The Sirens Gift

Chapter 13.

In the morning, I woke up about the same time as always. I quickly pulled on one of my many swimming suits before tugging on a pair of tight leggings and a shirt, then a light zip up. It was supposed to be almost in the 50s today. I threw my phone in my bag with some sunblock before I slipped down the stairs, trying to avoid my dad seeing me as I snuck away.

“Adalaie…”

“Yes dad…”

“Don’t be late today.”

I nodded “okay…”

Then he waved me off with a tired sigh as he shook his head, turning back to the oven.

I slipped into the alleyway and turned to lock the door behind me.

I felt an arm wrap around my upper chest and another slammed into my mouth with a cloth smothering into my nose. I tried to take in a breath to scream but a sickeningly sweet smell hit me through the cloth before a dizzy feeling took over me and my vision blurred. I tried to flail my arms with what little energy I had left, but my body gave out. The last thing I remember was the feeling of a scruffy beard pressed against my cheek as he held me tightly to him before my eyes went completely black and my body went limp against him.

A nauseous feeling gripped my stomach. I felt like vomiting but the lack of food in my stomach from skipping breakfast instead made me dry-heave as consciousness started to slowly come back to me. My mouth was dry and the headache caused a deafening ringing in my ears. My body rocked side to side, amplifying the nausea that swirled in my gut.

As my mind slowly came to, the sound of waves became more apparent. I expected to smell the salt of the ocean along with the rhythmic song of the water. However, I was horrified to find a familiar metallic stench as I finally pulled in a deep breath.

“Well, well…” a voice droned as I groaned at the pain and nausea. “Welcome back Little Lady.” The voice crept over me.

“f**k…”

“f**k indeed…”

My eyes throbbed with pain, I coughed and the pressure in my head intensified, causing me to flinch. I blinked my eyes repeatedly trying to wash away the foggy surroundings. I could see the silhouette of a large body, dressed in dark clothing, leaned over his own lap on the seat opposite from me. I heard the scrape of metal, like a blade scratching against something.

“Thought I lost ya there… was worried I used too much Chloroform.” His gruff laugh sent a frightening shiver down my spine.

I recognized that voice…

“What the f**k…” I groaned out, my voice hoarse. My head fell forward over my chest. I swallowed the dryness in my throat, coughed as the scratching feeling amplified.

Then I felt his hand grip my hair, yanking my head up as a bottle was pressed to my lips. I strained to pull away my shoulders locking up as my wrists tugged against each other. They were locked in front of me somehow.

“Drink.”

I was relieved to taste simple bottled water. It was ice cold even compared to the chill in the air.

“Where…”

“The ocean.” He quickly interrupted the question. “Where else would we be?” Then he pressed the bottle to my lips again and I sputtered as it went down my air pipe. I felt the cold of the water being poured over my head. It dribbled down my face. The icy cold caused my lungs to seize and the pain from my cough gripped my entire chest and back. I struggled against the ties around my wrists as I tried to pull from the water, but my wrists stopped against a rope as I pulled.

Then a rough rag dragged across my face. I shook my head away and fell back into the bottom of the skiff, it rocked under me. I finally opened my eyes again to see Otis reach for my arm. I tried to kick, but my legs were tied just the same, they yanked against something firm that refused to move even as I struggled against it. A cement block sat at my feet, rope tied to it and then to my ankles. A longer rope came from my ankles to my wrist.

He grabbed my upper arm and yanked me back up onto the seat. The motion was effortless, as if he’d done it a thousand times before.

“Stop strugglin’.” He ordered, but I let out a scream as soon as he sat me back upright. I felt his hand slam against my cheek. Knocking my head sideways as the wind left my body from the blow. It caused another cough to come up in my throat as I tried to catch my breath. “Makin’ it way harder than it’s gotta be…”

“What the f**k…” I began coughing again. I could taste blood where my cheek had cut against my teeth.

“Couldn’t keep your mouth shut, huh?”

I finally looked into his eyes, panting as I stared. He sat back on his seat opposite me, leaning his arms over on his knees as he watched me. His blue eyes were tired, his cheeks red under his greying beard. His hair was disheveled and his messy clothes matched his appearance. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. His knife drooping in his hand.

“What are you talking about?” I breathed out through heavy breaths.

“Always walking into your diner talking about “that weird guy Otis” and mermaids this, mermaids that.” He shook his head, a tired expression on his face. “Do you know how fast word travels in this town?”

“I…”

“Course you don’t…” he shook his head again, “Yer a kid…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” I responded.

He laughed. “Course ya do Little Lady.” His cackle made my skin prickle. “My friends said every single day you go to work talking about that creature you helped… the mermaid…”

I shook my head.

“Don’t act dumb now!” He smiled, “You helped that thing outta the net… didn’t you…?”

“N-no… I…”

He nodded as a sickening smile twisted his face. “You did… huh?”

“N-no…”

“That was one of my good nets too…” he cut me off as I stumbled over words.

“I… I didn’t… I don’t know…”

“If you’d have just minded your own damn business… we wouldn’t be here, would we, Adalaie?” He asked. “But ya had to ask Ol' Jim about me… and ya had to blabber on about seeing a mermaid…”

“Listen…” I choked, clearing my throat “just… just let me go… I… I won’t say a-anything…”

He shook his head, “You already said too much…”

“No! No I promise! Please just let me go! No one even believed me anyway!”

“I can’t have people knowing why I’m out in the bays now, can I…?”

“What…”

“Can’t have innocent bystanders knowing what I’m after…”

I didn’t respond for a while. I watched as he ground the end of his knife into one of his metal buckets at his feet. The smell of chum wafting through the air, the metallic scent burned into my nostrils. He hummed a light tune as he did. Seeming to be unaffected by my presence in front of him.

The wind picked up around us, chilling me to my bones as it seemed to rip into my body. My damp hair stuck to the side of my face. The chill of the ice water still seeping into my skin. My sweater clung to me now from the water, making my entire body shiver. He was dry, besides a few wet speckles on his dark jeans where the water had splashed him as it rolled off of me.

“Why… why are you after him?” I finally asked, my voice cracking helplessly.

“Him, huh?” He laughed. A thick eyebrow raised as he gave me a sidelong look. “You call that thing a ’Him’…” I held my tongue for a moment. When I didn’t respond, he laughed and shook his head. “That ain’t no ‘him’… that thing is a monster…”

I shook my head back at him. “He isn’t a monster…” I said softly, the wind carried my voice away as it whipped up against my face.

He didn’t respond back to me this time. He only continued mushing fish against the sides of his metal bucket.

“He isn’t a monster!” I repeated in a louder voice, my anger finally forcing its way out of me. My voice cracked again. “He’s a living being with feelings! Just like you and me!”

“Stop humanizing that thing.” He ordered, his voice gravely as he gritted his teeth. His eyes bore into me as he finally moved his gaze back to my face. “That thing doesn’t have feelings… they are cold-blooded, deadly creatures who murder, r**e, and eat humans. They don’t care or feel.”

I shook my head. “He isn’t.” I responded, “He isn’t like that!”

Otis rolled his eyes. Pulling his knife from the bucket and setting it on the floor of the boat. Then he used his sleeve to wipe his face again. Sweat had begun to bead over his upper lip and forehead. Then he looked back at me. “See, it’s got ya convinced it means no harm…” he pointed a gnarled finger at me, missing its last digit in a broken nub. “That’s what they do… sirens… they lure you in, with beautiful songs and appearances… then they take humans into the deeps to devour their bodies…”

I shook my head again, tears were forming in my eyes. “He isn’t like that.” I repeated.

“Cold… scaley, slimy creatures… no better than a goddamn snake… they all deserve to die.”

“Why not just kill them then?” I asked, “if they were no better than a snake… why make them suffer… with nets and cuts and…”

“I’ve got a buyer with a huge wallet…” he interrupted me. “He wants one alive…”

“But you’re already rich…” I responded. He shook his head in response.

“I’m wealthy… I have assets and security… but my buyer could make me a billionaire…” he smirked, the devilish smile made a slithering feeling creep into my spine. “He said to get one for his daughter… and he’d pay me in riches most people could only dream of…” his sick grin widened. “I’ll show you Adalaie… they are no better than sharks… and just like sharks… they come to the smell of chum… it’s their favorite…”

He took the bucket and began to dump it into the water, shaking out a few chunks and letting the bloody liquid spill out with it. Silence fell over us as we waited. I held my breath for a while, dreading to see if any bright colours pierced through the murky deeps below us. After a few minutes, I couldn’t make out anything. He dumped more into the water, we waited a little while longer and he again sprinkled more of his bucket into the water.

My heart dropped as I watched a grey dorsal fin break the surface of the water and move carefully below the boat. Another one circled around the other side of us before dipping down into the water beneath us where they couldn’t be seen. Occasionally, they’d come up just enough to make out their bodies as their fins broke the surface then dive back down, disappearing into the darkness.

Otis shimmied forward in his seat as he took his next bucket and dumped it into the water beside us. Then he picked up his knife from the boat floor and moved it between his fingers as he stared at it.

“Humans make the best chum though… they love the smell a’ human blood… just like the sharks…”

“Otis… please…” I begged softly, “Please you don’t have to do this…”

“I do.” He responded. “I do gotta do this… they come for human blood… can’t resist it…” I looked closer as he flexed his hands around the knife as he switched it from one to the other. I could see deep gashes scarred over on his hands, across his palms and over each wrist. He stared at them, as if reminiscing over their pain.

He came closer and I tried to pull away from him. He grabbed my right wrist and yanked the sleeve of my sweater up and then brought the knife to my arm. Catching it under my bracelet. The sharp knife sliced through like butter and the twine snapped. He undid the bracelet from my wrist and shoved it into his pocket.

“No! Give that back!”

“Won’t need it where yer going, Little Lady…”

“Please, Otis, stop!”

But he turned the knife into the skin of my forearm and pressed. I let out a blood curdling scream as I felt the blade slice into my skin. Turning my head up and thrashing my upper body as I tried to pull away. Then he squeezed my arm and blood oozed from the cut as he tossed his knife back to the floor of the boat. My stomach flipped as nausea gripped me again.

“Alright Little Lady.” He began. “Go lure ‘em in.” He grabbed each of my arms and lifted me, tossing me sideways into the water where I landed on my back. Then I watched him haul up the cement block and toss it in. My feet yanked downward as it plopped into the water and I took in as deep of a breath as I could before my head sank beneath the surface.

I felt something bump against my back and had to stifle a cry, knowing it was likely one of the great whites that had been prowling for free food.

The salt water stung the gash on my arm. The searing pain radiating up into my arm and over the right side of my body as I sank further into the depths. The pressure in my ears caused my head to pound. I wiggled my wrists as hard as I could, trying to loosen the knots around my hands. I felt the rope slowly relaxing as I struggled, but the more loose they became, the less oxygen I had in my lungs to sustain me. I wiggled my left arm as much as I could, trying to make my hand as skinny as possible to pull through the rope. As I finally slid my hand through the rope, I reached to pull it from my right, but the knots felt tighter..

I couldn’t see, I could hardly think. My hands had begun to go numb as they were tied together, and without proper blood flow the feeling wasn’t coming back to my hands. My left hand weakly fumbled to pull the rope from my other, desperately grabbing and tangling into the rope and sleeve of my sweater. I brushed against the cut and wanted to scream again. It took everything inside of me to avoid the natural reaction to pain.

After a while, I was able to slip my right wrist from the ropes, but as I tried to paddle my way up, the cement block holding my ankles together held me to the ocean floor. I reached down and ripped at it, unable to get my fingers into the lengths of rope. Something bumped into my back as it swam past me. Panic set in as I felt a hard dorsal fin brush against me as it moved away.

My oxygen started to wear thin. My lungs screamed, my limbs ached, my head began to cloud over again, just like it had when he had grabbed me in the alley way. The more I struggled with the rope, the more painful everything became. My throat wanted to cave in and breathe…

Had I been on land I’d have cried out for my dad and my sister. I’d have told them how much I loved them. I’d have told them how happy my years with them were, how blessed my life had been to have found them… I’d have thanked Caspian one last time for coming into my life…

My throat finally gave out, a painful cough coming from my mouth as the last of my oxygen was used up and my lungs forced the carbon dioxide-laden air out of my body. I felt water rush into my mouth and pain envelop my entire body as I went limp, I could feel my fingers slip away from the rope around my ankles… For a moment, everything was excruciating.

Then I felt a warmth wrap around me, like fingers cradling my cheeks. Something encased my lips in a silken heat and my lips responded willfully. That heat rolled from my tongue and to the back of my mouth before slithering down my throat, filling my esophagus and then my lungs. The feeling forced its way through my chest and down into my stomach, it jolted pieces of me awake as if I could feel every organ reacting to the heat that enveloped me.

“Breathe…” A voice begged, “Please… breathe…”

I reluctantly obeyed and sucked in a deep breath against every natural instinct telling me not to. The water felt unusual as it coursed through my throat, but instead of pain, a soothing feeling filled my lungs, as if I’d taken a deep breath of oxygenated air. Suddenly, the pain in my body receded as oxygen-rich blood rushed through my muscles and back to my brain, filling my body with calm as it took over.

As the pain disappeared, however, so too did my consciousness and, once again, my mind went completely blank.