Sea Foam | ✓

vi.

I went to the surface. There was a river mouth that poured into the ocean, grandmother had told me. Freshwater pouring into salt water. It will choke you a little, but you'll survive. I swam up the river, against the current, my tail hurting, until I reached the footsteps of a temple made of with marble spilling into the river.

I popped my head above water. 

There was a human there.

And a small, furry creature barking around the human, jumping up and down. A little brown thing, with an equally furry tail. The human danced around it, jumping and throwing a stick around, which the creature would fetch.

I watched.

The human was tall. A boy, possibly. Around my age. Sun kissed brown skin. Dark oil black hair. His legs, so different from my scaly tail, were covered in tight fitting leather pants and a white top with billowing sleeves that swung around his arms as he laughed covered him. And as he turned, the sunlight clinging to him like a lover, I could swear that his earth-colored eyes shone like they had gold in them.

The stick landed in the river with a plop.

"Fetch, boy!" The boy laughed.

The creature jumped into the water, paddling dangerously close to where I hid, behind a rock. It must've seen me, because it let out a little woof, gargling against the running water, and paddled towards me.

"Pepper? Pepper! Where are you going?" The boy shouted from the riverbank as the creature continued swimming towards me. Then he took off his shirt, revealing a sinewy brown body and plunged into the water.

I decided it was best if I fled. 

I plunged back into the water, this time the current helping me swim faster. But as I did, I felt my long blue tail cut through the water, splashing against the river surface. 

And I could swear I heard the boy scream about a mermaid.