Underwater

by Doe, Anna B.

  Caleb chuckles but doesn’t turn around. His shoulders move with the motion. “Naked?”

  “Guys sleep naked, right?”

  He turns toward me suddenly, his more-green-than-brown eyes piercing me with their amused stare. “Hell, yeah.”

  “So it’s okay for guys to do it, but not girls?” I raise my brows in question.

  Now that I’m covered, I don’t feel as exposed as I did just minutes before. Not as vulnerable. Although the fact that I’m wearing a guy’s shirt over my naked body does strange things to my tummy.

  “Babe,” he drawls slowly. “You can sleep naked as much as you like.”

  My cheeks blush bright red again.

  “But seriously, what were you doing out here without clothes?” His face turns serious.

  We look at each other, his eyes searching my face for answers.

  Oh, you know… same old, same old. I tried to save my crush from drowning, so I ended up at the bottom of the ocean and was saved by the ocean nymph who turned me into a mermaid so I could save previously mentioned guy and myself from a sure death. Just a regular day at the office.

  Like I can say that. He’d probably think I’m crazy. And hell, maybe I am. Maybe I really did dream all of that and walked to the beach in the middle of the night because sleeping on the sand is so much fun.

  I rub my sore neck. “I told you, I sleepwalked. It happens to me from time to time.” Shrugging my shoulders as nonchalantly as possible, I turn my back to the ocean and start walking. “I should go. I don’t want my parents to worry more than necessary.”

  I expect him to follow, but when my footsteps are the only ones I hear, I look over my shoulder at him. “You coming?”

  The sun is now higher in the sky. I lift my hand to shield my eyes and look at him. His naked, defined chest shines under the sunlight. Smooth skin tanned from hours spent on the beach.

  “I think I’ll stay a bit longer.”

  “Okay,” I reply, not walking any farther. We keep looking at each other from a distance. I switch my weight from one leg to the other, suddenly more uncomfortable than when I realized I was standing naked in front of him. “Well…” I play with the hem of his shirt. “I’ll wash this and get it back to you.”

  “Keep it.” Caleb waves me off, turning on the balls of his feet and jogging toward the ocean.

  For a while, I don’t move. I just stare at his retreating form.

  The power of his muscles.

  The grace with which he dives underwater.

  I could swear I heard him mumble something before he turned his back on me. But it’s not possible.

  Because it sounded a lot like it looks better on you anyway.

  Yeah, no way.

  Marissa

  “Why didn’t you text me last night, Risa?” My best friend’s voice, worried and hurt, stops me in my tracks. Guilt washes over me instantly.

  There actually wasn’t a way for me to let her know I was okay. Underwater doesn’t have a good signal these days and all that.

  I want to chuckle at my witty joke, but I don’t think anybody would get it. They’ll just dub me as a crazy girl who laughs for no reason, and I’m weird already as it is. The point is though… I’m getting good at this. I can even joke about my near-death experience and it’s been less than twenty four hours.

  If it’s even real and not just a figment of your vivid imagination.

  Inwardly, I roll my eyes at the voice inside my head.

  Do I have my moments of doubt? Yes, I do, but at the same time, I can’t ignore the realness of it all.

  All joking aside, I feel really bad about forgetting to let Noel know I was all right. She must have been worried sick.

  Thank God my parents haven’t even noticed I was gone.

  Don’t go all judgey on them. They are good people, but sometimes I sleep over at Noel’s and sometimes she sleeps over at my place and we don’t tell our parents. They are all used to our coming and going from one place to the other. They don’t call us Siamese twins without a reason. So yeah, they simply assumed I was at her place since I spent the whole afternoon with her.

  If either of us ever gets a boyfriend, I guess this could come in handy. Sneaking out for a make-out session with a cute boy while they think I’m with my best friend.

  I sigh. Like that’ll happen anytime soon.

  Once I left the beach and Caleb and sneaked into the house, I realized it was actually quite early. Barely past seven in the morning. Trying to be as quiet as possible as I moved through the house so I didn’t wake up my parents, I climbed to my room, grabbed a change of clothes and went to take a shower.

  Being in the ocean as a mermaid felt amazing. Surreal. It was like I was a part of it. Just one small piece of a bigger picture. But my human body didn’t agree with my all-night ocean rendezvous.

  My hair turned into one big bird’s nest, and my whole body itched from too much salt. It took me almost an hour to become presentable again. Then I had to hurry and grab my stuff so I wasn’t late for school.

  There was another thing that bothered me. The necklace I was wearing. A shimmery, aqua-green necklace in the shape of a tail. A mermaid tail. It took me a while to figure it out. But then I remembered Nymph coming close to me last night just before I got the tail, then she disappeared into the ocean. I tried taking it off, but there was no clasp, so I decided to leave it as it is.

  “I’m sorry, Noel. I totally spaced out.” I give her a quick, reassuring hug. “I crashed as soon as I got home.”

  “Did you at least find your glasses?”

  “I…” I slowly drag, catching myself in time before I spilled the beans. I did find my sunglasses, but God only knows where they are right now. The bottom of the ocean is as good a guess as any. “No, I guess the wind blew them somewhere before I got there.”

  The lie burns in my throat, but what else can I say? The truth will raise more questions than I have answers, and that will only bring more lies. One white lie to my best friend was one white lie too many. All our lives we’ve been practically sisters, sharing everything. It feels wrong to lie to her now.

  “Bummer. You loved those glasses.”

  “Yeah, well…” I shrug, changing the subject. “Walk me to my locker. I need to pick up a few books.”

  We chat a little about the latest episode of Arrow, our current binge watch. Because, Stephen Amell… you get the picture.

  “I’m telling you something, someone, had to be there.” I recognize Taylor’s voice even in the loud school hallway. Leaning my head to the side, hoping to better hear what he’s saying, I unlock my locker and start pulling the books I’ll need for my classes.

  “Did you see them?” one of the guys in his group asks.

  There is a slight pause. I don’t see Ty, but I can imagine him shaking his head. “I didn’t see anyone. But there was no way I would have come up from that wave alone. It came out of nowhere, falling over me so hard all the air was knocked out of my lungs.”

  “Maybe the ocean dragged you to the beach on its own?” another voice suggests, but I can hear the doubt in it.

  Holding all my books, I close the locker, making sure it’s locked before I turn around and face the group.

  Noel noticed my distraction, and now she’s also listening in on the conversation.

  Ty shakes his head stubbornly, his lips set in a firm line. “No way, man. Not even I am that good to escape the raging ocean all on my own. There had to be someone else out there. I remember trying to get out when the weather got all shitty, but then… nothing.”

  He lifts his head, blue eyes meeting mine.

  My heart kicks up a notch, and I’m not sure if it’s because of his light blue eyes or because of the fear that he’ll remember what happened.

  Remember me.

  “What happened?” Noel asks the group of guys. I’m not sure I would be able to speak without my voice revealing my anxiousness about the whole situation.

  “Ty was at the bea
ch yesterday when the storm started.”

  “A wave crashed over me and pulled me underwater,” Ty adds, scratching his neck.

  Even though it’s all over now, goosebumps rise on my skin and I shiver in horror. His words bring images―very vivid images―back to my mind.

  The force of the wave crashing over us. The current pulling us in all directions. The need to breathe but with no way out.

  Darkness.

  So much darkness.

  I wanted to believe it was all just a dream, a product of my imagination, but it couldn’t have been.

  “That’s horrible!” Noel gasps loudly, looking at me with horror in her eyes. “Did you see anything, Risa? You went back to grab your sunglasses.”

  I feel the earth shake under my legs, and I’m scared I’ll fall down. All eyes turn to look at me, waiting to hear what I’ll say. The tension in the air around us is palpable.

  Why did she have to say that? Noel's tongue has always been faster than her brain.

  “I…” I start, but my voice sounds weak and shaky. Feeling guilty, I shift my weight from one leg to another under the pressure of a dozen eyes on me. The light blue ones, the ones holding so much hope, the heaviest of them all.

  “I’m sorry.” I manage to push through the remorse of lying once again. “I didn’t see anything.”

  As the lie leaves my mouth, it’s like everybody breathes out at once. Some of them disappointed, some almost relieved.

  “You’re lucky to be alive.” Noel breaks the uncomfortable silence around us.

  “Yeah, well…” The warning bell rings, and people start walking to their classrooms. “There was somebody out there who saved me.”

  He sounds so convinced, so sure. I can see determination shine in his blue eyes, in every line of his handsome face.

  Another quiet moment falls over the group. I can see some of his friends want to tell him he’s wrong. That he only imagined it. Maybe that he even hit his head and now he’s confused. I want to do it, too, but for completely different reasons.

  Finally, I clear my throat. “We should go to class. It’ll start any second now.”

  Taylor looks at me, the fine hairs at the nape of my neck rising from the intensity of his stare before he scans the group around him. “I know you don’t believe me, but I’m sure of it. Someone was out there. Someone to who I owe my life. And I’ll find them.”

  The promise and conviction in his words make me shiver uncomfortably. If it were anything else, I would be happy, ecstatic even, that he’s looking for me, even though he isn’t aware of it. But not this time.

  I’ve been crushing on him for so long, wanting him to notice me as more than a friend and classmate, and now he’s doing just that. Only this time I want him to let it go. Because who he’s searching for isn’t me. Not really.

  What if he remembers? I’m not even sure how much he could have possibly seen, but just the thought that he might have seen me, as a mermaid no less, is terrifying. How do I explain it? How do I explain it to him if I don’t understand it myself?

  The group grows quiet; nobody knows how to react, what to say… The bell saves us from the awkwardness of the moment. We all hurry in different directions, but as I move my gaze from Ty’s retreating back, I find a set of brown-green eyes looking at me from a distance with pensive curiosity.

  We stare at each other for a heartbeat.

  How much did Caleb hear? Does he know something? Does he know I’m the one who saved Ty? Did he see me?

  I gulp down.

  Did he see me as a mermaid?

  The corner of his lips lifts in a half smile.

  A knowing smirk.

  Taunting and beautiful.

  But when I blink, he’s already gone.

  Another shiver runs through my whole body.

  The hope that all that happened last night is just an illusion, just a dream, is gone. It happened. It was real. Maybe it still is.

  I need to figure it out, and I need to do it soon.

  And I know just the person who might be able to help me, but first, I have to make sure Ty doesn’t say too much to anyone about last night.

  The fewer people who know, the safer my secret is.

  Marissa

  The rest of the day goes smoothly. More or less. Okay, not really.

  People are talking about last night’s storm. Nobody got hurt, but there was some damage done to the houses and establishments that are close to the beach.

  Also, the word about what happened to Taylor spread around like wildfire.

  It’s not really surprising since he’s one of the most popular guys in the whole school.

  Not only is he handsome with his boyish features, messy blond hair and sky blue eyes, but he’s also smart, athletic and kind. The same cannot be said for a lot of the popular kids. He’s not a born leader, and it makes him feel uncomfortable if he’s the center of attention, but people look up to him.

  Taylor has a lot of friends, and he’s nice to everybody. I don’t know how he does it, but he remembers the name of every kid in our school, and if you need help, he’s your guy.

  So, yeah, it’s not surprising that word spread around the school in no time. By lunch, it was the only thing people talked about, and I kept looking over my shoulder. I would lean my head to the side and listen in on the conversations, trying to hear if my name was mentioned in any way.

  Maybe I was paranoid, but I couldn’t ignore this feeling inside me. Worry, fear and anxiousness made me jumpy and stressed out. I couldn’t take it anymore, so by the time the last bell rang and kids hurried out of the building, I let my gaze wander around until I found Ty walking with a couple of his friends toward the parking lot.

  I hurry after them. “Ty! Wait.”

  He looks over his shoulder, blue eyes settling on me, and my breath gets stuck in my lungs. My stomach squeezes nervously, and I can feel my palms grow sweaty.

  His friends tell him something, at which he laughs and waves them away in time for me to reach him.

  “Hey, Risa.” Ty smiles sweetly at me, and some of the anxiousness goes away. The nervous grip on my stomach loosens, replaced by something different.

  Butterflies.

  Hundreds of thousands of butterflies.

  “Hey,” I whisper, suddenly feeling shy.

  Being around Ty is always like that. Although we're friends, when his blue gaze settles on me, giving me his undivided attention, I suddenly feel self-conscious and awkward.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Stupid.” His harsh breath makes me lift my eyes and look at him. “Everybody thinks I’m crazy.”

  “You’re not crazy! It’s just…” I try to reason, but there is no helping it.

  I know he’s not crazy; I was there. But if I want to save myself from curious looks and questions that are better left unasked, nobody can know I was there.

  Even if I admitted to being on the beach, it’s not like somebody will believe I saved him. He’s a guy twice my size that was drowning in a stormy ocean. Only a miracle could have saved him.

  Only something…

  “Impossible.” Ty finishes.

  … Impossible.

  I sigh. My fingers itch to reach forward and touch his cheek. Reassure him that everything will be alright, but I clench them into a fist and hold back.

  “We’re going to the beach.” He changes the subject. “Wanna go with?”

  “Already? Shouldn’t you rest for a while?”

  He shakes his head, an easy smile returning to his lips. “Nah, I’m fine. Seriously. And the competition is in a few weeks, so I need to practice as much as I can.”

  I nod my head in understanding.

  Learning how to surf is a rite of passage here. Some kids learn how to ride a bike, some learn how to skate or throw a football, for us Hawaiian kids it’s all about learning how to stand on the board and tame the waves underneath our feet.

  I still like to do it sometimes. On sunny days when the waves
are high and the surface of the ocean glitters from the sun, I like the feeling of a light breeze on my cheeks and how my hair glides through the air as I ride the waves.

  But I don’t love it like Taylor and his friends do. For me, it’s just a sport I take on occasionally when I feel like it. My love for the ocean lives underneath the surface. It’s in the sea creatures, organs and plants that found a peaceful home away from humans.

  My love lives within the smooth, azure surface.

  “I have to go home, but maybe I’ll stop by later.”

  The smile he gives me makes my heart ache. “Then I’ll see you later, Marissa.”

  I smile back at him, waving as I turn around and walk to my car. It’s time to get some answers.

  Marissa

  Shutting the car door, I look at the little cottage-style house in front of me. The front porch is small, barely big enough to carry two rocking chairs and a tiny table, but pots and plants adorn every possible surface. They follow the narrow path from the street to the front door and hang from the roof and fence, giving the cottage a homey, loving feel.

  Nostalgia attacks me almost as soon as I step foot on the ground. It’s been like that for a while now.

  My grandfather was never a big lover of flowers, but after my grandma died from cancer, he kept taking care of them. He often said they remind him of her, so although he was a plant killer in the past, he learned how to take care of them. For her. They were so in love, but life took her from him way too soon. From all of us.

  “Are you going to just stand there or are you going to move and give your kapuna a kiss, young lady?” Grandpa’s raspy voice greets me as he walks out of the house.

  I smile as soon as I see him. “Have you been spying on me, Tutu?”

  Hurrying up to the front porch, I give him a hug and kiss on his weathered cheek.

  Even though he’s in his seventies, he’s still holding strong. Wrinkles cover his aged face, and his dark, tanned skin is rough from years of being exposed to nature’s wrath, whether it’s bright, sunny, hot days or those spent trying to survive the stormy clouds, harsh wind and tempestuous ocean.