The Cryptozoologist: Part 2 of the Horror-quarium Miniseries

"Why are you calling me Mario, you blew it! You took me for granted and now I'm gone."

His voice always went up an octave when he was upset. It came through the phone like a tinny warble. "Milli, come on! I said I was sorry."

"Sorry doesn't it cut it. You cheated on me. I loved you."

"How many times do you want me to say I'm sorry!?"

"You can say it a million times, it won't change anything. I'm meeting a man tomorrow morning."

Silence on the other end. Then his voice, higher still: "Milli, what are you talking about?"

"I've been talking with a guy online. I'm meeting him tomorrow. You and I are through."

"Milli, be serious."

"I am being serious Mario. I'm not yours anymore."

"So you're just gonna go and be a fucking whore?!"

She shook her head, thought about hanging up, then the petty side of her decided: She wanted to rub it in.... "Maybe I will Mario. Maybe that's just what I'll do. Maybe I'll go and enjoy a real man, and smile the whole time and laugh about how I used to give it up for you. Maybe I'll even suck him off just to thank him for not being you."

"You're gross Milli. You're fucking gross!"

She laughed at him then. "I'm not a cheater, Mario. You of all people can't possibly shame me. I'm a big girl. And now because you threw us away, I'm a single girl. I can do whatever I want with whoever I want. Unlike what you did, I won't be sneaking around or hurting anybody I love."

She thought she could hear a stifled sob in the back of his throat. Hard to tell over the phone. He said, "Milli, you'll be hurting me."

She looked in the mirror and shrugged. "Like I said. I won't be hurting... anybody I love."

"Come on Mil, that's cold. Please don't do this."

"Don't do what Mario? I don't answer to you. You ended our relationship when you put your little dick in another woman. If you feel bad about all this, guess what? You should. This was our last conversation Mario, and now it's over."

As she pulled the phone away from her ear to end the call she heard his voice, frantic through the line: "Mil, my dick isn't little."

She laughed harder. "That's what you took out of everything I said? You're pathetic."

"For the love of Christ, think about what you're doing. Meeting some stranger? For sex to get back at me? That's not you. Baby, he could be a... a serial k--"

She hung up, then she blocked his number.

But part of what he had said actually struck a nerve. The truth was she didn't know anything about the aquarist, and it would be risky to meet up with a stranger just for sex. She wasn't even sure she wanted that. Or atleast, she knew she didn't want that just for revenge. The whole idea felt silly now.

She decided she'd rather work on herself for a little while, and just wasn't ready for any kind of relationship, casual or otherwise. She tapped out a quick message to PaulAquarist: "Hello friend :) I just had a... conversation with my ex. He's gone for good, but... Well after cooling down a bit and thinking it over, I don't think I'm really on the market for a hookup. Or even a relationship right now. You were very kind on these messages, so I feel bad for kind leading you on. btw I really wasn't trying to toy with you, I just didn't realize what I wanted. Forgive me? :)"

His message came back almost immediately, "Sorry to hear all that Milli.... But I understand, and there's no pressure for sex or anything. Or even anything romantic. Are you still willing to meet for coffee, as friends?"

She grinned. Was he really that nice, or was he just persistent, hoping to charm her pants off one way or the other? "I dunno. How about if I just keep you in mind, for when I'm ready to enter the dating pool again?"

She couldn't really tell if his final message was pushy or just banter: "I think you owe me a coffee Miss Milli."

"Sorry Paul, the only answer I can give you right now is no." She sent her reply and deleted the app.

And she look out the window. Cloudy. Grey. Maybe it would rain.

She wanted to make this— her first day of chosen solitude— a memorable day. But how?

She’d treat herself. Maybe to a movie? There were a few trailers she’d liked…

But the idea of sitting in a theatre felt too confining. An afternoon in the park was out too, conaidering it might rain was out of the question.

She wanted to walk around indoors, and she’d never been one for shopping malls, so the thought settled on her mind: the Sutherland Aquarium.

She’d always loved the aquarium. Watching all those fish gliding so peacefully through clear water. It was magic.

Really that was why she’d matched with PaulTheAquarist to begin with. The pics and videos he’d posted of his tanks on the dating app…. She just thought fish keeping was a beautiful hobby.

She slipped on a nice grey cardigan and some comfortable walking shoes, grabbed an umbrella just in case, then left her apartment.

Despite the clouds, she decided against driving. She hated burning fuel when she could be burning calories. And looking for parking on a weekend was always… just the worst.

The aquarium really wasn’t far away. Maybe a thirty minute walk. And she hoped the sky might hold back its torrents for that short lick of time.

***

“Selkies aren’t real you fucking doof.”

The younger man recoiled. He brushed his long dark hair away from his face. “They are real John. I believe it.”

The older man frowned. “It doesn’t matter what you believe, Jimmy. Seriously dude how would a woman fit inside a seal skin? Seals aren’t that big.”

“Some are. But maybe they just shape shift without wearing a skin. The legends could be wrong.”

John sighed. “Jimmy, look. You’re missing the point. Mythology is just that: myth! As in: not real. Give up this cryptozoology bullshit.”

Jimmy’s lip piercing quivered as he spoke. “People find live cryptids and their remains all the time. Giant squids aren’t myths anymore you know. Europeans didn’t believe in gorillas or kangaroos until a few hundred years ago. White explorers talked about them and the sheltered people back home called B.S.”

“So you’re the white explorers and I’m the sheltered people, because I’m telling you selkies aren’t real? This is the modern age, the whole world has been explored. Get a fucking grip.”

“No John, you are the one missing the point. Have you ever heard about the coelacanth?”

“Yeah, it’s just a fish.”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “It’s not just a fish. It’s a fish that everyone thought was extinct until a few decades ago! My point is anything is possible. Unless you have seen everything, you can’t rule out selkies.”

“Jesus Christ, how are we related? Magic is bullshit and the idea that a human could shape shift into— you know what? Sure yeah. Nevermind, yeah selkies are totally plausible. Bet they're real. So are fairies and werewolves, and magic spells.”

“There’s no need for sarcasm John, I’ll find one and prove it to you. I’ll prove it to everybody. Then you’ll feel like a complete dumbass.”

“Oh, you’ll find one will you? What you’re gonna see a seal and know there’s a woman inside? Or are you gonna a see woman and think there’s a seal inside. Idiot.”

“I’m not an idiot, John. When I see one I’ll just know.” He already had seen one as a kid. So he knew-- not only were they real, he knew what they looked like. He'd seen her in the waves. He knew a selkie would be very pale. Almost grey looking. She'd have sleek hair and a pointed face with a small, toothy smile. She'd also seem very sweet and innocent and kind. And graceful.

"Remember what I told you about the last time we went to the beach with mom before she left us? I've seen one. I've seen a selkie in the waves, a woman swam under the water and I never saw her come up, but I did see flippers and a dark shape. She transformed John, I'm telling you!"

John looked at his younger brother and wondered— and not unkindly— if maybe meds could help him. But then he shied away from that prospect, and shouldered that painful sort of empathy aside. And wasn’t he ashamed, but it sure was easier to cut than to heal. Especially when Jimmy was trying --once again-- to freshen the wound of their mother's passing with that whole 'she's-not-dead-maybe-she-just-ran-away' nonsense. So all he said was: “get the fuck out of my room Jimmy, no colossal morons allowed.”

"FUCK YOU JOHN!"

He slammed the door on his way out, and in his haste he wasn't even sure where 'out' ultimately meant. Out of their house, for starters. He felt the first few rain drops against his bare arms as he stormed out, along with a fierce gust of wind-- it sucked the breath right out of his chest.... For a second he thought maybe he should go back in for a jacket. But that would be too embarrassing. He had just stormed out with slamming and stomping and hollering. He couldn't meekly pop back in for the comfort of a raincoat.

So he just started walking, leaning into his anger so that it would keep him warm.

But after only a block the rain picked up and it picked heavy. He ran away from the cold splashing down his skin and huddled under the awning of a pharmacy, and there he found her, huddling too-- with a broken umbrella in her wet hands, the black folds of plastic hung limp from the frame like dead bat wings.

Her grey cardigan was soaked through.

Her hair was wet... sleek. Her eyes were grey. And her smile.... He knew it the moment he saw her smile-- she was a selkie!

***

Milli shrugged and held the ruined umbrella up like an offering, "Piece of shit?" She said it like a question but she meant it like a statement. "A wind sucked it out of my hands the the plastic tore away from the frame...."

She trailed off when she saw the way he was looking at her. It wasn't pervy or even creepy necessarily. It was just weird. He was looking at her like she was a ghost or an alien. He almost seemed afraid, and definitely in awe. Her smile melted and she raised an eyebrow, "Uh... can I help you?"

Wind threw rain droplets across them both, the awning could only do so much.

He batted wet-dark hair out of his eyes and stammered. There was a piercing on his lip. He seemed very young. "H-h-hi! Sorry, Hi! I'm... I'm Jimmy. I, uh..."

She grinned. "Okay, Jimmy. I'm Milli. Are you uh," She looked at the door she was half blocking, "here for the pharmacy. Let me get out of your way."

"No!"

The urgency in his voice took her by surprise, even though she was already on guard from meeting such a strange stranger in the rain.

"I mean, no, I'm not here for the pharmacy. I'm just trying to get out of the rain." He looked at her and when he met her eyes he felt a chill run up his spine. It wasn't a shiver from the cold. This was a selkie. He was nearly sure of it. His mouth went dry. What to do-- what to do!

She gestured at the useless umbrella and shrugged. "Me too Jimmy."

He blurted out: "Are you a good swimmer?"

Now she raised both brows. "Actually yeah I am. I used to be a life guard, believe it or not."

"Oh." he said, and he licked his lips. "Oh, I definitely believe it. I am a believer, oh yes."

The wind died down now, and the rain began to slow.

"Jimmy, you're a bit eccentric. I don't mean that as an insult. You've got some charm under all that. But uh, I've definitely never had a stranger ask whether I can swim."

She laughed, and her laugh sounded like rippling water.

Selkie! Almost for sure.

"Milli, do you like to eat... fish?"

"Uh, yeah? Any other completely bizarre questions you wanna ask me?"

He shook his head, and said: "No, that's everything I need to know."

The clouds broke and a bit of sun shone through. Almost as suddenly as it had arrived the rain storm was gone. But a darker cloud away west seemed to threaten more to come, and Milli know it was time to go.

She turned--

"Uh, wait! I'm sorry, but can we walk together? You... uh, you wouldn't mind would you?"

She shrugged. It might be overcast, but this was still broad daylight. And this kid seemed harmless. "Yeah, I'm on my way to the Sutherland. You ever been?"

"Ever been!? You kidding, it's my favorite spot in town. I have a season pass, and I uh... often sit by the outdoor tank and... watch the seals."

The way he put the emphasis on that last bit was just delightfully bizarre. She chuckled. "Well if you've got your pass maybe we can-- watch the seals-- together?"

She hoped he didn't think she was trying to hit on him, but she couldn't help teasing him a bit. And still, she wasn't getting any pervy vibes off him. He just seemed weird, but good weird.

He nodded.

And they walked.

He wondered if she was going to the aquarium to do selkie things. When she was in seal form did she maybe live at the aquarium? "Why were you going to the aquarium today Milli?"

She sighed. Usually she wasn't so forthcoming with her private life, but this stranger seemed wholesome, and she felt like maybe the cosmos had sent him for a reason. And maybe that reason was: for her to offload some baggage.

"I just found out my boyfriend was cheating on me, and we broke up. I was going to the aquarium for some alone time."

A tinge of sadness seemed to touch his eyes. He nodded. "I know how you feel. My last relationship... we broke up. I still miss him but maybe it was for the best. I dunno. I'm confused by romance."

"Maybe it was for the best like you said Jimmy. Maybe it was. You seem like a good person. Truly, and I believe in karma. Somehow things will go right for you in time."

She smiled over at him and added, "I think and I hope."

"Did you ever know a uh... a woman, named Marla Rose?"

With the emphasis on 'woman' he looked her right in the eye, unblinking.

"No I don't think so."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, fairly certain. Why?"

He breathed hard through his nostrils and sighed. "Look, if you're lying because you have to then I just want you to know: Marla was my mother. Maybe she still is. See our dad told John and me that she died. But, I think... what if she ran away."

"No, I'm real sorry Jimmy. I've never met anyone named Marla Rose. But I'm sorry for your loss, whether she passed or left, I'm truly sorry."

His eyes seemed to well with tears, and he chuckled. But it wasn't a laugh that carried any mirth. It was the saddest laugh she'd ever heard, and in that moment Milli knew her heart was broken. This poor young man. He looked in his twenties but he acted in his teens, and the pieces were falling into place. The boy had lost his mother at the worst time, and now anyone who spoke with him for more than a moment could see: how that loss had wrinkled his mind like the draped wounds of her umbrella.

She reached out and touched his shoulder. He heaved a bit, seemed to shudder. Then he let out a terrible, pitiful sob. "I miss her. You'd tell me if you'd seen her right? Please?"

"Come here." She pulled him into a tentative embrace, and felt the tension coiled in his chest. "You're okay. Why don't we go see the seals, like you like. Did your mother like looking at the seals?"

They pushed through the entrance to the aquarium. Milli didn't think this boy had the presence of mind, at least not right then, to find his season pass. So she paid fro them both as she tried to comfort him.

He nodded. Then he used his shirt to wipe the tears and snot off his face, but he didn't seem ashamed to be crying infront of her. He looked at her eyes and said, "She loved them. Always said she wished she could swim like them, and I... well I think she could. But she couldn't tell us."

"Okay then sweetie, let's go look at the seals."

They walked in silence, broken only by his weak little sniffles. The aquarium was oddly empty, maybe the rain had kept people home.

Then they made it to the outdoor enclosure for the seals. They swam and twirled through the water like flying angels. Supremely graceful, and weighted by things like sorrow and loss.

The tears were trickling from Jimmy's cheeks, he knew these seals were just seals. A selkie wouldn't stay in a big glass cage, oh no!. No selkies here... At least none in the water.

And then a desperate sort of anger seemed to bubble up in the pit of his stomach. It washed his mind clean and he felt a panicked sort of certitude: she was hiding the truth. Why wouldn't Milli just tell him the truth?

He cast her a baleful gaze. He wasn't mad at her. Not necessarily. But he was maddened by the circumstances. Why shouldn't she just come clean.

He'd laid down all the hints. Did he really have to come right out and say it?

"Milli, are you a selkie?"

She raised her eyebrow again, and the grey of her eyes gave everything away, even as her words feigned ignorance: "What's a selkie."

He laughed, and this time there was some mirth, but the laughter and the mirth, all were unburdened by reason. "Haha! I knew it! Exactly what a selkie would say! So no more hiding. No more lies. When you go swimming under the waves and play along the corals and the kelp do you ever see Marla down there?"

"Jimmy... What the hell are you talking about. Come sit down." She patted a bench overlooking the seal tank.

"No!" his voice was a shout, and it rolled across the water.

The seals below squawked in reply.

His voice rose higher, and she looked around the viewing area. No crowd... no security....

"I'm mad at her for leaving, but I'll forgive her if she tells me why. Who the fuck am I kidding. Swimming free in the water is a better life than taking care of two kids. But I miss her. I FUCKING miss her! I needed her and she never said goodbye. You need to tell her to come back and make things right!"

Milli laid a hand on his arm and soothed, "Please calm down Jimmy, I don't know--"

"CALM DOWN!? I AM CALM! But I'm STARTING to get PISSED off at YOU! Just come clean and admit you're a selkie. Admit you know where my mom is."

"What the fuck are you talking about." She tried to make her voice stern, "You need to calm down right fucking now. I'm not a selkie. I don't even know what that is."

Then he grabbed her, and his arms were hard like iron. He lifted her, said in a voice dark as coal: "I'll make you come clean."

Then with one mighty heave leapt into the enclosure with her in tow.

They fell into the clear water, and she pulled away from him and went to the side and cried for help, but he dove.

And she didn't care whether it was fate or luck, but this kid was out of his mind, swimming deeper under the water, and she was a life guard, so she made her call.

She spun around, took a deep breath, and kicked off the wall of the tank. She sliced gracefully through the water towards him. He was kicking down towards the bottom of the enclosure, it was at least 30-40 feet deep. Maybe deeper.

She pursued, and squinting in the salty water, she saw him come to rest. He was holding on to something down there to stay submerged. She knew better than to get close. It wasn't just her training, it was every fibre in her subconscious being, screaming at her: KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!

This wasn't a simple rescue. This wasn't a swimmer in distress. This was a boy who'd lost his goddamned mind, and everything about his posturing conveyed an inarticulate threat-- but no bad intentions. This threat was purely risen from a detached and insensible world view, one which didn't account for danger. He was desperate for something that only made sense to him, and he was acting dangerously. She did not feel he was trying to drown himself, nor that he'd willfully harm her. But his actions could well be harmful either way... to them both.

He was coiled at the bottom of the enclosure, like an electric eel waiting to give her a hug.

And why? A thought rocketed back and forth through her adrenaline addled mind: What is a motherfucking selkie-- what is a motherfucking selkie-- what in the FUCK is a MOTHERFUCKING SELKIE?!?

But beneath the absurdidty, there lie an inherent goodness in her. She knew she shouldn't get close. She felt it too. But she couldn't just leave this suffering kid in peril. She swam a bit closer, and pointed to the surface, gestured that he should follow her.

He shook his head, and gestured for her to come closer to him.

The seals wlere curious. They were circling around them, like swirling ghosts and streaking shadows in a shimmering marine twilight.

She should have turned around, and swam away. He might have followed. Or perhaps she should have stayed a distance until he gave up and fought for the surface of his own accord. But the rescuer in her swam forward, and grabbed his wrist. His other hand was clamped tight over a decorative anchor. She gave him a tug. He shook his head, and held himself down.

Her lungs were beginning to ache. it was time to surface. She let go his wrist, and drifted away about a foot, pointing to the surface all the while.

He reached for her, she pulled her hand back, and felt his fingers graze her wrist, she pushed water between them to create some distance. He let go the anchor. His eyes were bulging now. And the veins in his neck and forehead were full. He was fighting not to inhale. She could see it in his face. Any moment he'd lose, and start to drown.

She swam back, grabbed him full force and pushed up from the floor. But he had hooked his foot in the rope of the anchor.

A deliberate-- though psychotic-- effort to commit to this insanity? Or a true accident?

The effect was clear and dooming as a bell. They did not rise.

The shadows swam around them.

She bent to free his foot, and he grabbed the anchor with his free hand.

Deliberate then. And damning. She could not change his mind, and she hadn't the strength to overpower him. Her lungs were burning. She let him go and pushed herself away from the floor of the enclosure.

But his free hand closed around her ankle!

She spun and now felt the full weight of mortal fear. She was about to gasp for air when there was none. She was going to feel her lungs fill with water, and try to cough it back out. She was going to die. It would hurt.

It would be a suffering way to go.

And she did not want it. She brought her free heel down towards his face, and saw the blood plume blossom from his nose. But he never let go.

His eyes were painful for her to even look at. He didn't look angry, he looked betrayed. And disbelieving.

He wrapped his arms around her in a deadly hug, and she squirmed. And the shadows swarmed closer, they swirled around them both.

The seals were speed, vitality, grace, and power, and the humans were fading but desperate. The fought-- her for release, with nails and kicks and teeth if the opportunity presented.

He fought to keep her, but he didn't strike, claw, or bruise her. He merely grappled and held her, and his face twisted up in contorted grimaces of sadness.

Both were overwhelmed by exhaustion, but fighting with the last throws of their survival when the seals swept in.

No longer spectators these creatures flashed into the tumult snapping their jaws at fingers and elbows and ears, biting and tearing indiscriminately-- until the humans finally let each other go and drifted apart.

The woman kicked weakly in the direction she hoped was up. The boy clamped the anchor with his last strength, and mouthed the word, "mama" even as his eyes drifted, uncomprehending.

And an inkcloud of red-- spilled blood in the water-- followed Milli to the surface when she broke through, she gasped for air, and treaded water, panting with her lips and nose barely above the surface.

She looked around, a crowd had formed on the overlook, they were clapping. Clapping? Why in the hell were they clapping. Her head throbbed. one more second under the surface and she'd have sucked in a lung full of stale seawater. Her vision was grey around the peripheries and she felt on the verge of a transformation-- she was nearly one of the dead.

Weakly she made for the service ladder on the side of the enclosure. And someone on the deck shouted, "That's only one, the other is still down there."

And the clapping stopped. There was a child crying in the crowd up there. She hadn't the strength to climb the ladder so she merely held on, and drew shuddering breaths.

Was he okay?

***

At the bottom, Jimmy's fingers were shredded raw. The seals gnawed on his joints, and he held tight. He raised no defense against their teeth, for he thought maybe one of them might be his mother.

Then he saw the light of heaven shimmering above him and a strange, angelic form. A human seal hybrid, with feet like flippers. His mom?

His eyes went dark.

***

Then a diving mask popped up out of the center of the water, then another, and between they pulled up the form of a boy. He seemed water logged. Soggy and listless.

Dead.

Milli couldn't hear a thing, over the loudness in her heart. The loudness was a wretched sobbing that she thought might never quiet.

***

Her extraction from the enclosure was just a blur. She found herself in a hospital room-- recovering from general anesthesia. She had received stitches over lots of her body, as well as some emergecy reconstruction of several torn ligaments.

Her body was pumped full of antibiotics because of the bites.

And when the authorities questioned her about that evening she had told all she knew: she had met the boy in the rain, and they had both been so sad and lonely so they had decided to talk and walk together. She did not know why he had leapt in, but she had tried to rescue him. She had tried so hard.

And failed.

The image of him floating on the rescue board haunted her nights, even after she had recovered.

And it struck her as offensive that the news cycle had only ever listed the deceased as an unidentified male-- after all she had told them a first name, as well as his mother's first and maiden name....