FAIRYTALES FOR A HUMAN (Lesbian)

Part 22 HUMAN

Nota bene: the chapter features mature content!

No sooner had I got into the water far enough when I was knocked off my feet and thrown back by the first traitorous wave. One minor obstacle is enough to dazzle me: salty water is in my nose and throat, soaring unpleasantly. I am coughing and rubbing my eyes making it even worse: now the water stings them too.

I make one more attempt which is more successful. I still feel the sand under my feet, but soon its safe support is lost. I try to swim like a dog, but it seems like I'm a tiny bug in a puddle wiggling its limbs to survive. The density of surface seawater keeps me afloat, but I can't breathe in the right way, thus, I'm exhausted and totally out of breath.

The sky and the ocean are united in one big dark blue chaos around me.

I hold my breath and let myself fully submerge.

I'm blind. I'm deaf. My thoughts are flashing, "How am I supposed to find her? Maybe she has already swum away, leaving me like she did in the forest. It's insane: I know the mermaid only two days and now ready to sacrifice my own life in order to rescue her... Will I die here?"

It's hard to believe that her supple naked back, covered with the shadows of palm leaves, is the last image of hers I have in my head.

I'm on the surface again, taking a deep despairing breath. I can return to the shore if I try to do my best: that's my only chance until I lost all my energy.

Go ahead, return to the shore, cherishing the idea that she might have simply dumped me, and her human, untransformed into a mermaid body is not lying swollen and thrown somewhere. Juni will bring me home, and she'll never come back. The blond witch will never come back too, and then everything can go back to normal. I will find a boring job. In a huge plankton area, I will have a desk between two ladies: one is young and is surrounded with a gallery of family photos, while another one is her exact older reflection. The only difference between them is the number of photographs and their kids' ugly handmade presents. And I will inevitably have our traditional family dinners with my parents where I will inevitably be introduced to some young man who is a son of my mom's friend or the friend of her friend, and who, of course, will 'coincidentally' pay my parents a visit. "He's a doctor, by the way, dear. Optometrist. And single..."

Doris... I'd rather die here saving her than return back to my life. I can't just live the way I used to. I can't anymore. Or I can't without her?

I use my last ounce of strength to move forward when I feel something against my leg. The unexpected touch frightens me so much that I almost inhale the water and drown myself. Another wave covers me: I dare to open my eyes underwater to see Doris's body bobbing like a sci-fi cosmonaut in outer space.

In order to get deeper and catch her by her arm, I breathe out emitting billions of bubbles in front of my face.

"Yes! I gotcha!" I think, holding her cold hand tightly while her white shirt blouse is ballooning like a whimsical ocean creature or a ghost.

She is not supposed to be that heavy! Has she already been suffocated in water!? She's a mermaid... she can't... she must have some gills... or... or what do mermaids usually have?

I'm gripping her by the arm fighting my exhaustion and waves. They are not so high as before, and I could see some vague clearing in the sky, but Doris's unusual weight and my tiredness makes me a useless baywaycher. I laugh hysterically out loud, imagining Pamela Anderson running in her red swimsuit along the beach ready to save us. Short after I mute, hiccuping and trembling.

"I'm useless, Doris! I can't do anything! Please, forgive me my weakness," I watch her placid face: she seems to be sleeping peacefully.

Fighting my fear, I managed to turn on my back. It helps me to relax a little and focus on keeping Doris's head on the surface.