Life as a Fish

Chapter 10

Anders started leaning in. He wiped her tears again softly with his fin. "We should get moving. There's only 1 more hour of swimming until we're out of here." He said. "Okay." Iggy said recovering from her tears. They continued swimming side by side for a while. Far in the distance they saw a small opening that let in light. That was it. After spending what felt like forever in this dark tunnel the exit was right here. They sped up their speed until they were out of the tunnel. The brightness of the outside blinded them. Once Iggy's eyes recovered she looked over at Anders to ask him what to do next. But Anders only stood there looking around. "Anders?" Iggy asked. He didn't respond. His eyes wandered around his surroundings taking it all in. Iggy swam up to him and looked him in the eyes. "You okay?" She asked. He snapped out of his daze and responded this time. "It's been years." With those three words, Iggy new exactly what he was talking about. He'd been living in the darkness of a tunnel for the past four years of his life. She stood back and let him continue gaze thought the clear, bright water. Once he was done she swam up to him. "You ready now?" Iggy said in a calm voice. "Yeah." He responded. Iggy took out her map and laid it on the ground. They examined it for a minute figuring out where to go next. "If we go straight north we'll end up in Seaweed Forest and from there we turn right and swim for 6 more miles." Anders noted. "And then we're there." Iggy said with a smile and looked into his eyes. "Yeah." Anders said meeting eyes with her. For a second she got lost in his dark, dreamy eyes. 'What am I doing' she thought to herself. "Umm...We should go." She said forcing her eyes away from his. "Yeah." He agreed.
They swam on for an hour until it started getting late and the water grew darker. A small town was was visible in the distance. "You wanna stay in that little town over there for the night?" Anders asked. "Yeah." Iggy responded. A tall flat rock stood at the entrance of the town with the words, 'Coral Village', carved into it. The town consisted of a small grocery store, about 11 homes, and a motel. "What about we get a nice place to stay at over night?" Anders said leading Iggy to the motel. "Wait." Iggy stopped him. "We're only teenagers. Their not gonna let us stay." Said Iggy. "Don't worry sweetheart. I've got my ways. I'll work something out." He said reassuringly and walking her into the motel. An old gray lady fish waited behind a wooden counter. "A room for two please." Anders said as he approached the counter. The fish looked at him for a while before speaking. "You look like you barely turned 16. I won't let you stay without a parent or guardian." She said angrily. "I'm 18 actually and we'll be staying for one night, thank you very much." Anders said handing her some money. The old fish looked at them suspiciously before leading them to a small cave. She finally took her eyes off of them when she was back at her counter. "Hmmm. She actually believed it." Anders said setting down his pack. "Yeah and she wasn't far off from guessing your actual age either." Iggy said. Anders nodded smiling. "Well good night, Iggy. We'll leave tomorrow morning." He said yawning. "Good night." Iggy said back. Within 5 minutes they were both in a deep sleep.