My Calling (AJR Metmaid Challenge)

4

The mermaid looked around at the mossy rocks around him. The pressure kept getting more and more intense. He held his nose and sucked in a deep breath through his horrible gills. He still hated them.
Bigger fish began to appear in his view the deeper he swam. Adam was becoming afraid of bumping into something that might think he was a tasty snack. He didn't think he was that deep in the ocean, though. Probably not. Still...
     A small smile formed on Adam's face as a group of small fish swished their tiny tails through the water. He looked over his shoulder and watched as the fish swam up towards the light reflecting on the surface of the water above. He thought they were adorable. Adam didn't see much trash or waste as he swam further into the ravine.
Adam paused to rest in one of the small caves carved into the wall by erosion. He sighed and looked around. He wondered what time it was. Maybe Emily was looking for him. Maybe not. After a few minutes of admiring the natural blue beauty of the ocean around him, Adam resumed his journey deeper and deeper. Some of the fish he saw were almost half the size of him. He wondered how far down he was. Something slithered out of sight in the corner of his eye. Adam's head turned quickly but there was nothing there.
     Adam wasn't used to the intense pressure so deep in the ocean. He shivered a little, maybe because he was venturing into territory the warmth of the sun didn't dare reach, or maybe it was because he could feel something watching him. Adam hoped he was too big to be any kind of predator's ideal meal.
     He froze as the water swished quickly behind him.
     "Hello?"
     Adam looked around, his heart pounding in his chest.
     "Someone there?"
     There was no response. He took a deep breath and coughed a bit. Stupid useless lungs. Adam decided he'd gone deep enough. He needed to pause to catch his breath again, the pressure starting to increase on his chest and squeezing out the oxygen. Adam sat down, sighing softly as he closed his eyes to breathe deeply. He wished books were waterproof. If he was in water that was a little more breatheable this would've been a beautiful place to read. There was a lot of seaweed around but that didn't mean it wasn't pretty. And there was just enough light to be able to see the words well. Adam smiled to himself, resting his back against the stone wall behind him.
     Another swish and Adam tensed, eyes wide as he looked around.
     "Hello??"
     He was pretty certain he was the only creature that spoke English down here. Didn't hurt to try, though.
     "If someone's here, y-you need to show yourself! Please."
     The last word came out as a frightened whimper. Adam kept looking around, hearing the movement getting closer. The water felt icy against his bare skin, goosebumps springing up where there weren't any before. Adam shivered, backing against the wall so nothing could creep up on him. He glanced to the right, squinting as he tried to look for something that might've caused the noise.
     "It's probably just some weeds, maybe some fish hiding in the weeds... there's nothing here."
     Adam looked for a moment longer, his body trembling and his shimmering tail twitching. He was afraid to move in case it alerted his stalker.
     "Hello...?"
     He could only hear the faint sound of his own heart beating against his chest. Adam waited to see if anything was going to happen. After a while he let out a soft sigh and started swimming upwards again. He needed to get away from this dangerous territory. Adam smiled as he thought of seeing Emily again, maybe she'd understand what was happening to him. Well, probably not, but maybe he could tell her what was going on. Maybe she'd listen, maybe she'd try to understand.
     Those thoughts left his head immediately as something strong and slimy grabbed a hold of his tail.
     Adam's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to scream for help, but another smaller arm wrapped around his head and forced his mouth shut. Adam squirmed and thrashed, attempting to pry the tentacles off of him. They seemed to just keep coming, pinning his arms against his sides and holding his tail still. Oh God, he was gonna die. Alone in the dark, eaten by some... squid monster. Adam closed his eyes, tears mixing in perfectly with the salty water around him. The tentacles started quickly pulling him deeper and his head began to pound, the oxygen being squeezed from his chest and almost certainly breaking a rib. He was panicking too much to breathe and ended up taking a ton of water into his lungs. He couldn't cough. Black spots began obstructing his vision as he watched the light fading,
fading,
f a d i n g . . .

{837 words}