Thirty Nine Minutes (COMPLETE)

Chapter Fifteen: Thank You

"Please, just let me out. I'll cooperate with you, I swear!"

Mr. Kotohiki and a couple of operatives he didn't know were looking over the side of the small fishing boat. The net was cutting into his skin, no matter which way he turned. They were doing this on purpose, no matter how indifferent Mr. Kotohiki looked, and they had left almost no room to struggle. "How is this supposed to help me?"

No answer. Craig held his breath and scrunched his eyes shut as the boat finally came to a stop. The chill of the water was something of a welcome contrast from the sun beating down from above, where he'd been held on the beach for the best part of the morning. The tingle of sunburn was hot on his shoulders and pectoral fin, not helped by the rubbing of the net.

"Are you going to let me out? You've got this leash on me so it's not like I can go all that far anyway." Around his shoulders, chest and back were neoprene straps fastened tight. He would be able to move his arms once they got him out of this gastly net but until then, he was at their whim.

"Are you going to behave now?" Mr. Kotohiki's cold and callous voice snaked its way down to Craig.

"Yes! You know I will, just please let me out of this damn net now?"

Mr. Kotohiki nodded at one of the flunkies, and finally, they untied one side of the trawler net. A short moment of freedom, unfortunately undercut by the looming deep blue just off to his right. Craig yelped, and grabbed onto the side of the boat. Even though he was soaking wet, an outbreak of cold sweat prickled on the naked skin of his back and his knuckles were turning white as they gripped for dear life. "Why are you doing this to me? You know I can't do this," Craig said, pleading eyes looking up at the one he had trusted for all of his captive life until recently. Mr. Kotohiki knelt beside Craig's shaking form.

"If you don't, I'm afraid I will no longer have custody over you. People are demanding results. People with higher clearance than me. The safety line I have tied to you will ensure you won't sink. If you value your life, you'll pass this test they've set for you."

"Test?"

Mr. Kotohiki nodded. "I'm not here to masquerade, and neither are you. Quite frankly, I'm done playing dad, but that doesn't mean I don't still want you in my authority. If you can swim beyond your threshold, the status quo will remain: we'll go home, back to what you know."

And something in Craig splintered. Perhaps it was a feeling, a sensation he'd forgotten about or maybe not even been aware of. It cracked at Kotohiki's words, it cracked at the memories of his father, it cracked at being tangled in a net and hauled up like fresh catch. He glared at Kotohiki, at this man who would be so brazen as to admit right to his face that he was nothing more than a tool to everyone he had met or been thrust into the company of.

The fire may have been fierce in Craig's belly, but his mind was still very much the decision maker, and caught between Mr. Kotohiki and the deep darkness of the sea below his tail, it fizzled out into a pathetic wisp of nothing, and the familiar sensation of self loathing and powerlessness took its hold once again. The anger became bitterness and silent resentment, boiling and stripping away his insides, leaving nothing but a trodden on husk. 

Something yanked at his tail.

Perhaps the sea had come to claim him now he'd entered it once again. He gasped and the sudden pull ripped his trembling fingers off the side of the boat, causing a rather inelegant splash as he was forced under the water. The cold gripped his chest and ripped any oxygen right from his mouth and nose. Instinctually his trachea closed but it did little to ease his mind. The tug of the leash from one side, cold, rubbery arms around his tail from the other. Pulling him into the deep.

He snapped. Thrashing against both bonds that held him so tightly, he was almost blind in his panic. Blind to the bubbles that surrounded him, made by the presence in there with him, dragging him down into the blackness. At that moment, the hands grabbed around his shoulders and buried their head into his shoulder. Another cloud of bubbles exploded from whatever held him. Craig recognized arms, hands and fingers. A head and chest pressed against his own. He opened his eyes, and Helen's, behind her mask, looked back.

Helen was with him, embracing him. Perhaps it was a dream, a final reprieve before the dark depths would take him, before his fear-drenched mind left him entirely numb.

Blurred images from the rippling surface seemed agitated, pointing and gesticulating wildly. Craig looked back at Helen, becoming a little surer that maybe his mind wouldn't be so cruel to him. As she revealed a small knife to cut the binds from his chest and shoulders, he became surer still. She was fully clad in her diving gear but even with half her face obscured, he knew it was her. Really her. If the sea would have let him cry, perhaps he might've.

So instead, in his relief, he flung his arms around her as she finished cutting the last of the harness from him. He clenched his eyes shut as, together, they pushed their fins through the water and away from the boat.

The noises grew quieter. Only the rhythmic expulsion of bubbles from Helen rang in Craig's ear as they swam. He held her closer, a perfect cocoon against the fear below his fins. With it came the courage to swim further, faster. At that moment, nothing mattered but her.

*****

The gentle lapping of the water roused him, and the unwelcome grit of warm sand scratched his arm and side. The sun was hot and uncomfortable on his already burnt skin. Craig groaned and looked up at the bluest of skies, trying to regain his bearings.

He seemed to be beached on a very small island. White sands and azure waters. His tail was sore from having worked harder than he thought he had. He pulled himself up as best he could on his arms.

Helen was standing just off to the side, tying the top of her wetsuit around her torso. Her hair was all tied up, arms lightly dusted with sand. He'd never seen her body in such detail before; she looked like an angel. "Helen," he murmured.

Her eyes lit up and she sank to her knees. "Craig!" She was practically glimmering with mirth, and she flung her arms around his neck as he crashed back on the sand, rolling onto his back. He returned the embrace, his head bowing into her shoulder. In the warmth of her body, of the sand underneath him, he was safe. Free even. They broke apart.

A moment passed. Her eyes looking into his, trembling breath. Electric burned through him and his hand, perhaps automatically, reached up and caressed her back. "Thank you, for saving me."

She said nothing, only nodded and smiled. Craig had fantasized so many times in his head about what a kiss might be like: he'd even thought what a kiss with Helen would resemble. Her lips looked inviting. He leaned forward.

And her lips met his. A small, gentle kiss that made butterflies explode in his body and his blood heated as it ran faster through him. His lips tingled as they broke apart, perhaps a little awkwardly but no less happier.

"You're welcome, Craig."