Ember Baine leads a normal life, in a normal Florida town, and likes it that way. Daughter to the Chief of the Police Department, an only child with a one and only interest; the sea.
And when little Ben Moore is found dead in the salty water, not o...
There are very few things I hate more than fishing boats. They're the bane of my existence, and possibly every other shark out here in this vast ocean. They sweep up all our food, they pollute our home and worst of all...the nets. Those death traps humans assume can be tossed and forgotten about while we all struggle to avoid and not get snared.
My trail of thought wandered for a while, as I stared up at the surface from the large rock I was resting my back on. Right in my line of sight was the haul of a small fishing vessel, at least I assumed it was. All boats look the same when you stare at their undersides from beneath the surface. That, and I never cared for them. They're a human invention, for which we have no need.
I felt something small scuttle across my tail. It raised the hairs at the back of my neck. I may be considered as a predator but feeling my skin crawl makes me look more like a wimpy dogfish who's afraid of his own tail. I brought my chest up to look down at the tiny creature moving over my lower half. It was nothing more than a hermit crab. With an unamused frown I flicked the small crustacean, and sent it floating fast into the water, after which it slowly sank down into the sand somewhere in front of me.
Right on que, my stomach growled. If I didn't have a strong distaste for crab meat, I would've eaten the little hermit. After an eye roll and a lazy fin to the water, I propelled myself away from the rock I had been lounging on in search for a meal. I turned to look back at the boat which had been idly bobbing above me, it was still anchored there. I wasn't desperate enough to wait under it for a bucket of chum to be tossed overboard. I noticed some boats did that, and some didn't. But, I didn't plan on getting spotted by humans today, so trying my luck right under their metal underbelly for a few disgusting fish scraps and guts wasn't entirely worth it.
I wasn't that far from the beach, I found after swimming for a short while. I could no longer see the boat, I told myself it was a good thing; less chance of getting entangled in a net they might have thrown over the side of the floating steel tub. My attention slowly drifted away from trying to hunt down lunch as I began to realise how familiar the place I was in felt. It didn't make sense even to me at first, to the unaided eye most of the ocean floor and underwater scapes look the same. I could say the same about human dwellings. Streets and whatever else lies there in their cities, to someone like me it would all look like a single blur of concrete and metal. But I was sure I had been here. I racked my brain for a memory, an answer. As my train of thought worked, I swam between the columns of the pier which jutted out a little way into the sea from where the waves broke against the sand. I put my hand on one of the pillars. Slicked with green algae, dotted with barnacles.
I had almost come to my answer when my heart nearly jumped from my chest. Above me, footsteps hit the wooden planks. I could feel my pulse in my throat, my eyes darted after the silhouette and sound of the person who had decided to walk to the end of this pier. It was almost as if the fright had made me the clumsiest creature in the entire Atlantic. I fumbled at the pillar attached to the wood above and flailed for a short moment before regaining any sense of direction. My tail beat against the water, sending me forward, silent and further from whoever walked onto that pier.
When I decided I was a decent distance from the beach once more, I popped my head up from behind a small line of seaweed coated boulders, they stood above the water's surface enough for me to duck behind if any human were to turn their heads in my direction. Now I could get a good look at this person. No reason other than curiosity, really. Morbid curiosity.
When I saw her face, everything hit me in an instant. It came like a slap across the cheek. Now it was so obvious why this place was so familiar.
I remembered her. She was the girl I had pulled from the ocean and dragged out onto the beach. Away from my own kind. My body was frozen in awe as I stared at this human, creepy I know. The longer I looked at her, at her almost fiery brown hair, her pale skin. It had been a year since the first and only time I had seen her. I didn't even know her name. I didn't care if it seemed...weird or even of a stalkerish nature, out of sheer morbid curiosity, I stayed for a longer while than I had planned for, just watching this girl. Everything she did was fascinating to me. Maybe it was the fact that the only other time I had seen that face, was when I found her sinking straight into the dark jaws of the ocean...and the three or so Bull sharks who had decided she would make a decent meal. I figured she didn't remember me. A part of me was relieved of this fact. I wouldn't want a human to remember me, or that I even exist. But...a smaller part of me hoped she did remember. No matter how much I disliked it, I did want her to not forget.
I'm not sure if it's out of the proud feeling I have of saving a life, her life, or because I really did care for the well-being of this girl.
I preferred to think it was the first reason, at least for now.
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Blade (main character) Art (c) Me, Chimera98 Find more of my art on dilemmaart.deviantart.com
