*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.*
I was at my usual place. Sitting still on the edge of the pier, I dangled my legs into the water. My toes dipped into the cold saltwater. I opened my mouth and could taste the seawater on the brim of my lips.
My hands fumbled inside my bag, searching for two things: my sketch pad and my pencil.
Flipping through the pages, I came to the middle to a blank page, after dozens and dozens of the boy I had seen that day on the glass bottom boat. His sapphire eyes had looked at me knowingly, like he knew who I was. And then there was that thing that trailed behind him, where his legs should have been. A tail.
A shimmering blue and green scaly tail that glistened under the sunlight, blending with the hues of the coral reef. Something about it drew me in so deeply, I wanted to dive in with him.
My pencil gently touched the page, curving and making lines up and down the page. I wanted to draw the waves, the curls and dips in the tide.
More water tickled my feet and I giggled, kicking my legs up for a moment. I found myself drawing the same thing. Each scale was drawn so delicately, identical in shape and size. More and more scales were at the top, scattered at the hips until they increased and spread all the way down to the tip.
Another tickle graced my feet, this time more intense than the first time. It felt like someone was actually tickling me. Or attempting to. Holding my book to my chest, the water bubbled underneath me, like someone was down there. What in God’s name was—
My sketchbook, my pencil, and I were snatched into the water by two pale, skinny, wet arms. My body hit the cold water and I screamed, spitting water as I was submerged. Kicking and thrashing, I forgot about my sketchbook. Hands were still holding onto me by the wrists now, pushing me to the surface. This seemed like some twisted carnival ride, tossing me up and down until I would eventually vomit or pass out.
I gasped for air. The cold air made every bit of my body shiver, chills shooting up and down my spine. A pair of familiar blue eyes stared back at me. His messy wet hair was plastered to his head, and his skin looked like it glowed under the sunlight. He was topless, and that dimple in his right cheek looked like… wait, it couldn’t be. I was just imagining things, wasn’t I?
My eyes trailed down below the surface, where a small glowing green and blue light caught my attention. I found the source: a skinny, smooth, scaly tail that flicked under the water gently, just enough for him to stay afloat. He barely bobbed up and down. My jaw dropped in shock. It was the boy from the tour!
“I thought I recognized you from somewhere!” The boy exclaimed, still holding me up with both his hands, as he quickly realized I struggled to keep my head above the water. My legs tried to kick but it was cold. Very cold. I could no longer feel my legs. They felt as heavy as cement. Dad warned me about swimming here, and this was exactly why!
He waited, the excitement leaving his face. “You don’t remember me do you?”
“Should I?” I asked him, water nearly entering my mouth. He sighed, looking down to his tail and then back up to me. His lips quivered as his mind debated what to do next. What to say.
“I guess you shouldn’t,” he muttered, his eyes turning to the pier to make sure no one was there. My sketchbook floated next to us and I frowned. All those drawings I had made, and now they were ruined. “Sorry about your art.”
“That doesn’t matter,” I quickly spat out, shaking his arms gently. Right now, there were more important things than my own artwork. There was a boy with a fish tail holding me up in the water, whom dragged me in here in the first place. And I had no idea who this boy even was. “Who are you?”
The boy looked up to me and he let out a long sigh, the water around us seemingly going still for what seemed like eternity.
“I’m your brother. Your twin.”
