Bayou

Chapter 17 ~ Little Fish

Chapter 17

Time passed slower in the swamp. The days were fuller, brighter, and I found myself waking up earlier and dreading the time I'd need to return to sleep. My encounter with Danny had shone a new light on changing, and I didn't want to miss anything. I didn't want it to end. Croc taught me how to move the way he did, how to feel the current and mold my body into it. The water was just as alive as the rest of the Bayou, and I found myself unable to stay away from her for too long.

Croc called her his mother. He said the water raised him, and I'd have never taken him seriously had I not experienced it for myself. She was like a mother. She enveloped, protected, and every time I sunk into her depths, I grew like a baby returned to the womb.

I could hold my breath for an eternity, swim faster than Gator, climb trees with little effort, and jump across the canopy to land among a new set of branches. I was invincible, extraordinary, and all my fears evaporated in the glory of what I could achieve.

Croc didn't break any more rules. He never had a chance to. We were always with the kids or Julia. But his attention never ended. With each new advancement I made, the heat of his gaze scorched my skin. I avoided his touch, sure that if he so much as brushed against me in passing, I'd disintegrate into ash.

Thankfully, I didn't need his protection as much as I had, and I found moments alone at night. A tree along the edge of the backyard offered the same view Croc had shown me from the roof, and I made it my purpose to climb into its branches whenever the opportunity arose. The quiet beauty cleared my mind.

I slipped out the back door, careful to remain silent. Everyone had gone to bed over an hour before, and I'd waited, making sure they were all asleep. I'd been doing it more and more, getting braver as each night passed without incident or discovery. I was better at it. I'd become a part of the swamp, and I could feel it, move with it, from each blade of grass beneath my feet to the grooves and marks that lined each tree.

I lifted my hand and smiled as glowing green fireflies rushed forward to dance around my twirling fingers. My tree waited, beckoning with swaying branches draped in moonlit Spanish moss.

I hurried forward and gripped its trunk, digging in with fingers and toes and pulling myself up to the branch I always occupied. The view took my breath no matter how many times I looked at it. Miles of winding, glittering green. I rested my head back, stretched my legs in front of me, crossed my ankles atop the branch, and watched, listened, absorbing every rustle and sound just like I absorbed what the water had to offer.

"Wish you were here, old man," I whispered into the calm. I'd been thinking about Merle more and more, coming to peace with the fact that too much time had passed. He wasn't coming, and I wanted to believe—I needed to believe—that he'd somehow made it. In some form, he was here with us, happy we'd found our way, laughing at Julia's antics and impressed with my new abilities. I preferred it to the alternative. No way could a man like Merle just cease to exist. His spirit burned too bright to ever flicker out.

A twig snapped, and my gaze jerked toward where the sound had come from only to find an empty yard. I looked higher, up to the roof where Croc slept. The top of his lean-to was the only shadow visible from my position, and I searched the ground on all sides.

A rustle sounded from the tree to my left. My heart skittered, and I lifted, readying myself to make an escape.

Croc pulled himself onto the branch only three feet from mine and crouched, locking eyes with me.

"You scared me." I clutched my heart and sucked in a breath. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."

"I didn't sneak," he said, tone low. "If I'd wanted to sneak, you wouldn't have heard me."