A Love So Deep: Chapter 10 (Patreon)

I take some time to sit at the window watching the world go by, and what a world it was.  At a distance, at a glance, if you squint real hard, it almost looked like any large bustling human city.  But it only took a bit of attention to start to notice the many differences.  Those suspended globular buildings were a dead giveaway for one.  I could be wrong but I got the sense they were the homes and offices of the wealthy and elite.  Traffic didn’t simply flow along straight streets and avenues but was everywhere moving in all directions, most of it stayed within a hundred yards or so from the surface but there were some that soared high above as well.  Most swam under their own power though some rode in fin-shaped shaped vehicles that sliced through the water at incredible speed.  The majority of the population seemed to be comprised of the carp like merpeople, though there was quite a variation in their size and coloration.  There was a smattering of the big shark looking ones amongst them, a minority but a common enough one by the looks of it.  I only see one other eel-like being like Stheera and none of the octopus creatures.  Kelrak’s crab folks I see a couple of times, always in groups and always moving in an orderly formation.  The rest of the population gave them space and right of way giving me the sense they may act as some type of police force.  Once a lone merwoman swims by, close enough that there was no way she could miss me yet she does not acknowledge me, meaning this window must be tinted on the outside.  Those large rays seemed to be the pack animal of choice but higher up I at one point see a caravan of massive whale sharks each pulling a long cylindrical aquatic trailer.

“Ha!”  I murmur.  “Underwater truckers.”

The sky was consistently spectacular.  The pinprick speckles of light alone was like the night sky on a dark clear night in the country but with vastly more visible stars.  But the aurora like shifts and swirls were like brilliant nebulae filling the sky.  Whether it was some effect suspended in the water or the walls and ceilings of some immense cavern I could not say.  I let myself just get lost in the beauty for a time.  I wished I could take a picture of it to show my…

I sigh and close my eyes.  I wouldn’t be showing my parents anything anymore.  The person that world knew was already dead.  She took the cowards way.

I push these thoughts from my mind and focus in on the room around me.  The empty shelves, the table, and the closet weren’t of much interest so I walk over to the bed and sit down on it.  It was soft but firm, similar to memory foam.  There was no pillows but there was a blanket.  It was tightly fitted to the mattress and stretchy, the covering designed to hold the occupant in snugly.  I felt a bit fatigued but I wasn’t about to bed down with so much left yet to see.

I move to the teardrop shaped light globe and stare in at the tiny mote shining within.  The point of the drop shape didn’t point straight up but off at an angle to the left.  I touch the glass, or whatever it was, with a fingertip and it dims.  I touch it again and it turns off.  The room goes dark, just lit now by the soft glow of the city and sky.  I swim over the door I thought was the washroom to see that my suspicion was correct.  I touch the globe in here and it lights up revealing a small area with a mirror, some shelves with sponges, scrubbing stones, a few grooming items, and a bottle with an orange liquid inside of it.  Directly ahead of me is an area closed in by glass walls.  I slide the door open and reach in to find the water here tingly, cool, and with a steady current that ran from a vent in the ceiling to one in the floor.  Some kind of ‘shower’.  Beside this was a weird looking toilet, or what I assumed was one.  It was a thick tube that came up from the floor to about waist height topped with a sort of inverted rubber saddle looking thing.  How in the hell do I use it?  I’d have to learn that later.

To my right is a mirror.  Suddenly seeing myself, a sight so familiar in this otherwise fantastical dreamland, is jarring.  I see myself floating, my dark hair like a drifting halo, looking pale and gaunt in the blue-white light.  My cheeks and eyes were a bit sunken and the dark circles around my eyes made it look like I hadn’t slept in days.  I was hardly a picture of health at the moment.  Somehow I still wore my loose fitting white and tan collared shirt and slacks but what grabs my attention is the magical torque around my lean neck.  I lean in to study it more closely.  The simple design displayed that it was a functional object and not a decorative one, more a collar than a piece of jewelry.  It is a simple solid band of dark gray metal with a quarter inch gap at the tiny bump of my Adam’s apple.  A glowing pearl was set into each end.  Feeling around the back I could find no seam or clasp or latch of any kind.  Bending the metal of the torque seemed the only way it would be removed, not that I was interested in giving up my borrowed time to find out.

I look back up and my gaze makes contact with my own dark brown eyes.  “You look like shit.”  I whisper then rub my face hard as if I could scrub my ugliness away.  I go to leave…but something makes me look again.  Staring deep into my own eyes the old darkness comes over me like a choking smoke.  My chest tightens as the loathing closes in around me.  “You fucking quitter.  You fucking coward.  You actually did it.  And you fucked that up too, didn’t you?  You couldn’t even…you couldn’t…”  I try to swallow the bitter words but they came anyway, as they always did.  “I hate you!  I hate you!  I hate…”  I shudder and close my eyes then work to take a few long deep breaths to try to I settle my troubled spirit.  I couldn’t even escape it here?  Oh God help me.  Please God, help me.

Grasping desperately for something, anything, to hold onto I find…a giggle.  Ellerie’s giggle.  Pure and sweet and kind and honest.  I remember her fingers in my hair and the smile it brought.  She thought I was pretty.  I remember how her little tendrils gripped softly at my fingers.  That was lovely.  That was just lovely.  Slowly, slowly, my breath returns to normal.  When I open my eyes again I do not look to the demon waiting for me in the mirror but retreat from the room instead.  The monsters out here were nothing compared to the beast that dwells back there.

I crack the door into the hall and peek my head out of it to look around.  There was nothing to see but the other doors.  I was told that I was allowed to move about the living areas but I still felt like I might get into trouble if I stepped beyond my room.  Looking back into the darkened empty room I decide that testing my limited freedom preferable to staying here alone.  Stepping out I close the door behind me with surprising ease.  I wondered if there was a touch of magic or technology involved to make moving these doors through water easier.  Pushing off I swim for the door that would lead back into the commons.

I make my way through to find Kelrak hard at work in the kitchen area.  He turns and bobs his eyestalk to acknowledge me before returning to what he was doing.  He seemed neither threatening nor threatened despite us being total strangers and so utterly different.  Swimming out to in between the two big tables I discover they are very high, up to my chin.  I tread up and once again look around at the impressive collection of art on the walls and the various doors, only two of which I was allowed to enter.  My eyes linger on the one that lead down to the tavern.  What did an underwater tavern look like?  The more the fear faded the more I was realize how cool this all really was.  I was seeing things and experiencing things that no human ever had before.

Though I was wary of him Kelrak was the only one here so I make my way closer to him to watch.  He was chopping some sort of vegetable.  A plant I certainly did not recognize, purple like an eggplant but with soft tomato like flesh.  He chopped atop a large marble white grid carved into the counter and as juice or stray bits floated off from the veg it was instantly sucked down through the spaces and not left to simply permeate through the room.  Once chopped he takes the pieces and pushes through a flexible aperture into a sealed bowl were other edible looking items marinated in a oils and spices.  To his left there is a round opening, like a porthole on an old ship, glowing yellow covered with a glass door.  Inside I could see the a big meaty fish slowly rotating on a rotisserie.  The element of this oven looked to be a layer of stones glowing red hot.  Fascinating!

Curiosity getting the better of me I swim closer as he chops another.  The tiny arms at his mid-section holds the veggie in place as his larger arm slices with a version of a chef’s knife.  He looks to me and I point at the cutting board with a smile.  I wished I could convey how amazing I found this.  A smile would have to do.  He takes a piece and hands it to me.  I look at it, a bit hesitant to eat something completely unfamiliar to me, then take it from him anyway.  He watches me as I bring it to my mouth and bite into the doughy flesh.

It was…delicious!  Sweet, bursting with savory juice, and really damn spicy!  It was a taste completely novel yet having been raised on mostly Korean home cooking something in the combination of flavors seemed all too familiar.

“Hoh!”  I exclaim as the succulence and sweet heat fills my mouth.  “Mmmmm!”  Once swallowed the bite of food awakens a hunger that had been sleeping.  I quickly gobble the rest up.  “So good!”  When I notice him not understanding I give him a thumbs up to which he nods satisfactorily.  He doesn’t exactly grin but I could see that he was happy that I enjoyed it in that same way that grandmas were when you ate everything on your plate.

Kelrak stabs a piece with a claw and eats too, popping the whole thing into his mouth at once causing his cheeks to bulge as he chewed then returns to his work.  “Hungry.”  He says.

I nod my agreement.  Having not eaten in over a day and half I was downright famished.  I couldn’t wait to dig into this exotic meal he was preparing.

Chewing and chopping Kelrak, in that chilling voice of his, then says to me offhandedly.  “You are not alone.”

I give him a curious look then bristle at the words.  Not alone?  What was that supposed to mean?  Did Kelrak know of other humans down here or something?  Frustratingly he says no more.

“Ex…excuse me?”  I say, which of course he does not understand.  “What do you mean by that?”

He continues to prepare the meal with the speed and skill of a master chef, his disability did nothing to slow him down.

“Kelrak, what do you mean I am not alone.”  I touch his shoulder plate and give him a nudge.  “Tell me.”

Misreading me he takes another piece of the food and offers it to me.

“Kelrak…”  My voice fades as I realize just talking at him wasn’t going to make him understand me.  After a second I take the chunk from him.  “Thank you.”

Chapter 11