The Deep

The door almost slammed on my hand as I got out of the white van. 

"Glad I didn't grab the camera yet." I muttered under my breath, using my hand to shield my eyes. The wind kicked up every now and then, making the salty ocean air sting my face. 

I was parked next to a rocky inlet off of the Atlantic ocean, on the outskirts of Maine, watching my younger sister take photographs of the area. 

"I think a storm's coming... and I think Stephen King wrote this place into existence," she shouted at me, balanced precariously on a rock cliff. I rolled my eyes at her.

"You wanted to come here, and you were too impatient to wait. I kept telling you that a storm was supposed to hit this area, but noooo... rumors of mermaids and you're off like a shot."

She sneered at me," Well, what if the storm scares her off? I couldn't take the risk."

"You're going to get me killed chasing something that doesn't exist."

"You always say that." she jumped off the rock and scampered to another area down the way, leaving me to unload the van.

She was right though. I did always say that. We were the O'Leary siblings, the brother and sister cryptozoological team. We've investigated everything from the jersey devil to mothman.... and I think it's all a sham. But hey, it pays well. People like the be entertained, and my sister is enough of a believer to sell everybody on what we were doing.

Not that I don't take my investigations seriously, it just always proves to be a rational, scientific explanation behind everything reported. People have some really bad memories, and they incorporate descriptions of things they've seen on tv and in the movies in their eyewitness reports without even realizing it. 

I was fiddling with the camera when I could hear a shout of surprise. The roar of the ocean blurred out the words, but I definitely knew the voice.

"Callie?!" I shouted, and waited for a response. Nothing but the sound of the waves hitting the rocks. Goddammit, if she fell... 

I put the camera down and jogged down the path she went, looking for any sign of her exact location. 

"Callie! This had better not be a joke! Cos it's not funny!"

I could just pictured her crouched somewhere in the weeds, trying not to giggle too loudly. Brat. I started to get angry, and worried at thee same time.

I stopped by a ledge, out of breath in the brisk cold and leaned my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

Taking a deep breath, my eyes scanned the path ahead. Something red stood out amongst the weeds. Upon investigation, I  stood over Callie's red converse shoes, looking to be discarded in haste.

Then I remembered. She had worn her wetsuit underneath her clothes today. It was why we were running late this morning to get on the road. She had insisted, in case she needed to "explore the mermaid's habitat quickly."

I narrowed my eyes, quickly finding a barely visible trail that led down to the water.

"Callie. I swear to god. Just running off, without a care to the rest of the world. What if you drown?"

I stomped my way down the path to the water's edge, intent on scolding her as soon as I saw her.

"Callie? Hey, Callie!" No answer. And not a soul to be seen. Damn.

I scanned the water in the fading light, looking for any sign, any bubbles, anything... to indicate where my sister had gone. To my right was a little cove area, my angle on the beach obscuring my view inside it.

I started toward it, climbing on the slippery rocks to find a better vantage point. Light was fading fast. One rock was particularly sharp and sliced my palm open.

"Fuck!" I shouted, cupping my injured hand with the other. My eyes followed the blood, dripping off my wrist and down into the water. The droplets landed on something light colored. 

Callie's hair.

I jumped into the water without thinking, landing on an unseen ledge in the water, jarring my knees. The waves were only at waist height here.

I turned to my left and saw my sister floating face down, her foot caught on a rock,  preventing her from floating free. 

I panicked and flipped her face up, cradling her body in my arms. 

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, Callie, can you hear me?" I shook her lightly, and adjusted my hold on her so that I had a free hand to slap her cheek a bit.     

There was no response and she was cold as the water around me. 

I started to move forward to get both of us out, but she seemed stuck tight. Her foot.

I let her float, and went to the rock to free her from it. Her foot wouldn't budge. I leaned in closer to her ankle and that's when I noticed the moss covered rope tied around her foot to a thin edge of the rock. 

Like somebody moored a boat. Except it was my sister. 

I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded.

I felt a small tug at my injured hand at that moment, like a pair of lips suckling gently at the wound.    

Surprised, I let out a cry and flung my arm above my head, pushing myself back to the edge of the underwater ledge. 

The thing raised itself out of the water slowly. It had grey skin, and resembled a skeletal human with something like gills flexing on its chestal area. It cocked its head slowly, blinking wide round black eyes above sharp cheekbones and a puffy mouth. Its kelp colored stringy hair fell to one side as it brought its bony arms up to its chest. The hands ended in webbed, sharp, claw-like appendages.  

It was studying me. I was frozen to the spot with fear, and no longer felt the cold. I think shock was setting in.

It righted its head and smiled, showing jagged teeth pointing in every direction before it lashed out a hand and severed the rope holding my sister's foot. It wrapped the rope around its wrist and before I could react, dove below the water, dragging Callie underneath with it.

I climbed out of that water as fast as I could and ran back to the van.

Mermaids were real. And they killed my sister.