Under The Sea Romance

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Chapter 4 – What Was Missing

The evening passed by quickly. With a short glance outside the cave I could see darkness consuming the outer legions of the ocean. Logan looked tired. I’m sure he wasn’t used to such activity, either.

I watched him roll over slightly and pull out a long, green mat. It was woven together in uneven patterns and looked to be some sort of plant. Wide enough to fit two people snugly together, it served its purpose. I thought it looked quite uncomfortable, but figured it was probably the best method of comfort a person--a mer-person could find underwater. He glanced at me and spread it out beside him.

“I’m going to go relieve myself. I’ll be back shortly,” He said, honey eyes locked onto mine before he floated up and out of the cave with a swish of his tail.

I felt suddenly lonely in the small cave. The sea lights had curled up slightly and oddly seemed to be sleeping, themselves. I looked around the dimly lit cave and noted the intricate, time consuming drawings on the wall. They seemed to be made with some sort of dye. While he had been no artist, it was clear what the drawings were. Some were simply pictures of mer-people, some of sharks, and off to the side was a series of long slash marks meant to keep a time record.

Various rocks had been carved into bowls, which he kept at the edge of the cave. I glanced outside briefly, before moving to sneak a peak into the closest of the misshapen bowls. Inside I found fresh plants of many assortments, as well as necklaces, beads, coins, and some sharper rocks.

Indeed, Logan was back shortly, “I’m going to sleep. I’m exhausted.”

I only nodded.

“We’ll make you another mat soon, but for now I guess you can just lay down by me. I had to lay on this cold rock for months before I figured out that I could weave the leaves together. They’re tough—underwater tough that is,” He said through a stifled yawn.

I said nothing for a moment, “Where?”

His eyes were already closed and he slowly opened them and placed his palm down on his mat, directly next to him, “Right here…it will be cold tonight.”

Both of my blonde eyebrows raised and I stared at him, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Where else do you plan on sleeping?” He asked, closing his eyes again and folding his tail against his bottom to retain warmth.

Good question.

Finally, after a bit of reluctance, I laid down next to him. I could feel the heat radiating off his body and even at inches apart, it was the warmest I had been in days. The ocean was a cold, dark place.

Logan fell asleep quickly. I could see the water rippling through his dark red hair and then in and out of his gills as he took in long, even breaths. I felt safer in the cave. It was truly a dwelling and just knowing someone else was close by was promising. The small amount of light in the cave took away my fear of the darkness and after a bit of stalling, I too fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning—I guessed it was morning—Logan was gone. I bolted up instantly, fearing the worst. He may have been a stranger, but he was all I had. I balanced on the palm of my hands and guessed he had been gone for a while. My fingers grazed the bottom of the cave as I swam outside and looked around. It was light again and I could see fairly clearly.

Logan wasn’t hard to spot with such a reflecting tale as he had. I spotted him not too far away. He had some kind of spear and was on the prowl for fish. I paused at the doorway of the cave and watched him sneak up on a large, brightly colored fish. Logan was agile and fast. The fish had it coming, I had to admit. I figured Logan had much practice hunting, but it was pretty remarkable to me, or perhaps it was because I hadn’t eaten decently in a week. Yet, even Logan seemed impressed with his catch.

He must have finally spotted me looking there and he broke out into a grin, “Look at this thing, Raven! It may not sound that appealing, but this is like an underwater delicacy!”

Logan leisurely swam a bit closer to me, the dead fish still on the end of his spear.

“It’s not the kind of fishing I remember,” I muttered.

He laughed, showing off a bright smile and carefree attitude.

“At least I hadn’t tried to spear you with my weapon,” He announced and waved the spear around a bit, “How’s the shoulder?”

I gingerly touched the sore area of my arm. The arrow had only shallowly bruised the skin, because the impact had been from a long distance. However, it was still sore and sort of itched.

“Better I suppose,” I said and felt my stomach growl.

“Good!” He said, moving past me and towards the cave.

Instead of going inside, like I had imagined he would, he went around towards a flat rock near the ocean floor and below the cave. I noticed his odd shaped bowls full of all sorts of sharp, flat rocks and I realized this is where he prepared his meat. He plopped himself down on the rock and began to skin the big fish.

I’d never seen a fish so large. It was about a foot and a half long and a dull shade of orange. I briefly thought it was like eating my mom’s tiny goldfish she keeps in an aquarium in the house. Not exactly a good thought.

With Logan quickly preparing his fish and making small talk with me, I felt out of place. But who wouldn’t feel out of place in this situation? I had a sudden urge to go hunting with him. It looked rather fun. I could imagine using one of the long spears and sneaking up on some big fish. I’m sure it was harder than it looked, though.

“What do you do all day?” I asked out of the blue after settling down next to him and watching him cut the meat out of the fish and put it in a bowl, “And doesn’t eating raw fish make you sick?”

I saw a smile tugging in the corner of his mouth, “All there is to eat are plants and fish. I was sick at first, but my body was forced to get used to it. It’s good protein.”

To emphasize his point, he shucked a generous helping of whitish, grayish raw fish and shoved it in his mouth. I made a disgruntled face and he grinned.

“You can’t just live on plants, you know,” He said with one eyebrow cocked.

I shrugged slightly, “I never enjoyed fish.”

He continued to cut the head off of the fish and shave the scales off with a shaped rock.

“For your other question, there’s not much to do around here. Usually I sit around or hunt. Once in a while I go exploring. There’s a shipwreck a few miles that way,” He said pointing off in one direction, “But I’ve been there a million times.”

“A ship wreck?” I asked, “Are you serious?”

“Huh? Yep,” He said and nodded, chewing on another piece of fish, “I’ll take you there later. It’s pretty neat if you’ve never been there before. I have a few souvenirs from my trips.”

“Did you get the coins from it?”

He nodded, “The coins and a mirror and some broken dishes—a bunch of really odd things. I think it was a ship from the revolutionary war period. Most of the stuff is broken up or nonexistent anymore.”

“I’d like to see it,” I said and pondered for a moment, “How far out have you swam? Do you know a lot about what’s out there?”

He paused and looked at me, “I’ve been out for miles. In the beginning, before my cave was set up, I just wandered around. I tried to find land, but hell…we’re in the middle of the ocean. I knew that from when I was transported on the ship. Even if I had found land, what was I going to do? I’d probably get caught, poked at, gawked at, and then put in the circus. Plus I can’t breathe out of water, so I’d probably be dead, too.”

I felt an undertone of bitterness in his words, “Have you lost hope?”

“Hope of what?”

I shook my head at him in disbelief, “Of…of being free—finding your family again?”

He only shrugged, “I’m a bit of a loner myself. I was never close to my family. Mom was never very nurturing and Dad…well, Dad and I just didn’t get along. I don’t have siblings and I was living on my own when I was kidnapped.”

“Are you comparing this to your life before?” I asked, a bit stunned.

I didn’t understand what he was saying. The only thing I was getting out of the conversation is that he really didn’t care one way or the other how he lived his life. The impression I received from him was that he didn’t have much to live for before, so now, he was just continuing that tradition.

“Raven, I’ve been down here for months. Hope of finding help, let alone my family, is long gone,” He released a few air bubbles and looked away from me, “I don’t want to be negative. I hate negative people, but this is it now. This is what we will have.”