The Secret Lives of Fish - a sequel to The Thirteenth Year

Ch 3 - Bathtubs

The first, bright rays of sun woke Cody early and groggily. His night had been unrestful, cozy on the ocean floor in a rocky cave he had found. Unfortunately, the cave hadn't been very deep and fish had come in at all hours of the night to see what he was. He had quickly told them to leave, but more followed. He'd finally fallen into a deep sleep when the sun just started coming up. It made him ache for his cozy seaweed makeshift of a bed in the deep blue ocean where he belonged. And it made him only want to return to land more, missing his old human bed.

Once more his head broke through the surface, the cool morning air filling his damp lungs. It felt weird to breathe straight air. It was thick and made him light headed. Scanning the beach, he knew no one was there. If he was going to do this, he needed to go on shore now. He couldn't hesitate like he had the day before. If he waited much longer he risked people showing up. With a sigh into the seafoam he ducked back under the water and swam the rest of the distance to the shore. His silver and blue tail shone just below the gentle waves.

The rocks scraped his stomach first as he reached the shoreline. With his hands he pulled himself as fall forward as he could. Awkwardly he dug his tail into the rocky sand and wormed up farther. He was definitely bruised and scraped up as he finally felt himself completely on dry ground. The water was receding as the ocean went out with low tide. Five minutes – he would allow himself that long to catch his breath before he would try anything else.

He kept his stomach on the ground, his tail drying out behind him, and his face covered in his arms. The sun was so bright it made him drowsy. He couldn't fall asleep, but his eyes drooped. He'd barely slept during the night and the sand felt warm on his skin.

-TSLOF-

He woke to the feeling of his skin burning. He winced and blinked over his right shoulder to stare at the sun, which was farther along across the sky. His tail felt heavy and when he blinked down he was shocked to see a tarp draped over it, hiding it from view. That was when he realized he wasn't alone. Whipping his head around he looked over his left shoulder, and smiled.

"Hey, Cody. Thought that was you I saw lying there."

Once more Cody opened his mouth to speak to Mr. Wheatly. Once more nothing came out. He opted again for his smile and nodded in the older man's direction.

Mr. Wheatly nodded back and rubbed his hands together. "It's been a while. Your mom called us up last night, saying you'd come back. Jess is completely excited. Nearly tripped over his contraption of a musical instrument three times." He gave a deep throated laugh. "Kid would have skipped school to see ya today if he hadn't had to go get you your homework."

School? Summer was over? All he could see from the cove was sand and rock. There was no way to tell what the weather was really like in his small ocean town. It didn't help that he had grown up on an island off the mainland. It had always been summer like there. Even in the winter time. Now he wished he could have seen fall leaves or winter snow, something to show him how long he had been gone. He would have asked Mr. Wheatly, but he knew that wasn't an option. Not at the moment at least.

Mr. Wheatly gave him an odd look as Cody still didn't respond.

"Well, I think we should get you to a better place. Somewhere more safe?"

That was probably best, now that Cody thought about it. As it was he was too tired to be of much use to even himself. He needed to be awake and strong if he was going to try and get his legs back. So, he nodded and rolled himself onto his back. His tail flopped uselessly along with him.

Pulling an old, scratched up flip-phone out of his pocket Mr. Wheatly called Cody's parents down to the cove. They sat there in companionable silence as the waves soaked the tarp around Cody's tail. He was surprised that there was still no one else to show up at the cove. It wasn't normal. Unless... it was winter? Could he really have been gone that long? He had left in late April. If it was winter, then he must have been gone... he did the mental math in his head. Eight months? Nine? The thought staggered him and he had to grip his webbed hands into the sand for support.