Dark Waters

Chapter 5

We swam upwards, away from the luminescence of the sea floor and into the darkness that lay between two worlds of light. As we swam in silence, the light growing dimmer, I couldn't help but fall into a contemplative state of mind. It was amazing that the complete blackness that human beings had explored in submarines was only a barrier between the world of beauty and grace that the merpeople had created. It was like the animosity between the species; humans and merfolk were so afraid of each other that they were completely separated by a dark, malicious unknown, and so were the worlds where they dwelled.

Ra'loreh and I halted in unison directly before the edge of the abyss of blackness.

"We have to go through here with as much speed as possible. I will likely have to drag you, or something to that effect, as you cannot swim as fast."

"Okay," I hesitated. "Do you know what's in there?"

His face stiffened. "No one knows. We can't get any light in there, and no light from our world can reach it to show us what there is. Something tells me we will never know, solely because no one wants to know."

"Are you scared?"

"Are you?"

"I'd be stupid if I wasn't, but I'm not going to let it stop me."

Ra'loreh nodded slowly. "You are wise, then. Wiser than our leaders, and your own. The darkness keeps us apart."

"You never said if you were scared too."

"Of course I am."

That made me feel better, somehow. "Should we go?"

"No point waiting. Let's go."

He offered me his hand, and held onto mine with a strong grip that belied his somewhat skinny appearance.

I put my feet together and stretched my free arm behind me, streamlining my body. Ra'loreh shot forward like a bat out of hell. It reminded me of being a little kid at night, and running as fast as I could from the light switch to my bed after I turned the light off, trying to get under the covers before the room got dark. The memory struck me unexpectedly, and I found myself giggling.

"What's funny?" asked my escort without stopping.

"Nothing," I tried to respond, but I couldn't get a decent breath for laughing so hard, and I couldn't explain electricity to the merman if I tried.

I caught my breath and said "It's something I remembered from being a kid that I thought was funny. You guys don't have it here."

Ra'loreh snickered. "When I was a boy, my father would make me swim through here with him so that I could get used to being afraid and learn to deal with fear. Sometimes I would sing children's songs in my head to keep myself from getting upset."

I laughed, and the darkness shuddered, like it had never witnessed a laugh of pure amusement before. "What songs?" I asked.

Ra'loreh sang a few bars of a nursery rhyme for me. "I went swimming away, away, to see the water's end. They told me I should stay, should stay, the ocean was my friend. But I swam up and they stayed down, until I reached the edge. The blue reminded me of you, so I swam home instead."

The happy child's tune made the darkness seem a bit less absolute, and Ra'loreh had a rich bass voice that was easy on the ears. I smiled and began to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for him.

Several minutes later, we emerged from the murky blackness. I had been teaching Ra'loreh the words to "Row Row Row Your Boat" (which he got a real kick out of, especially the crocodile version) when we realized that the surface, shimmering like an undulating mirror, was only a few yards above us.