Return on Investment

~ 2018 ~

I hit the cool water with a back shattering slam. I didn’t even have the good fortune to hit the rocks, to die quickly. Instead I hit a deep, blue patch of water. I couldn’t even fight against the water, my energy was gone. Not one of my limbs would move. I sunk down lower and lower, blood pooling around me, staining the water red. 

I try to hold my breath the best I can, but it’s exceedingly difficult when your body is as damaged and broken as mine now is. I look up at the rising sun, the beams of light shooting down around me, the red mist overtaking the blue waters.

I close my eyes, let my last breath out, wait for the world to seep away from me. And then… A melody hits me, even underwater as I am. A beautiful, sing-song tune, a hum, a promise of more, drifts to me. I open my eyes to see a woman, a beautiful one, face to face. She’s not human, but she’s humanoid. Long flowing black hair spreads around her in the water, behind large fins on either side of her face. She blinks, her inner eyelids going first. She opens her mouth, leans over, suckles at my chest wounds. Drinking the blood straight out of my body. I can’t do anything to stop her. I’m shocked I’m even still conscious at this point. When it seems like she's had her fill, she turns to me, a gigantic smile on her face, thin needle like teeth poking out from her mouth. She gives a cheery burst of whalesong, and grabs me tight, holding me into a deep embrace, rubbing her pearlescent cheek against mine. Her scales scratch a little. 

In shock, held close to the strange woman, I look around me. More of the creatures have filtered out of the crevices of the underwater nook. They’re swirling around, drinking in the blood that’s pooling out of me. Laughing, singing, splashing together. Their collective voices ringing out in a song that pierced into my chest, filled me somehow with both calm and desire. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, ever heard, ever felt. 

The sea-being finishes embracing me, and then starts to drag me over to an alcove. Hooks her claws into my arm, pulling me first down, then in, then through a tunnel. A shimmering, dim light shines through the surface of the water, before we crest though. The creature drags me up over the shimmering, water-worn rock, before pounding on my chest, breathing into my mouth. Is… is she giving me cpr? 

Suddenly, my senses start coming back to me. My sight stops hazing over, my limbs come back to me. I can feel how much incredible pain I’m in. I lean over, vomit what feels like gallons of water out, gasp for air. It tastes incredibly salty. I try to make it to my feet, but merely collapse back in on myself. 

The woman, spine bent over slightly, reaches down, helps me up to my feet. Nestles her head into my shoulder, helps me stand, keep my balance. She purrs happily, snuggling into me. Laps softly at the small wounds left from her claws. When she’s content with my ability to stand with her help, she starts walking. I have no choice but to move with her, lest I collapse again on the floor. 

We slowly hobble together, deep into the cave. Shimmering stalactites dropped around us, dripping gently. It was like being swallowed by a giant maw. Everything shined and sparkled. I felt like I was crawling into the heart of an angry emerald.  

“Where are we going?” The creature purred as she nestled into me, kept pulling me along the way. I sigh, breathing in a soft amount of salty, minearlated air. “Thank you for saving me.” If I was saved at all. I’m still not convinced I didn’t sink down into hell, and this was just the first step.

“You’re welcome!” I stop, nearly stumble into the ground, but she catches me on my fall. I… I genuinely didn’t expect her to talk back. She stares up at me with a cheery smile, and before I can respond at all drags me in what feels like a near sprint the rest of the way there.

We arrive at a grand, giant space. Pools of water surrounded us on all sides, many like the one we emerged out of. Low light trickled in from a crack in the wall, bathing the entire room in an ethereal sheen. It felt like a throne room, carved entirely from pearl. And at the throne, seated against a large wall, was an absolute giant. She sat, one knee up, one curled around on the floor, her arm resting on the knee and held on a large bone staff. Long dark hair, slick with water and mat to her face, pooled down to the floor. All that was visible of her face was a single, white, nearly entirely cataract eye. Her scales were black as midnight, her claws long and sharp as broadswords. She hunched over more than half her height, her spine jutted out behind her, vicious spikes popping from each vertebrae. 

“Child,” the absolute gargantuan creature spoke, long and weary strain in her voice. “You finally heard the call. How many years has it been?” 

I shifted, collapsing to my knees in front of her, no longer supported by the woman who carried me in. She slunk off to one of the pools to watch. More heads popped up from each of the bodies of water around me. 

“Finally? What do you mean? How long have you been here?” 

She laughed darkly, still barely moving from her spot. “We’ve been calling since you were a young one, child. Waiting for you to finally come upon us. Your sisters have been waiting your whole life. I have been waiting centuries.” 

I blanch, looking down, away from the giant. “You… You’re the witch, aren’t you?” 

She laughs openly, finally moving, using one of her fingers to lift my head to view her. “I see you’ve heard my story, child. Tell me, do I live up to the monster from the tale?” 

I shake, from blood loss, from exhaustion, from fear. “You asked for your entire family to be killed for no reason, and became… This.”

Her sad chuckle betrayed a smile hidden under her typhoon of hair. “Men never understand how to tell my story. They treat it like a horror story. A monster lurking under their noses. My tale is one of liberation! My husband, his brother, their steward. They had me shackled. They all used me for whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. I was a thing that existed to provide for their needs. They brought me on that boat because they couldn’t bear to see me unmolested for even a moment.” The breath died in my throat. I shivered, feeling the pulse of hatred in the slight contraction in her finger. “What I asked of the island wasn’t revenge. It was freedom. A freedom that my tormentors could never take from me again. The island never imprisoned me. It kept me safe, let me build a haven. For all the shackled women of the world. I am so happy you heard the call, child. For your own freedom. Are you ready for your desire to be fulfilled?” 

I look away, shiver. My vision is fading again, everything is a deep gray haze. “I don’t have anything to give anymore. There’s nothing left to me.” 

She laughs, deep rumbles filling the room. “That’s because you have already given everything. The island accepts your sacrifice. There’s nothing left to do but accept your new family.”

I shake, tears welling in my eyes. I don’t have any words left to me. I just nod. Slowly, she sits up, as well as she can. Reaches with her large cane, the sharp piece of bone. Lifts it up, and pierces right though my heart with it, clean to the other side of my body.

I sit there, gored, innards dripping out though my clothes, stained deep crimson at this point. Soon, the women in the water start emerging, climbing out one by one. Some come and lap up the last dregs of blood I had in me, some hold me tight, purring as the one who helped me in did. They start pulling, ripping at my flesh, gently out from the hole. They slid my clothes off my body, leaving me bare. Then started stripping my flesh off, like a baggy ill fitting suit. Sloughing off large sections of my old flesh, leaving my beautiful, smooth new form in its wake. I don’t know if it was the nerves being damaged or what they were doing to me, but I didn’t feel any pain anymore. It tingled, bubbled across me, like I was made of champaign. 

I felt new organs slide into place. One girl kissed my neck, then took a large bite out of it, chewing the sinew of the old flesh away. Kissing the new gills underneath. They caressed every inch of me that they tore, shredded any part they nestled into. They ripped my back open, breaking, resetting my spine, letting it jut out though my new flesh. Curving me over more, letting me grow into the size and shape I needed. 

The witch pulled her cane out from me, and I slump, the women surrounding me catching my fall. She beckons the one who helped me in over, and she pulls my gored, flayed heart off the end of her cane, hands it to her. She happily, greedily tucks into it, swallowing it in two hearty bites. She gives me a huge, angelic smile, walks over, kisses my forehead softly. Reaches up and tugs, tears my face off my body. It’s like she’s peeling a mask off me. I reach up, feel those same scales that are on hers, tears streaking down to my fingers. She hugs me tight, joining the other women alternately caressing and devouring me. Her soft chest presses into my equally soft one, an utterly confusing and enthralling new sensation. She leans in, nuzzling against where my ear once was. Whispering, quietly, conspiratorially. “Welcome home, sister.”

Tears stopped flowing, but my smile never faltered. I felt lighter than water, lighter than air. I smiled wider than I ever could before, and it wasn’t enough to show all the joy that welled within me. Warmth radiated into me, from the love I received, from all the bodies huddled up against me. Finally, I found where I belonged.

CassieSandwich

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