The Depths

Gale shuffled onto the dock, ambling until he ran out of wooden planks to stare at and his downcast gaze met open water. He paused, the salty breeze ruffling his clothes. With a long-suffering sigh, he lowered himself to settle onto the edge with his feet dangling over the dark water. The ginger couldn’t see more than a few inches down, it was eerie and more than a bit off-putting, his mind creating disturbing images of what could be lurking in its depths.

Regardless of how his animal brain insisted that he lift his legs onto the relative safety of the dock, he ignored the instinct and focused on the more pressing issue. His tears dripped into the water, creating small ripples. Gale scrubbed his soft cotton sleeve over his face to no avail, they just refused to stop. He huffed a laugh, the breathy sound holding a hysterical edge.

The ginger didn’t even understand why he was so upset, he had seen it coming for a long time. He wasn’t so much surprised as he was disappointed that he was right about James, Gale had walked in on the bastard in the bathroom. James was with a girl, had her pressed up against the wall as he growled sultry promises in her ear as she giggled. The ginger vaguely remembered swinging at the bastard before storming out, unsure of where he was going other than just away.

He debated how he would go about breaking up with James. The man never took rejection of any kind well, whether it be about Gale not being comfortable with certain bedroom activities or the ginger merely disagreeing about where they should go for their date. It didn’t matter what the topic was, if Gale tried to tell him no, he always threw a tantrum and lashed out. The first and only time that James had back-handed him, Gale had broken the fucker’s nose.

The incident should’ve been the moment that the ginger broke it off, but James had been beside himself at his own actions and had apologized profusely. James had never raised a hand to him again, but he suspected that it was more out of fear than anything remotely healthy. But that didn’t mean that the man wasn’t an absolute bastard in other aspects of their relationship, James had slowly but surely worked to completely isolate Gale.

It had gotten to the point where the moron tried to limit the time the ginger spent with his own flesh and blood brother, which was a grave mistake on James' part. The pieces of the puzzle had come together quickly after that, Gale realizing what the asshole was trying to do. In retaliation, the ginger started talking to his friends again, meeting up with one of them at least three times a week and making sure to call them to check in every few days.

James was enraged, accusing him of cheating and just generally being a fucking tool. Now, that should have been the ultimate sign to kick his boyfriend to the curb...but no. The ginger’s masochistic heart just had to give him one more chance, which led Gale directly to this pivotal moment where he finally decided that enough was enough. He was done with James’ double-edged words and superiority complex, the ginger had given loving the man -despite the bad- his best effort.

Gale sniffled as he squinted down at the lapping waves, listening to the wind whistling as the cold sea hit the rocks, spraying him with droplets of salty water, breaking him out of his self pity session. A splash had the ginger’s head snapping up, brows furrowed as he swiftly wiped his eyes before scanning the open water for the source of the disturbance. As expected, he found nothing. It was probably just a fish anyway, or maybe even a shark.

There had been some sightings in the area as of late.

Even some fatal attacks in the news and many missing persons were any indication. Though, he was pretty sure that he was okay where he was since most of the disappearances were reported to have been about two miles from his hiding spot. He kicked his legs a little, trying to calm himself by humming quietly under his breath. Though, his voice sounded way too loud, so he stopped. That's when he noticed how quiet and still the area was, the wind had stopped and there was no sign of life.

It was unnatural.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled when he saw something move among the dark waters, the ginger rubbed at his watery eyes in order to get a better look at what animal could be cutting through the water. His brown eyes raked across the otherwise undisturbed surface, but he saw nothing. It was only a couple minutes later that he heard the splash again, only mere yards from where he was sitting on the edge of the dock, his feet lazily dangling in the water.

That's when he saw the fin. It was huge and had spines like an angler fish, the fine membrane so pale that it was almost transparent. Whatever the fin was attached to looked humanoid, but it moved very strangely in the water. It's swimming was reminiscent of a snake, the bulky shape swaying side to side as it easily cut through the murky waves.

The eerie movement stopped again but this time Gale saw the face of a woman breach the surface, her wet black hair clinging to her thin, pale face. Her eyes were the most beautiful blue that he’d ever seen, her gaze seeming to freeze him in place. His limbs refused to respond when he tried to pull his legs out of the water, ignoring the animal part of his brain that told him to run.

When she went under again, he got a glimpse of a huge, iridescent tail flicking out before disappearing from view. When he lost sight of it for the last time, he felt an impending sense of dread, his gaze darting across the still surface to try and gauge where the creature would come up next, since eyes seemed to be the only thing responding to his brain’s desperate signals to escape. Gale saw the water beneath his feet ripple suspiciously and his lungs seized.

The creature rose out of the water, her cold hands wrapping around his ankles like iron shackles, her curtain of hair parting to reveal one of her unnaturally bright eyes. She paused a moment, her grip flexing on his feet before she gave him a wide grin, showing off her hundreds of needle-like teeth. Then she suddenly dove back under, her grip on Gale’s ankles causing him to be dragged into the water as well. He managed to take a deep breath before the inky liquid closed in around him, the temperature of the sea like a shock to his system.

The world blended into a mess of vague colors as he was pulled along behind the powerful creature. He had to only have been under for about a minute before Gale was lurching out of the pool. The ginger was weightless for a short moment before his ass hit rock, his body rolling into the rough landing until his back hit a damp wall and he stopped. He grunted out a curse at the abrupt stop, jolting when heard something metal hit the ground somewhere behind him.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to investigate before the siren launched itself at him with a hungry hiss. His panic took a hold of him and he kicked out, getting lucky when he caught the woman in the gut. The air in her lungs coming out in a wet snarl, the scent of iron and decay heavy on her breath as she pushed into his space a second time. He lashed out once again, crying out as her nails raked across his calves, leaving stinging gashes in their wake.

The next time she came at him, he wound up before landing a heavy kick right into the side of her head. Apparently deeming him too difficult of a meal for the moment, she sank down into the water and out of view, but Gale doubted that it would be the last that he saw of her. With danger out of the way for the moment, he decided to better search his surroundings for something to maybe use as a weapon in order to defend himself.

He was surrounded by wet, ragged rocks and the only way out of the makeshift cave seemed to be the large pool of water that he’d come in through. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure how deep he was or how far away from the docks that the woman had dragged him. Gale had been brought to the creature's den, as evidenced by how every inch of the underwater cave was covered in precious gems, metals, and antiques.

He had been deposited in the middle of a treasure hoard.

He recalled the faint sound of metal hitting the ground and his brown eyes searched for the culprit, ignoring how his legs burned from the salt water drenching his clothing. His gaze screeched to a halt on a glint of light to his right and his wide eyes locked onto a circular silver platter. It was around a foot and a half wide with a sharp, flat edge. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Gale saw the water ripple and made a mad dash for the makeshift weapon, reaching it just as the siren leapt out of the water.

He managed to get the platter up in front of him just in time to have the creature slam up against it, her deadly nails scrabbling across the shiny metal. The ginger shoved the siren back, swinging the tray to catch her face with the flat side. Her answering shriek made his eardrums vibrate, and she used the momentary distraction to catch him in the side with her razor sharp claws. When she lunged at him, he brought the silver platter up, the edge facing her as she bodily slammed into him.

The massive form above him went still and he felt something wet drip onto his closed eyelids, prompting the ginger to peek an eye open. The first thing he saw was his hands, the appendages had deep cuts across each palm from where the tray had been shoved back into his hands. His eyes moved past his damaged limbs and up at the twisted up face of his would-be killer. The creature had the other edge of the platter jammed deep into her throat, blue blood pouring out around the metal in her neck.

Gale managed to push against the weight until the woman hit the ground next to him, allowing him to fully inflate his lungs. He laid down on the rock next to the dead carcass of the creature and just focused on breathing. He allowed himself a few moments to process what had happened and what exactly he’d just managed to survive before sitting up and running his fingers across the cave walls to double-check for an exit.

When he found nothing, his breathing became quicker, the fear of being trapped down there until he succumbed to either dehydration or hypothermia kicking in. Gage began to scream for help but his voice merely echoed back at him, as if mocking him for thinking that such a thing would work. Alas, he just kept screaming until his throat was sore and scratchy. No response ever came and Gale came to realize that he was well and truly alone. He could feel the cold seep into his bones, death’s touch mere inches away from his chilled skin.

It was only a matter of time.