The cool, smooth ocean water slips along my skin, my tail propelling me forward against its current. As I approach the shallow reef, colorful fish dart by in their schools. Coral grows in lovely shades of scarlets and purples and greens and every color imaginable around me. Katrina is sitting on a large outcropping of rock that looks over the cliff. Her blonde, curly hair floats and moves gently with the waves overhead. Her tail glimmers as the light reflects off of aquamarine scales. I swim over and sit next to her soundlessly. We talk and laugh for while. She smiles and we look into the deep as its colors slowly darken and eventually become completely black. They become a black so dark that you can’t even see your hand if you hold it mere millimeters from your eyes. It’s a beautiful, mysterious place--the deep--no one knows what type of a world exists down there. It’s a world that can’t be entered, for our ribcages would be shattered and crushed by the pressure. Katrina starts to swim back to caverns where we live, and I follow her. It’s evening, and it will become difficult to find our way home if we stay much longer. We swim to our shared room and rest for the night.
     As murky light reaches my eyelids, I find it hard to breath. My eyes snap open as I start coughing and choking, the water too thick to breathe. The water has turned a dark brownish-black as a shimmery, iridescent film floats along the surface. I frantically look around the room. Katrina isn’t in her bed. I swim out of the room quickly and head towards open water. After swimming for many, many hundreds of feet, the water begins to clear up. I look around and see nothing. The ocean floor is too deep to see, and there are no rock formations. It is completely barren and desolate. As I scan the surface, looking for something to rest on, I see a large platform floating along. I go above the surface and slip towards the small boat silently. It looks old and rusty, like it has been abandoned for some time. I notice the rust has corroded a hole in the side, and I peek through it. Inside the small vessel, a net, some spears, some fishing poles, and a pair of fishing boots sit. As I continue to look through the hole, the sight of a pair of legs attached to those boots comes into view. I also become suddenly aware of the aquamarine tail that lays motionless behind those legs. I turn around and try to dive deep, but something strikes me in the back. I look down to see the tip of a spear protruding from the center of my chest. The water around me begins to cloud a deep maroon as I thrash violently and then slowly go limp.