The black crystal sand at the bottom of the lagoon clung to my skin and hair. The pain snuffed itself out as soon as it began. My nostrils flared, eyelids blinking back until I could see the sun high above my head through the dark water's filter. There was a whole other burning low in my gut when I finally had some mental clarity. My fingers curled into claws and I kicked off, body shuddering with every flutter of my compressed limbs against one another.
All the times I had done a shoddy job at sewing a mermaid tail with shitty fabrics came to mind the less I had to struggle. I'd bundled it up and snuck down to the beach near my parents' house.
It had been a scratchy fabric that clung to my waist and feet but hung loose at my knees. The tail part had been cheap, grey and worn from when they'd had a life as curtains in the main foyer for decades but it didn't disintegrate in the water. I could still feel the flimsy fin from an op shop visit and it's too large feet panels, the thread straining to keep it together.
It had been a steep and long winded practise. I internally thanked my stubborn preteen self for the forethought. This new set of motion using my now fused legs and arms took a lot of my abdominal muscles working hard. The flaps at my neck fluttered the cooler the water got, lighter in shade.
Something drew me near and I wanted, needed to find it. Find them.
Sand grains gave way to pebbles and shells as I followed the coastline. The flaps filtering water in through my lungs flared and bubbles rose from my curled lips as I snarled when signals pinged along my skin.
Humans were in my way.
Grown, stinking adults shrieked as they splashed close by. A few shoved each other under the water, dunking like children. My gums ached, empty belly rumbled. A snack wouldn't hurt, would it?
I pulled myself up with clawed fingers along pebbled stone riverbed. A metre from the meaty thigh of the loudest human there, my blood sang.
Just a bite.
The thigh moved away, then closer to me than before.
Why was I hesitating? I wasn't... wasn't what? What was I? I glanced down to the hands of mine, so pale and tinged with greys and blues. The webbing between once knobby knuckles and the fluttering flaps at my neck and ribcage weren't like theirs. They had smooth skin, pruny hands and no fused legs.
I reared back when the scent of blood, copper and delicious on my tongue, hit the water.
So hungry... so... wrong...
I dragged myself back by clawed nails, deeper into the lagoon. I didn't turn back until I had darted through a stretch of coral reef and schools of flighty fish. The blood scent wasn't gone but it wouldn't tune out my human sensibilities. It would've been simple, to chomp into the legs or flailing arms, cripple the prey and...
I slapped my cheek and shook out my entire body. The skin along the inside of my thighs still refused to separate.
I got sidetracked.
I raised my head, taking a long draw of the lagoon around me. Flickers from the fish around me drowned out the ugly humans polluting these beautiful water. Fish could be a nice snack but they were nothing to the hint of flower petals and driftwood around us. It made me purr, a weird clicking rumble under my breath. It made me want.
I set off again, keeping my senses prickled and catching every little critter along the way. Something massive and thick rubbed along the sand but it only made a soft click and squeak of curiosity as I passed over the dark blob. The lagoon had parts where it dropped off into underwater ravines, blacker than black and pressure more intense than the trenches. The source of the smell and warm scaly skin didn’t carry on any of the main currents.
The source was the only safe place for me, the primal part of my rapidly firing brain whispered.
My throat wavered with the groan that echoed along the currents, getting louder as it carried. There was a symphony of confusing warbles back and it stopped me dead in my clumsy tracks. The tiny pebbles and river rocks beneath my clawed fingertips clumped and sifted while I attempted to make sense of their location and distance. I made a split-second decision and wriggled to the small vacuum of water. The river was a breath of much needed fresh air.
Or water, I corrected with a soft hiss when sand became rocky river bottom.
The silt rose in clouds with every frantic spasm of my leg. My knees and ankles slapped against the stones littering the riverbed every few frantic jerks forward. Severed tree limbs lay forgotten along the borders of the wide river stretch, some sheets of floating flowers above my head as I pushed on. The taste along the water was nice, fruity. If I kept on this trail, I'd find some kind of peace.
The sounds muffled from above the water filtered down and I could almost taste the blood not hitting the river water. I licked my lips to catch its source.
It was well away from the bank of the river, to my left. I pushed up, using my fused legs to kick, my spine to arch as I swam up to the surface.
With only my eyes peering out from the sluggish river current, my aching gums still submerged and safe. I must be somewhere up north of the island itself with the wildness of the trees and the lack of tracks leading to some semblance of civilisation. Another drop of blood hit the grassy clearing feet from the river bank.
A little girl clenched her jaw as a straight line of stripped bark whacked into her shoulders and back over and over.
My eyes swept over the small congregation of shivering teenage girls, some even younger by the look of their chubby cheeks and waifish bodies. There was no chance of understanding the language that the elderly man barked at the shuddering group of little girls but my nostrils flared at the acrid scent of terror. The girls were so scared, so confused.
Hopelessness left a disgustingly bitter taste on my tongue as I used my legs and arms to push closer to the riverbank. The blood was a delicacy but I wanted something that would fill me up. The children would not be touched. The man whipping them and taking perverse amusement from it? Free game.
The longer I took, the more disturbing facts made themselves known. Urine dabbled down two of the girl's legs. The whole group bit back whimpers when he passed venomous glowers over them again.
He left the whipped girl to sob into the dirt at their bare feet with broken skin and lash marks. None had seen me yet and I could almost laugh at the situation. Was it cannibalistic to want to eat human when you barely felt human yourself?
The moment one of the girls caught sight of me, I licked my lips and jerked my head. The air burned my airways but I'd deal. If blood would sate my parched throat, I'd deal with the viciously icy air around me. Pulling myself out of the water did a good job of unsticking my thighs and I hissed under my breath as I hobbled up onto two feet once more. The other girls were distracted by my appearance by now too and I cocked my head, holding a clawed finger up to my lips. They felt thinner, almost nonexistent when my finger pressed down.
Time to eat.
The man turned on his heel, a sharp glare ready for whoever had interrupted. It faltered and he outright pissed himself when he locked eyes on me. A stream of babbled nonsense wouldn't save him.
I stalked closer and took in a deep inhale. It came out like a rattling hack and I could scent more approaching. All healthy bodies, pumped full of blood and flesh.
My jaw ached with how out strained it felt and I swung around as five more males piled into the clearing. They barked out more frantic babbles to the Elder and got hasty arm waves back. Spears levelled their pointy ends at me and I snapped my jaw, hunching over. The fabric had somehow stayed on my body and shifted noisily with my movements.
The first jab was pathetic. Miles could throw a pillow at me and it would have more of an impact than this. The second and third were a little more pressure but the wood splintered along the spiked ends. I grabbed two at once and dragged the loudest of the annoying flesh bags close. I didn't think, didn't let the thought compute. My teeth dug into a meaty shoulder and I tore.
A chunk of meaty flesh came away with a sickening squelch and crack. The blood spurting from the open wound was satisfying. I spat out the lump and advanced on the other four, barring my lips away from teeth.
They didn't do what I'd been hoping. All five, even the one without an arm, flopped to their knees and smacked their heads against the dirt. They mumbled things I didn't pay attention to so they were technically useless. Not even entertainment.
I advanced on my original prey. The Elder picked up a discarded spear and tried to run for it.
My throat muscles flexed and I watched his frantic hobble with hunger.
I hummed.
His muscles seized and I stalked over, claws digging into his hi s wris t. He dropped the spear and these dark, disgusting eyes bulged. He didn't scream or beg. I took that time to pace around his quivering stance. With his face scrunched into a silent scream, I skittered the tip of my clawed fingers up over his check to rest at his forehead.
Blood splatters from the earlier whippings of the cowering girls stained his wrinkled face. My eyes flitted over to each dot and I managed a smile. The girls didn't stop whimpering but didn't bolt for the trees or bow. Some looked almost manic when I dug a claw into his leathery skin.
The first sound from my mouth was a hiss.
It was hard to frame words and I gave up when I realised that some actions spoke louder than words. My nail dug in deeper until I carved a bloody line in his wrinkled brow. Another and I clacked my jaw.
It was an offering, a brand for weakness. Using a tether of warmth that budded in my chest, I raised an arm to point at the river. The waters got choppier with every passing second and his first steps towards it were jerky, halting movements. He didn't stop until he dropped below the surface. If I really wanted to, I could leave him under there but where was the fun in that?
I hummed, a note that lingered on the air. The water parted as the grey head of hair broke the surface. He was red in the face, blood still streaming from the cuts my claws left and he floundered as he fought to get to the river bank.
The kowtowing spearmen didn't go to help him.
Ignoring them, I skipped over to the girls and held up a hand. A soft croon and the nearest, wild eyed and sobbing, stopped. A few more croons and I eased myself down to lie in the dirt, patting the space around me. They fell in a sea of flailing limbs and I smiled as I pet their heads with careful brushes of my rough palms.
I made sure the bleeding, sliced up girl got the tightest hug as I threaded more energy and warmth into her shin. It didn't have the same vicious, sandpaper quality as the energy I'd burrowed into the bastard.
She stopped sobbing after a long breath and I felt her snotty nose press into my chest.
I shut my eyes for a moment, just to rest them. I could hunt later, get something into my grumbling belly and feed up these traumatised children. They'd do well with some red meat on their bones.
As soon as the heat had appeared in my veins, it drained and I slumped into warm sun-kissed knees too knobbly to be comfortable and soft arms. The little girls weren't in immediate danger anymore.
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
I woke up to the delicate fly netting surrounding the bungalow bed. My head pounded, my mouth tasted like sludge and my hair was an unruly mess of salty sea water and other questionable fluids. Hopefully it was all mud.
I rolled over, smacking my lips and scrunching up my nose.
When had I fallen asleep? I'd only just gotten back from the store with a book, precious silles and now I lay in my underwear on my bed?
First rule of business was to wash this gods-awful taste out of my mouth.
Nothing looked broken or dirty on my way to the bathroom but it sent godawful alarm bells off in my head.
Yawning all the way into the bathroom, I squinted at my haggard reflection. I looked sick, pasty skin with a silvery sheen to it. Maybe I'd call in a visit to the local doctor.
I reached for my toothbrush and frowned when there was no complimentary hand wash beside the sink. So much for meticulous details, forgetting to put it back offer a refill. I scoffed while pushing out a long line of minty toothpaste and got to work. Scrubbing at my teeth and tongue didn't help much but at least when I took in a breath, there wasn't a weird taste of copper on my tongue.
I was just about to strip down and hop into the shower when a knock from the main doors caught my attention. I hissed out soft cusses as I threw on a plain Shein dress, less suited for greeting unwelcome guests. I passed by Miles on the couch and paused when I caught sight of the other.
Josh sat on one and with Miles’ head in his lap and a huge hoodie swimming on my soul brother. Huh.
I'd keep an eye out until Morgan got back. He chewed on his thumb as he pet Miles' hair in his sleep, an apologetic smile creasing his lips. “Didn't want to wake him up,” He whispered and I tilted my head.
Miles was already showing he brought out the best in Josh. He made Josh less of a dickhead. I could forgive him for a few things if he made my pseudo brother happy, again.
Before the knocks could summon Miles from his deep sleep, I stumbled across the room and cracked open the bungalow main doors. I wasn't ready for this.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQF3xaR85x
