The Little Reluctant Mermaid

"So."

"So?"

"So, it's not going great huh?" Halley stated, tying a bit of fabric over my head.

"Not really." I replied, rolling my eyes, "Hal, this thing makes me look like a dick."

"You don't need that to make you look like a dick."

"Fuck you right back."

Halley just laughed, throwing a hand brush my way. Since Oswalt and now Bill had given up, there was just me, Halley and Eugene. Snafu, was still perched on the tank like he was when I first found them. Apparently, he liked to watch the new guys sweat. That had me laughing into the barrel.

"Are you going to shut up and clean that thing, or am I going to have to teach you how to swim?"

My head snapped up from my work and my blue eyes met her brown ones. She wouldn't... she wouldn't. Her mouth cracked into a wide smile, crinkling at her eyes.

"You're such a fuck head, you know that!" I whined, throwing my brush at her. She laughed more, when I picked up a small stone and threw it at her head, missing by a mile.

"I was joking!"

"Don't joke about that!" I whined a little more.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay babycakes?"

"Yeah.. but you're still a fuck head."

"And you still need to learn how to swim." she replied, pointedly. I shook my head, backing away slightly. A quick glance told me Eugene had become interested in our conversation, although he pretended to be working. Snafu.. well he wasn't making things subtle, that's for sure.

"No. No I don't. I'm not going in the water."

"Yes. Yes you are. You need to learn."

"I'll drown!" I protested, as she closed the gap between us. She sighed.

"I wish I had your patience. But I don't."

With that, to Eugene and Snafu's amusement, she hauled me over her shoulder and carried me, kicking and yelling, down to the sea.

Our charges watched, as I latched myself on to Halley tighter than a man held his wallet. She waded deeper and deeper into the ocean, the salty smell wafting up my nose.

"Halley, please, please don't make me."

"C'mon Affy, you gotta learn..." she told me, softly but firmly. I was holding onto her, like a tired child with it's mother, and I slowly look behind me, down at the sea that was too close for comfort.

"Is it deep?" I mumbled, embarrassed at my silly fear.

"I think it'll go just above your waist..." she thought aloud, carefully setting me down. My toes dipped in first. The water was cold on them. It felt like I was pulling on freezing cold tights, as the water creeped up and finally stopped, just above my waist. My feet sank into the sand sleeping under the waves. Every wave that hit me, lifted me slightly off of my feet and I grabbed on to Halley with an iron grip. I didn't want to fall under the sea.

"Hey, you guys mind leaving?" Halley called to the two Marines on the beach. Snafu made to move, but Eugene stood fast.

"Sledge?" she asked, raising her elegant eye brows at him. He looked at me, then at Halley. She did the same. "Actually, you know what? C'mere pretty boy."

"What?" Eugene and I asked in unison.

"I said c'mere. You two gotta put your trust in each other, just like me and Snafu did. This is the best way I can think of to do that."

"No! Halley no!" I cried, gripping her tighter than before. She looked at me, studying my petrified face, before she looked back at Eugene. She beckoned him over again and I shook. I didn't trust Halley enough to teach me how to swim, why would I trust a guy who didn't want me around? Eugene came and stood next to Halley, guiding my hands to his arms.

"He's not going to let you go, Affy."

The lesson was disastrous. As soon as Halley let go, a wave came, pushing me under the sea. I was lucky the two of them were there, I nearly drowned. I didn't want to speak to Halley after that. Call me childish, but if you almost drowned as a kid, you'd not want to go back in the sea. Or any where near it for that matter.

Traipsing back to civilisation, Snafu was sniggering, Eugene looked a little guilty and Halley was trying to apologise every 5 minutes. I on the other hand, looked like a drowned rat. I stripped off as I walked, getting looks from everyone. I think Eugene and his friend who we bumped into as we walked into camp, were the only ones who looked away.

"What the hell happened to her?" Gunny Hanney asked, eyeing me as I threw my Marine jacket at Halley.

"We tried to teach her how to swim." Halley replied, peeling the soaked through jacket off her face.

"And?"

"We almost drowned her."

"Oh."

I shivered despite the heat, frowning at Gunny.

"'Oh?' is that it?"

"Well, if you learn how to swim in the sea something like that is bound to happen."

"You know what?" I addressed the group, disbelieving what I was hearing, "You can all go fuck yourselves."

I was alone on the beach later that night. I was determined to learn how to swim, but I was so scared of drowning. It was embarrassing, not being able to swim and being 19 years old.

My long, chestnut hair, had curled, thanks to the sea, and I had wisps of fine curls flopping into my eyes. I pushed back my fringe, and footsteps sounded beside me in the sand.

"What are you doing out here on your own?" Eugene drawled, sitting next to me, gazing at the black ink that was the ocean.

"I was thinking."

"About swimming?"

"I want to learn. Well... I mean, I can, but I'm too scared.. I guess if I had the motivation to do it..maybe it wouldn't be so bad."

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Eugene stand and make his way over to the sea. I wondered for a moment, about what he was doing, until he dived in, head first. I leapt up, heart pounding against my rib cage. It was dark, the water was pitch black and Eugene hadn't come up yet. I waited and waited, and my heart began to burn, my head pounded like blacksmiths anvils. There was no describing the pain I felt. So I dived in after him. I found him quickly and as soon as I did, the pain left me completely. Our hands connected and I pulled us both up to the surface.

"What the hell were you thinking!" I screeched, gasping for air. Eugene sucked as much air in as he could, and smiled.

"What?"

"You're swimming."

I froze. My limbs wouldn't move. I was paralysed by fear. Just before my head went under, he dragged me up.

"No! Just keep doing what you were doing. I've got you, you're fine."

The more I relaxed, the more my limbs began to move again. I kicked my legs and soon I was swimming, completely consciously. We floated in the shallow water, near the shore, star gazing.

"You know.." he began, "I don't think you're all that bad."

"I'm not all that bad. You've just got to get used to me being around, that's all."

By 1 in the morning, we decided it was time to go to sleep, so we got up and made our way back to our hut. Snafu, Burgie and Craig were all softly snoring, while Halley looked like a log. She never moved in her sleep. She always covered her face with an arm though.

I always slept with my eyes covered. I'd done so since I was a kid, 'cause I thought, if I can't see the monsters in the dark, they can't see me.

In the morning, I was shaken awake by Eugene. I groaned, slapping away his hands. I heard him chuckle.

"C'mon, me and Sid's going to the beach, we want you to come too."