Chapter Nine -

Ophelia is awoken by a cool moisture lapping against her feet. She shivers, pulling her knees up towards her chest. She falls back asleep, shielding her ears from the thunder outside.

Once more, she is awoken, but this time by something splashing against her back, soaking through to her bare skin. Ophelia jolts into a sitting position, temporarily forgetting her injuries as the shock forces her awake.

She blinks her eyes open, only wishing she hadn't a moment later. The traumatic sight before her is one that reminds her all too well of the night she was taken. Thunder booms and lightning crackles across the night sky. The waves surge into the cave, splashing over the rocks and against the caves walls with a deadly force.

Ophelia scrambles back against the wall, the water rising higher and higher towards her.

Her small patch of land that was once plenty large enough to move around on is now a fraction of that size. Cold fear travels up Ophelia's spine as flashbacks of the storm that nearly took her life, replaying in her head.

Water.

Choking.

Screaming.

Pain.

Ophelia scrunches up against the wall, her body folding in on itself as fear wraps around her like a constricting snake. Whimpers escape her lips as she tries desperately to block the images from her mind...images that are becoming all too real again.

Her once deep breaths become useless as pants as panic settles in. She squeezes her eyes shut and balls her hands into fists. Not gain, not again, not again!

Her chest aches as she fails to take deep breaths, her head throbbing and her body feeling as if the very walls were holding her down and trapping her in a hell of their own. She might be able to swim if the water were calm, but not in this...no...not in this. She would die, impaled on the rocks, long before she made it to the caves mouth, let alone into the storm.

The water steadily rises, the cool seawater lapping against her back and submerging her ankles. There is no dry land now. A scream escapes her lips as a bolt of lightning crackles through the night, the flash alighting the horror scene before her.

Up the waters rise, like demons reaching to grab her and take her into their haunted depths. Ophelia's entire body shakes and shivers, her breathing erratic and heart thumping wildly in her chest. Her nails dig into the stone wall, her forehead resting against the wet stone.

A giant splash washes over her, soaking Ophelia all the way to her bones. Broken sobs choke forth from her heaving chest as fear and despair take over. The dark sea nearly has her now. It will take her under...swallow her whole.

A shrill scream tears through her throat as a vice-like grip clamps over her upper arm. Ophelia is helpless as she is torn away from the wall, her body being dragged into the raging sea. She is roughly turned around only to come face-to-face with the creature with his haunting dark eyes

Ophelia kicks her arms and legs, struggling to distance herself from the creature, yet also trying to keep herself afloat. She splutters and chokes as water sloshes into her mouth.

The creature tugs her firmly against his chest, careful to keep her head above the waters surface. The girl only kicks more.

"Stop fighting me!" He shouts over the wind and storm. "I'm trying to help you!"

Ophelia freezes. That thought hadn't occurred to her yet, as she had been solely focused on freeing herself from his grasp...on surviving. As another wave splashes over them, she grasps his shoulders in an effort to stay above the surface. She is surprised the moment of waves inside the cave. She pales at what may lay outside the caves protective walls.

"Let me know when you need air," is all he can say before covering her mouth with his webbed hand and diving under the raging waves.

Ophelia is instantly plunged into darkness. She grasps desperately to the creature's shoulders as they dive deeper and deeper. The water soon becomes frigidly cold and Ophelia feels her ears popping. Soon, her lungs start to burn with the lack of air, the aching force of lost oxygen filling her chest like fire.

Ophelia starts to struggle in the creature's grip, her fist banging on his shoulder. Recognising her silent plea for air, he redirects their path, heading straight for the surface. Ophelia's ears pop once more just before they reach the open air.

Ophelia grasps for air as soon as her mouth is free of the creature's hand. She gulps in greedily, chest heaving beneath the tight hold of the creature's arms. Her vision blurs and her head feels as though it is being compressed by a vice, probably due to the pressure changes underwater.

The creature holds the girl tighter and he feels her body starting to become limp. What's wrong now? He has done everything needed to keep her alive, even rescuing her from drowning in the tide, and now she decides to die?

The creature yanks her hair back to raise her head from falling into the water. She winces, which is good. It means she isn't dead yet. An uncomfortable feeling stirs in the creature's chest at the thought of her being dead.

"Wake up, koritsi!" He gently slaps the girl's face. Her eyelids slowly flutter open and she nods her head once.

"See the land? I will get you as close to the beach as I can," Ophelia follows the creature's gaze to a strip of sand just visible through the darkness. She begins to shake her head. The waves that crash there...she will never make it.

"Do you understand?" He demands.

"B-bu-"

The creature dives back under the water before she can finish. The same process of diving down and swimming up is repeated, Ophelia's head aching relentlessly and unconsciousness looming closer

The creature guides them through the breaks in the waves, surfacing and diving below the colliding currents. He drags her beneath his arm as he forces them to shallow ground. The creature sinks beneath a crashing wave before resurfacing again, turning the girl to face the beach.

"Go!" He screams in her face. "Go now or you won't make it!" The swell of another large wave curls closer and closer, Ophelia's shaking body beginning to swim of it's own accord as she races away from it.

The slow pull of the current grips around her leg and drags her backwards, the girl losing her footing and becoming a dead weight as the current sweeps her away. The large wave crashes over her with the force of a freight truck, slamming down on her shoulders and flipping her over and over and over again.

Her feet kick the sand, her back dragging across the bottom before she is flipped again to land on her stomach. Her adrenaline filled veins force her arms into action, pushing her body up again. The beach...she made it.

Ophelia stumbles forward, small waves crashing against the backs of her legs, making her nearly fall once more, but she pushes forward. She clambers up the sand, harsh coughs spluttering from her throat. Her chest burns and her head pounds, skin raw from colliding with the rough sand.

Once finally on the shore, the rain continues to pelt down on her, her hair plastering to her forehead. She collapses on the shore, her body aching from exhaustion, the adrenaline slowly leaving her body.

Admist the torrential downpour, Ophelia loses consciousness, her body lady on the sand exposed to the raging storm.

*

The creature watches from the water as the girl becomes motionless.

He wonders if she just lost consciousness or if she really did die this time. She didn't take too well on being under water. Why do humans have to be so fragile? All of that work, just for her to die again? He could have just left her for dead, but that would be a waste, wouldn't it?

He angrily dives back beneath the waves, returning to the bottom of the sea where the current is stable.

Why couldn't he have just killed her to begin with? Humans deserve to die...all of them...every last one, so why couldn't he have killed her? He has no doubt that she would have had a delightful flavour, but what was stopping him? He had watched her back on the island for many days, planning his attack.

She was exactly what he needed for his purpose. Sure, there were many others he could have killed, but he wanted her. He knew why, but at the same time, finally getting to see her so close, realising just how real she was, caught him off guard. She moved with grace, and smiled with beauty. Her red hair was also new to him, especially with her brown eyes and perfect skin.

Maybe that's why she was different. She was blemish-free amongst a race of imperfection, far too similar...it was inconceivable, really, to see something so perfect related to something so vile. Humans are evil, shameful, nasty things, but this girl was not.

The girl was just like her.