Pocket Stories: Into the Depths (Part 1)

This story didn't come from a writing prompt or story starter. It came from me, musing about how all these stories about mermaids let them breathe underwater and then breathe air just fine. Fish can't do that, so why should mermaids? Take a look to see where that led me.

The surface was close, all she had to do was reach her fingers a little further and the water tension would break. The perfectly calm water lay like an ice sheet between her and the world beyond. Just a little further and she'd know for herself.

Her parents' warning rang through her mind: You can't be seen. You will be hunted and killed or sold. The air world is not safe for our kind, stay in the water, where you can be safe.

The water was all she'd ever known. It had fathoms yet to be explored.

But she didn't want fathoms, she wanted stars. With rebellion burning in her heart, she twitched her tail fin ever so slightly, pushing her fingers upward, breaking the surface tension at last.

Air stung her fingers and she yanked them back down into the water, holding them protectively to her chest. Hesitantly she tried again, this time only pushing one finger through to the surface. Again the air stung, but she refused to pull her hand back into the safety of the water. She had to know.

Slowly, painfully slowly she swam higher, keeping her hand outstretched above her. Her hand was through, her forearm, her elbow. Just as her head was about to break through, she paused. What if all the warnings of her parents and her people were right? Was she willing to risk everything just to know stars?

She decided she was and her head cleared the surface. The air stung her exposed skin. She could feel the moisture being whisked away. She tried to swallow the air and couldn't breathe. Her gills were above the water line. In panic she dove back down, gratefully taking in huge mouthfuls of water, her breathing returning to normal. She could feel her heart racing, and the spines down her tail were rigid. 

When her body had relaxed back into its usual sleek, streamlined shape, she looked again to the surface. This time, she went head first, but only as far as her nose. She made doubly sure that her gills remained underwater while she stared hungrily at the air world above her. The darkness above her mimicked the darkness below, with one vast difference. Where flashes of light reflected off the scales of the shoals that lived nearby, their numbers more than she had ever cared to count, the lights that shown above her did not dance and move. They did not flash momentarily before hiding away in the safety of the group. The light was steady, like the glow from the lava vents on the water's floor, unwavering and bright. The air was filled with these specks of steady light for as far as she could see. She turned and turned and turned, the lights stayed where they were, shining as though she were the only one to see them.



Comments

  1. David WDecember 19, 2022 at 9:47 PM

    Fantastic! I love the imagery and how realistic something like this would be for a water creature. It did make me think that having a story where the mermaids explore the deepest reaches of the ocean could be an exciting treasure hunt story.
    Kind of like an underwater national treasure, where Atlantis is like the hidden treasure place!

    Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy reading these pocket stories.

    ReplyDelete

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