least not the image of mermaids that humans had imprinted in their minds.

She didn't have a tail. Instead, the bottom of her was like a jellyfish. Tentacles filled the water around her, the tips sizzling with contained electricity. Around her waist there was a long harpoon-like weapon strapped with a belt. Her skin was bare from the waist up, with the exception of a strange scaly material that wrapped around her chest. Long black hair covered her face, which was angled. Fangs were visible at the corners of her mouth.

"Well, where's my welcome?" She threw up her arms. The water around her obeyed, thickening and pulling us towards her. I struggled but the invisible bonds were too strong. I sent a silent prayer into the heavens, begging for some kind of help. Beside me, Katie was as limp as a ragdoll. She let her body get pulled back and forth in the water, her eyes closed. She seemed at peace.

"Who are you?" I was surprised that I could now speak without the water stealing my voice away.

"I am the bare essence of the evil that roams these shores. You may call me Kifu." At the sound of her name, a symbol burned in the water: ክፉ. It disappeared after a moment. "I have been tracking down what is rightfully mine for years and now I have the opportunity. Your friends house was... difficult. It was too far away from the ocean for me to fully transport. But you... you are the mediator between the two of us. I can finally use her as I was meant to the night she escaped." Kifu touched one of the tentacles to Katie's face. It burned into her cheek and when it came out of contact, ክፉ was glowing in red letters.

"Let go of her." I screamed, pushing against the water. The bonds vanished and I launched myself at Kifu. The tentacles stopped me from coming too far. They pierced my skin and threw me across the room. I hit the pillar of drywall that stood beside the counter, stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Pain erupted across my back. Kifu was laughing. She started to change again. Her body shrank back into the black ball that had haunted the water.

"I will come back for you." The voice came from inside. "Neither of you will escape. There is only one escape, and that is if one of you gives herself over to me. I demand a payment before I depart." There was a flash and she disappeared.

Katie was still in the center of the room. She was slowly falling to the floor, her snow white skin stark in the dark water. She hit the ground and a few bubbles of air escapes from her open lips. I swam over to her and noticed that around the mark tattooed into her skin, veins were spreading out. They were turning black.

Her eyes were moving behind closed lids. I whispered her name and took her hand. She stirred lightly, turning over. Her eyes opened for a split second before closing again. I opened my mouth, water running in as I looked in shock. Her eyes were mostly black. There was a bit of white around the edges, but other than that they were one solid colour.

Okay, so this is not a possession story. if anyone is wanting to leave because it seems... like demons and stuff... I will be explaining the symbolism and meaning of the story when it's done. I find that it's kind of a personal meaning that I've put in here. I don't like stories centered around demons but this is almost like fighting your inner demons. Idk, I'll get into that later.