Underwater

by Doe, Anna B.

  Marissa nods her head. “I found Flipper and his family on one of my outings. They usually swim around these waters, so we hang out when I come.”

  “And she plays with the dolphins, giving them names like they’re her pets.” I shake my head, laughing.

  “They like to play with me.” Marissa shrugs lightheartedly. “Want to go for a swim? Maybe we can find them somewhere around here.”

  She starts swimming, not actually waiting for my answer, but I stay glued to my spot, still not believing all of this is for real. It’s like she can feel I’m not behind her. Marissa looks over her shoulder. “You coming?”

  I look at her for a while longer, her casual stance and how normal this is for her. Scales that glisten under the surface of the ocean. Playing with dolphins… I shake my head teasingly. “Only you.”

  For a while, we swim in silence. She’s leading the way, and I’m fine with that. I can see that she’s doing her best to swim at a normal, human pace so I don’t have to struggle behind her.

  I’m not sure how long we swim, but the dolphins never come.

  “I think they’re scared of you.”

  “Of me?” I frown. “Why?”

  “They didn’t come to me either when I was a human.”

  “Do you think they’ll come to you once you break the curse and become human again?”

  Sadness washes over her face, and I know I said something wrong. “I’m not sure.”

  I swim closer to her until we’re only an inch apart. My fingers lift her chin, making her look at me. Her beautiful, sad eyes bore into mine, and for a while we stay like that. Staring at one another.

  “You’ll break the curse and they’ll still remember you,” I say softly.

  “Time is running out.”

  Nodding in understanding, I lift the necklace that’s nestled between her collarbones. The mermaid tail was once bright green, but not anymore. “Half of it is black. It wasn’t like that before.”

  “No, it grows black with time. Once it’s completely black, if I haven’t completed my mission, I’ll be like this forever, taking the position of the ocean nymph, while she gets her legs back.”

  I let the charm slip from my fingers and cup her cheek once again. “No, she can’t have you.”

  Marissa laughs, but there is nothing funny about it. “It’s not like I get to choose. The rules are pretty simple. If I want to break the spell the boy who owns my heart has to confess his love to me before the three rotations of the moon are completed.”

  “The boy who owns your heart…”

  It doesn’t say Taylor.

  Just the boy who owns her heart.

  It’s the same thing, dumbass, the devil on my shoulder whispers. Like it or not, Ty is the boy who owns her heart.

  “That’s why I’ve been trying so hard around Taylor. I need this to work, Caleb. I need him to fall in love with me.”

  Anger and frustration rise in me. I hate it. I hate knowing it and listening to it, although I knew from the beginning what I was getting myself into. But this isn’t about me. This is about Marissa. And for her, I’d do anything. Even give her up to have her safe.

  “We’ll do it,” I say finally, looking at her. The darkness in me is still strong, but I push it back, hold it at bay. “I’ll help you, Marissa. I’ll help make Ty fall in love with you.”

  MARISSA

  “I’ll help you, Marissa. I’ll help make Ty fall in love with you.”

  I gulp down nervously, looking at him. I should be happy he wants to help me. Happy to have somebody so strong and kind as my friend and a confidant of my secret, but the only thing I can feel is anguish.

  Strong and deep in my heart.

  What is wrong with me?

  I shake my head, trying to regain control over my mind and heart. They should be in sync, only they’re all but. My mind knows what needs to be done, but my heart… I’m not sure it knows what it wants.

  Who it wants.

  Forcing a lame excuse of a smile to my lips, I ask, “Should we go back?”

  Caleb looks at me, and I have a feeling he wants to say something more, but he doesn’t. Nodding in acknowledgment, we start swimming back to the beach in silence.

  We swam farther than I thought, so it takes us a while to get back. I can see that Caleb is starting to get tired, but I don’t dare offer my help, and he doesn’t ask for it either.

  When we get to the beach, Caleb gets out of the ocean, shaking his head like a dog to get the water out of his hair. I stay in the shallow part, debating on my next move.

  I knew when I decided to jump after him I wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore, at least not from him. I knew my secret would be out, and although in part it terrifies me, deep down I feel relieved.

  Relieved somebody knows.

  Relieved I don’t have to pretend and lie, at least to one person.

  Relieved I can finally breathe.

  And although I know it’s wrong and something the ocean nymph told me not to do, I can’t be sad I broke the rule. I simply can’t.

  Usually, when I do my late-night swims, I have to crawl back out. Yeah, crawl. It doesn’t look any prettier than it sounds, but it’s necessary if I want to get to the beach and get dry so I can return to my human form again.

  But just the thought of doing it in front of Caleb makes my skin crawl and my cheeks heat in embarrassment.

  “What’s wrong?” Caleb asks, towel drying his hair.

  I don’t know where the towel came from, but I sure am thankful for it. It’ll make this whole process easier… once I get my butt out of the ocean, that is.

  “Nothing.”

  Caleb lets the towel fall from his hands as he turns toward me, giving me his full attention. “Marissa.” His voice has a slight edge to it.

  “Nothing.”

  He crosses his arms over his chest, muscles bulging with the motion. “It obviously is something since you’re still sitting in there. Shouldn’t you get out and dry off?”

  I shake my head stubbornly. “I think I’ll stay here for a while longer. I love stargazing, and the ocean gives me comfort.”

  “Try again.” I can hear him walking through the water toward me.

  “I’m serious.”

  “And I call bullshit.”

  “Caleb…”

  “Marissa…”

  We stare at each other. He’s standing over me, towering to his full height so I have to tilt my head back to be able to look him in the eyes. My lips are pursed in annoyance, and I can see the corner of his twitch upward.

  Dumbass is laughing at my expense! Unbelievable.

  Caleb squats down in front of me.

  I look away. It’s too hard to keep staring at those shining, kind eyes of his and continue to be mad at him.

  “Hey…” Caleb whispers, his finger sneaking underneath my chin and lifting it so I have to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s hard to get out.” I confess, looking over his shoulder. “That’s it.”

  He looks down at my tail peeking out of the ocean, the aqua-green scales shining in the dim light of the moon.

  Realization hits him; I can see it on his face. He sighs, or maybe it’s… “Are you laughing at me?”

  Caleb rubs at the back of his neck, trying to cover his light chuckling with coughing. “No, I would never…”

  I swat at his shoulder. “You’re totally laughing at me!”

  This time he doesn’t try to cover it up. Bending forward, at first I think he’s laughing so hard he can’t stand straight, but then his hands curl around me, and in one swift motion I’m lifted in the air.

  “What… Caleb,” I whine. “Put me down!”

  He starts laughing even harder, pulling me closer to his chest. “No way. You said you can’t get out, so I’m giving you a lift.”

  “I’m heavy. Please, let me down.”

  For some reason, he finds it hilarious. “I lift more in the gym than what you weigh, Mar.”

&
nbsp; The nickname falls off his lips easily. Like he’s said it a thousand times before. Something warm wraps around my heart like a fuzzy blanket on a cool autumn evening.

  Mar.

  Marissa.

  Girl.

  Mermaid.

  Lover of the ocean.

  All of it, all of me, wrapped in one simple, three letter word.

  Mar.

  “Come on, let’s get you all dried off.”

  Marissa

  The following morning when I wake up, Noel is already waiting for me in my bedroom. Demanding an explanation.

  “What the hell is going on with you?” she asks, her arms crossed over her chest. “You barely hang out with anybody, and don’t even try to deny it. I know there isn’t that much work for you at the café every day. And when you do come to hang out with us, you don’t go swimming, or if you by some miracle do, you disappear soon after.”

  “It’s not-”

  “Oh, please, tell that story to somebody else.” The anger and confusion are rolling off of her in waves. Noel takes a deep breath in and tries again. “What is really going on with you, Risa?”

  “I promise, it’s nothing.” I give her a reassuring smile, patting the spot on the bed next to me.

  Sighing, she joins me on the bed, letting me wrap my arm around her and hug her.

  “You’re acting weird.”

  Of course she doesn’t back down; I’d be surprised if she did. She’s so passionate about those she loves. That’s one of her greatest qualities.

  “After everything that happened with Ty… I was there, Noel. That day, I was there. I saw the power the ocean has.”

  More than she’ll ever know. Unfortunately, I can’t share that with her.

  “So you’re scared?” She frowns at me, surprised with my answer. “That’s what you’re trying to tell me?”

  “I just need time.” I throw the covers off and stand from the bed. “That’s all. Everything is just so crazy right now.”

  She nods her head in understanding, her brown eyes softening just a bit more. “With Ty and Caleb…”

  The need to laugh hysterically is strong. Ty and Caleb don’t even begin to cover how crazy my life is. They’re just the tip of the iceberg. Just a visible fraction of what’s actually happening deep within. Not that I can share that with my best friend.

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  After the night with Caleb, everything returns back to normal. School is still in session, tension running high since college acceptance letters should be arriving any day now.

  I try to ignore it all and do my own thing. It’s not like dwelling on it will help anyway. What’s done is done and all that. I did my best on the SATs and poured my heart out while writing the essays. And now it’s time to wait and see if some of the best marine biology and oceanography colleges want me next year.

  It’s even a question if I’ll go to college. If the thing with Ty doesn’t work out… The second full moon is just around the corner. That leaves me with thirty days.

  Thirty days to break the curse.

  Thirty days to have a guy I’ve been crushing on for years fall in love and confess his love to me.

  Sighing, I enter the library and go in search of what I need. I have a few more projects to finish before the end of the school year, so I try to concentrate on those and ignore what ifs.

  I return the books I had and walk down the aisle between the stacks of books. Immersed in my search, I almost don’t notice him.

  Blond hair. Usually wide shoulders slumped in front of the computer.

  “Ty?” I stop behind him.

  He jumps, surprised, quickly closing the browser he was looking at. But not quick enough. Not before I saw words like “mermaid”, “Pacific Ocean”, “Hawaii” and “accident” pop up on the screen.

  “Risa, hey.” Taylor turns around in his chair. A soft smile curls his lips, but I can still see the tension in his shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

  I lift the book I picked up for my essay.

  “Right.” He chuckles lightly, scratching the nape of his neck. “The library.”

  “The library,” I agree, grinning at his slightly flushed cheeks. “What are you up to? Doing research of some kind?”

  “I…” He looks over his shoulder at the now-blank computer screen. “I was looking into something.”

  When he turns back around, he finds me staring at him expectedly, waiting for an explanation.

  Stubbornly, he keeps quiet. Both of us do, but in the end I win.

  “I’m still looking for… something.”

  “Ty…” I slide into the chair next to his, my hand falling on his knee.

  “I can’t forget about it, Risa. I just can’t.” He runs his hand through his hair in frustration, messing it up even more than before. “Sometimes I dream about that night. The nightmares haunt me. The feeling of water entering my lungs… some nights I wake up, struggling to breathe.”

  My heart breaks for him with the anguish I can hear in his voice.

  For the first time, I notice the dark bags under his eyes and how tired he looks.

  “Did you find anything?”

  “No.” Ty shakes his head. “Just some stories.”

  “This island is filled with stories, Ty,” I say softly. The last thing I want is to upset him more than he already is, but I have to think about myself. Think about keeping my secret safe.

  “I know.”

  “What happened was awful. An accident that could have cost you your life, but you survived. Maybe it was coincidence or maybe it was destiny. It doesn’t matter now. The important thing is you’re alive and well. You should let it go. If it upsets you this much, not letting you sleep properly, you need to try to let it go.”

  For a while, he holds my gaze. His hand grips mine on his knee and doesn’t let go.

  “You’re right,” he finally agrees. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks… but it hasn’t done me any good.”

  “Once you stop obsessing, everything will fall back in line. Trust me.”

  “I guess you’re right.” He turns around, and shuts down the computer. The finality of it all makes it easier to breathe. “You done?”

  “Yeah, I just have to grab one more book.”

  “Let’s go. I’m treating you to ice cream.”

  My eyes grow wide. Ice cream? Like a… like a date?

  “What?”

  “It’s a thank you.” Ty shrugs. “For making me feel better.”

  “Oh-kay…” I agree, my heart skipping a beat.

  ‘Cause it’s happening.

  It’s finally happening.

  Yeah, it’s just an ice cream, but it’s more than I’ve ever gotten before, so I’ll take it.

  “Just a little bit more, and then it’s all over.” Ty’s eyes scan the ocean. “It seems too soon to be leaving for college.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”

  The late afternoon sun illuminates the sky and ocean, coloring it in different shades of reds, oranges and pinks.

  “Where do you hope to get in?”

  “Manoa. That’s the dream. They have a really cool marine biology program.”

  He chuckles lightly. “You sure that’s the best option for you? Seems lately you’ve been hiding from the ocean.”

  “Hey!” I bump his shoulder with mine, shoving him away. “Don’t tease me. It’s been…” I sigh. “It’s been difficult with everything that happened…”

  I don’t finish, but I don’t have to, because I can see realization fill his eyes.

  Ty knows I’m talking about him and the accident. He probably remembers I was there, on the beach just before the storm hit. That’s what I’ve told him anyway. The only thing he doesn’t know is the real reason behind the statement. Just like Noel.

  “I didn’t realize…”

  Shaking my head, I stop and turn to look at him fully. “It’s not your fault. When something happens like what
happened to you, it makes you wonder, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know…” We fall into silence. It’s slightly awkward, and thankfully interrupted by laughter coming down the beach. A group of kids are playing in the shallow part of the ocean.

  “You ready for prom?” Ty finally asks.

  “Prom?” I shake my head. “I’m not going.”

  “What?” Ty’s yell makes me turn my head to look at him.

  “What what?”

  “What about you and Caleb? I kind of thought the two of you were going together. Since you’re dating and everything.”

  The heat rises on my cheeks. “We…” I sigh. “It’s complicated.”

  Ty nods his head, his crystal blue eyes staring at me. Long, thick lashes, a shade darker than his hair, frame his eyes, making them stand out even more.

  His insistent stare makes a blush creep on my cheeks. It’s like he’s trying to figure me out. As if he can see me, truly see me in this moment and doesn’t know what to do.

  “Risa…” Ty whispers.

  His finger dips underneath my chin, slowly lifting it up until our eyes meet again.

  He’s standing so close to me, the tips of our toes touch, and I can feel his light breath on my skin.

  Slowly, oh so slowly, his head starts to lean forward.

  I can feel my eyes pop out in surprise.

  What is he doing? Is this for real? Is he really going to…?

  “Ty?” I whisper back, my hand gripping the soft material of his shirt. My eyes fall closed because I can’t look into the melted blue depths of his eyes. “W-what are you doing?”

  My heart is beating frantically, like a dozen tiny birds fluttering their little wings inside my chest.

  “I…”

  He’s close. So close his body is brushing against mine, his body heat radiating around me, pulling me in. My fingers dig harder into the material of his shirt.

  Pulling him in?

  Pushing him away?

  Rough fingers touch my cheeks. Not even a touch, more like a graze of his fingertips over my skin. They’re trembling softly, or is it me who’s trembling from the cool evening breeze?