You cannot cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.

Delilah has always been a fan of swimming, she taught herself when she was young. Jumped into the pool and learned to swim. In middle school, she joined the swim team. She hated competing, she needs to swim to relax not to be a winner. So swimming in the ocean was not a problem, except the waves were bigger and the danger is bigger.

Never swim in the ocean at night is what they told her. Sharks are active at night, other creatures are as well. The current is stronger and the waves are bigger. You cannot see your own body, it's just pitch black.

Even though she isn't competitive she still loves a challenge. She's scared of risks, of danger. Sometimes Delilah craves it. The feel of her cutting through the water, swimming under the waves as they came until she reaches so far out she could see the waves form. Dee knows she's lucky, not many average people could make it this far out at this time. And Delilah is no professional.

She swims to her goal: the otter family. What would they do? She doesn't want them to feel threatened, scared for their babies. But she's dreamt of this moment and she needs it right now. No matter the consequences.

Dee arrives at the spot, it went silent, only the sound of the waters splashing against her. The moonlight shined through the cool water as the stars glittered over her. There was no one around, she could see a single creature. The numbness of her body, the tiredness of her arms, and the strength of her legs that keeps her afloat all this time. This was all for nothing, she floats there disappointed, a frown sort of permanent. She was sad.

Eventually, Dee felts something touch her feet, at first she thought it was the otter. Coming for her toes from below, a smile plastered of her face suddenly. She reached with her arms, trying to touch whatever was touching her. She stretched out her arms underwater, grabbing at nothing, the resistance of the water making it harder to hold her position. She became excited as she felt something go for her ankles again, but this time it felt familiar. Her hands paused in a reaching position, she thought about what touched her. About what it could possibly remind her of.

She felt it again, it felt like skin on skin contact. The rubber wet feeling of human skin against each other. Maybe it was a shark, a dolphin, or... it just couldn't possibly be human. Suddenly, as she kicking her feet, a real hand wraps its fingers around her wrist and pulls so harshly she was afraid her arm would rip from her socket. Her head sloshes through the water completely submerging her body underneath. The ripples of the seas tunneling around her as she came to a slow stop.

Floating underneath, the moon shatters across the surface of the sea, waves crashing on top. She almost glowed within all the dark blue as the light shined on her pale skin and yellow hair. The resistance of the water as she kicks keeps her remembering where she is. Far away from the surface. Dee can hold her breath for a very long time but not enough to explore and make it up in time.

Before she could begin to hurriedly swim to the top, she spots something dashing against the floor. The salt water started to burn at her eyes as she struggles to recognize the fish. A shadow racing around beneath her, the hue of its fins blending in with the dark blue sea unable to identify its color.

Delilah is running out of hair, she kicks her legs rapidly ascending to the surface of the water. Rushing to finally breathe, the itch in her throat and the pressure her chest growing. She breaks through the water gasping in air, her head whips around trying to find out where she was. Still not too far from shore, the waves crashing onto the sand, she takes a breath and dives back in.

The noise of the ocean deafens when underwater, kicking her feet rushing forward to the ground. The strength of the waves left her alone the deeper she
got. Her fingers gripped the slimy sand trying to grab any momentum she could find to pull herself closer. The burning salt numbs her eyes as she searches for the fish, looking for any transparent or deep blue fins but it was empty all around her.

She swam back up to the top before she started to run out of breath then took in a big gulp before diving back under again. Her eyes red and her endurance faded as she struggles to get back to the bottom again. Her head whips around, blonde strands floating around following her.

A wave passes over but she's not deep enough to miss it, her body tumbles with the water. She tucked in her chin and lets the waves take her a few feet until finally her bottom hit the ground. Delilah's heart racing in her chest, her hands shaking as she tries to grab onto anything stable. She begins to regret coming out so far and so deep into the dark ocean. Suddenly becoming aware of her impulsivity, she stays on alert for any deep sea creatures, looking around any sharks straying closer to the shallow waters.

The water pushes her a bit, her feet suddenly feeling weighed down - like hands holding her ankles - and she whips her head to the sensation.

That's amazing, she thought.

Before her was a boy, around her age or maybe a little older, with deep hazel eyes and dark short hair. The boy is shirtless, his pale hands holding onto her ankles tightly. Below his shirtless pale torso was a tail. A tail that a fish would have, it's long and huge. Dee is sure she couldn't manage to lift the weight of just his ocean blue. The moonlight shines onto parts of his fish tail, the blue glows magically as if he blended into the night. Into the shadows of deep below.

Dee wants to talk, wants to ask questions. She reaches her hands forwards brushing against his neck - below his jaw. He flinches, backing away and letting go of her feet. The humanoid fish stares at her, almost in shock, his pale features contorting into confusion.

Delilah needs to breath, she smiles and give him the single to wait. Excitedly - with adrenaline running through her body - she pushes off the floor with her feet torpedoing through the water and breaking the surface.

"OH MY GOD!" She screams the moment she could breath. "OH MY GOD!!" She screams again with wide eyes and heavy breathing before plunging back down.

For the fourth time, she swims as hard and fast as she can, feeling the beat of her heart thumping in her ears. She reaches the same area, Delilah searches around seeing no one. No fish or any humanoid looking creatures. Nothing.

So she goes the surface again after waiting and swims down for the fifth and last time. No one there, nothing disrupting anything. The waves and the coral acting as they were. Seaweed littering the floors. There was no merman in waiting.

.

Delilah drags her wet, salty feet in the cold sand as she walks. Disappointed that she couldn't see the humanoid fish again. It was incredible, Dee could still see his slick tail in her mind, the deep-ness of the midnight blue lingering in her thoughts. She smiled, turning around to look out at the sea. What was that? To her, it was clearly a merman. Where did he come from? How does he exist?

She is amazed, the shock running through her body as she admires the crashing waves. How long has he been there? This was groundbreaking, how could someone as simple as her find something so revolutionary. Was this the otter family? Was she pouring her thoughts out to this creature? Had he been listening?

She smiles widely, standing on her toes, she cups her hands yelling and hoping it reaches the creature. "I'm coming back! Tomorrow!" She falls back onto her heels with a thump into the sand. "Oh my god." She mumbles as she walks backwards towards her things.

The bag sitting there lonely, it was 600 feet left of where she arrived onto the shore. So she walked over still reeling from her swim, the adrenaline still tickling at her stomach and her hands shaking.

She snatched everything up, holding her things tightly against her chest. Her skin cold as she's only in a bikini, the cool ocean water sitting on her making her shiver as the first wind blew past her. Her bare feet thump against the sand as she hold her sands in on hand and her book and bags in the other. An aching smile plastered on her like molding on a house. Beautiful and lasting.

She couldn't believe her night, memories flickering around her mind. Dee grabbed her bike, stuffing her stuff into her bag and letting the sandals fall to the sidewalk with a loud slap. As she slips them on her feet, she pulls her hoodie over her head and she feel instantly comfortable. The warmth spreading through her body. Her bare legs still cold but nothing she couldn't handle.

.

"-lilah." Dee pulled her ear buds from her ears and looked up at the person calling her name. Standing there with long black hair, freshly dyed from her flaming red hair, and wearing crimson coffins nails. She's always tapping those things on everything. "Dee, whatcha doing?"

"Sorry, I was hyper focused," a nervous laugh left her lips, she was keeping last night a secret. The awkward silence sat there between them for a moment.

Mindy scuffed. "Girl, you're actin' weird." She plopped her little bum onto the bench next to Delilah. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Min." She sighs, "I mean, yeah I'll tell you later but not now. Okay?"

The redhead leans back into the bench, brown eyes gently boring into Dee. Deciding to leave it alone, Mindy shakes her head and smiles showing her whitened teeth. "Alright." She shrugs meaninglessly, "I mean I'm not against talking 'bout what's wrong with me." The sudden gaiety of Mindy's quirkiness and confidence drawing Dee away from thinking about the merman.

"Okay, what's up?" Delilah turns her body to give her friend her full attention.

"Right," she flips her silky hair, "so this random girl followed Johnny like a week ago and then she had the audacity to try to DM him everyday since." She scoffs unbelieving. "And my man is telling her that he has a girl and shit. But this girl's skull is so thick she can't process the rejection. Like what? He's fully taken!" The anger vibrating through her arms to her finger tips, Mindy felt heated.

"No way, did you say anything to her?"

"Hell yeah, I did. I told her to back off and stay in her own lane." She rolled her eyes, gripping her bag. "I just got her response after I got outta classes and she is pressed." She pulls out her phone, clicking through the screen, her nails clacking. "tell me why she sounds possessive over someone who is literally not hers."

"'It's inappropriate to talk intimately about someone on a public platform' what? That's really weird. 'a sign of abuse is public humiliation' 'I follow both of you because I am worried about the safety of Johnny' she is crazy, like the real kind of crazy, Mindy." Delilah couldn't believe her own eyes while reading the unhinged text messages between the two. The disbelief in this whole situation distracts her from last night. "You need to report this to the police as harassment. At least so you can get, like, a restraining order or something."

"That's what I've been saying, Dee!" Mindy huffs, slamming her back into the bench, hands thrown in the air giving up. "Johnny won't do anything because he feels bad. Him and his bleeding heart, we don't need this. He's finally moving forward after he just had to bury his fucking brother and now he's being stalked!"

"That just sucks." she looks down at her hands, playing at her nails gloomily. Sighing, "it's just very disrespectful of her."

"You have more gentle things to say about that bitch than I do." The anger in her voice growing increasingly intense, the tightness in her demeanor goes rigid as she bethought of the grief and pain Johnny had to endure this year.

Delilah checks the time on her military watch, "how does she even know him?" She asks as she packs away her things into her bag, ready to attend her last class of the day.

Mindy rolls her eyes heavily, she's always been a expressive person, "work." It was one word but Delilah understood perfectly.

"I'd report her to HR." Dee mumbles looking around the campus of their school. The university not that big, it's just the closest to the small town she lives in. Mindy is not from Dee's town, she from her own small middle of nowhere place not far from each other.

"Trust me, I've told Johnny this already." She's upset, she hates that she has to protect a man who wasn't taught to protect himself without violence. How is this man supposed to deal with the stalker without hurting her? Apparently it's Mindy's responsibility to teach him since his mother isn't doing a good enough job. Delilah knew exactly what her closest friend was thinking.

"I have to get to class, Min." Delilah was ready to leave, Mindy had half an hour before her next class so she did have the same urgency. "But I'll call you tonight." She promised.

"Hey," Mindy calls out to her, the blonde already walking away, "Can I get a ride after class?"

Dee hesitates, she desperately wants to visit her merman and hanging out with Mindy prevents that. She promised him that she'd be coming back there today. Looking at Mindy, her brown, thin eyes boring into me for an answer. "Yeah, sure. No problem." They'll be done in a couple of hours and she should still be able to have time to go to the beach.

With a smile and thank you from Mindy, she walks to her next class across campus barely making it in time. She sits in the back of the classroom patiently waiting for the clock to tick and for the teacher dismiss them. Delilah's skin is itching to be alone, to be alone with her merman.