Dark Waters

Chapter 3

EDITED

(Avalon's POV)

"The reason I avoid water..." I start, "Is because when I was little, I almost drowned. My family went camping, we were swimming in a lake, and I started to sink. I kept thrashing around, trying to resurface, but it didn't work. Nobody noticed I was drowning. I, uh, I..."

The looks on their faces were killing me. I hate this. Oh well, I can't turn back now. 

"I blacked out before my father saved me. Since that day, I haven't been able to go near water. I do not and will not swim. I'm horrified of water. I almost died." 

I'm a horrible person. They don't deserve this. But I don't know what else to do. What can I do?

Judging by the sympathetic looks they are giving me, they bought it. But now they will most likely apologize for something that never happened. Ugh. I wish I could just tell them the truth.

Jade goes first, "Av...I am so sorry! If we had known, we wouldn't have been so hard on you. Forgive us?"

There's only one way I can answer that without losing my friends. "Of course. It's my fault I never told you."

Now it's Kaitlyn's turn. "Then why didn't you tell us sooner?" She looked a little hurt, to be honest. Not as hurt as she would be if you told her the truth now.

Lie, lie, LIE!  "Because it's embarrassing! Being afraid of water? It even sounds stupid!"  I drop my head into my hands.

What I'm feeling isn't shame. It's not fear. It's guilt. I just lied to my best friends. Multiple times. If I tell them the truth now, they may never forgive me. I wouldn't even forgive myself.

They say nothing. Thank god! I can't take this anymore.  "Can we just go?" Both of them look at me, tears brimming their eyes. What have I done?'  "Yeah. We should go." Jade wipes away her oncoming tears, while Kaitlyn hugs me. Their sympathy only makes me feel worse. 

____

We reach the beach after what feels like ages. The whole walk here was completely silent. "Wow, this place is packed," I say, breaking the deafening silence. 

I've met Kaitlyn's brother hundreds of times. In fact, he's like a brother to me. One that doesn't wake you up by pouring water on you. Poseidon. 

Poseidon is 13, and he loves to pull pranks. He loves making us transform, luckily not when we have guests. He's quite the evil mastermind when it comes to pranks. He goes from tripping you with wire and videotaping it to locking you outside in just a towel. 

But it's always fun to get him back using magic. He doesn't have powers - no mermen do - so I have the advantage. 

Since we know Ben (her brother) personally, we get to go to the very front of the crowd, directly in front of the band as they perform. I've never met the rest of the band, but from what I've gathered they're exact replicas of Ben. 

When Ben notices us, he runs up to Kaitlyn. He engulfs each of us in a hug, starting with his sister.

"Hey! Glad you could make it!" He goes back to his friends, and they start playing their music again. It was really good, despite the few errors here and there. They're still working out a few kinks in their setlist. Soon I was able to forget about the ocean and get lost in the music. I was dancing with Jade and Kaitlyn when it happened. 

The band pulled out a large hose. I had no idea where the water came from, probably the ocean, but they turned it on full blast and sprayed it out into the crowd. Everyone jumped and screamed as they danced in the falling water droplets that rained down upon them.  

I turned around, pushing my way through the crowd of people. By the time I was out of the frenzy of an increasingly wet crowd of people, I had lost half of my time. I sprinted into the water, tuning out Jade and Kaitlyn's protests.

"Av?! What are you doing?!"

"Come back! You're afraid of water!!!"

At the last second, I dive under the rough waves. My eyes burn slightly with unshed tears as my legs join, and my feet morph together. I sigh, glaring at my long tail. I continue swimming deeper into the salty ocean water, away from the beach. Being spotted would not help anyone. 

I know I have to go back, they will search for me if I don't return. But how? 

I swim out until I find some jagged rocks sticking up out of the water. I get behind them, surfacing. I stick my eyes over the rock, peering at the beach. 

Everyone has stopped what they were doing, standing at the water's edge. The band is no longer playing their music, instead joining the group of people standing at the water's edge, eyes trained on the waves rolling in towards the shore. 

Why did I have to tell them I was afraid of water? Stupid, stupid stupid. I don't know how I'll explain this one. 

I use my heightened hearing to listen in on what they're saying. Though I can't decipher everything they say, I can hear crying. Jade and Kaitlyn; they're crying. I guess my story was pretty convincing earlier. Shit. 

I hear someone say something along the lines of if I don't return in a matter of time, they would be obligated to call the Coast Guard. I panic, they can't tell my parents. Why am I so irresponsible?

What do I do? I have no idea how to fix this. I'm screwed, how could I be so careless?

My mom is goi- I have an idea. 

I swim farther down the beach, far enough that there is no chance in hell anyone could see me, even with binoculars. Now for the difficult part. I swim quickly towards the shore, beaching myself. 

I use my arms to pull myself up onto the hot sand, seeing as my tail is completely useless out of water. I slowly inch forward, getting off the wet sand. The grains scratch the scales as I pull myself forward, and I hiss in pain. 

When the waves that wash up onto shore can no longer reach my tail, I prop myself up on one arm. I reach behind me, holding my hand over my glistening tail. 

Even though I know it will hurt, I automatically make my hand into a fist, instead of easing into it. I wince as I burn my tail with the heat. The scales disappear instantly. They fade off, my legs red and raw once they are back, the scratches visible on my irritated skin. 

I stand up, brushing the sand off my dress. I'm about a half mile from the beach I started on. 

But then I realize something; since they saw me go into the water, I'll have to return wet. Crap.