A Merman’s Place

Chapter 8

I woke up in a panic at seeing my face in my dream. I lay still in my chair breathing heavily trying to process all that occurred there. That couldn't have been me during the whole thing, but dreams do often show you your desires — what you want most. I spent most of my life trying to be a normal human being even though deep inside I'm anything but a normal human. It's becoming difficult to ignore the feeling of homesickness when I'm near the water. I can spend all the time I want in the water to relieve the ache, but the fact is — I'm not one of them — that ache will never go away. It's like a curse I'm forced to live with.

But the rest of it — that was more of a nightmare. I've never seen merpeople act like that, not even once. You'd consider them like any other human if it weren't for the tails. I've worked with them at Kirk's for years, and I just spent a week abroad swimming with two merpeople. So, it can't be that they turn like that when in the water. It has to be something else — or maybe my head made all that up. Yes, it has to be that.

With a big sigh I unbuckled my seat belt and got up from my seat to go to the bathroom. As I started walking down the aisle, my legs where feeling a bit shaky. I was asleep in a chair for the majority of the flight, so it should be expected I believe.

Standing in front of the bathroom door I see the sign is in green and read "Unoccupied". I slid the door open, entered, and locked it. I stood in front of the small sink and turned the handle for cold water. Cupping my hands I gathered the water and splashed it to my face. The cold temperature of the water refreshed me and made me feel more awake and alert.

I went to splash my face again, but the plane shook, like a car driving over a big bump on the road. That made my muscles tense and my hands gripped the sink hard. My breathing was heavy, but now I was holding my breath as the plane shook harder this time after a few minutes.

A male voice came through the intercom. "Everyone, we're having a case of heavy rain and strong winds. For your safety, please remain seated and put on your seat belts. We'll be arriving at our destination in a couple hours. Thank you."

I began breathing again and slowly let go of the sink. As I went to shut the water off, a knock came from the door.

"Sir, you need to get back to your seat now," said a female voice that I'm sure it's one of the flight attendants.

"I'm coming out now," I informed. I quickly turned the water off and unlocked the door. When I opened the door, the flight attendant was right there. She gestured for me to quickly take my seat and walked away.

I walked up the aisle to my seat. I was nearly there when the plane shook again. My hand automatically gripped a chair to steady myself. When the movement stopped, I basically ran to my seat. Once seated, I buckled up good and tight.

I took a look out the window — it was still dark out. Checking my watch, I see that it's after 6 o'clock in Greece time when I adjusted it. I've been sleeping for nine hours.

I also see streaks of water running down the window — it was raining heavily just like the announcement said. I then began to see flashes of light. Bolts of lightning were shooting out from the sky, very close, too. I never saw them that close before. They looked amazing and so powerful.

Just as I finished that thought, another bolt of lightning came down and to my horror hit the wing of the plane. It caused a bright fiery explosion that I had to look away from the window. The plane was now shaking so much that people were now screaming in fear and panic.

I looked back out the window and the plane engine was on fire in spite of the rain.

A shaky voice that I can tell it's coming from the flight attendant sounded from the intercom. "Everyone please stay calm and seated. Our two captains are highly trained in emergencies such as this. They will be able to get us to safety. What they need from us is to not panic please."

As she continued to calm the passengers, the movement of the plane came to a steady halt as it regains its balance in the air. People were beginning to calm down.

While it was calming down here, it wasn't out there as the storm outside was getting worse by the minute now. The rain kept falling down hard that I could barely see out the window. Though, with all the heavy rain, it did put out the fire from the engine.

I sat back against my seat hyperventilating while my heart was pounding in my chest. My vision was becoming fuzzy with the rapid pace of trying to get air into my lungs. If I wasn't so nervous about flying, I am now. Out of all the chances for a plane to get struck by lightning it had to be now when I'm in it.

Still in my panic attack, I felt a soft tap on my arm. I turned my head to the side seeing a dark skinned woman leaning close from where she sat behind me. When she saw that she caught my attention, she handed over what I could guess was a barf bag.

"You should use this. It'll help you control your breathing," she advised. I nodded in thanks and quickly grabbed the bag from her. Opening it up fully, I exhaled and inhaled into it repeatedly until I was able to get my breathing back to normal.

I really needed to get off this plane before all of these nerves kill me, I thought.

Before I knew it, the plane leaned sharply to the left and dipped forwards slightly. Screams from the passengers were louder than before. In my uncomfortable position, my eyes drifted towards the window where I saw the wing nearly bending at a 90 degree angle. Getting hit by lightning and the explosion from the engine seemed to have caused major damage than we thought.

Everything from there felt like seconds had gone by. We were literally falling from the sky. Screams of terror, including my own, filled the whole plane. I couldn't breathe.

And then a huge splash as we crashed into the ocean.

I can't clearly remember what happened after the crash. All I remember is screams, water, swimming, and creatures.

How did I get here? I'm in the ocean when I can remember I was inside the plane. Did I swim out?

From what I could see in the dark, I see bodies moving frantically at the surface. I blinked, and the ocean has turned red. How did that happen?

My head is pounding and feeling lightheaded. My lungs are starting to feel strained. Have I been underwater that long already? I'm so tired, and I can't make my body move. Am I going to die here? If I am, then it's not a bad way to go in my opinion. The ocean is where I'm meant to be.

I began having a bad feeling as the creatures I saw before swam slowly around me, almost like they're observing me. I couldn't see them that well even with the white moon shining down, but I can feel the water shift as they moved.

Suddenly, a hand griped my shoulder and their sharp nails pierced my skin. It was hardly painful as the freezing water numbed me. More clawed hands grabbed me and they kept drawing blood. My air was running out, and with my blood flowing out of me, my already hazy head was getting worse and my eyesight was getting blurry. I'd hope to pass out before these creatures devour me.

But, instead of doing that, they let go and swam away. Then, a new pair of hands grabbed a hold of me. I knew it wasn't those same hands because these were gentle and caring. And they were dragging me upwards towards the surface.

So, I'm dead, and I'm being carried away into the afterlife. I've pretty much accepted my fate, but I'd regret that I had to die now. When Marvin comes to get me from the airport, I won't be there. He'll be wallowing in guilt for convincing me to take the job that led to going on this trip. I just hope that Marvin will learn to move on and not dwell on "what if's".

What I felt before everything went black, is the feeling of air.