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Night

The day passed by and Lance knew that tomorrow would be his first day at his new school. Tossing and turning in his bed unable to find sleep, Lance sat up and looked at his digital clock: 12:20 AM. Great. Two hours and twenty minutes of no sleep. Sighing, he looked at the two books on his nightstand. One was "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H. P. Lovecraft the other, the other was the Sub-Mariner story "The Depths". It was a bunch of nonsense, horror nonsense this time that made Lance grateful that there were not such things… Still, wouldn't it be something if such fantastic things actually existed? Even if it was something as simple as mermaids, non-horror mermaids of course.

Standing, Lance walked over to his bedroom window and stared out at the sea. It was calling him, he knew it.

Sneaking down, Lance made his exit from his house and walked out onto the beach. Wearing his swim trunks, he was ready for a midnight swim. Maybe something as unusual for him as that would do the trick. Back at his old place, he had been completely inland. Not a sea, lake, river or any such thing.

For a moment, he stared out at the Deep with his mismatched eyes and for a moment he imagined he was something more than what he was. He imagined that he was a Beast of the Sea, humanoid of course, something fantastic. He imagined that he saw a sea serpent like that which had swam past the HMS Daedalus in 1848. He imagined that he saw a ghost ship, albeit not one quite as sinister as the Flying Dutchman. He imagined a world full of mystery and he himself, a native of that world.

Slowly walking into the water, Lance smiled. It was cold, refreshing, just what was needed, but the allure of the Deep was calling him further out than just up to his knees. He was going all the way.

Once he was up to his waist, Lance dived down and he felt himself figuratively transformed. Gone was Lance Carter and born was some alter ego in the wild depths of his mind. Was he human? Was he fully human? Had he once been human? Alas, his imagination was only beginning to piece things together. Perhaps later he would write of the adventures of this alter ego of his… Once he had returned to being Lance Carter, so to speak.

The Denizens of the Deep were his… Maybe not exactly his friends. As he noticed some stingrays, a feeling of hesitance flowed through his body. Eight years had passed since Steve Irwin had died and the thought of getting too close to a stingray was not exactly an appealing one and was it not so that the Wily Odysseus had been slain by a spear tipped with the venomous spine of a stingray?

No, no. He would give them a wide berth.

Surfacing for air, Lance felt his immersion break. He was simply himself, his alter ego was just a dream, something to write about. Still, if he was to write then he had to find inspiration.

And a nighttime swim was a way to do that? He had no idea. He felt the allure of the Deep, heard its siren call and was here, but for what purpose? Was this all because he had trouble sleeping? Did anyone else have trouble sleeping? Did Rikki, Emma, Cleo, Lewis, did anyone else have trouble sleeping that night?

How was he supposed to know?

Looking up at the crescent moon as he treaded water, Lance's mind turned to lost treasures beneath the waves, lost treasures on the beach, lost treasures in general. The Riddle of the Buzzard, the "Money Pit" of Oak Island, the treasures of Lima, the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau, the hidden loot of—

Hearing a splash, Lance's dreams of lost treasures vanished. Looking around, he wondered what that could have been. Dolphins maybe? Maybe it was someone like him with a similar idea. How was he to know?

Running a hand through his wet hair, Lance once more returned to the Deep. The rays were still nearby, flapping away. They weren't particularly big, they were like the freshwater rays he had seen at the zoo, just lacking the yellow spots on a black body colouration. That was weird, why were they even that colour? He had heard of rays with blue spots, but yellow spots on a black body? Perhaps something to ask Mr. Lambert about.

Upon noticing a manta ray, all thoughts about freshwater rays vanished. Now that was a monarch among rays, there was no mistake. Among sharks the whale shark reigned supreme, but amongst rays it was the manta.

Rays were harmless. Like the shark and the octopus, humanity's fear of the unknown had turned them into sea monsters. Manta rays were especially harmless, being as much a filter feeder as the basking shark was, being almost like an underwater flying mouth. In the past, their huge fins and long tails had earned them the name "Devilfish", causing them to be hunted and killed just as the shark was.

Things were a bit better now. At least, that was what Lance hoped.

Thinking back to the zoo he had been too, Lance found himself once more at the stingray pool. There had been sharks too, but while the rays had been swimming around, with the babies in their own pool with a rule against touching them, the sharks had been in the middle of the pool, well out of reach. The sharks wanted to be left alone while the adult rays were perfectly content with swimming around and feeling the hands of zoo patrons caressing their backs. Yes, that had been truly something. There had been freshwater and saltwater rays, but for some reason one the saltwater rays had been available for petting. There was another thing to ask Mr. Lambert about.

Swimming on, Lance wondered what else he would see as he swam deeper and farther off. Starfish feeding perhaps? Maybe not, that wasn't a pretty sight and that wasn't even shown in all of its horrific glory in "Seasons in the Sea".

Taking a moment to watch some crabs go about their business, whatever it was that crabs did, Lance felt once more the need for air and so he surfaced.

Swimming over to the shore, Lance sat and stared out. His mind wandering to what school would be like he thought of those he had met… Rikki, Emma, Cleo, Lewis, all good people… Then there was Zane and Miriam, both individuals he could have done without, but there were always people like that. Obviously, there were other people he would meet, but what exactly was everyone like?

Wasn't that a big question?

People were a mixed bag. There was the good, the bad and the grey. The question was how many of the people at school would be what? Were there more good people than bad and grey? More bad people than good and grey? More grey than good and bad? What kind of a school was he going to be attending?

Closing his eyes, Lance tried to think of something else. What? He had no idea, maybe something happy, something interesting.

"Lance?"

Opening his eyes, Lance turned his head to the right and saw Rikki, wearing her sleep clothes. He never would have guessed she'd be wearing pink and green, but everyone was full of surprises.

"Hey, Rikki…" said Lance, raising a hand. "Shouldn't you be home in bed?"

"Shouldn't you?" asked Rikki.

Lance couldn't help but smile. They both should have, but it was only natural to guess that something was on her mind, just as something was on his.

Looking back out to sea while she took a seat next to him, Lance asked: "So, what is on your mind? Between me feeling the Allure of the Deep and wondering about what school will be like here at Dolphin City, whatever is on yours will probably be completely different."

"Well…" uttered, Rikki, looking up at the moon. "My stepmom is pregnant."

"Oh, congratulations! You must be happy that you're going to be a big sister!"

"I am, but also kind of worried." Rikki admitted.

"About what?" asked Lance, curious what Rikki had to be worried about.

"About never really having a connection with my sibling like Emma and Cleo do with theirs. The gap between them and their siblings isn't as big, but with me the baby will be a toddler by the time I'm in college and after that, who knows? I might barely see them except for when I come to visit."

"I see…" Lance uttered, never really having thought about that.

"Do you have siblings, Lance?"

"No, I'm an only child, I've never really thought about this kind of thing. Though, my grandma certainly wishes I had a sibling like the rest of her grandchildren… Makes me think she isn't happy with me."

"How's that make you feel?"

"Like fate was cruel and that it should have been my Grandpa Kahlil who passed."

Gasping in shock, Rikki exclaimed: "Lance!"

"I know its mean, but the only thing I've done to get such a reaction from her is being an only child, or her criticizing me whenever I was crying after hurting myself or after too many jabs from her. She'd say boys shouldn't cry, but my dad would just tell her to shut up and I just wish she was as nice as my nana. Sure, my nana wasn't always the best person and even then, she can still sometimes be difficult, but until I was born, my mom says she was a real piece of work, I just wish my grandma was as nice as her." Turning his head to look at Rikki, Lance saw that she was staring at him, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open. Hanging his head, he said: "Sorry, not exactly something I should say about family."

"It sounds like you had that bottled up for a while." Commented Rikki.

All Lance could say was: "Yeah, guess I have." Taking a breath and running his hand through his hair, Lance once more looked at Rikki and said: "Well, as you can see, I took a dip. What about you?"

"About the same." Rikki answered.

Looking at Rikki's bone-dry pajamas for a moment, Lance nodded. "I see…"

Raising an eyebrow, Rikki asked: "And what do you see?"

Swallowing nervously, Lance opened his mouth for a moment, only to close it once more. Swallowing once more, he then said: "Well, if you want to swim… Uh… Bare as the day you came into the world in the dark of night, then that is your decision." Rikki could only stare at Lance. He was not always good with expressions, but he was pretty sure she was half-amused, half-insulted… Maybe she was just wearing her bathing suit under her pajamas. Clearing his throat, Lance said: "So, uh, you like pink I see… I never would have expected that."

A smile forming upon her countenance, though still looking somewhat insulted, Rikki said: "You should see the bridesmaid dress I wore at my dad and stepmom's wedding."

Lance was somewhat interested. He never thought Rikki would be a girl who liked pink.