I swore. This was ridiculous! Dad was dead, my life was in an uproar and to top it off, they were treating me like I was a child. Huge secrets were being kept from me and I’d had it. I felt like I was in a fairy tale. I dipped a toe into the water and watched the ripples radiate outward until they disappeared. Sighing, I stood to go back to my room and then screamed in agony. A sharp pain drove down through both of my legs into my feet, taking my breath away. I grabbed my thighs, feeling faint from the pain and when a second wave of intense fire convulsed through my legs, I collapsed into the pool.
I tried to fight my way to the surface, but it was as if my legs were paralyzed. I needed to breathe. I tried, but I coughed and sucked in water. Fear gripped me. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, until my feet touched the bottom and I began to feel sleepy and relaxed. Then, strong hands gripped my arm and I was lifted up through the water at an incredible speed. Darkness overtook me, and I drifted away with it.
Dreams are funny things. Sometimes, I think they’ve got some great meaning, and other times they’re so weird the only thing they prove is you’ve got one heck of an imagination. I had to be dreaming. Are you supposed to think that when you’re dreaming?
I was standing at the edge of the steps that led into the sea. The water was beautifully clear. The sandy ocean floor was littered with sea cucumbers and starfish a good eight feet below the surface. The seawater felt like bathwater and I bent to touch the surface with my fingertips. A shadow passed over the sand and I was gazing into the face of an angel.
An impossibly handsome man appeared, suspended in the water, looking up at me. There was something so familiar about him, but I couldn’t place him. Then I realized this was the man who’d appeared to me once in a while in my dreams as a child.
His short black hair framed his angular, tanned face and his deep blue eyes pierced my heart. A rush of emotions overtook me and I fell instantly in love. I think it was love. I’ve never been in love before, but this seemed like what I’d always read.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt. My eyes greedily took in his beautifully toned chest and arms. He had a swimmer’s body. I could see his abs contract as he breathed. Breathed? Dare I look lower? I did. Yes, this was most definitely a dream. Just below his hip bones his muscle led to blue - a blue tail. No legs, just a dark blue fishtail. He was a merman.
I didn’t care. I wasn’t even surprised. He cocked his head to one side and continued to watch me. I didn’t dare look away - afraid if I did, he’d disappear. He reached up with his hand and about a foot below my outstretched fingers, stopped. Clearly, this was my move. I reached into the water and put my hand in his. Gently, his hand surrounded mine and he drew me into the water with him.
I felt safe and warm, as if the water wasn’t there, but we were instead floating in the air. His placed his other arm on the small of my back and pulled me in close to him. My heart racing, I held onto his arms, feeling the strength in them. Intense energy and power radiated from him, enveloping me. He held me close and time seemed to stop.
“Morgan,” he said softly, in more of a realization than anything else. I had an overwhelming urge to kiss him, to melt into his embrace and leave everything behind to be with him. Those deep blue eyes searched my face and he lightly ran a finger down the bridge of my nose. It sent shivers down my spine.
“Thayde,” I said, as if I knew him. I did know him. It was as if I’d always known him. He smiled and then pulled away from me.
“We’ll be together soon,” he said and slowly disappeared, melting into the water.
“No!” I started to swim to him but he was gone. “Come back!” I called, reaching into nothingness. A white pilot whale appeared and began pushing me to the surface, back to the steps. I had no clue why, until my air ran out and I started to cough as water tried to force its way into my lungs. The pretty whale gently flipped me out of the water with its snout and the second I hit the top step, I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
“Come on, Morgan!” I heard shouting and again, another sharp pain. “Breathe! Snap out of it!”
I didn’t want to. I liked being in my dream and I wanted to find Thayde. Then I was slapped across the face. I opened my eyes to see who’d done it.
Tammer. Mom was holding my hand and Tammer was kneeling over me, an angry look on his face. Anger turned to relief when I responded.
“Thank God!” He cried and helped me sit.
“What happened?” Mom asked, wrapping her arms around me in an embrace.
“My legs,” I began and looked down at them. They were fine. I could move them. “They hurt so bad!”