Your keys fumbled against the lock to your apartment, rushing home once the officer escorted you away from the beach. Right now your heart and mind were racing as you tossed off your shoes and dropped your backpack on the couch before grabbing up your laptop. Normally a respite from the anxiety and outside stresses the world often presented, your apartment was simply decorated but inviting. The media center standing against the off-white wall next to the TV held dusty books, unplayed video games, and movies worn out from overuse. However the calm of your home was invaded by racing thoughts and questioning possibilities. You were still trying to comprehend the very real prospect that you'd encountered something only told of in childrens' stories. The voice in the back of your head told you he was just a trick of the ocean, an illusion created by the tug of your own want for some kind of companionship. He couldn't be real.
But the buzz of electric static from his touch still lingered on your skin.
The curious stare of red eyes built from rubies made your pulse race.
You weren't delusional or crazy, but things like this never happened to you: a life of routine and monotony, day in and day out. Get up, go to work. Unwind at the beach. Go home…rinse and repeat. Maybe the occasional hiccup along the way, but otherwise you knew where you were going and why at any given moment.
But something like…this? Unexplained adventure? A chance meeting of a lifetime? Maybe you'd wake up tomorrow realizing this was all a bizarre lucid dream. But until then you had work to do.
You spent the next several hours researching any and all variations of "mermaid" and "merman" and "merpeople" to see if any researched and documented sightings existed…and every single search turned up dry. Pages filled with Bigfoot sightings, the Loch Ness monster, devils, spirits, and all other manner of mythical creatures told only in legends popped up in the search engine leading to blogs written by conspiracy theorists and people with no credibility whatsoever. Doctored photos and false sightings, a string of hopeless leads ultimately made you slam your laptop shut in frustration, a heavy sigh leaving your lips.
You remembered as a child watching cartoons with mermaids, depicting hidden civilizations of unknowns lurking at the depths no human could reach. Always beautiful, the mermaids were often adorned in seashells and starfish that looked gathered up from a tourist trap. Fish and other creatures of the ocean accompanied the merpeople on adventures, though the curiosity of human interaction pulled the simple plotline together as two strangers from different worlds met, enamored by the secrets of the other. Now your life was playing like a child's bedtime story…you were honestly hoping some adventure might fall in your lap, something to break the in and out of familiarity. But this was far from what you had in mind.
"God…I cannot seriously be the only person in the world to see a merperson, right?" The soft patter of feet made your head turn, the eyes of your sleepy cat staring at you expectantly. "I'm guessing you want dinner, huh? Alright, alright princess." She meowed as if in response as you set your computer aside to fix yourself some leftovers and opened a fresh can of food for your only other companion in the apartment.
You had an overwhelming urge to tell someone - anyone! - about your experience…but you knew you couldn't. No one would believe you without pictures or video. Besides, you'd seen too many sci-fi movies and horror stories of captured creatures sent off for torture and experiments; if any news outlet got wind there were merpeople, they'd send out dive teams to search for them, and you couldn't let that happen. The human nature for curiosity and knowledge led too many times to the ultimate demise of many a species. Even the idea of seeing the merman in pain, on a cold slab, scientists poking and prodding at him like…no, just entertaining the thought made your stomach churn.
But…what about the other possibility? You were familiar enough with the folklore of water spirits and shape-shifters, transforming into someone beautiful and enticing…only for them to drag their victim underwater never to be seen again. However, the merman you encountered had plenty of opportunities to grab you by the foot or hand, yanking you off the pier and into the cold depths below. He didn't, though; he only ate your food and spat water in your face. It seemed more like innocent curiosity and boredom that drove him to play tricks on you, the echo of his laugh still ringing in your ears. You shook your head, willing away the seductive pull of his stare embedded in your memory.
Eventually you made your way into bed, the ceiling fan circulating the cool air of the room, a hum in the stillness. Eyes heavy with sleep adjusted to the darkness of your bedroom, the familiar weight of your cat purring at your feet above the sheets. Familiar and mundane. Routine. Unextraordinary. Only darkness as you drifted off to sleep.
You rarely dreamed, but this night proved abnormal even when safely tucked in bed.
The strong scent of salt and fish filled your nose, vision clouded and murky. Something surrounded you, captured you in a cold embrace and refused to yield - water, you were underwater, an open expanse of blue. Finally your vision returned, though it made you feel uneasy.
Nothing below or above you but the solid immensity of nothingness, a crushing heartache of alienation filling your lungs as you drowned under its weight, sinking down, down, down.
The echo in your ears of loneliness made you cry out, but no sound escaped through the density of blue. Your hands clawed at a vacuum, the bubbles of movement floating opposite your descent into the unknown. Unexpectedly something grabbed your wrist, your pulse alive and rhythmic against the grip. The touch was enticing and comforting and tangible but your eyes were too clouded with the possibility of false hope for you to see what it was.
Suddenly your eyes were filled with the glisten of rubies, and you woke up.
A gasp issued from your dry throat, the heave of your chest wrapped in the constraint of sweat-drenched sheets. The jolt in movement made your cat flit from the bed. Feeling both the cold stick of sweat and the warmth of fever, you hopped from bed and begrudgingly made your way to the bathroom to wash your face.
You sighed, looking in the mirror at your tired eyes as they adjusted to the harsh fluorescent light. It was just a dream, you were fine; but you didn't really feel like going back to sleep despite the late hour and call of work in the morning.
Walking into the kitchen you made your favorite kind of tea. The smell often calmed you, the throbbing of blood-flow warm and quick under your skin. The ocean was normally a comfort, the smells and sounds that flitted across your senses, the vastness wide and beautiful in comparison to your own life: condensed, a terrarium of monotony.
Even if the merman on your mind did turn out to be just a dream, it didn't matter. The idea that something mysterious was out there was exhilarating, and for once you were excited for the possibility of adventure on the horizon of the sea, a speck of red amongst the blue.
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