Damned Straight, Skippy (A Waves of Passion story)
Damned Straight, Skippy (A Waves of Passion story)
Note: This is a story based on the events and characters of another story of mine called "Waves of Passion" and it may help to read it first but it isn't necessary as I think this stands pretty well on its own. This expands a very minor character in the first story telling how Duncan and Faith met their adopted daughter. The society mentioned here and in Waves of Passion really needs to be expanded and it's story told in it's own right. Faith is a sort of mermaid-like being although she looks like a human and dolphin hybrid rather than the classical fish tail. She can also fold her arms a certain way and it becomes a flipper. Her people need human males to have children, without them they have animalistic children with little intelligence. They depended on humans to fall into the ocean from sinking ships and other disasters rather than just taking them from small boats or from the beach. A taken human is resentful, a saved human is thankful and makes a much easier transition to life in the sea.
Now, on to the story:
"Duncan, don't be ridiculous. Why you want to go back to the surface is beyond me. You can't breathe air anymore, your eyes won't focus and you can't walk. Your life is here, in the ocean with us."
"I'm not going back to stay, I just need to check on a few things. I want to know the truth behind what happened, I want to know if Gloria murdered me or if it was indeed an accident. Besides, I have been talking to the others and it is possible for those like me to return to the surface."
"You can't breathe air at the surface anymore my love, if your lungs dry out you will die. That is a fact Duncan, the changes are permanent, you can't go back to the surface." Faith said as she swam around Duncan using tiny flicks of her tail.
"That is true, if they dry out. The thing is to not let them dry out. I can keep them filled with water and I can live on the surface for hours. Others have done it, isn't that difficult or dangerous. The vision problem is minor really and as far as walking is concerned my fins aren't any bigger than a pair of scuba fins and I can get around well enough with those on. I don't need to go far, nor do I need to stay long either."
" I didn't know you could do that." Faith said incredulously. "I have gills and no way to hold water around them. What an intriguing idea. You won't be able to speak that way though."
"I don't need to say anything, I just need access to the laptop and the Internet to find what I need."
"You need to sit on someone's lap? What sort of nets are you looking for?"
"Not a lap, a laptop. It is a small, portable computer that is small enough to sit on your lap to use."
"Computer? You mean a calculation machine? I don't understand, I was taught they were large machines that filled rooms."
" Your information is a little dated my dear, they are vastly more powerful and significantly smaller now days. We use them as communication devices and entertainment machines. With it I can access a vast network of computers that can talk to each other nearly anywhere in the world. I can use this to get information about what they think happened."
"I don't see why it matters, you are dead to them Duncan and you need to stay that way." Faith said as they swam along, working their way along the coast. She could swim for days without tiring and cross hundreds of miles almost effortlessly so this little trip was nothing. Her dolphin-like tail propelled her through the water very efficiently. Duncan, on the other hand, was mostly still human and shaped wrong for long swims even with the changes her venom made. He was faster than any human swimmer but he and the other hisokurie were slow and clumsy in comparison to her people. They were, in fact, almost helpless alone in the sea.
She rubbed her smooth belly and thought about the reason her people expended so much energy in saving, supporting and even indulging their odd whims. Her people needed the humans to have children; their and the humans fates were intertwined and had been since before the last ice age. Some evolutionary quirk made her people infertile without humans but until recently humans made such lousy boats that they were pretty easy to find to mate with, they fell into the sea quite frequently. Lately though, humans have been harder to find since they learned to build steel ships with powerful engines.
She felt for any sign but it was far too early yet, Duncan had fulfilled his part and had planted his seed in her and that brought her great joy. She never dreamed she would be one of the few who could bring another child of her people into the sea. She was not the most attractive of her people and her scarred face meant others would be chosen long before her. Duncan, that sweet man, swore he would not think about mating with another until she was pregnant. She knew her people needed more children badly and her race couldn't afford jealousy or monogamy but she hadn't told him she was pregnant yet so she could have him all to herself for a little longer.
"You think we are near the entrance to the harbor yet?" Duncan asked. Navigation for the hisokurie was almost non existent for them but she could find anyplace in the oceans you wanted and she knew where she was at all times. Unfortunately human maps make little sense to her so she couldn't just take him to Charleston, South Carolina but she could take him to the harbor with the tall bridges. They were close enough to see it if she were right and she had no doubt about her abilities. Duncan unfurled a waterproof chart they had retrieved from his sunken boat on the way. He figured once he could see the bridge he would know where the marina was from there. In the open ocean he was totally lost but he had traveled the harbor and the river enough to get his bearings once he was there.
"Let's go up and see, I would say we should be near." She took Duncan's hand and they both slowly ascended to the surface. They weren't all that deep, perhaps a 80 ft or so but she had to get Duncan used to slow and easy ascents because his still mostly human body was susceptible to the bends even though he could breathe water like a fish. He was still new to life in the sea but he was adapting quite well. So well in fact, she was totally surprised by his desire to have any contact with his old life. Soon they quietly broke the surface and looked around. Duncan couldn't see real well on the surface but the bridge was hard to miss as it loomed nearly overhead. Faith had no trouble seeing but her brain wasn't wired like a human's so she had problems understanding what she saw. They were not anywhere near the center of it so the roadbed wasn't as high as it was there so she could see something moving near the railing.
She grabbed Duncan and dove back under very quickly. They stopped when they were back in the murky depths below the bridge. "What the hell?" Duncan asked as they slowed.
"Someone was on the bridge above us.."
"That's odd, there is a fence near the railing and you shouldn't have been able to see anyone walking on the br.."
Suddenly the water around them was filled with bubbles as something hit the water. A shape sped by them shedding bubbles as they both swam backwards away from it, Faith giving a small squeal of surprise. "What the double damned hell was that?" Duncan asked as he followed the stream of rising bubbles with is eyes.
"I think it was the person I wasn't supposed to be able to see. Stay here and I'll look." She flicked her tail and was gone into the murk before Duncan could say anything.
"Well?" He asked a few seconds later. His voice and hers could travel for miles so it didn't matter that she was a distance away.
"We need to go on Duncan, we can't help this one. It's a suicide." Faith said.
"What? Why can't you.." Duncan swam down towards Faith and the mysterious maker of bubbles.
"It's not wise to make hisokurie from those that want to die Duncan, they are not strong enough to survive the sea even if they survive the transformation. It is cruel Duncan." Faith sounded sad as she swam up to meet him, stopping him from coming closer. Her could hear the person groaning as they struggled to hold back the water just a little longer.
"How do you know its suicide? Could have been attempted murder like me.."
"No Duncan, she has tied herself with rope she could untie if she wanted."
"She? A woman? Let me see." Duncan said as he tried to swim down.
"No, Duncan don't. I can't help her, it would too terrible and I can't bear to have you watch her die."
"Let me by, I need to see.. to make sure." Duncan said. Faith looked at him a moment then let him go. He dove slowly down to the person drowning at he end of the bubbles. He approached from behind so he couldn't be seen. He saw a person drifting over a pile of concrete blocks tied to her feet by a rope. He could tell she was still alive somehow but was limp and just floating there. The first thing he noticed was her long hair drifting in the murky water, the next was how small she was. His heart broke as he realized she was probably no more than 15 or so. He turned to swim away when he saw her light blouse life up with the current and exposed her back.
"Faith!" He yelled into the water as he raced to the drowning girl. He pulled up her blouse and looked at the scars covering her back, some were old, some were recent and one or two were scabbed over and no more than a few hours old.
"Duncan, no.. I can't help her.. It hurts me so much to tell you no but it has to be.."
"Come look, then tell me no, that's all I ask."
Faith swam back to Duncan's side and if mermaids could cry, she would have been at that moment. She looked at Duncan then looked at the girl's back. Her eyes opened wide as she saw scar after scar. "Duncan, I don't understand, what is this?
"This is a little girl who has suffered years of abuse, someone as hurt this child for most of her life. Look at her arm, it has been broken and healed wrong. She isn't committing suicide, she is escaping years of torment and mistreatment. That's not weakness, this little girl has seen things that could make anyone jump off a bridge."
"Duncan, are you serious? How can someone hurt a child like that?" Faith asked as the concept sank in.
"I don't know Faith, I've never understood it myself and if the authorities ever find out about this and who did it, that person would be severely punished."
"I have to make a decision very soon, her breath is growing stale and she will drown in moments. I need to know Duncan, can she survive our life? She will have little knowledge to share with us and the venom will render her infertile."
"All I know is she doesn't deserve to die like this and whatever her existence was, her new one will be far better. I can take full responsibility for her if that helps."
"You can't even feed yourself Duncan but the offer does help. What I need to know is, will her mind survive the transition?"
"I can't say but for me it wasn't hard at all. With guidance from us, I don't believe she will have that big of a problem."
"Ok, Duncan, I've made my decision . Stay back as she may thrash around." Faith swam around to face the girl and hovered in front of her waiting for her to drown. It didn't take long as she soon opened her mouth and the last of her air drained out and her chest spasmed as she breathed in. Faith reached out with her webbed hand and extended her index finger and a thin stinger extended from under her fingernail and she plunged it into her chest kept it there a moment then withdrew it quickly.
The girl reacted instantly, she breathed in the water deeply and began to thrash a little. Duncan swam down and untied the girl's feet while Faith took the girl into her arms, "She is still breathing, that is a good sign. Now is the hardest part for her, the venom is working now to change her body. We will know in a few minutes."
Duncan hovered nearby as the girl thrashed weakly in Faith's arms then went still. The girl opened her eyes and looked around first seeing the blurry form of Faith and then Duncan. She breathed the water in and out a few times then tried to speak. Nothing came out, of course.
"It's all right little one, you are safe now. You cannot speak underwater now but I can read your lips well enough."
Duncan smiled as he remembered Faith saying the same to him not so long ago. He also remembered how confused and scared he was.
The girl looked wide eyed at them then moved her lips saying, "I'm not dead?"
Faith smiled at her, "No, you drowned but we were near and have saved your life."
"Please," she said soundlessly, "Let me die, I don't want to be hurt anymore. My father will be so angry when he finds out what I did. I don't want to hurt any more.."
Faith ran her webbed hand through the little girl's hair and said, "To save your life little one, I had to make you one of us. That means you cannot return to the surface world," she looked at Duncan for a second then said, "Except for brief periods much like holding your breath when swimming, the air is no longer your friend and you can't return. Your life is in the ocean now, your life in the air is over and you are dead to those who knew you in your old life now."
"Your life in the sea will have it's own dangers and rewards, it's not paradise," Duncan said, hovering close, "The only thing I can promise you is it isn't a bad life and I swear no one will ever, ever hurt you like this again."
The little girl closed her eyes and smiled as she snuggled up against Faith and said, "That's good enough, I don't care about anything else. This has to be better than the hell I left." She reached up and traced Faith's scar that stretched across her face.
Duncan slipped his arm around Faith's shoulder as they all settled onto the sand and hugged them both. Duncan then pulled back a little and noticed the little girl's t-shirt and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw the worn picture of a red-haired mermaid sitting on a rock. He thought to himself, "You got your wish kiddo."
Looking at the peaceful expression of the little girl as she breathed the water and nestled in Faith's arms, he imagined her answering, "You're damned straight, Skippy.."
The end