Submersive

At some point Sarah woke up again. She rolled over and covered her eyes. Damn that light. She got up and turned it off. Her fear from a couple hours earlier had gone. Her clock read just before 6. She had just a little less than an hour to go back to sleep. She snuggled in the warm covers and was soon asleep again.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on her door. She rolled over to see her dad standing in the hall. What did he want? She had a few minutes left. This was irritating but she held her tongue.

"You're late getting up," he grumbled, tuning the light on. "It's after 7."

"What?" Sarah focused in on the clock. The green numbers read 7:07. "What the?! I know I set my alarm! I know I did!"

"Well, you're late anyway so… Here…." he sat some money on her desk with a large plastic wrapped honey bun. "Get dressed and hope you make it to the bus."

He then walked out scratching his head though his lightly graying black hair. Sarah knocked off her covers and scrambled to find some halfway fitting clothes. She found something to throw on at least. She grabbed her bus fair and the wrapped pastry. She had to double around again for her backpack. She thundered down the stairs. He dad was watching the morning news with a cup of coffee in his hands. He ignored her as she left the house. She jumped off the porch and into ankle deep snow. The icy powder had already started to work its way into her shoes.

She tried to hurry through the snow and prayed she would make it to the bus before it left. She rounded every corner and rushed down every street. Just before she made it to the brick entrance she saw her one and only right pull away. She came to sliding stop as she watched the bus vanish below the hill.

"Oh, dammit," she cursed, throwing her breakfast to the frozen ground. "Dammit to hell!"

She knew she had turned on that alarm. She was absolutely sure of it. She scooped up the pastry again. It was now mashed on one said but still edible. She had no choice but to walk. She thought about just staying home until it was time for math class. No, she shook her head. She needed to make up the time for her other classes that she missed. She started down the street following the tire tracks in the snow. If she cut through Hillbrook she could save about 10 minutes but she wasn't risking her life to save a little time.

She started off running but soon the cold air stabbed at her lungs. She would save the running for the last stretch toward the college. She kept a hurried pace and her mind focused. She needed to get to that school. Her English teacher Vivian had been a real piece of work and was strict about being on time. Sarah was guilty of just skipping her class and hung out elsewhere until that class was over with. However, ditching class also caused her to make up the time to keep from failing.

It took a long time it felt like before she was in the business district close to the school. The sidewalks were nearly cleared, salted, and sanded. Still quite icy but passable. She wasn't too far now. She might risk her chances and run a little bit. Anything to save some time. She slowly picked up her feet a little more at a time before she was finally in a run. She knocked shoulders with an older woman. Thankfully, a young boy was with her and helped her remain standing

"You idiot," the old woman shouted.

Sarah ignored her as she could see the college's clock tower in the distance. It wouldn't be much longer now. She was already out of steam as she came around a corner and down a steep hill. She would catch her breath once she was at the base. She was a quarter of the way down when she saw a police car parked alongside the sidewalk.

Her heart jumped into her throat. Running, especially with the snow, was a surefire way to get a small ticket. She just hit the halfway mark when she saw two officers step out of a popular restaurant. Oh, no… If they saw her now it would be over for her. She went to stop but, like her usual luck, she hit a patch of ice. She had been good about avoiding them that was until she saw the two men below.

She let out a brief but sharp scream as she became slightly airborne. She landed hard on her left side. Her momentum from earlier had sent her sliding towards the officers. There was nothing to stop or even slow her. The thinner officer jumped back and let his partner take the hit. She knocked him clear off his feet and together they slid into a small tree. Snow and ice fell from its bare branches and covered them.

The wind had been knocked out of her as the man weighted a lot more than she did. He remained on top of her trying to figure exactly what happened. He finally removed the spiderwebs from his mind and used his arms to push himself up. They stared at it each other for a bit. His pale sea green eyes narrowed as he looked into dark green ones. His rich mocha face wrinkled in anger.

"Yo, man! What just happened?" the other officer asked, quickly closing the small gap between them.

The wiped-out officer said nothing as he moved off her to crouch on the sidewalk. He picked up the large black foam takeout box that was sitting on her. Of course, this just kept getting better each second. There was egg, pancake, and sticky syrup all over her. The front of his coat looked no better. He kept his mouth shut as he stood up and knocked some of the food from his coat. Sarah carefully sat up, getting her back off the icy sidewalk. Ow… Her back was killing her.

"You two okay?" the second officer asked. "Anyone hurt?"

She looked up at the second officer. He was a dark Afro-American with a knit hat on his head. He was thin with a round face, average height. She carefully looked at the one she just bowled over. He was also of average height but he was built like a tank. That might explain why he crushed her on impact. He had short, dark red, almost brown hair and a sharp jaw.

"You…" he pointed at her with a leather gloved hand. "Were running."

The color leached from her face as she looked up at him. So, he did see her! She bit her lip and shied away from him.

"Oh? Is that what happened?" his partner said putting his hands on his hips. "In this weather you must have lost your mind. That is dangerous even on the best of days."

"Here, get up," the red-haired officer said, holding out his hand. "It's doing you no good sitting on that ice."

His voice was deep and she wasn't sure if was base or baritone. She wearily gave her hand to him and he gave a hard pull. She was now standing and able to dust off some of the food from her clothes.

"You do realize how much trouble you're in, don't you?" he scolded and she hung her head. "You could have hurt yourself and me. Speaking of which are you hurt?"

Well, she did just take a nasty fall so, yeah, she did hurt from that. However, what he wanted to know was if she was truly hurt herself. The kind that might needed to be tended to. Her left hand and wrist was sore and throbbed. She had tried to brace herself with that side and must sprained it. She didn't want to say anything about it. It might get her into more trouble.

"N-no," she muttered.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded but he looked very skeptical. Did he know she was lying about something so small? He walked over to the car and opened the door. She saw him pull out some sort of pad and a pen. Oh, no… And there it was. She was going to get a ticket. Grant it they weren't much to pay off but her parents, well more like her mother, were going to be livid!

"Name and license," he said, clicking his pen.

"Sarah Blalock…" she mumbled. "M-my ID expired earlier th-this year."

"You need to get it renewed and soon. You have any other form of identification?"

"M-my school badge," she swung her bookbag from her shoulder and unclipped it. "That's a-about it."

He just looked at it. It was her name, picture, her student ID number, and the college's address.

"That's not going to work," he breathed.

"But that's all I have," she mumbled.

"Then give me your address and date of birth," he sat in the car and pulled the laptop over to him. "I'll look you from here."

She felt like crying. If she hadn't been so careless she wouldn't be in this pickle.

"Why were running in the first place?" the other officer asked.

"I-I-I was late for school… I m-missed my bus…" she squirmed.

"Your address?" the first officer broke in.

"Um… 917 Newhaven P-Port Dr, Rough Rock. And m-my birthday is January 14th. I'll b-be 21."

"That's still a real stupid reason," the second officer said, leaning up against the car. "It could have been a lot worse than what it was, you know?"

"I-I know…" her lips quivered. He was digging that bur in hard. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. I'm not the one you plowed over," he snorted and pointed at his partner.

"L-look… I'm really s-sorry," she turned to the first officer as he looked up at her from the computer screen. "I over sl-slept and—"

"I don't care," he responded in a dull manner before grabbing the pad again. "Your information checks out. Just hang tight for a moment."

He started to fill in some of the lines and marked a couple of boxes. He ripped the paper free from the spine and took one copy for himself. He handed the other one to her. She shamefully took it and kept her head down. Right now she didn't even want to look at it.

"Let this be a lesson," he said and stood back up.

She slowly looked back up at him. He studied her for a moment. He was 5'9" and she was practically eyelevel with him. It wasn't like it hadn't happened before but it wasn't very often.

"You're free to go. Just walk to the college this time," he instructed and she nodded. "There's too much ice out here to be doing such a foolhardy stunt. I'm a clear?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded again.

"Well, go on. Get to class."

She stepped away from the officers and the car. She started back down the street. Her frozen fingers loosely clutched the ticket. What had she done? She had no matter of luck it seemed. She dragged her cold sneakers along the sidewalk, which would result in delaying her that much more.

"You sure that was good enough? I mean she just completely knocked you off your feet."

"Honestly, looking at it… It was a little bit funny. Like some sort comedy skit."

She heard the car doors closed and the engine start up. Her face turned bright red and she started to cry. A comedy skit? She was a joke? They drove by her down the street as her steps got slower and slower. She clinched the ticket harder as she started to cry harder. Why couldn't the powers-that-be give her at least one damn break? Her life was slowly seeping farther and farther into hell. Her tears did nothing but make the cold air feel more intense on her cheeks. She rubbed her eyes and cheeks to remove to stinging liquid.

She continued on all the same but her pace was so slow she knew she would never make it to her English class.

She pushed up her sleeve and looked at her wrist. It was throbbing something awful and it was just showing the faintest hint of swelling. She hit much harder than she thought. To be exact she was so hyped on adrenalin at that moment she didn't feel the pain that much. Now as she slowly paced herself the hormone had started to level off and the pain it had numbed had started to develop. He asked her if she was hurt but she denied it. Chances were he would have called an ambulance to just look it. But what if something was wrong? Like really wrong? Would the EMTs have taken her to hospital? Her mother would have raised hell. It was just as well that she played it off. It was better to keep the devil appeased.

Finally, she made it onto campus grounds. She looked at the building where her class was. She didn't debate it long. She turned sharply and headed to school nurse. Her wrist had started to balloon a lot more and she wasn't sure if it was red from the fall or from the cold. She sighed as she walked into the building for nursing courses. Most of the students were gone unless they were like her making up time and rushing through their last exam.

She knocked on the door as a woman looked up from her desk. She was thin with brown hair cut into a short bob.

"Well, hello," she smiled. "What can I help you with?"

Sarah held up her hand and pushed down her baggy sleeve.

"I fell on it," was her short answer.

"Come over here," the nurse beaconed her to a chair. "Sit down."

Sarah walked over and sat down and put arm up on the table.

"So, tell me what happened?" the nurse asked, looking at the swollen joint.

"I slipped on some ice."

"I've gotten a lot like you as of late. Let me have a good look at it."

She carefully picked up Sarah's arm and looked the limb up and down.

"Is it just your wrist?"

"This pad of my hand hurts too…"

"It's scraped a bit. Can you move your wrist?"

Sarah tried and her face twisted into pain. That was clearly a no.

"Close up a fist."

Sarah's fingers even had hard time trying to curl in.

"Isn't sprained?"

"Hmm? Well, it could be but… Can you remember if your arm took the brunt of the landing?"

She puzzled on that. It just happened so fast. Maybe she did. She couldn't remember that fine the finer details. Just that she landed on that side. She shrugged.

"I guess… I don't really know…"

The nurse licked her lips before rolling them in while she thought. It was still just a bit too soon for the bruising to really show the true damage done.

"Okay, given what you told me I'm going to be blunt about this. Yes, you could have just been jammed but that usually ends in a break."

"You think it's broken?" Sarah choked and her mouth dropped.

"Without an x-ray I really can't give you a full answer but I'm leaning towards yes," the nursed nodded. "It's common in falls as we want to catch ourselves. We land wrong and we break a bone or two."

"Well, what do I do?" Sarah was a slight panic.

"I can put you in a wrap and give you some ice. But… You need to see your primary doctor. I'd do it soon before it gets worse."

Sarah just started at her wrist in disbelief. This was what she feared. A broken limb was the last thing she need especially before Christmas. She usually decorated and did most of the cooking. With only her right hand it was going to be dreadful. Her mother wouldn't give two cents about her. Her father would most like just follow his wife and pretend there was nothing wrong. It was something that he did daily to avoid her wrath. He was nothing but a yes-man. Her mother was the devil incarnate.

The nurse went through the cabinets pulling out a wrap and an instant cold pack. She opened the plastic pouch and pulled the stretchy material out. With a gentle touch the nurse wrapped up Sarah's wrist. She still tucked the end of the self-adhering wrap under another piece. She then popped the cold pack and gave it good, hard shake. Sarah took the cold plastic bag and put on her wrist.

"That's the best I can do you for you at this time," the nurse said with a worried grin. "Do you have any exams today?"

"Not until real late. Just makeup classes."

"Good between then and now go on and see your doctor. Breaks need to be looked after quickly."

"Yeah…" Sarah gave a low moaned.

"Was it done on campus?"

"No…"

"Alright… I'm still going to need you to sign a paper for me stating that I did treat you."

She walked over the desk and pulled out the form. She brought over a pen as well. Sarah wrote down everything that lead up to this point, minus the police, and made sure to mark off that the injury wasn't on campus. The nurse took the form and set it back on her desk.

"That's it. That's all I can do for you," she said and Sarah stood up. "Take care and I hope things turn out well."

"Thank… You…" Sarah headed for the door and back towards the main doors.

She walked out and pulled the ice from her wrist. She looked at the dark beige wrap. Broken? Was it really broken? What was she to do? The nurse was completely right. The longer she waited the more damage she could cause. She really debated going to the emergency clinic that was just four bus stops away. She could go to the clinic and come back but that left her with no money to get home. She would be in very rough shape when she got home if she did that.

Not only that, she didn't have the money for the clinic and if they billed her by mail no one would pay it for her. She gnashed her teeth and just hurried to the only place she could think of to calm down. The school library. It was quiet and a book or two might just be a good thing.

She hurried across campus and walked inside. She looked down off the balcony that was wrapped in lighted garland and bows. There was hardly a soul down below. She slowly started down the stairs and looked at the main desk. The clerk wasn't there. She found a table and just tossed her bag onto the glossy surface. She wasted no time and heading for the fiction section. Something she could lose herself in would be the best thing for her.

She grabbed several novels at random and brought them over to her table. She thumbed through the 4 books and read a little from each. None of them looked good. She just wasn't comfortable so her brain couldn't get into the narratives. She put them up and just picked a random aisle. She ran her fingers over the many spines. She would just let her fingers grab one at will. Something would have to catch her interest. She had almost reached the end when she felt a wash of cold air hit her from behind. It was like wall of coldness not a draft. It was strange. She heard a thump as a blue book spontaneously fell at her feet.

"That's weird…" she picked it up. She was sure she hadn't touched it. "What is this?"

The thin, clear plastic cover was scuffed and torn. The aqua colored book underneath was dingy and the corners warn. There was an old black and white picture on the front and the gold letters that had been stamped into the cover was nearly gone. At first glance it looked like nothing but when she finally decided to pay attention to the title her curiously became a little bit perked. The picture on the front was the city's boardwalk from many decades back. The place had changed so much she had not recognized it until she saw the old Farris wheel.

"Rough Rock: Beyond the Mermaids," she muttered and flipped the book over.

She read the summary that was in fine print. It was a history book of the city from its early beginnings to whenever this book was written. She flipped to the front to look for the copyright. It was marked as first edition from 1962. Wow that really was an oldie goldy. She flipped through the best she could holding it up against the full shelf. This looked like it might be fun to look at. Something other than novels. She snapped it shut when she heard the squeak of the cart approach.

It was one of the librarians. She had a chart full of books. Sarah noticed a lot of them looked overused and damaged. The librarian looked at her list and then at Sarah. She then focused on the blue book. It was on her long list.

"Hey, you just saved me some trouble," the woman stepped forward. She had black hair pulled up into messy bun. "I'm retiring that old thing."

Sarah looked down at it. It clearly looked like it had outrun its use. There were a few liquid stains and one was a pinky red. It might have been some sort of split fruit drink.

"Oh," Sarah said.

"Where you wanting to look at it?" the librarian asked. "I can collect it after you're done."

Sarah looked at it. She did want to look at it but she didn't necessarily need it.

"What are you doing with all those?" Sarah nodding toward the cart.

"Some will go to a secondhand shop and the rest to recycling," she answered flatly. "We're going to be getting more up-to-date books on the same subjects. But we need to make room first."

Sarah ran her index finger over the book's spine. For some reason she really wanted to read. It was like a nagging in the back of her brain to sift through it. The longer she held it the more she wanted to explore the book.

"Wh-where is this one is going?" Sarah waved her book.

The librarian took it and inspected it from front to back. The stains were nasty and the spin was weak. She taped it a few times in her open palm. It was too poor to put into a shop. She rocked her jaw a bit in thought.

"Hey, tell ya what… I'll write this off as recycled and I'll give it to you when you leave," she said, putting it off to the side from the other books. "Does that sound good?"

"You'd let me have it?" Sarah was a little shocked.

"Why not? It's trash but I'd rather see it have one last run. Hell, it might actually be worth some cash."

"I read that it was first edition."

"There you go. I need to get back to work but I'll have it cleared by the time you head out."

"Th-thank you…" Sarah said feeling relieved for some strange reason. "I… I thought it looked cool… It being about this city."

"Beyond the Mermaids…. Well, we are the so-called Mermaid capital," she laughed a bit in the back of her throat. "You know this whole mermaid hype we promote is just over the top. But if it wasn't for the tourists in the summer… I was told that Rough Rock would have gone under completely. It might even have been abandoned."

"Abandoned?" Sarah couldn't think of this town being dark, empty, and derelict.

"My grandfather told me if the Wave Wraiths hadn't taken that chance to build the boardwalk and advertised mermaids living in our waters we wouldn't be here now."

"Th-that's a little sobering…"

"Isn't it? Thankfully, the Wave Wraiths came up with it just in time. I heard the chieftain, Dane Boeing, used some of his land to put Mermaid Cove on it."

"Oh… Boeing is one of the big names in town…"

"Oh, yeah… The biggest. They've been in charged for generations. I'm not sure just how far back but they took over when the Blalocks stepped down as town head."

Town head? Blalock was her family name. She had seen Blalock here and there in town. Mostly on streets and on the city aquarium. It was called the J.J. Blalock Aquarium. Her dad never talked much about the family. Not even about his little sister. Her aunt was a character and although she was nice her overly happy personality grated on Sarah's nerves.

"That's kind of cool…" Sarah breathed.

"This town has some rich history and this book might be an interesting read."

"Thank you for… Letting me have that. I'll let you get back to work," Sarah turned and headed back the way she had entered the aisle.

She went down another corridor of books. Once again she pulled them out at random. She walked over to her table and opened them trying to find something to keep her occupied.

"Blalock…?" she whispered. "Head of the town… Hm?"

She couldn't get that out of her head. Had the Blalocks been one the big families like the Boeings, Sinclairs, and the Mollers? That was an interesting thought. Her mother often said she hated having the Blalock family name and that she should have kept Moller instead. How her father got mixed up with her, much less marry her, was beyond Sarah's comprehension.

Sarah looked at the book and started to feel her head bob up and down. She was dosing again. She didn't get good sleep last night. She shook her head trying to stay awake. Sleeping wasn't allowed in the library and she didn't want to be fussed at for it. However, her drossiness was winning and her head finally hit the hard surface of the table. She lost the fight.

She could smell it. Smoke. Lots of foul-smelling wood smoke and an inferno wash over her. A wall of fire finally flashed to life on front of her. She stumbled back as she stared at the raging blaze in front of her. It had been a house, a fairly large one. She watched in horror as the fire caved in one side of house bring down one of the stone chimneys. The smoke burned her nose and the heat was so overbearing even at a distance her face felt like it was starting to burn.

She turned to her right to see a familiar form just a few feet from her. He had a thick brown beard and dressed in period clothing. It was the leader of that fleet of boats. Now that he was standing he was a rather tall man. Somewhere in the mid 6-foot range. He still had no face but his body was displaying every emotions. There was a fear of course, heavy dread, panic, sadness, and even pinch of anger.

There were enraged cries of people coming from both side of the engulfed structure. Torches danced through the trees along with a large mass of people. Some caried swords and spears and few of them even had muskets. What was going on? The man took a few hurried steps back before darting into the thick woods. He pushed his way through the bushes and jumped over fall limbs and trees. Sarah couldn't explain how she was keeping up with him but she was. She looked back as she heard musket fire. A few of the lead balls hit the trees close to them.

Without warning they both went over a sharp drop off. He grabbed a thick root and pulled himself up and into a small crater where the ground had collapsed. She heard the horde of people rush up and stop at the drop off. Sarah ducked behind a large rock. The torches lit up the area trying to locate their target. They hadn't spotted him but lingered for a while.

There was a young man just a few years older than Sarah. Still there was no face. He cupped his hands around where his mouth would be.

"Ye dare return and ye will be executed like a mad dog…" a man yelled out.

He wasn't far from her but his voice was so distant and echoed like someone yelling up from a deep cavern.

Slowly the torches started to withdraw from the drop off and the area became an eerie sort of black. She could hear the man breathing heavily in fear in the hidden hole. Sarah tried to wrap her mind around what she just saw. Hadn't he been their leader, so what happened? They just tried to kill him and chances were that was his house that was ablaze. Had they tried to burn it but he got out just in time?

It was quiet at first but she then heard the familiar sounds of crying. Given the riot that just happened it only made sense. He was hunted and chased out of town. He was alone and terrified for his life. Possibly even hurt from the fire. Slowly tears started to fall from her own eyes listening to him. There as so much pain it hit her right in the heart. What had happened to cause such rage from the town? Clearly, he was a fallen hero.

She opened her eyes and sat up with a start. She looked around and found herself in the college library. She rubbed her nose. It felt like it was burning. She found a bit of watery snot and her eyes were stinging. Had she been crying in her sleep? It wouldn't be the first time she did that but in a public place was embarrassing. She rubbed her eyes and moaned.

She looked down at her ailing wrist. The bandage had become tight as the swelling had grown. Maybe she should have gone but then she couldn't make it to her final and… She paused looking out the window. The sky had darken by a lot and even through the thick clouds they looked just tiny bit orange. The large clock at the front of the library read just after 4 and that meant it was now sundown. How long had she been out? I had been late morning the last she checked. Why hadn't someone told her to wake up?

Maybe because it was the last day and they didn't care? The library was going to close at 5. Her science class was next and that was the only class she enjoyed. Once again it was for makeup time. She pushed her seat back, grabbed the books, and her bag.

She set the books on the return cart and walked to the front desk. She hadn't forgotten that book. She walked up seeing the librarian walk out of the office under the balcony.

"Oh, there you are," she said, walking over to the now empty cart save for one book. "Here it is."

She held out the book and Sarah took it. She almost dropped it and caught it by the front cover. There was small little paper pocket just on the inside. It was torn and fit with the poor state of the book

"I saw this before on other books. What is this on the cover?" Sarah asked.

"Oh! They might have been phasing out while you were growing up but books were checked out with cards," the library answered. "It was stamped on when to return them. That really does show its age."

"Okay," Sarah flipped the book closed.

"Well, take good care of that old thing…"

"I will," Sarah headed for the stairs and looked at the front cover picture. "Mermaid Cove looks so different now…"

She dismounted the stairs and walked back into the winter air. The temperature was biting and the hearty wind didn't help. The campus lamps were already lit along with the white lights on the bushes and strings of lights that were wrapped around the tree trunks. She just needed to get through her science class and then face Mr. Gordon. If she could just ditch and run she would but she needed to take that test. Besides there was going to be free food afterwards. She couldn't say no to that.