Chapter 1

Arthur sat in the study with a pile of books around him. He was reading about the sea creatures that lived in the waters of the small fishing village his grandfather lived in off the coast of Massachusetts.

The sea had always fascinated him. Arthur could remember times when he would come to visit as a lad, running across the beaches and standing in the freezing water up to his knees. He smiled to himself, those were the kinds of memories he liked to remember.

As quickly as the smile had come, it disappeared when he heard the dull thunk of wood hitting against carpet. It was the sound of his grandfather's prosthetic leg clunking down the stairs.

"Arthur?" He barked in a raspy voice. "Arthur come out here at once!"

The young man sighed and marked his page in the book with a strip of paper. He walked out of the study to meet his grandfather, James, at the foot of the stairs.

James was a very old man, well into his 80's. He was almost entirely bald except for a few patches of wispy white hair here and there. His back was hunched over and he leaned heavily on a wooden cane. Where his left leg should've been was a wooden replacement. When he was a boy it had gotten caught in a bear trap and had to be amputated. Arthur remembered when he was younger he was terrified of his grandfather and only came to be closer to the water from where he lived in central Pennsylvania.

"Good afternoon, grandfather." Arthur nodded his head to the elder.

"Reading then damn books again? You idiot, a whole company is being handed down to you, but you woulf rather read about fish and mermaids! What's wrong with you, boy? Are you daft in the head?!" James shook his cane in the air before hobbling towards the dinning room.

Arthur followed. "No sir, I just find it quite fascinating. I don't believe in child's tales like mermaids and creatures of the deep, though. I think it co-"

He was cut off by the old man. "Enough, boy. Stomach pains. You give me stomach pains just thinking about the company being left to you. Now off, I don't want to see you until supper."

With a wave of the others hand, Arthur turned on his heel and grabbed his satchel and coat from a hook next to the door. He left the house and began down the long trail towards the small village nearby.

The two didn't get along very well with Arthur being more fascinated in the ocean than his grandfather's large fishing business. Almost daily they had that same exact fued.

Halfway to the village, he pushed aside a short hedge growing between the path and the ocean and walked down to the shore. Even on an overcast day like today the sea still looked beautiful. The waves lapping against the shore were a dark blue and the sand a mix between yellow and white. A few crabs scurried by and a seagull flew overhead farther down the coast.

Arthur loved the beach, and on a day like today it looked so peaceful and inviting. Almost like an invisible force was beckoning him to the water. Before he went to the water he took off his coat and shoes and left them on the sand far away from the water.

Arthur walked down to the waters edge with his satchel hanging over his shoulder. The moment the frigid water touched his toes he smiled. This is where he belonged, at the sea shore. Not in some stuffy office far away discussing the rise in tuna prices.

In the distance a loud splash was heard which broke Arthur from is thoughts. 'Must be some big fish nearby...' he dismissed it and looked at the shells that washed up on the beach.

After a while he walked back up the sand towards his belongings. Whenever he left it seemed like the waves got closer to him with every step he took.

He left his satchel with his things after taking out a notebook and an ink pen his grandfather had gotten from a business trip to New York City.

Arthur walked a bit further down the shore until he found a rather odd looking crab digging in the sand near a small cliff of rocks. On a rather large rock he sat for about an hour just sketching the specimen.

Over time he didn't notice the waves getting closer and closer to where he was. When he looked up again his eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the water was just beginning to slap a rock nearby.

At first he didn't think much about it until he remembered his things sitting in the sand. His head jerked in the direction where he had left them. He leaped up from the rock and ran over when he saw that the water had whisked his things into the ocean.

"Nonononono!" Arthur grabbed his satchel before it could float farther away but his coat and shoes were a goner. He sighed and looked out over the ocean, the waves had retreated to where they had been before.

A look at his pocketwatch told him it was about time to head home. He took one last look at the ocean before pushing aside the small hedge and starting back down the path towards the house. Completely unaware of the blue eyes following him from the sea.

James was probably at a meeting in the next town over, but Arthur wasn't going to take any chances and quietly entered the house through the back door. He wiped off his feet with a wet rag as to not track footprints all over the house and hurried up the stairs. He nodded to a Martha, their housemaid, walking by with her hands full of sheets and disappeared into his room at the end of the hall.

His room was simple, the walls were covered in a creamy white wallpaper with vertical green stripes with a large window overlooking the ocean on the back wall. A small bed was in one corner of the room along with a nightstand and a desk was placed on the wall opposite. Drawings and papers filled with his looping cursive writing littered the floor. Next to the door was an oak wardrobe, it's contents clean and organized.

Arthur hung his satchel on the end of the desk chair and took out his observations journal. Resting on his bed he flipped through the worn pages of the notebook, most of the pages were filled with his observations and drawings of sea creatures. His whole life was that journal, almost 3 years he had recorded his findings in it.

After a while Arthur checked his pocketwatch again and leaned over to open up the curtains. The sun was beginning to set. He recorded the time in his notebook for later reference and stood up to stretch.

Arthur walked to the window and opened it, closing his eyes and leaning out to take a deep breath of salty air. When he opened his eyes again and looked out over the water he yelped out in surprise when he saw a head sticking out of the water looking right at him.

He stumbled back a few steps and when he looked out again it was gone.

"What in God's name was that?!" His breathing became a bit ragged. He could've sworn he saw a man watching him from the water.

"Calm down, Arthur, it was only your imagination. Nothing else..." He laid back down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. A few minutes later he was fast asleep.

He was at the beach. Waves were crashing onto the sand and the wind blew hard into his face, causing his bangs to whip around. The sky was dark gray and rain was pouring down on him. In the distance thunder boomed, a storm was hitting pretty hard.

Despite the rain, he wasn't wet. He looked down at his feet and yelped out in surprise when he saw that he wasn't standing on the sand, but floating a few feet above it.

When he turned his head a bit, he was speechless when he saw a ginormous ship sailing across the bay. It was an old fashion ship from the looks of it, maybe from 300 or 400 years ago. The rain and waves slapped hard against the ship. From where he was standing he could just barely see the outline of people running across the deck. The ship was too far away to tell, but it looked like there was a faint glow coming from the great vessel.

He closed his eyes to block against the rain and wind and when he opened them again he was floating high above the water next to the boat.

Madness was unfolding on deck. Sailors ran from bow to stern, pulling ropes and shouting to each other. The ages of the men seemed to vary from old men to even young boys.

The orange glow he had seen earlier turned out to be a fire that had started below the deck. The men were shouting to each other, trying to take control of the fire. Even when the boat began to tip and it was obvious they weren't going to make it they continued to tie things down and try to take control of the wheel. They were going to go down with the ship.

Something caught his eye, though, a young man had climbed atop the highest mast. Despite the wind and rain he seemed to stay balanced atop it. He didn't look to care about the ship as much as everyone else, he just continued to sit with his face buried in his hands. He probably knew that it was hopeless to try and stop the ship from going under.

Arthur blinked his eyes and when he opened them again he was floating in front of the young man.

At first, he didn't know what the other was doing. As he looked closer he saw the other was crying, his back rose up and down unevenly from the cold and the sobs that erupted from his body.

Lightening lit up the sky and the boy lifted his head to look up. He looked a few years younger than himself, with clear blue eyes like the sea on a summer afternoon and sandy blonde hair blown in every which direction from the wind.

He was muttering something to himself, Arthur could just barely make out the words 'so close' and 'I'll never see her again'.

Arthur felt bad for the boy, such a young age to die and so abruptly.

When the wind blew again, it carried a soft sound to their ears. It was very faint but beautiful sounding song. The boy looked around frantically trying to find where the heavenly melody had come from.

It came from the deep sea below.

The song seemed to relax the other and as the ship began to tip farther over, he carefully stood up with a calm look on his face. He took one last gulp of air before diving into the sea.

Instead of watching him, Arthur's body fell with him. Why was he falling with him?

Arthur opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. When he collided with the water, voices whispered into his ears. The voices were saying something, but Arthur couldn't tell what it was. The voices were so calm, so hypnotizing, he began to relax and closed his eyes.

They snapped back open when a powerful force seemed to push him further down into the dark ocean.

The other boy was gone, the voices had stopped and he was sinking deeper and deeper into the dark abyss. The water was almost black from the lack of light. He tried to scream but he didn't have any air in his lungs. He tried to kick but it felt like his legs were made of bricks.

Looking up one last time he saw 2 blue orbs staring back at him.

Hello, author here. I hope you guys liked this, I've been wanting to write it forever and now seemed like a good time. I will try to reguraly update this and I am working on the second chapter of The Invisible Boundary. That story is taking a bit longer to write but it will come probably around December.

Thank you so much and review please! I love to get feedback from you guys about the story and what you think is going to happen.

~toxicwaffles1000