Twenty- Marina

Chapter 20

Marina

The sleeping,

the blackness,

the endless night,

unsure of whether you're happy

or not, death is just

another stage of life

Excerpt from “Her Call” by Sophie Lynch

“Marina? Have you seen my pills?” Wren asks from downstairs, I'm brushing my hair, or, rather singing into the hairbrush quietly and making my hair more tangled than it already is by whipping my hair around.

“No.” I reply, pausing my jam session momentarily.

“Well, they'll turn up...” I hear him mutter.

“Hey, wanna go to the beach today?” I ask him. There's a moments hesitation before he answers. “Sure.”

“Great!” I am determined not to have my stupidity ruin the rest of my time here. I will not make it awkward. I've actually managed to sort of convince myself that the first kiss was a dream and Wren just played along the second time.

But not really. “I'll change into my bathing suit!” I yell down the stairs and then close the door. I open the forbidden drawer again. This time, for no particular reason, I pick out a one piece that I had at home, not for swimming, but for washing the car, and put it on. I actually brush my hair now and put it up, then decide to leave it down. I grab a towel, wrap it around me, and go downstairs in my flip flops.

He's already in his bathing suit, it was probably in the wash and he just changed in the bathroom.

“Ready?” He asks. I nod and we walk out the door, down the path, and to the beach. I lay out my towel and immediately take off running into the water. I brace myself for the freezing water's impact. Then I remember I'm still wearing my flip-flops, so I turn around and kick my feet up, the shoes go flying high into the air and land consecutively on Wren's head.

“Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, are you okay?” I squeal and rush over to him, trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” He says coldly, standing up.

“Are you sure? You sound mad...” I say. He turns away from me and runs his hand through his hair, his back muscles rippling.

“Why are we doing this?!” He yells, turning around, his face near mine. Images and feelings from our kisses flood their way to my brain, but I ignore them. I will not ruin this friendship, but it looks like I already have.

“What do you mean?” I whisper, finally finding my voice, gulping down the emotions and kisses bubbling to my lips, trying to take over.

“I can't do this, I can't look at you everyday knowing I will never kiss you without you being drunk or trying to prove a point, I just can't do that!”

“But you hav-”

“DON'T YOU DARE SAY 'HAVE TO'!” He roars. Grabbing my wrists, his face centimeters from mine. I turn away and set myself down on the towel. People stare at us. A tear rolls down my cheek.

“Hey, hey don't cry, I'm sorry.”

“No, you know what? I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY I DIDN'T JUST RUN INTO A TREE LIKE I PLANNED!”

Wren- growls? Then his eyes widen like he's in pain and he runs at full speed up to the house. I fold my arms over my knees and cry into them. Then I stand up and calmly walk into the ocean, the waves breaking around me weirdly. I dive headlong into the water, my back arch gracefully and I swim, and swim, and swim, until all signs of beach goers are lost among the towering waves. My head breaks the surface just as a towering wave takes me under again before I can get a breath. All the air rushes out of me in a stream of bubbles and I have the sensation of endless tumbling. I break the surface, water flooding my lungs, only to get a glimpse of a darkening, swirling sky, another storm?- before another giant wave pushes me under the surface. My throat burns from all the saltwater filling my lungs, I start to black out, my arms trailing above me, trying to reach the the sky. Then a sharp pain stabs my neck, and the burning leaves replaced with, sweet, life-giving oxygen. Beautiful oxygen. But I'm still underwater, am I dying? No, I don't think so. I bring my fingers across where the pain was and I feel four slits in my skin.

Gills.

What the f**k? What is going on? This has to be a dream... I'll wake up, I've had dreams like this before... I think. I break the surface and take in huge gulps of air, only to realize that rain is pelting down and waves batter me every which way. The wind howls and lightning cracks across the sky. Where the hell did that come from? As I swim to shore, being tumbled under the waves endlessly, I hear someone screaming my name. I can touch the sandy bottom now. And I see Wren pacing the water line, screaming for me. He sees me and screams louder, pointing. I look behind me, bewildered. A cresting, six-foot tall wave stands over me, then crashes down, and my world goes black

I wake up resting on a soft, cushy, but gritty substance, oxygen flowing in through my... gills? Right, I forgot. The soft substance is the sea floor. Sea weed entangles itself in my hair, and my legs feel stiff, I look down.

My legs are a tail.

A tail.

Tail.

A freaking TAIL! It's purple-maroon-magenta and at the bottom it fans out in a more see through color, pulsing strangely, in rhythm with my heart, which is suddenly thumping so hard it practically makes ripples in the water. I sit up slowly, mostly because of the water slowing me down. I swim upward for a long time before I break the surface. I look around, my hair slicked back behind me, blinking away water. I turn, no land, none.

Anywhere.

“WREN!” I scream into the silent, placid sea-scape. “HELP!” No answer. What worries me most, is that there's no seagulls, which means no shore.

And the fact that I'm suddenly a mermaid...

“Help.” I whimper. All the directions in the world stand before me, if I went the wrong way, I could end up in Africa, instead of Maine. I'm lost, in the middle of the sea. I swim around frantically, sobbing into the waves. I lay there, letting the tide take me wherever for two days, I'm so thirsty and starving, I've lost the will to swim. Then I hear something.

“MARINA!” My name being called, Wren's voice. The hallucinations have started. But I sit up, I'll humor my mind. At least it will give me something to do. Then I see the boat.

“Did I ever tell you I have a motor boat?” Wren grins, obviously trying to hide his worry.

“Did I ever tell you I love you?” I whisper. And pull myself onto the boat and kiss him, not caring that I haven't been able to brush my teeth in two days.

“Or that I have a mermaid tail?” I whisper against his mouth.

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing.” I say and bring his mouth to mine again, flopping into the boat.

“Wait, what is that.” He says suddenly staring at my tail.

“Hallucinations...?” I try, shrugging theatrically.

“You're the one who's been out at sea for two days. And may I say, you've never looked more beautiful, as for the enhancement...” His eyes trail down to where I've wrapped seaweed around my b***s.

“Such a boy.” I blush at his “beautiful” comment.

“So, mermaid? Would this be a good time to tell you I turned into a lion after our fight?”

“No, because I'm too busy kissing you at the moment.” I grin and push him to the floor of the boat, kissing him, my tail flopping around unattractively.

Whatever, he called me beautiful.

Author's Note

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I LOVE MY ABILITY TO WRITE ADORABLENESS!

Reviews

[Amanda]

I adore this chapter. My favorite part that made me laugh:
Gills.

What the f**k?
:D

[MandaBear]

I love your ability to write adorableness too! I cant wait to find out what happends next

[Abbie]

I love your ability to write adorableness too! That was such a cute ending!!! And Marina is a mermaid? awesome!!! That is so cool!!! And wren becoming a lion, that is really,really cool. Does he turn into other animals, or just a lion? Their powers are so cool! Great chapter, I can't wait for the next one! :D

[Sylvana]

I like the description in this one. (: The way Marina's power/skills/were found out was really cool. At least she didn't die, haha.