The Mer King - excerpt

“Aidan! Aidaaaan!!” I screamed, while doing my best to somehow stay above water. The waves crashing around me were high enough to have drawn me from our little boat. I sputtered. “Aid…” coughing, I managed to come up again. Before I could open my mouth for another attempt to scream for him, I was pulled under once more. Kicking and splashing wildly, I hastily drew another breath. How long would I be able to hold up? Where was the boat? I tried to look around, searching, but it was so dark that I could barely see my own hands.

“Help! Help m…!” Another scream drowned in water. The waves threw me around like I was nothing but a piece of drift wood, crest after crest crashing and churning against the rocks that couldn’t have been far away. The wind stormed angrily, pushing the dense rain that pelted me from above into all my orifices, so that every breath I managed felt like it was made of water.

Thunder rolled off the waves, followed by lightning so bright that the darkness after it seemed even more oppressive. Hostile. Bringing with it more rain and the outline of something.

Thrashing wildly, I managed to hold myself afloat for a short period of time, honing in on the something. Was that a silhouette? Over there? Our boat? In a last ditch attempt fueled by desperation I swam towards the barely visible form. Wave after wave I braced, but it felt like the wind, the rain and the ocean were joining forces to keep me away from the little black outline dancing just in front of me. The more I struggled, the more I became aware of the cold. The colder I was, the more difficult it was to continue struggling.

But I couldn’t just give up now! I needed to stay strong, for him - my first love, the only person who had really seen me, my fiancé, my Ai…

Something snatched at my trousers. A shark?

Screaming, I tried to shake myself loose, but I couldn’t. Instead, the hold on my jeans seemed to tighten. It pulled me under, slowly but steadily. I panicked. How could this happen? We had wanted to celebrate our betrothing with a short cruise, just the two of us. It had been such a beautiful, sunny day, full of love and laughter and promises. Then the wind came and the world had gone mad within just a few moments.

The drag continued. I tried to take long, deep breaths. What to do, what to do? Come on, girl, think dammit! I wrestled with my fastener, at the same time trying to stay up. There! Free!

With my trousers gone, I continued to get closer to the dark shape. “I’m nearly there,” I sputtered, I was so close, so close!

The sudden grip around my ankle was tight, like a vice. I screeched, twisting and turning. It pulled me under, forcefully, mercilessly, into the blue-ish black darkness of the ocean. I trashed and writhed, but I kept going further down. My life flashed in front of my mind. Every single moment, good and bad.

Air, I needed air! In my desperation, I breathed water. My eyes started to haze. I stopped struggling. This was it. I would die, on the day that was supposed to be one of the happiest in my life. I will miss you, Aidan. I love you. Please be safe. Please…

Suddenly, a face. Hands framing my face, my vision. A voice inside my head, around me, whispering, laughing darkly: “You will do nicely.” The face pressed its lips against mine. Forced my mouth open. Something moved inside of me.

Burning.

Hot.

Searing.