One Breath, A Short Story

Part 1

Dedicated to JoshSlater so that he HAS to bloody read it :3

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Just as humans have laws, for the fantastical, there are rules. The most important rule being:

Never let a human know you exist.

To break this rule is punishable by death... for the human. 

I was 8 when I first saw a human. I was fascinated by him, by his laughter, by his legs. His face looked just like the other boys I knew from school, except for the fact that he didn't have gills on his neck. I bobbed in the water and watched him from afar until the sun started setting and his parents came to take him away. His departure made me sad but I didn't know why, as I grew up I simply put it down to it being disappointment that my first human sighting was ending. I didn't go to the surface for a long time after that, but I listened avidly to the stories my friends told me about their trips to the top. 

It was the night before I turned 17 when someone broke the rule. My best friend's older sister, Elise, had done the unthinkable. Not only had she revealed herself to a human, but she'd kissed him! According to Elise at her covern hearing, she'd fallen for him, this human was different than all the rest, this one wouldn't expose us. The elders, their hearts as cold as the deepest ocean crevasse, didn't want to hear it. She had broken the ultimate rule, she deserved the ultimate punishment. She had to kill her human plaything.

There is no questioning the elders. My dad is one of the elders. So when the declaration was revealed, the standard punishment, I'd held Belle's hand tightly and tried to comfort her as she watched her sister crumple and listened to the sobs and screams that ripped from her throat. None of us were prepared for what happened next.

A human man was brought forth into the cavern, all we saw were his legs thrashing from under the water. Elise had already been dragged to the sandbar that peaked above the water, the sand must have cut into her because her cries intensified and her voice rang harshly against the rough stone walls. We were over 16 and thus forced to watch- as a warning- the punishment. Adults pushed us upwards to watch the spectacle. Belle was nearly as inconsolable as her sister, when we broke the surface she had buried her face in my neck and cried sugar water tears. I had to be strong for her, but inside I was screaming in horror.

I had understood the necessity for the rule, we had been taught it over and over again in school. It shocked me that someone could ever go against it, just as much as it shocked me that we had to witness it all. 

The human was pushed out of the water and onto the sandbar. He'd obviously been held underwater for a bit because he didn't hesitate scrambling away from the water before heaving up a never ending stream of sea water. Elise watched him, her beautiful face contorted in agony. If she didn't kill him, the elders would torture her family until she did, they would make an example of her. That was the deal. Humans were that big a threat to our existence. 

To let even one know, was to put our entire covern in danger. If Elise didn't carry out the punishment, the elders would punish her family for it. As cruel as it sounded, it was what kept us alive. 

Finally the man stopped vomiting and he began to take in his surroundings until his eyes fell on Elise. She hadn't stopped crying. At once, he was scrambling again, racing to pull her into his arms as if he feared she would disappear if he didn't move fast enough. The second his skin touched hers, she let out a high pitched keening and threw herself into his embrace. I thought I was going to be sick, watching the love so plainly upon their faces. I didn't understand how he could love one of us. We were different. Humans killed things that were different, they didn't love us unless we were dead.

When they pulled apart, although they had shared no words, the man had understanding in his eyes, as if he knew what had to happen. He looked out over the rest of us, our head and shoulders peaking out from the placid water, his eyes locked onto me and I shuddered with a mixture of terror and excruciating sadness. Then I realised, he wasn't looking at me directly, he was looking at Belle, the sobbing girl that couldn't face him. He smiled a little then turned to Elise.

"She's beautiful." He told her, his voice uncomfortably rough from all the salt he'd swallowed. She just nodded.

"I love you." He's said, earnest passion in his eyes. My arms tightened around Belle's torso as she listened to his words.

"I love you." Elise had whispered back.

"Do what you have to do, my love." He'd murmured, perhaps for her ears only, but in this cavern, nothing is secret.

"I can't!" Panic filled her eyes.

"Yes!" He cut her off. "Yes you can, my Elise, my love. It's ok. I love you, it's ok."

He had kept talking, kept saying sweet nothings as Elise cried. The words didn't cease or falter as her ivory hands wound around his neck.

"I'm so sorry." Elise had told him.

"I love you." The man said again.

She pressed her lips to his. "I love you too."

Then, quicker than lightning, a crack echoed around the imposing stone walls. The silence was resounding. The sudden denouement of his death. No-one was breathing. Time stopped completely. Elise was the first to break the muteness.

"Wes?" She had breathed, her voice hitching. "Wes?" 

One by one the adults around us began slipping beneath the water again. The punishment was over. All that was left was a man with a broken neck, and a mermaid with a broken heart.