Beyond the Shallow Waters ★ Maylor

Chapter 1

The ocean, beaming with life yet dark and mysterious. Only 5% and less has been discovered of ocean. So many secrets lie within it. The Megalodon and other ancient ocean creatures could still exist. Disappeared boats and planes are deep in depths. Even the thought of Merpeople existing.
     
I'm so captivated by the ocean. I'm same with the stars, the universe out there in space. I'm so captivated by the unknown. I long to know the secrets. I want to discover the most of them myself. All my life, I've dreamed of making a breakthrough discovery and I did.

---
    
The wind blew and the salty breeze curved around me as I scribbled away at the sketchbook below me. The smell and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore was unlike any other. The air was crisp unlike the air of London. You could breathe better here. There was no big city here, just a small one.  Just a small town with a nice private college.
     
Almost everyday, I'd come down to the dock and relax, taking in my soothing surroundings.
     
John, my best mate, loved to come down here as well. He loved to take pictures of the waves and sunsets. He loved photography. I loved it too. We both loved to capture the beauty that we experienced everyday. We did photography as a part-time job but it was John who wanted to take it professional.
     
"Brian, don't move." I froze and didn't move until after I heard the two shutters of the camera.
     
"Thanks Brian. You're gonna love these." He sat beside me, dangling his legs off the dock unlike mine being crossed. He turned the screen of the camera towards me. The photos were beautiful.
    
The first focused on me. I had a blue shadowy tone to my back and you could see the blur of sunset ahead of us.
    
The second focused in on the sunset. It was magnificent. Pink and Orange with tones of yellow. I looked up at the sky in front of us and smiled.
     
"Those are beautiful Deaky, the sunset is absolutely more gorgeous in person though." Deaky himself smiled softly and look up with me, watching the sun go down over the horizon.

---
     
"Freddie! Slow down! I can barely keep up!" Freddie was so eager to see the sunset. We weren't even really supposed to go up to the surface but being the rebels we are, we never listened.
     
"Come on, Love! We're almost to the surface!" Freddie was fast, he'd outrace anyone if it meant racing to something he had spectacular favor in.
     
Fred was the first to break the surface. I jolted out of water and up onto the rock Freddie so loved to sit on. I pushed my wet hair out of my face and sputter out the water from my lungs. It took me a second to adjust to the air. My gills burned some but not too painfully. Freddie had no trouble with it. He never even let out a cough he was so used to coming to the  surface.
     
We were close to land but not to close to be spotted. We were a few miles from home. Well actually about 15 miles but considering how fast we can swim. It only can take about 20-30 minutes for us. We're about 1-mile and 1/2 out from the shore.
     
I've never seen a human up close before. I'm not entirely sure what they look like. I know that they look similar to us but without the tails and fins. They have legs and don't have sharp teeth and claws like us. Granted, I've only seen artworks by elders of our kingdom. They draw them as hideous beast who are merciless and frightening.
     
Freddie believes all the stories of them are bullshit. He's so curious to meet one. I am too. His bad nature has rubbed off on me or I've rubbed off on him. Who knows.
     
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Freddie asked with awe, like he'd never seen a sunset before in all his years of living.
    
"Yeah it is." I got to admit it was one of the best I'd ever seen. All the colors mixed together in the sky as dusk set upon us. I waited a few minutes before I spoke up.
    
"Come on Fred. We need to get back before they see we're gone." I jumped into the water and bobbed back to top waiting for him. He held his hand out for a second.
    
"Hold on, Rog." He hesitated, still looking up at the sky, he smiled. He then joined me in the water.
     
"I was trying to enjoy the last of it darling." I rolled my eyes and laughed.
    
"Well hurry so we don't get into trouble." I chuckled as we swam swiftly back to the kingdom.

---
     
"All done! You want to see?" John said as he sat down beside me with his laptop. He showed me all the photos he's taken today.
     
"That one's a really good." It was one of a sailboat out on the horizon.
     
"Thanks, I chose the best ones I took. Not all turned out good today. It pisses me off. I really liked some of them." John had handed the laptop to me so he'd crossed his arms and sunk lower in his spot.
     
"Well there's always tomorrow. Don't give up." I smiled, handing his laptop back to him. He signed and took it.
    
"Thanks Bri." He tapped on his keyboard before he spoke up again, "At least these did turn out." He showed me the ones from earlier of the sunset and I. Deaky smiled at his masterpiece.
    
"That may become my new lock screen on my phone." I said, causing him laugh and seem to roll his eyes.
    
"Conceited much?" He asked. It took me a second to get what he was meaning.
    
"Because the sunset's pretty in it, not because I am." He nodded.
    
"Sureee." He teased.
     
"I'm being serious!" That just made him laugh more.
     
"I know, I'm just messing with you." It was my turn to roll my eyes. I grabbed the tv remote off the coffee table and turned on the tv. I flipped through the channels until I settled on something good.
    
John got up from the couch and laid his laptop, which he had turned off, on the kitchen table. He walked down the hall to his bedroom and I assumed he was going to take a shower.
     
I stayed there for about ten minutes before I got bored of the tv program. I walked over the sliding glass door and walked on to the patio. I slid the door shut and leaned against the railing. We lived in a beach house over looking the small beach and ocean. Since this was a small town, houses weren't too close together and were spread out. The beach wasn't like the typical big ones. I mean it was still relatively large just not on going. It stretches out about a mile or so and then cut off by sand dunes on one side while the other side, it is cut off by some rocks and houses. It was almost like a little private beach.
    
I breathed in the salty air and listened to the seagulls and waves. I looked up to the sky and watched the stars. To my lucky, a shooting star flew across the sky. I loved the stars, I fell in love with the night sky and all the things out there in space at a young age. It's stuck with me. I want to learn and discover things. That's what also attracts me to the ocean. I want to know what down there. It excites me to find out. It also sends chills down my spine knowing there could be something in there that would rock our world. Something that could terrify people, cause them to destroy.
    
Whatever's out there, in the ocean, space, whatever, could change our world as we know it.
     
I zoned out to the sounds of my surroundings and stared out at the horizon, where the moon was reflecting over the water.
    
"Brian?" The voice pulled me out of thoughts. How long has I been standing out there?
     
"Um-uh-yes?" I turned around to Deaky, who had the phone to his ear.
      
"Come here, Miami wants you to see this." I walked back in where John had the tv on one of the news channel.
     
"In the next few days," the new reporter spoke, "we are the expecting the arrival of a great myth buster to our small town. Paul Prenter, 25, is heading from his home in the U.K. to here to start a search for the mythical beings known as merpeople." The broadcast then flipped over to a short interview of the man.
     
"I believe that they are out there. I'm heading to this small town in Florida that in the past, once and only once, has reported see one out there. They even had some artifacts wash up on their shore like jewelry and weapons some 60 years ago." The Irish man spoke.
     
"I've never heard of that last bit before. I've heard about the mermaid sighting but you know." I said, having lived here for almost a year now and have yet to hear this.
     
"That's because it's fake. Miami says it was a prank that someone had set up after the sighting." John explained still with the phone to his ear. "Only a few people were told it was a prank to keep the myth going."
     
"...-That's why I'm going, I believe that this is the perfect place to start the search." I already didn't like this guy. There's something about him that's...off.
     
"Here." John handed his phone to me and I put it to my ear.
     
"Yeah?" I asked, wondering what Jim has to tell me.
     
"Brian Listen. Don't not trust this man, Whatever you do. I've had run ins with him in the past and he's a snake. He's not what he seems. Everyone thinks he's so good but he's manipulative and gets what he wants. So be careful, both of you." I nodded my head and paced around.
     
"We will, Thanks Miami." We said our farewells and hung up.
     
"What'd he say?" John asked with concern in his eyes.
     
"He said we need to be weary of this guy. He's not to be trusted."
---
I hope this is good so far. I'm sorry if somethings don't make sense. I tried my best for things to. There are a few holes in the plot so I was hesitant to post this, but I'm working them out. This is the first story I've wrote in a year or two so it gonna take me a while to get back in the hang of it. Please bare with me though. -Lee