Fish Out of Water {Hellboy}

Magical Bath

The sound of rushing water awoke me and I was instantly energized. As my eyes were figuring out what was happening around me, my mouth was muttering incoherent questions and mumbled sentences.

    ‘Where am I? I didn’t faint, did I?’ I said, turning around to see the same blue man sitting by a large square bathtub, a blue hand in the water.

     ‘Oh,’ he said, standing up. ‘I ran you a bath. You’ve been out for a while and I thought it would be soothing?’

     ‘No!’ I practically yelled at him and he jumped. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to … I just don’t want to take a bath.’

     ‘Why not?’ He pressed on. ‘They are very therapeutical,’ He continued to talk as he picked up a bottle of blue liquid and poured it into the water, making it swirl beautiful shades of blue.

     ‘Who the hell are you?’ I said, my voice rising again. ‘Everything you’re doing is a little suspicious and I would like to go home now.’

     ‘I’m afraid you can’t,’ He said, closing to bottle and standing to his full height which made me feel like wearing heels. ‘There’re some problems with … well, there’s plenty of time to explain but now, relax,’ He headed for the door as I stood, confused as ever. ‘I will come to get you in half an hour. If you need more, just shout.’

     He didn’t smile at me but the look on his strange face looked almost like he wanted to smile. He seemed kind enough and I didn’t get any weird vibes from him. He just seemed like an awkward, but cute, innocent blue man. But did I see webbed hands and feet?

     ‘He may not be so different after all,’ I whispered to myself, thinking hard. ‘I just hope he doesn’t know my secret.’

     I studied the large bathtub as if it was a foreign object. The tap was still filling it up and the blue continued to swirl. There was a pile of clean, folded towels next to the bathtub, shampoo and conditioner, bath salts and bubble liquid.

     I decided to take the offer of a relaxing bath soak. I made a mental note to not get carried away and make as many bubbles as I could, especially if that blue boy came back in; I wasn’t sure how he was going to ask if I was done and if he was going to provide me with clean clothes. There didn’t seem to be any pile of clothes in the room.

     As I stood naked before the bathtub, my dirty clothes in a messy pile by my feet, I hesitated to take the first step into the water. I hadn’t taken a bath since I was little and the thought always frightened me.

     Taking the first step made my heart race and I hoped there were no camera’s hidden in the room, watching me. I had no idea of the business of this strange man but he didn’t seem to pose a threat when I was conscious to talk to him. He seemed almost too soft to ever be a threat to anything, even to a bug.

      Gritting my teeth, I held my breath and rushed into the water, turned around so I was floating upwards. A sensation covered my legs as I drifted, eyes closed, and thought to make some bubbles right away.

     A huge, blue fin poked out of the water where my feet were supposed to be and I realized it would have been easier if I had made the bubbles before I jumped in when the water made me legless. Splashing some water on the walls surrounding the tub, I poured as much bubble liquid in the water as I liked. If this guy was kidnapping me, I wasn’t going to hesitate in using up all of his toiletries for my own pleasure. He offered, anyway.

     As I closed the lid on the almost empty bottle, my hands began to change in front of me. Skin started to grow between my fingers but stop halfway. I sighed at the strange but familiar feeling as I sunk into the tub and let the water cover all of me. It felt nice but when I was in water, I needed a lot more room than a normal human.

     Half an hour seemed to drift by fast but I had managed to wash my hair and get used to my webbed hands. Three knocks on the door startled me before it opened slightly.

     ‘Are you decent or covered with bubbles?’ Came the blue man’s voice.

     I hurried to manifest more bubbles to cover my long tail and fin from sight, and of course my breasts. ‘Yeah, I’m decent,’ I said.

     ‘I brought you some clean clothes to put on – Oh!’ He was taken aback that I was still in the tub, staring at him behind so many bubbles.

     ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘What is your name?’

     ‘Uhh … ‘ he stammered. ‘My name is Abe, ma’am, Abe Sapien. And you are Alice? Alice Potter?’

     I smiled at how shy he was acting. ‘Yes. How do you know?’ I became a little more suspicious.

     ‘Your wallet,’ He said. ‘You dropped it before you … fainted last night.’

     My smile faded.