Leaking Skies - Book One

A Light In The Dark

It was dark. There was no light nor sound anywhere. Just darkness. Alberto reached his hand out to see if he could feel anything, but there was nothing there. He felt like he was floating, 'Am I back in the ocean?' He thought to himself as he soon saw a little bright light pop up in front of him. A deep, soft voice called to him in the darkness, "Your time is not up yet. Rise." Said the voice, "They are calling to you."

Alberto once again tried to reach, but it was too far away. Then, the light started to move in a weird way. It started to get bigger. Or was it getting closer? Alberto tried to move away, but there was no ground. The light then shrank and hit his forehead. 'A water drop?' Alberto thought. And just as one hit him, then another hit, then another, and another. Alberto looked up and around as water droplets kept hitting his body from different sides before realizing...

The sky was leaking again...

Why does it do that?

Was it something good or bad?

"Choose your path carefully. Or everyone and everything will become your enemy." The voice said as the water droplets grew bigger and bigger, hitting his body harder like they were daggers until a blob of water hit him like a tidal wave and carried him further into the darkness. It was a storm. The sky leaking water, gallons of it as they hit Alberto's body pushing him away from the light as he tried to reach out. Waves of water swept him away and carried him, a strong wind came in whistling and howling louder than a hurricane. Just as the wind came in, a humming sound was heard. Alberto sunk under the giant waves, even underneath they still held him hostage and pushed him around. The humming sound grew louder and louder, as if something was coming up to him. As the humming got closer, it sounded more clearer. It was a female's voice, it was humming loud and was deep. The humming came closer and closer till it was so loud it was right next to Alberto's ears. Then he felt something on his shoulders, something grabbing them. 'Hands? But who's?' Alberto couldn't move anymore, couldn't even wiggle or turn if he wanted to. He was paralyzed. Something long, scaly and smooth wrapped around his legs, like a tail of some sorts.

Alberto tried to speak, but his voice was gone, not even whispers came out of his mouth. Then, the hands on his shoulders crept up to his neck as the loud humming in his ears hummed more violently as if the female who was humming was mad. What could he do? He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He couldn't speak. No matter how hard he tried, there was no point. The phantom tail around his legs started slithering up and wrapped his arms and upper limbs, then started to tighten its grip around his body. The invisible hands also started to tighten its grip as the peaceful humming became rage and hatred. "Choose your path carefully, or everyone and everything will become your enemy." The voice repeated louder than before as the female's angry humming became a screeching siren screaming loud in pain, agony, anger and sadness. The hands and tail started to get tighter and tighter squeezing Alberto's body. The hands choked his neck and the tail squeezed his body like a giant anaconda does to weaken their prey before devouring them. The scream echoed everywhere throughout the darkness, within the scream was a soft, female voice as it whispered in Alberto's ear, "Struggle not, soon peace will come." It said as it quickly closed its hands into Alberto's neck to completely blocking his windpipe from letting anymore oxygen enter his body. The tail closed itself with Alberto's body inside its tight grips. Alberto's body was completely crushed.

Alberto jolted awake breathing heavily. He looked around confused where he was for a moment, but then remembered. He was in a tank. An aquarium tank. Alberto sighed and layed back down looking up. He heard thunder from outside the ocean base as it shook and swayed like rocking a baby's cradle. The Ocean Base was out in the middle of the ocean, the waves swayed it back and forth and the wind howled loudly as it blew along the waves. An alarm went off, bright red lights started blaring. There was the sound of gunshots and men screaming in pain. Alberto swam up to the front of his tank to look down the hallway to see what was happening. There were shadows on the walls of men firing their guns at something and then another shadow figure appeared and ripped their limbs off as the men screamed in pain, then it all went silent. The alarm and flashing red lights continued to go off. Alberto heard footsteps walking up to his tank. He swam back afraid of who it might be. It was a female. She looked his age. She had long, curly, brunette hair that ends spiked upwards. Blood of the men she attacked was on her mouth and arms. She had bright, amethyst eyes, looked strong, was covered in scars and was nude. She past by Alberto's tank carrying one of the men's dismembered arm and walked up to the exit doors. 'Is she escaping?' Alberto thought. If she's getting out of here, then so was he. With no more guards around, Alberto swam to the top of his tank and climbed out. He jumped down outside his tank and shook himself dry turning back into a human. He stumbled a bit, still tired and weak from humans experimenting on him like he was their toy. He slowly followed the female to the exit door. "Hey, wait!" He shouted, the female quickly turned around and grabbed Alberto's neck. She was strong. "W-Wait! I'm on your side!" Alberto said struggling to breathe. The woman hissed then started sniffing his scent. She looked at his emerald eyes, his skinny, weak body, then let him go. She must've sensed he didn't smell like a human. Or saw that they tortured him like they did to her. She turned back around and continued to walk to the exit. "Wait! Where are you going?" Alberto asked still following her, "Canada." She spoke without stopping or making eye contact. Canada? Where they're letting sea people live in peace? "Can I come with you?" Alberto asked. The woman stopped, then slowly turned her head towards him. "Why should I trust you?" She said. That's a good question. They don't know a thing about each other. And here he comes trying to act like they're immediately a team. "Because... We're both Sea Monsters? And... Humans hate us?" Alberto said thinking it would work. She gave him a look, she knew he was clueless, but he was already out, he looked like he's seen better days, a breath of sorrow left her mouth, then she turned her head back. "Follow me." She said and continued towards the exit. Alberto gave a sigh of relief and started following her out the exit.