Fishwoman (Preview)

Your grandfather used to tell you, that storms took things to give to the people in the ocean. This always terrified you. People in the ocean? Why did they never come out? What were they? Your grandfather would laugh and tell you that they weren’t bad, they just liked the things we had on land. Then they paid us back with things found in the ocean. Although lately, we hadn’t been so kind to the ocean, so all they did was took.

You still think back on that often. You imagine what is under the waves and if anyone is watching you. There were rumors a few months ago about a giant shark creature walking on dry land and stealing from fisherman’s boats, but the rumors died down after the last storm.

You can’t sleep, the storm is too nerve wracking. You also want to be up in case you get any emergency calls. It isn’t safe to be outside and the thought of it scares you, but you’d do anything for your paitents. 

Luckily, there are no calls and the storm passes without much incident. You walk outside come morning, looking around with your extra strength coffee in your hand. You walk down to the beach below your house. There’s the usual seabound debris, tons of driftwood, some garbage from parts unknown, lots of dead sea life. You then come across what you assume is a strange rock. It has a shimmer to it, so you consider it for a doorstop. But when you touch it, it’s slimy and it squirms. It peeps loudly and flops over, revealing a very strange creature.

It’s back was the color of a wet stone, blue-ish gray with a hint of pinky-pearl shimmer. It’s underbelly and face were a paler blue. It’s round with tiny arms and fat legs. The hands and feet are webbed and it has thick, frilled gills on its neck. The face is chubby, big black eyes stare up at you and the mouth opens as it lets out a shrill cry. You’re not sure what to do. You don’t know what it is or if something is looking for it.

You scoop it up and it clings to you. As you old it to your chest and cuddles against you and starts peeping again. Once you get it inside you take a closer look at it. It has fins running up its back and arms. It has a tiny nub for a tail that wiggle when you touch it. 

“Poor thing,” you murmur. “What on earth are you?”

It grabs your finger and pops it into its mouth, gumming it for all its worth.

“You must be hungry,” you sigh, not sure what it would eat. You search your cabinets and pull out a can of sardines, a sliced apple, some nori strips, and a container of cold rice. “Do any of these look good?”

It goes for the sardines, ripping into them viciously. It double fists them, shoving them voraciously into their mouth. They drip with the oil but they look happy now that the contents of their stomach was full.

You chuckle and pick it up. “You’re a mess,” you say as you set them by the sink. You dampen a washcloth and wipe them clean, they don’t seem too enthused about it. They swat and hiss at the wash cloth and when you set it down they attack it. 

“Is it too rough on your skin?” You ask.

They jump into your arms, curling against you. You take them into the living room and lay down on the sofa. You haven’t slept so you are exhausted. You fall asleep without meaning to and when you wake up the little creature is gone. You look for them, searching all over, and when you do find them they’re in the kitchen and have made a massive mess. They look sick, their gills are droopy and they barely move.

“Look at this!” You huff. They ripped into the nori strips, after that they tried the apple and threw it down. They climbed into your cabinets, knocking everything over until they found the sardine cans, which they somehow opened. Oil, spilled food, flour, and sugar were everywhere. The poor thing looked like it had been dredged for deep frying.

You start a bathtub and come back for it. You set it down in the water and they flop around, seeming to feel better. 

“Now you stay put!” You scold at it. “I have to go get soap to scrub you with.” You leave the bathroom only for a moment. You get the soap an a washcloth that’s a little softer than the one before.