III
The air never seemed to come. The words half formed, already breathless, froze in her throat as ice water flooded through. Thoughts failed her, nothing made sense, only dark, danger, scream. She screamed. To the left of her a sharp singing laughed.
Things flashed in the dark. Strange things like seaweed, the reeds that caught and snagged at your feet while swimming, just reeds, nothing to fear, but these things weren't reeds, and Marlene was cold and afraid.
She was twisted, turned, pulled and pushed. Drowned, she realised, something grabbing and gripping her, cold numbing her skin to the point she didn't realise.
The singing never stopped, but it did change in tone, shrieking more than laughing, challenging, less triumphant. Her eyes squeezed tight, the air was running out, the cold was drawing closer, the cold was coming in. The singing faded dully into nothing.
—
When she woke, the air was fresh and clean. The storm had blown itself inside out, releasing all the air inside, and somehow snuggled Marlene into pyjamas and buried her in duvets and thick quilts and hot water bottles. It seemed to have built a room securely around her, resting the window open a jar to blow sweetly into her scrunched up face. A few seconds later into being awake, she decided on another theory. Her mother was near.
“Mum?” she croaked. Somewhere deeper in the house a bright laugh chimed. “Mum!” Marlene wined, a loud, well-versed cry she had learned in her tweeny days.
“Lynne!” Another voice called. Someone else had heard her, “Lynne, she’s awake!”
The bedroom door banged open, and there was shy-smiling James, creeping towards her like a new stray in an animal rescue sanctuary. “Hey, Marley, you doing okay?” Marlene snorted.
“Piss off with that sympathy shit, you know it doesn't work with me,” the shyness left the smile, and his face crept to a grin.
“Fine, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Scared me half to death!” He punched her lightly in the side. Marlene whined out a laugh, struggling to retaliate. Before she could, another body bustled in.
“Oh my god, she’s up! You’re up!” The soft warmth of ‘Mum’ wafted sweetly into the room, and despite her dislike for sympathy and reliance, Marlene sank down happily into its depths, closing her eyes to the cool hand on her hair and rolling slightly into the squish of her side.
“What happened?” she asked, nose burying deeper as she spoke.
“You don't remember?” Her mum asked her softly.
“I remember-” Marlene started hesitantly, “A storm-” Eyes. “The boat-” Eyes. “The boys-” she started upright, “God, are the boys alright?”
“Hey, shh, they’re fine Marley, they’re fine. Lay down, shh, you’re fine,” Marlene relaxed back slowly, mind wiring.
“So she gets to coddle you,” James muttered grumpily. Marlene kicked him sharp as her mum continued, “The boys got back easy, long before the storm, ran straight to the life guards, said you were still way out to sea,”
Marlene nodded, chewing her lip. Eyes. Where had she seen those eyes?
“You’ve been asleep a couple hours, they found you passed out cold in your boat. Said you’d drowned, but your breathing seemed alright, and somehow you don't have hypothermia. Did you fall in? Hoist yourself back out? Do you remember?”
“I- I don't know. Maybe-?” it brought a strange sort of panic, not knowing, but all that there was were those eyes.
“Okay,” Mum breathed, the hair brushing seemed as much for her benefit as Marlenes, “Well, you’re only just up now, maybe it’ll come back to you,”
“Right.”
“And all that matters is you’re safe and with us now,”
“Mmh,” Marlene nodded again after another minute to process, “I think I had a dream about a mermaid.”