I Am a Lab Project

The water seemed to get colder as I swam farther and farther away from the reef; though I didn’t notice much then. I was burning up with anger. I kicked my fin faster, trying to get away from my parents as soon as possible and my home as soon as possible.

No, I’m not swimming away from home; I’m just sneaking out. And I have every right to! I’m 16 for crustacean’s sake! I should be allowed to go to a graduation party; even if we only graduated junior year. But of course my parents were set on not letting me go. Not after they heard we would be swimming up to the surface.

What a bunch of bottom-dwellers. All my friends were going! And I would look like a complete fool if I stayed home and didn’t go. Next year I’m going to be a senior! Senior’s are supposed to be the cool ones in high school. The one’s who never do anything wrong. How am I supposed to be popular and cool if I didn’t even go to the graduation party?

I heard the music coming from Lane’s house. I started to get excited and swim faster. Lane’s house was in the middle of a great big trench, and I was just around the corner of the big slates of rock.

I could almost hear the laughing and talking coming from the party. A few more tail strokes and I would be around the slates, finally getting there and succeeding in sneaking out of my house. Maybe my friends would call me a rebel now.

Morgan the rebel!

I could see that.

Right when I was about to make the turn, something strong gripped onto the bottom of my fin and pulled me back. I suddenly panicked, thinking that it might be a few drunken mermen swimming around, trying to cause trouble.

Before I could scream a hand came over my mouth; a gloved hand.

Whoever it was, their other arm went around my waist and it pulled me tight and closer to him...or her...or who ever it is. The body felt clothed and not like the bare chest of a merman. Using all the strength I had, I flung my tail into what seemed like his torso. I heard an ‘oomph’ as he loosened his grip on me and I swam out of his reach. I turned to see what had been holding me and I was terrified by the result.

Swimming or treading a few feet from me was a person with a full bodysuit, gloves, a big metal bowl covering his face and head, and a big tank attached to his back. And the worst part was that beneath his torso was not a fin, but a pair of legs.

He was not a merman. He was a human. And I had heard enough stories in school and from my parents and friends to be terrified at that very moment.

But building up all the courage I had, I panicked, and began to swim away, trying to get all of my power into my fin to propel me around the corner and into Lane’s house, where I was no longer alone.

But before I had even swam a foot I felt a sharp pain shoot into the side of my torso. I gasped, making the water around me go into the wrong pipe down my throat. I choked and looked down at my side. Sticking in it was a dart and floating around it was my blood.

I felt myself go numb before it went black, and I started to fall, slowly, down into the depths of the ocean. But the last thing I saw and felt were two arms wrapping around me and pulling me up, before I went unconscious.