Submerged in Water

"Emele, I've seen you swim before... I know how good you are." Aubrey protested as I pulled her out into the river at four in the morning.

"It's not just that any more." I told her. "It's different... I'm changing."

"How?"

"You'll see." I sped up my pace so that we reached the river in five minutes.

I stripped out of my pyjamas but left on my under garments as a courtesy gesture for Aubrey. I walked into the river until I was waist deep and then I turned around to stare at her. She was on the edge of the river watching me. She rubbed her arms up and down and glanced in both directions to see if anyone was watching.

She was cold.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Just... stay there." I told her, while closing my eyes. "Just watch."

I breathed in deeply, focusing my thoughts on the water around me. The sounds of it crashing against the rock, the feel of the water on every inch of my skin. The same thing happened. The same feeling that came when I was at the cove. I felt like I had another arm or a leg that reached out from my head, or was it my chest? I didn't know, but when I opened my eyes. I felt it.

I waved my hand above the water and it raised to meet against my palm. I slowly arose from the water, bringing it with me in my wake. I felt it circle me and surround me until it started to span above my head and move with my breathing. It would flow away from me with my breath and then come and touch my skin when I breathed in.

I looked at Aubrey to see her reaction.

"Oh. My. God." I heard her breathe but not much else.

She didn't look cold any more, but instead she was rigid as she watched me play with the water and control it. How I was controlling it? I didn't know. It felt like an extension of me. Like it was there all along, I just didn't know how to use it.

"Emele?" She questioned, like she couldn't believe it was even me.

"It's okay." I assured her. "Don't freak out."

"How are... what?" Her words were disconnected and I had to giggle.

"I'm half-fish remember?" I breathed in again, revelling in the power of it all.

I wasn't just using a little bit of water either. I must've been raising a few gallons above my head and with ease. It was strange, but I had this feeling like I could've done this before but I was afraid of what it could mean if I did. I felt like maybe I was distancing myself from this all along and that's how I was so easily able to do it now.

I let the water flop back into the flow of the river again and I took the last few steps until I was out of the river and standing in front of Aubrey. She seemed shocked, but other than that, there was something different in her eyes.

She was seeing me for the first time.

"So..." She began. "Can you like... control it or is that all you can do?"

I smiled. I was so glad she asked.

Bracing myself for what I had been practising, I let my hands wander out in front of me until I had grabbed a hold of whatever it was that I touched when I controlled the water.

I raised a large amount of water and flung it at one of the trees that were close to the bank of water. I wrapped it around the trunk like a whip. Then, I let it collapse back into the soil and sand that was below it. I still had a firm grip on it though, so I pulled it back out of the ground and brought it back to the river and then let it fall down again. The hardest part was always throwing it farther away from me, it seemed the farther away the water went, the less control over it I had.

"Holy shit." She whispered. "My weird little sister is a mutant."

"A mutant?" I asked, puzzled, while turning to stare at her.

"Yeah, like in x-men. You're like a superhero."

I frowned, not because she was wrong but because she was right. "I am?"

She caught my frown. "It's a good thing, Emele. Think about it. Not everyone can say they can control water."

"I know, it's just..."

"You're worried that you're going to be a freak?"

"Actually... no." I sighed and walked over to the water to touch it again. This time with just my hand. "I'm talking about the... superhero comment."

"Oh?"

"I don't feel very heroic, Aubrey. What am I going to do? Water people to death?"

"Oh I see." She came up behind me and wrapped her arm around me. "You're scared that when the time comes for you to use your... ability, it's still going to be useless."

"Yeah... I guess. I mean, I'm still not very good at it yet and..."

"That's why you practice!" She encouraged me. "You have to tell Mom and Dad."

"Maybe I shouldn't..." I took a deep breath. "What if it just freaks them out and then they try to get me tested or ship me off somewhere? I'm weird enough as it is already."

"You don't give them enough credit." She argued.

I considered it. "How about... we keep it a secret for a bit. If things get out of hand then we can tell them."

Aubrey sighed. "It's your secret to tell but I can't stay out of it." She shrugged. "It's not like you're sneaking out every night to go see a boy. This is different. Dangerous. You tell me everything. Got it? I need to know what's happening at all times. Okay? If anything happens, I don't mind taking the fall for it but we need to be honest."

"Okay."

She stood up. "Hey, by the way..."

"Yeah?"

"Want to join the swim team?"

I laughed. I knew she was going to ask.