untitled

Chapter One

Drowning. I’m drowning. I must be because I’m in a large amount of water and I can’t swim. My parents always kept me away from ponds, pools, the lakes near our home, or anything that required you to swim; I was forbidden to be anywhere near it. Even when our neighbors had a pool and invited me to swim countless times during the summer break. This isn’t how I imagined drowning to be. Not at all like how I was taught in the last almost 18 years of my life. I’m not scared. It’s so unusual, normally I’d be hyperventilating in only three feet of water.

This ocean seems so bottomless like I could drift for days and never find the end. The strong current isn’t affecting me as it should be. It should be pulling me all over the ocean, carrying me forcibly deeper into the water. Instead I just float here, stationary. Wait, am I breathing? How am i possibly breathing! I become frantic, studying my surroundings. I see schools of fish in the distance peacefully ignoring me, as if they don’t care to acknowledge my presence. Or maybe I’m no threat to them. The warm water somehow feels comfortingly peaceful-like home. It’s so much clearer than I’d picture; even at the beach just a short walk from my dorm the water is always murky from the sand. Something flashes below me so I pull my attention towards it to investigate and I’m startled to see somehow I’ve managed to drift to the ocean floor. The brightly colored coral reef holds my gaze with it’s contentful swaying. Half is neon pink and lavender, the other half a pale blue and green as if someone purposefully came and placed them together instead of blending the colors naturally. They’re easily said to be mesmerizing. A small fish swims through the reef disrupting my trance and bringing me back to my current reality. How did I get here? Where am I? Once again, I scan everything around me when my eyes stop eruptly on a small shadow in the far distance. At first, I could barely see it until I realized it was growing bigger. No, it’s not growing bigger at all, it’s getting closer-and quickly. As I attempt to swim away as best as I can, for someone who can’t swim, I quickly become fully aware that my attempts are futile. I’m not able to move any of my limbs, they lay limp beside me. I look back towards the now massive shadow and I’m able to clearly see this intruder in my home. As I realize I’m going crazy, there’s suddenly a man directly in front of me! I must be hallucinating, please, let me be hallucinating. With his brown, shoulder length hair flowing elegantly behind him in the water. His eyes, I notice, are the opposite of my round icy blue eyes. They are sharp brown eyes, matching his hair, but as I look closer I glimpse a small speck of green on one eye. As though someone injected ink into it. Our eyes stayed locked for what seemed an eternity. Even at first glance his appearance was immensely alluring, he was inhumanly beautiful. His skin, so pale, was presumably glowing in this dark ocean surrounding us. Finally, I tore my eyes away from his sculpted face to scan the remainder of his body. His form was very muscular, seeming as if he went to the gym for hours everyday. As my eyes lowered I sucked in a deep breath, which was easier than I thought considering it filled with water so easily as if it had been air. Directly under his waist, this marvelous man had a turquoise tail. This couldn’t be happening. Mermaids are not real. Let alone a mereman! All the folklore stories about mythical creatures with majestic tails are so underrated. His tale has a soft glow and its scales were more diamond-shaped than most have been portrayed in films. It made me feel a sense of envy as I continue to stare, to have something so spectacular connected to my body would be astonishing. I glance towards him wondering if he can read my face full of wonder and awe. He has the audacity to smirk, as if I shouldn't have been surprised at all to see something so incredible! My eyes were drawn to his mouth as I noticed his lips moving silently, like he was speaking to me but no sound left his mouth. I move my finger to my ear to let him know I don't hear him, when finally, I get the courage to speak.

“I can’t hear you! You’re not making any sense. Why can’t I hear you speak? Who even are you?” I ask frantically.

My heart stopped beating as he sadly smiles and replies with a musically deep voice, “Your time is coming, Jessa. I’ll be waiting patiently for your return, as will your father.We are all eager to see you again. You may wake up now, my sweet cousin.”

Smelling coffee, I slowly begin waking up in the real world. That had to have been the most disturbing dream I’ve ever had. It was so vivid, so real, like I was actually in the ocean-as if I belonged there-instead of my college dorm. And what did that man(well actually, I should say creature, since he was in no way human)say to me, that he’s my cousin? I must’ve watched too many episodes of that mermaid show on syfy before finally falling asleep around midnight. Yeah, that had to have been it, otherwise I’m going crazy. Which honestly wouldn’t be a surprise. Relieved, I open my eyes and scan my familiar dorm room. The first things my eyes fall on are the boring cream-colored walls and the tv my best friendoommate, Colie, brought from home. She had placed it in front of the furthest wall from our beds so we could both enjoy the satellite her dad so graciously provided us with. “Just make sure she makes good grades, Jessa,” he would remind me after telling him we really appreciated the satellite and TV but we would be so “busy” with schoolwork that we would never find the time to make use of it. Apparently, I had been wrong about that one since I still hadn’t come up with my major yet and was currently stuck in general studies, whereas Colie has known since eighth grade what her major would be; history.

We decided to only bring our necessities to college since eventually, we plan to rent our own apartment near campus. We both have a two drawer night stand on one side of the school-provided beds dedicated to holding our cellphones and lamps. The other side of our beds were against the wall. There was one small closet to hold our clothes in (the biggest reason for us wanting an apartment). Snuggly placed between our nightstands is a dresser that we were forced to share since there was no room for two. But fortunately, it serves its more valuable role of supporting our microwave and most importantly, our coffee pot. Before even deciding on a college, we both agreed that no matter what, we would need a coffee pot. It didn’t have to be one of those fancy espresso machines; just a simple and cheap coffee pot you could easily find at a local dollar store. The most decorative item in our dorm room, which clearly didn’t say much, was a beautiful, floral space rug that we both agreed would “spruce up” the place. In all fairness, it was the best dorm we could find at last second with us sharing a room together. It took us a long time to choose a college that would benefit us both while also giving us a different scenery from our dreary, cold hometown. Eventually, we decided on a college five hundred miles away with a bonus five minute walk to one of the clearest beaches on the west coast. Now it wasn’t a fancy college by any means but it did have a rather large population for its size, which meant many targets for Colie to choose and flirt from.

As I sit up in bed, I notice Colie still laying under her oversized, purple comforter(she says purple makes her happy, and it just makes me roll my eyes and laugh everytime she reminds me). I know she’s awake though, considering the simple fact that she isn’t snoring.

She suddenly says,“I turned the coffee pot on. I really don’t know how you can possibly sleep so late on a Saturday. We should be enjoying our first weekend of freedom! Anywho, I’ve been up since 7:00 a.m., in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t wondering but your delicious coffee did wake me up from my deep slumber,” I reply dramatically, “Also, it’s barely 10:00 a.m

in the morning and I don’t see how you sleep at all with all those train horns coming through your nose all night long.”

She sat up quickly to throw her favorite fuzzy pillow at my face. Of course, her aim is impeccable and my head is thrown back while the pillow is smothering my loud laugh. I toss her pillow back before getting up to pour me some coffee into my favorite mug. My mom gave it to me before grudgingly sending me off to my newfound adventure called college. It had the words, “Chin up, I love you,” written in bright green letters with the rest of the mug in black.

“I think I’m going to the beach today and work on my tan. What do you have planned? A romantic rendezvous with Braaandonnn,” Colie teases as I finally take my first sip of much needed hot coffee.

“First of all, you’re already darker than I’ll ever be. If I spent as much time in the sun as you did I would end up with third degree burn. And no, his brothers came to visit for the weekend since finals are over,” I reply, ignoring the way she mentions my boyfriend’s name. She likes to push my already limited buttons in the mornings and remind me of how I gushed over Brandon before finally getting the courage to approach him. She’s been consistently teasing me that way over the last nine months he and I have been officially dating.