The Ocean's Call: Part One | ✔

Part Three

We walk through the water until we come across the little lagoon area filled with coral and sea creatures. Usually this is the best spot to find the little hidden treasures before we have to travel out deeper for the bigger shells. We separate and begin searching for trinkets and shells. I fill the bag on my waist multiple times, heading to shore to empty the contents into the bucket when its full. I make several trips before taking a rest.

After a ten-minute rest I head out to the deeper area. The ocean floor is crystal clear in the water, I can see where I'm going perfectly. I scour the floor of the ocean, turning rocks over and grabbing the pretty shells I find.

I resurface to catch my breath before I spy a turtle swimming towards me. He bumps into me before swimming around me heading towards the beach. I dive under the water to watch his little legs push himself through the water. Two tinier turtles are following behind him causing me to smile. I should've brought the camera; this would've been an excellent shot.

I check my watch for the time, it's almost nine am. The time has completely flown by. I can't believe it. I push off the ocean floor, swimming to the surface to find the sun beaming down on me. The heat above the water is already strong for this time of day. I should get out and reapply my sunscreen again.

I sigh, floating on back and closing my eyes. I enjoy the sun rays as I float through the water. There is no better feeling than this one. Just me and the ocean, the calmness and the sounds of waves crashing nearby. Nothing gets better than this.

I can't believe that I get to experience this feeling almost daily.

My left foot tingles above the water. I move it around, pushing it under the water to get rid of the odd feeling. The feeling is a little too close to the same feeling I get in my dream. I open my eyes but regret it immediately, the sun practically blinds me.

I squeeze my eyes shut, the bright blinding light following me even behind my closed eyelids. I dive under the water trying to wash the feeling creeping up my leg. A nagging voice in the back of my head tells me to open my eyes.

I snap them open, the crystal-clear ocean floor long gone. Nothing but an empty dark void is below me. My heart starts beating rapidly in my chest, the sound thudding loud in my ear drums. I look up but the surface looks so far away.

"Isla!" a loud feminine voice shrieks.

I look ahead of me, my arms flailing in front of me as I try to move. The blonde mermaid from my dreams is swimming towards me, her hands stretched out towards me.

I scream, the sound muffled by the water around me. The air bubbles out of my mouth, clouding my vision of the mermaid swimming ferociously towards me. I finally get the momentum I need and make a start towards the surface.

The second I break onto the surface I'm back near the island. I gasp for air looking around for the blonde mermaid that was so determined to get me. I look down at my feet and spy the ocean floor. The empty dark void of the open ocean is gone. I look around once more wondering what just happened when nana swims up beside me.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself? What happened?" she asks, grabbing my hand under the water.

It's not until she pulls my arm out of the water that I realised I've got scratches on my wrist. I blink, staring at the watery blood dribbling off my wrist. "I...I must've scratched myself on a rock." I look back down at the ocean floor.

I swim back to the beach with nana who pulls me up to our setup, forcing me into the chair so she can check out the scratches on my wrist.

I stare back at the water wondering how I even got the scratches. One minute I was floating in the water and the next minute I was being chased by the blonde mermaid from my dreams. I can't recall if she touched me or if I hit a rock, but I don't remember being that close to anything to hurt myself.

"I hope it was just a rock." Nana comments, wiping the blood off my wrist.

"I think it was." I answer despite not being entirely certain myself. She gives me an odd look before putting a large patch on the scratches.

She bans me from swimming by myself for a couple of hours. It doesn't matter anyway because I don't particularly want to go back in the water right now. I was never really scared of my dreams coming true until this moment. I've never vividly imagined them like that. It felt so real, like that mermaid was right in front of me with full intentions of hurting me.

I glance at my covered wrist. "Here, drink." Nana thrusts a water bottle in my face.

I grab it gulping down a large amount of water. She thrusts food at me next, forcing me to eat several mouthfuls of food before she leaves alone. She doesn't return to the water either. She sits at the table, fixing up some jewellery as I stare at the fruit in front of me.

I check my watch; the boys will be back in the next hour or so. I spend my time digging through our haul of seashells and trinkets. I get rid of the broken pieces and wash what I can with water from the ocean. We'll be able to clean everything properly when we get back home but this will keep the sand to a minimum. Plus, I can kill time and not think about what may or may not have happened before.

*

Nana uses the dingy to go and collect the boys, bringing them back to the island. Apparently, I can't be trusted in the water by myself anymore. I don't really blame nana though. If I was watching me today, I would be concerned too.

First it was the bad dream with a new character, and then I was acting weird before we even went in the water and then what happened in the water and the scratches on my wrist. I am not myself today. Maybe I've had a little too much sun.

I pull nana's hat onto my head, walking down to the water to greet the boys as they jump off the dingy carrying a small esky each.

"Hey, how did you guys go?"

Alex wraps an arm around my shoulder as we walk back to our set up. "Pretty good actually. Mostly barra's but we caught ourselves a big tuna. Mum is going to love that."

"Good, I'm starving." I pat my belly for effect despite not actually being starving. I could eat but I'm not really hungry. Not after the fruit I not long ago ate.

Alex grabs my arm when we get to the set up, he drops the esky by his feet. "What happened?"

He frowns, looking up at me for answers. "I tried to fight a rock."

It's the lie that started with nana and I plan on continuing the lie, mostly because I don't actually know what happened. I'm not exactly going to tell them that though, nana already looks concerned enough for my wellbeing.

Alex's shoulders sag, a small grin appearing on his face as he ruffles my hair. "You goof, why did you do that?"

I shrug. "He looked at me funny." I joke.

Alex laughs, shaking his head. "You're a worry."

Nana gives me a look as her and Jack joins us, Jack checking my covered wrist out as well. Alex tells him what happened instead of letting me repeat my lie. He thinks its just as funny as Alex does, nana doesn't look so impressed. Probably because she witnessed my behaviour today.

I look over my shoulder at the ocean, the moment coming back to me in a flash. It was the same awful feeling I got when I was having the dream.

"Right let's cook this fish." Alex claps his hands together.

Jack makes a cheering noise, drawing my attention back to my brothers. "Don't you have to gut it?" nana asks.

Jack opens the esky. "Already done, made Alex do it on the trip back."

Alex grins with pride, sticking his chest out. I think he's about to beat it before nana pinches his cheek, giving him her praise. "Come on, lets get the barbie heating up."

Instead of helping them out I sit down in the chair and resume my staring competition with the ocean. I can hear their chatter behind me, a constant state of awareness about my surroundings as I wait for the ocean to give me the answer to my question.

What the hell was that before?

**