Below the Surface

Chapter Ten: Here We Go Again

Dedicated to yoyopay if you love stories with friends that slowly fall in love with each other she is your gal, check out Him and Me.

Chapter Ten: Here We Go Again 

Swimming in the ocean is the number one reason why I love everything about being a mermaid. Don't get me wrong, I loved swimming as a human, I grew up on the beach alongside Bella and instantly fell in love, from dawn to dusk that is where we would be found. The sea is the most beautiful place in the world. I'm not talking about the shore, where you only see half of its beauty; I'm talking about the depths of the sea. There are all sorts of fishes, different colors, shapes, and sizes. All the creatures an ordinary person would never have imagined. The ocean is my home. I surface above the water and breathe in the warm morning air. Beads of salty water drip from my forehead, I turn my gaze over to the shore where I see Bella and Jay near the shallow area swimming closely together. Without another thought, I dive back into the water and swim towards the bottom. With each stroke I take with my tail, I swim deeper and deeper. Most people would feel the changes between the water temperatures going back and forth from warm to freezing cold, but I only notice a small change as I reach the bottom. I lie down on the white sand and stare above the surface. This isn't the deepest I've gone, the trenches I've been to are sometimes never ending that I have to stop and go back because the water temperature and pressure is too much for me. A school of silver fish pass by, along with other fishes traveling alone. I never imagined the ocean to be huge, but even now as I sit at the bottom, with critters that have some of same qualities that I do, something feels out of place. I feel so alone. Throughout my flings, I haven't been able to find someone that I would want to have a long-term relationship with and it feels like that habit won't be breaking soon. Floating my body off the sand, I twist myself around and swim back to the shore. My long locks of hair glide behind me as I swim back over to the shore. I'm watching a miniature fish swim below me when hands grip onto my shoulders. The grip is urgent and when I see what's going on, I see Bella with a desperate expression. She pulls me back in, away from the shore and drags me behind the few gigantic boulders scattered around the beach. I pop my head from out of the water to see Bella peeking from behind the rock. I wipe my face away from water and take a closer look from behind Bella. 

"What is it?" I whisper, because as I look around I don't see anything, "Where's Jay?" 

"Shh!" Bella snaps, pulling me back she peeks around on the other side. I tread the water slowly as I wait for Bella to tell me what's happening. She turns around and wipes her face as well, "It's that fisherman again."

"What?" Bella moves aside so I can look. When I look over the boulder I see the same old fisherman that has been watching Bella and I with a close eye for the past year or so. He's not a local here in Maui. He actually moved here two years ago from New Zealand and has been creeping on the young adults ever since, especially on Bella and me. It's the most irritating thing. Not to mention creepy. I watch carefully as Jay makes small talk with him. Some of the youngsters call him Barbosa, for his grayish, dangly beard that hangs off his chin, and the limp he has when he walks. Soon enough, almost everyone started to call him that, even though his name is Peter Lancaster. I move behind the boulder quickly once I see him turning his head in my direction. My eyes meet Bella's worried ones. I scoff and start chuckling softly as I realize that she really is worried, "Really?" 

"Really!" she exclaims in a hush tone, "Do you think he knows?" Bella asks her eyebrows furrowing together and I shake my head, there's no way. 

"No. And if he does, what would he be able to do? Everyone in town thinks he's a bit crazy. No one will ever believe him. And, look at him." I glance back at his scrawny, hunched over posture, "He's harmless."