Those who were taken...
They never came back, dragged beneath the waves never to return.
Their haunting screams were a symbol of their horrific deaths.
Like shadows they lay in wait, the deep blue waters hiding them from view.
With sharp claws they...
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~•~
The policeman sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he continues the trying task of consoling the grieving family before him.
"I am sorry, but there is nothing we can do at this point," he says, bringing his hands down and clasping them in front of him on his desk. "We understand that your daughter has drowned, and we are doing all we can to find her, bu--"
"For the last time, Officer Warren, my daughter did. Not. Drown." The woman before him seethes, tears welling in her eyes. From grief or frustration, he is not sure.
"Ma'am, I am sorry, but what you are telling me simply isn't possible. There is no such thing as a creature half fish, half man."
"Well then how come we saw it with our own eyes?" Her husband says. "That thing clawed up the side of the boat and took my daughter out of my ownhands!"
The startling truth is, they aren't the first ones to say this. Warren has, in fact, heard of multiple accounts like this, but there has never been any proof. He remembers looking at the boat the family washed ashore on. There were clear claw marks etched in to the boat's hull. What on earth could have caused that? There is simply no logical explanation.
Officer Warren gulps. There is an explanation, but it is in no way logical--in no way real. His gaze settles on the distraught husband and wife sitting in front of him, before sliding to beyond the glass doors where their son sits cross-legged against the wall.
The little boy's shoulders are slumped, tear stains clear on his pale cheeks. Warren can't imagine what the boy must be going through, having seen his sister drowned right before his very eyes.
Warren looks back at the grieving couple.
"I'll see what I can do."
~•~
Cally has decided that she will never eat a raw fish again without first getting rid of the scales. When she ate the first fish, scales got all in her mouth and were almost crunchy and hard to spit out.
That was two days ago.
Once a day for the last two days, a fish has showed up on the bank. She only saw the creature deliver her food once, the other times she was asleep.
She stares down at the newest fish. Two things about it are different. It is slightly bigger with a black stripe from its tail to its head, and there is a bite taken out of it. Normally this wouldn't deter her from eating it, but she is practically sick with thirst.
She lays the fish aside, the thought of water making her dry throat ache even more. She is happy for the food, yes, but what is food without drink? She was even so desperate for water that she tried licking the water off the cave's walls. It was salty.
