Hooked

Chapter Seventeen: Heavy Thoughts

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, N.L.PETIT 2014.

Chapter Seventeen: Heavy Thoughts

        The days began to blur as my anxiety grew. 

        I was fidgety, day in and day out,  as the hours mindlessly passed. I tried to keep myself busy by exploring and settling in, but in truth, nothing could distract me from the impending, unrelenting change. 

        For a reason I couldn't fathom, Adrian seemed to be just as distressed as I was. Could it be that, since we were mates, his emotions fed off mine? or, by some chance, did the full moon affect whatever type of creature he was? Every time the thought came up, I quickly pushed it away. Right now, my priority was to find a way to hide myself during my shift. 

        I wasn't ready for Adrian to know what I was. These past few days had been close to blissful, as he'd hardly left the house, instead claiming to make sure I settled into Chicago. 

        On top of those problems, my refusal to return William's call had begun to terrify me. What had I done? Why couldn't I have, for once, faced the fear and made sure my secret was safe? It was all I'd done for years now, and all I could think about was whether or not his threat had been real. 

        Was my secret really free?

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

        And there nothing went.

        The water consumed my body as I leaped in, letting the cool water flush over my skin. It surrounded me completely, and I heard Will call my name as I submerged. I felt the familiar sensation of scales forming on my skin, opening my airways, allowing me to gasp in a breath of water. My legs fused together naturally and became a single, silver mass, and I let myself sink to the bottom of the ten-foot pool, silver tail curling around my body, before I gazed up to the distorted surface of the water.

        I didn't see the way Will's handsome face looked mangled and deformed through the waves I had created when I jumped in. I couldn't discern his features as I pushed my body upward, curving my tail and pushing the water down, to reach the surface.

        When my face broke into the chilly air, I felt the heat coming from Will's shaking frame. He was livid, with a look of utter disgust on what I had always thought were attractive features. I could not imagine the man I'd come to nearly love was so abhorable, so unfaithful in our romance to even attempt to understand me.

        "Sophie, what the hell?"

        I stared, half expecting this reaction. "Will--."

        "What the hell is wrong with you?" his shout hit me like a slap in the face.

        "W-what do you mean?" I stuttered with wide eyes. I cowered back against the wall of the pool.

        "This, this thing! It's disgusting! You are disgusting!" Will spat horrendously down at me. "You're a fish, you're not even freaking human! You're repulsive, get out!"

        By the time I'd run away, I had thought of his beautiful face in pain as he watched me. I had wondered how I could possibly have been so awful to him to incite such a reaction. I had blamed myself, because he had been the love of my life, the first man I had ever felt more than a subtle attraction towards. He had been my first serious relationship -- so serious, I was not hesitant to show him who I really was. I had considered him a long-lasting kind of love. 

        Now, he was none of that to me.

        As I looked through the window at the blue-eyed man playing with his nephew in the yard, I realized that I had found a new kind of forever love.