Chapter 17

I could feel the world above us descending into chaos, the distant tremors and muffled cacophony barely penetrating the depths. Here, ensconced in an eerie calm, I was utterly disconnected from the disaster wreaking havoc on the surface. The mermaid's arms were like bands of steel around me, his scales glinting like tiny mirrors against the faint light filtering down from above.
He seemed oblivious to the pandemonium that must have been unfolding over the waves. His focus was entirely on me, his gaze piercing through the veils of water between us with unsettling intensity. There was a strange comfort in his embrace, a security that defied the danger I knew lurked mere meters away.
The pressure of his body against mine was insistent, a stark contrast to the fluidity of our surroundings. It was as if the very fabric of his being had been designed to complement and challenge my own, pushing boundaries I hadn't realized were there. Despite the surreal nature of it all, there was an undeniable reality to his touch that grounded me amidst the turmoil.
Embarrassment and confusion mingled with an unexpected warmth as his penis begun thrusting me in and out slowly I could feel every inch of him as he moved inside me. The darkness surrounding us seemed to shimmer with the intensity of our connection. My body hummed with pleasure as he continued his rhythmic pace. My breaths came in short gasps, bubbles escaping to the surface, while the mermaid—Alan—tightened his embrace around my waist. His firmness brushed against me, the material of my pants a thin barrier now yielding to his persistent advance.
"So tight..." Alan's voice was a murmur in the water, vibrations humming through my ear. "Is it your first time?" The question hung between us, undeniable tension coiling within its simplicity.
His hold on my waist felt almost protective, as if he were anchoring me against the storm above and the disquiet that churned inside me. Each gentle push tested my resolve, and despite the fear, there was a part of me that didn't want to flee from the peculiar comfort he offered in this underwater sanctuary.
"Well, you will bleed a lot..." The words should have alarmed me, but they were uttered with such a serene tenderness that they felt like a caress instead of a warning. There was a soft smile in his voice, a soothing melody that resonated within the hollows of my chest. It danced through the water, wrapping around us, weaving an invisible bond that tied me to this moment, to him, despite the chaos that raged above.
The melody of his voice didn't just bewitch; it also warned. A beautiful, haunting ballad that whispered of the sea's treacherous embrace and the cost of survival. I wanted to break free from Alan, from the intoxicating yet frightening closeness. My mind screamed for escape, for air, but my body knew better. Letting go meant surrendering to the abyss, letting the water claim me as its own.
"Better?" His voice was a murmur, carried by the water to resonate deep within me.
I nodded, not trusting my voice. How could terror shift so subtly into tranquility? My thoughts grew hazy, diffusing like ink in water, and for a moment, I was content to simply be—a creature of neither land nor sea, suspended in Alan's enigmatic embrace.
But then, the world snapped back into focus, harsh and bright.
I awoke with a start, the sterile smell of antiseptic flooding my senses. The infirmary. White walls, white sheets, the incessant beep of a heart monitor—reality came crashing down, leaving the underwater realm a fading dream. My classmates hovered nearby, their faces a blend of relief and animated curiosity as they recounted what they had witnessed.
"Did you see the size of that thing?" one of them exclaimed, wide-eyed. "It was massive!"
"Like out of a movie, seriously," another chimed in. "Just crashed onto the beach, and then this guy—"
Their words washed over me, a tide of information that left me adrift. What was real? The mermaid's grip, the sense of calm surrender, or the stories spun by my classmates' vivid imaginations? They spoke of heroics and beasts, while my own memories bore the mark of myth—a mermaid's caress beneath the waves and the fleeting belief that I had belonged there.
The chatter of my classmates buzzed like a swarm of bees in my head, their words disjointed and jumbled. I tried to cling to the fragments of my own recollections—the cool embrace of the mermaid, the sensation of being pulled into an abyss where time and danger ceased to exist. But with each mention of the chaos they spoke of, certainty slipped further from my grasp.
"A giant lizard, can you believe it?" someone gasped, hands fluttering to her mouth. "It was right there, on the shore!"
My brow furrowed as I pieced together the incongruent images: the serene underwater realm versus the pandemonium described by my peers. The sharp contrast left me reeling, unable to reconcile the two worlds that seemed so disparate yet both imprinted upon my mind.
"Did you even see it before you fell in? It was insane!" another classmate pressed, leaning in close as if to scrutinize my reaction.
I shook my head slightly, confusion etching deeper grooves into my thoughts. The mermaid's touch was vivid, intimate—a memory seared into my very being, yet now it was tainted with doubt. What had been the anchor of reality in one moment became the stuff of dreams the next, leaving me to question everything I thought I knew.
Heat crept up my cheeks, a mixture of embarrassment and a strange sort of longing—for the mermaid, for clarity, for a truth that felt increasingly elusive. The more they spoke, the less I understood about what had happened beneath the waves and above them. My memories clashed with their tales, leaving me adrift in a sea of confusion, questioning what was real and what was mere fantasy.
"Mr. Alan was like something out of a comic book, you know?" The voice cut through the sterile air of the infirmary, drawing my attention back from the murky depths of my own recollections. "He just jumped in, no hesitation. It was like he didn't even care about the chaos around him."
I blinked, trying to align this new snippet of narrative with my fragmented memories. The mermaid's embrace was still tangible, the pressure and presence of another being beneath the waves—something I couldn't simply dismiss as a figment of my imagination.
"Did you see how he fought that thing?" someone else piped up, animated. "That giant lizard didn't stand a chance. Alan was like a hero out of legend."
A hero? My thoughts snagged on that word. Heroes belonged in stories, and yet here they were, painting Mr. Alan in the bold strokes of mythic savior. But where did that leave the mermaid? And what of the fiery red dragon that flickered at the edges of my memory?
"Seriously, it was like watching a movie," another classmate added, eyes wide with the thrill of the recounting. "The flames, the water—the way he moved... it was unreal."
Flames. The word resonated within me, conjuring the image of a dragon outlined against the sky, its scales a cascade of crimson and gold. Unreal, indeed. But then, wasn't a mermaid equally so? My mind reeled, caught between two impossibilities.
"Mr. Alan didn't even flinch when the fire started. It was as if he knew exactly what to do," the first voice continued, admiration lacing each syllable.
Fire. A dragon. Rescuer. The pieces jostled for position, refusing to settle into a coherent picture. Was it possible that in the throes of panic, my mind had conjured a protector in the form of a mermaid while my eyes witnessed a dragon? Could the terror of drowning have rewritten my memories, or had I truly been cradled by sea and fantasy alike?
"Are you okay?" The question came soft and concerned, pulling me back from the precipice of uncertainty.
"Fine," I murmured, though 'fine' felt like a word borrowed from someone else's vocabulary. There was nothing fine about this tangle of thoughts, this collision of what I remembered and what they claimed to be true.
"Alan is amazing, isn't he?" The admiration was palpable now, infectious in its intensity. "He saved you from that terrible fall and fought off the beast. He's a real-life hero."
Hero. Mermaid. Dragon. My mind spun, and I clutched at the sheets, seeking stability in the solid feel of cotton beneath my fingers. What was real? What was mere phantasmagoria, painted over the canvas of fear and near-death?
"Hey, you sure you're alright?" The concern was back, pressing closer.
"Y-yeah." My voice was a whisper, a thin thread of sound barely audible over the clamor of competing truths. "Just... trying to remember it all."
"Take your time," they said gently. "It's not every day you get saved by a hero."
No, I thought, it's not every day. Not every day does one see a dragon, nor find solace in the arms of a mermaid. But today... today, I had somehow glimpsed both.