The Ocean Was The Cradle Of Life On Earth. It Is Only Fitting That It Be Our Casket.

The salt of the sea tickled Kat's nose as she raised her head from the sea. The sky above the beach was darkening, and the moon was making an appearance, already giving its gentle tug on the water, creating tides that filled Kat with a thrill. She felt the tides added a little danger to swimming. Already having been at the beach for two hours, her head was bobbing from being rocked around. The beach was already at reduced numbers when she arrived after dinner, and now the last person besides her was finally walking off the beach, towel in hand, flip flops splashing wet sand around, and face slightly burnt. Kat's own face was pinkish, though that was more likely from the exercising she'd been doing, considering her skin was surely used to the sun by now. Kat was wearing a one-piece swimsuit, which she liked because it hid her stretch marks on her tummy. Now, she is just hugging her soft curves, 100 lbs thinner. Thirty-five years old, and she was in the best shape of her life.

Kat did another dive under the water of the Gulf of Naples, with no goggles, of course, because as much as she hated saltwater snot, she hated the pressure of plastic against her face even more. Upon reaching the bottom of the sea floor, she rubbed the sand gently, finding a shell and rising it with the rest of her body until she was back out of the water. She was maybe a foot further from the shore than before she'd dove, but she still felt perfectly safe. The shell in her hand was a dark purple colour and as big as her palm. She marvelled at the thing before chucking it further out to sea. She'd thought once of starting a business selling shells like that, but they were only ever profitable in bundles of at least 10, and she'd have to collect them properly, something that would ruin her exercises lugging a bag around.

Kat took another dive, and while she touched the sand, it took longer than she'd been used to. No shells could be found there, only loose sand. Upon returning to the surface, she was so out of breath that she was gasping for air, and when she looked at the beach, it was now much further than before. She understood at once that she'd managed to swim diagonally to the west too much, ending past the surf zone in an area called the shorerise. As such, it would take so strength to swim back to the berm.

She stretched her arms as she swam, struggling against the waves that disoriented her. After a minute, she was closer to the berm, but now exhausted. She slowed her swimming down and finally floated on the water, looking to the sky that was now way past sunrise and featuring a few specks of stars.

"Hi," a tiny voice broke through. Kat jolted at this and gave a startled look to the shore. She spun in the water, and floating beside her was a young woman, looking to be a decade younger with bleach blonde hair and dimples on her face.

"Are you alright? We're out pretty far," Kat asked when she could catch her breath. The woman looked unbothered, however, even jovial. Kat chalked this up to youth and inexperience. At that age, death seemed impossible. The woman didn't respond to Kat, and although Kat didn't want her to get hurt, she really could only focus on her own safety at that time, and thus, she prepared herself to swim again. The woman swam a few laps around Kat, which didn't do much to ingratiate her to Kat. Showing off.

"You like the water?" the small voice said upon returning. Kat rubbed her face with a wet hand that stung her eyes as she did it.

"Yes," Kat said shortly before forcing her body forward towards the shore again. If she pushed herself to, she could get out of the water without stopping and go home.

"Then why leave?" the woman asked, and Kat shivered because she could tell it had been said right into her left ear. This was impossible as it would have required the woman to be keeping up so quietly as to be in Kat's ear for several seconds. When Kat looked to her left, still paddling, she didn't see the woman. She was going crazy.

"Stay," the woman said in Kat's right ear. The woman must not even exist, just a mirage from bobbing in the ocean for too long. Kat was about halfway through the surf zone and feeling more relaxed.

Then there was a hand on her ankle. It was an unmistakable sensation as five digits wrapped themselves around her ankle. Kat tried paddling ahead, but the berm got no closer. She twisted onto her back and saw it, the woman with her face smiling sweetly across the length of Kat's body into her eyes.

"Let go, you psycho!" Kat yelled, trying to yank her ankle free and kicking wildly at the woman with the other foot. At this, the woman brought her other arm out and in the light of the full moon, Kat could see what at first looked like a sparkly wetsuit, but upon staring at it, they were clearly scales completely covering the young woman's arm all the way to her breasts.

"You will love it, Kat."

"Let go!" Kat screamed, and her face was gaunt. "How do you know my name?"

The woman didn't reply, for she was too busy swimming backwards, effortlessly dragging Kat with her away from the berms. Kat tried screaming out, but she knew damn well that there was no one around this time of night. Even if there were, the sound of screaming would be muffled by the waves by the time it reached shore.

"Don't scream, Kat. You'll love it. You never have to leave the water." This did not calm Kat at all, who was still screaming and struggling to get away. They were now leaving the surf zone, entering rougher and rougher waves that splashed into her mouth, now making it harder to breathe, let alone scream. Soon, they would be offshore. Nothing would have been scarier if Kat hadn't been looking into the face of the woman dragging out there, still smiling perfectly innocent. Upon looking one last time at the hands holding her, Kat saw that they were webbed. She didn't have much time to marvel at the hands, however, because as quickly as she noticed that, the woman dove and Kat was forced below the surface of the water, never to resurface again. At least, not a full human.