Under The Sea - You And Me

Hi ^-^ umm... This is my first ever attempt at a story, so I'm not too sure how this will play out, but I hope you'll enjoy it! Please read and review! It makes me so happy =D Thank you!

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His window looked straight out onto the sea. It stretched for miles and miles, a deep blue with white froth tingeing the edges and sparkling in the light of the setting sun. The sky was reflected upon it – the blue bleeding into pale yellow and red. It was a very calm night, the water lying as flat as a glass mirror, but there was something dangerous underneath the reassuring gentleness of the waves. Conner had always been warned to stay home on nights like this, but that night there was something different. That night, something drew him to the beach. And although he didn’t know it at the time, that night would be the last night as a human.

It was far too hot in the loft, looking out of the small window hand-made by his father. The heat was beginning to make his head spin, and he suddenly knew what would make it feel better. He had to go down to the cove and run his fingers through the salty water of the sea. He had to wade far in, or perhaps even dive right down under the water and enjoy its rushing coolness. The white-washed room began to sway around him in time to the soft sigh of the waves as they glided back and forth other the sand in deep, lazy breaths. The sea seemed to be all around him, whispering to him in a voice that ebbed like the tide.

“Conner,” it breathed into his ears. “Conner...”



“CONNER! Wake up!” Conner’s eyes snapped open from the sudden bark in his ear and he groaned, the familiar pain returning. He sat up, his tail feeling awkward and heavy in the water even though he was beginning to grow accustomed to it. “What do you want, Sadie?” he complained as he stretched his arms and let out a long yawn, the water rushing from his lips to create a tiny stream of miniature bubbles. The mermaid rolled her eyes and glided through the water to his other side, accidentally-on-purpose smacking his side lightly with her tail as she did so. “Don’t you remember? It’s the festival today! If you don’t wake up and get moving, we’re going to miss the entertainers and you know we hardly ever get to see them when they’re working!” Conner’s head was already aching, but he managed to nod. The throbbing in his temple alongside the one in his ribcage was painful, but Sadie’s somewhat hyperactive personality meant he was used to this by now.

Sadie stopped mid-rant and gave him that look. Conner glared at her in return and lowered his arms, wriggling somewhat clumsily out of his resting place - a comfortable bed of fresh green seaweed which waved gracefully as he moved away from it. “What?” he snapped. She sighed and appeared at his side with a casual flick of her tail. She adored to show off how easy swimming was for her. “You had one of those dreams again, didn’t you?” she asked quietly, her voice softer than it usually was. There was no point in lying to her. She could always tell. Conner nodded once and she sighed, ruffling his hair and making it float in the water around his head. “Don’t waste your time on such silly things. They don’t mean a thing, remember? That’s all they are, dreams.” Conner nodded, but he didn’t really agree with what she was saying. How could it be a dream when it felt so... real? He was sure he’d been there before, but when? He couldn’t remember...

He let Sadie prattle on about the entertainers they were going to see that day as he swam around in a couple of circles to awaken his muscles. It was a routine he firmly stuck by now. The first few days of learning how to swim left him with an aching body in the mornings, but that was all Conner could really remember. The first week was a total blur to him – only vague images of what happened during that time remained engraved in his memories. He suffered quite a lot – he could remember that much at least. His chest burned so much, like a band was wrapped around his lungs being pulled tighter and tighter until he was gasping and writhing on the floor. His legs ached for days on end as they grew closer and closer together, his bones cracking and changing over a period of four days. He could remember trying to swim and ending up hitting off several rocks or steering himself into several schools of fish who would dart away in terror. But other than that, there was nothing. Only the limitless expanse of the sea and his friend Sadie, who told him time and time again these memories were just silly.

When Sadie became impatient of waiting for him to warm up, she darted over and grasped his hand , tugging him towards the area where the festival would be taking place. "Come on, come on!" she whined as she urged him to hurry up. Conner rolled his eyes over her impatience, but sped up all the same. He was eager to see the entertainers himself. Perhaps they might help him forget his strange dream from that morning.



The day of the festival had dawned bright and clear. The sun casted a soft golden glow over the water, making it sparkle dimly for the people of Mer. They'd gathered in their thousands for the exciting event and the streets were already crowded by the time they arrived, which Sadie complained heavily about. "If you hadn't spent so much time sleeping, we'd have gotten a much better spot!" she nagged as they swam side-by-side, searching for a gap in the heaving crowd where they might be able to see what was going on.

Eventually they spotted a small family moving away, naively expecting their place to be kept empty whilst they went to purchase food, and the two snagged their spot eagerly and settled down to wait with the rest of them. There was a spark of excitement in the non-existent air around them - and no wonder. It was rare that such events happened, particularly when the famous western entertainers would be making a special appearance. Such exotic beauties were very rare indeed, or so Sadie had excitedly told him the day before. She'd been buzzing with excitement over it for weeks, and judging by the amount of people who'd turned up, so had a lot of others.

Conner looked around as he waited to see if he could spot any of the regular villagers. He didn't expect to see any - their town was relatively small compared to most of the underwater cities. Usually Ingo - the largest of the many towns that filled their ocean - would be the host for such events, but in the weeks leading up to the festival there were reports of human divers appearing in the area, and several had overheard them say they would be staying for quite a while. Something about unusually healthy choral or something ridiculously common for Merfolk. And so the venue was moved to the only town with enough street space to accommodate it, which just so happened to be this one.

All too soon the music began to flow through the streets, thunderously loud, working the crowds up until they were cheering and screaming in delight. Conner felt the excitement build up within him as well, overpowering the pain in his chest as he applauded alongside them. But something lingered persistently in the back of his mind as he began to watch the festivities. It was a cold, tense emotion, one he couldn't shake off.

He couldn't help but feel that despite the merriment of the day, something else was going to happen that day. Something very bad.