Bubbles

Chapter 6

As she swam, the girl realized that she was different.

The wide range of emotion was completely new and terrifying to her. Happiness, frustration, anger, sadness... it all rushed into and out of her at a moment's notice.

But that was nothing compared to her physical state. She'd had an idea of what emotion was – had felt emotional hurt, spiritual ache.

Nothing could have prepared her for cold, and for the sting of wind against her body, and for the raw scratch of salt and sand and water against her skin. It was absolutely miserable.

As she swam, her limbs got heavy. Her body ached. She knew she couldn't swim much further. She was afraid of the exhaustion seeping into her entire being.

"Hey!"

From the fog, a huge, hulking mass appeared in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere. Terror swept through the girl, and she tried to swim away. But she was just so tired.

"Oh my god, it's a kid! Hey! Get a net!"

She was exhausted, and terrified of the incoherent yelling coming from the thing. But she didn't move. She couldn't move. The cold was in her, around her. It was icy and sharp.

So she didn't struggle when the net caught her and pulled her onto the ship. She was too tired to shrink away when the man gasped and said "Hey! Get a blanket!"

She closed her eyes, and slept.

...

She woke up slowly. She'd never slept before, and the darkness terrified her, but she just couldn't fight back. Slowly but surely, she pulled herself out.

She was on a wooden landscape, almost like the sea floor. But it was smaller, and seemed to be fenced in by short walls of wood. The sky was gray and stormy, turning the warm brown of the wood to the color of muddy clay. Everything was muted, gray, cold. Strands of hair fell in the girl's face, making it difficult to see.

She awoke to a man, staring her in the face. She screamed and backed up.

"Hey, little girl. It's okay, calm down. I'm not gonna hurt you."

The man was taller than her. His face was wrinkled and grizzled. She was shocked to even see another creature vaguely like her, but now he was leaning in and making these strange sounds. She was terrified. She tried to run, but found she was underneath a warm, thick something. She struggled, but it seemed like she'd been wrapped up. Even stranger, her body was covered in soft, thin material. It was slightly restrictive, too – tan cloth covered her arms and torso, while stronger, brown cloth loosely encased her legs. What had they done to her? What was going on?

"Hey, hey. Calm down. It's o- "

"Where is she?"

The voice boomed through the vessel. It was deep, and had the faintest trace of an undefinable accent. She tried to make herself smaller, to hide from it. She was so confused and terrified. What was going on? What were the sounds they were making?

The boy strode onto the deck. He looked about the same age as the girl appeared to be – maybe a couple years older, around twenty or twenty-one. His hair was dark and wavy. His face was long and thin, and his nose was much the same. His eyes were dark brown. His skin was a dusty light brown, like the cool wet sand at the bottom of the ocean floor.

He was handsome, of course, but the girl didn't know that. She was just afraid. Afraid of his voice and what he was going to do.

"She's here, your majesty. She's frightened, and she doesn't seem to understand what we-"

"Shut up! You, girl. What's your name?"

The girl looked up at him fearfully. His voice was loud, and she was confused and scared. She just wanted them to be quiet. Just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Hey! Who are you?"

"Your majesty, she's frightened. Please, I don't think she speaks English."

The boy ignored the man's words. "Girl!"

"Brendan! What are you doing?"

Another voice echoed from the stairway. It was a little higher than the boy's. It scared her, too. She wondered if the sounds would ever stop. It was so much quieter in Ocean.

A girl rushed to the boy's side. "You're terrifying the poor girl!" She turned to face the girl. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Are you okay?" 

The older man cleared his throat. "She... doesn't seem to speak English."

"Oh." The newcomer pursed her lips. She was a few years younger than him – nineteen, maybe – but otherwise she looked like the boy. Her skin was a slightly warmer shade of brown, and her hair was long and straight. But it was the same jet-black, and her eyes... well, her eyes were the exact same. Small, as if permanently narrowed. They had an air of mirth, as if she was always a beat away from laughter. Those eyes, the girl would learn, often danced with mischief, but now they were kind and gentle. She kneeled down so that she was on the same level as the girl. She carefully reached out and touched her shoulder.

The girl flinched – but it wasn't a bad feeling. It was gentle. The dark haired girl smiled softly, and took the girl into her arms gently.

At first, it was frightening. What if she cut off her breathing? But, slowly, she relaxed. This new girl wasn't going to hurt her. She was comforting, safe.

The boy was angry. "How come she's not all terrified of you?"

"Because, Brendan," the girl laughed, "I'm not screaming at her in a foreign language."

"Well, maybe if you..."

This went on for a time. The girl was confused, scared, and worn out. The sounds were overwhelming, and there were just so many people...

The dark eyed girl looked at her to find her crying softly. "Hey, hey, no, calm down," she said, voice quiet and gentle. "It's okay. You're okay."

She quietly whispered to the girl until she fell asleep again. Then, carefully, the dark brunette disentangled herself and stood. The girl woke up, but didn't open her eyes. She just allowed them to think she was still asleep, and listened to the strange sounds.

"She's fragile, Brendan, I can tell. She'll need a friend, and maybe a teacher. I'm not sure what happened to her, but she's clearly traumatized."

"Well, maybe if she'd talk to me she'd get the help she needs! Look, the truth is, we don't know anything about her. She looks to be about your age, but we don't know anything else! What if she's not even a human? We could have just grabbed a shapeshifting monster out of the ocean, and if she won't tell us where she came from..."

"She doesn't speak English! Maybe she doesn't even speak, I don't know. The point is, you can't scream at her."

"Oh, now you're so obsessed with what I'm doing? What about the rest of my life, Nalia? Where were you then?"

The girl was confused. What did it mean? Why was the boy so loud? She watched as the dark haired woman turned and left, head down. Her mind was cloudy with exhaustion. She slowly fell back to sleep.