Page 2 of Anchored to the Storm

“Okay! Damn.” He quickly gestured past my head. “Saleeni kept pointing at your foot…”

As fast as I could move, I got into a sitting position to examine my laced boots. One shoelace was shredded. “Oh shit—” And just like that, a nightmare I had had in the back of Noma’s car years ago, when she was racing me from danger, merged with the memory of what happened under the water moments ago, and together, they told me everything, the revelation clicking it all into place.

Under the water, below the bridge I had just crashed from, Saleeni and I were staring at each other, so entranced, until the sinking motorcycle’s handle got caught on my tied shoelace. The weight of the bike was suddenly dragging me downward to the bottom of the ocean.

Affectionately, Saleeni held my hand, staring at me with nothing but questions in her eyes. She didn’t understand what was happening.

As I kicked my foot, desperate to be freed of the handlebar, she kept tapping her mouth, trying to tell me something. I wasn’t of a sound enough mind to comprehend anything other than panic. My lungs burned to inhale. I was running out of oxygen.

Seeming to realize the danger and possibility of my drowning, Saleeni’s tail swooshed hard, trying to stop my descent, but the motorcycle was demanding and insisted I follow.

Refusing to let go of my hand, Saleeni was forced upside down by the weight, placing her right above me. As everything started happening too fast, our eyes locked. It was bewildering. The connection—the invisible thread—between us was electrifying. It was so impeccably soul-to-soul that we practically became one in a matter of seconds.

That’s why I begged my mouth not to open, knowing I would only inhale water, but nature is powerful. Even though I had finally found Saleeni, and felt found myself, and never wanted it to end, I lost control of my body and my reactions.

Sinking deeper, I began to inhale… water.

As I started to convulse—the beginning stages of dying—Saleeni screamed.

Just as it had happened in the nightmare, when Noma drove us to the East Coast, in that nightmare, whatever had been tied to me while underwater, dragging me downward, suddenly evaporated only to reappear around Saleeni’s fin. In the nightmare, my magical friend was now the one sinking. She reached out to me and screamed, but there was no sound, only bubbles coming from her mouth…

In real life… It was as if she knew my dying was her death. Us being parted from each other, once more, would end her existence. I felt her fate tethered to mine, resonating inside me, which was insanely intense while drowning.

Grabbing my chest, rain pouring down on the clubhouse’s backyard, I said, “That’s why she screamed in the nightmare.”

“What?” asked Styx, but my mind returned to the memory from moments ago.

Her precious lips opened in horror as she screamed. Bubbles, along with a high-pitched sound, exited her mouth. Then, in a manic rush, Saleeni released my hand, diving past me and the bike. The water’s temperature fluctuated, informing me she was already gone, but I swear time slowed down to a crawl. It felt surreal to resee, to relive what had just happened, and be able to adjust the speed. Since I was most likely going to die, I chose to examine every part of her as she passed me again.

That’s when I realized how magnificent she truly was. How real she was. Her wavy hair was long, covering some of her naked upper body, but I could still see some of her pale skin that lightly sparkled. A bare breast I was so sad never to be able to kiss. A midsection of skin that marvelously blended with another type of skin. Where legs should’ve been, her skin was darker, inlaid with multiple colors. They matched her hair, which consisted of mystical blues and greens —no scales, as I had seen in so many cartoons and movies. Then, as her tail tapered in, I was finally able to see her one impressive fin. It was at least five feet wide, and almost completely transparent. Only some very thin bones held its form.

My body weakening from lack of oxygen, the water around me grew darker. Heavier. My consciousness was fading, but I still had just enough strength to decide to see her face one more time. Letting my head fall to the side to peer beneath and behind me, I witnessed a woman—a supernatural being—with so much heart I knew why I had loved her all this time.

Saleeni was under the rear of the bike, resting the back tire on her shoulder. Her eyes then glowed a magnificent green when her jaw locked and her whole tail started to propel us upward…

My eyes were sliding shut, but I still could feel the front of the motorcycle press against my back, arching my body to conform. My upper back lay against the front fender and handlebars. My lower half was as over the front tire, my legs floating by the engine under the bike.

What a sight it must have been. A human. A motorcycle, and hope being raised to the surface by a mythical creature who isn’t even supposed to exist.

Next to Styx, raindrops pelting me, I stumbled to my feet and tripped forward, wanting, needing to see in the water again. If Saleeni had the strength to save me, I could muster the strength to fucking stand.

Styx said, in a bit of awe, “I’ve never seen a bike float up from water before, especially with a young man on top of it.”

As if I were carrying the heavy bike myself, I weakly turned to face Styx. That’s when I finally noticed the motorcycle I had crashed, now lying in the yard on its side.

She swam us both to the surface and saved my life. Again. My hand rose and pressed to my chest, to the spot over my heart.

Styx followed my line of sight and nodded at the motorcycle. “She’s young but already strong. Bit right through your shoelace, then tossed the bike that had pissed her off.” His throat sounded tight. “You were so pale I thought you were dead.” He coughed, then chuckled. “I thought we both were when a bike landed nearby with a hell of a bang.”

I gawked at the bike on its side. “It has to weigh at least five hundred pounds.”

“Yeah, Saleeni is gorgeous as fuck, but slightly intimidating.”

Wanting to grin because Gramps wasn’t lying–she truly was more beautiful than any girl or woman I had ever seen–I was still full of too much worry. Wait. Did he just call my reason for breathing ‘gorgeous as fuck’? I puffed out my chest, ready to set him straight, but another look at the bike had me rushing with a question instead. “But you think she’s okay?”

As if my question wasn’t a legit one, he pointed to the bike. “Wouldn’t you need a breather?” Then he rolled his eyes. “Geesh.” Then the bastard got up from the ground and headed to the unlit clubhouse building. “We need towels.” He peered over his shoulder, accusingly. “And a beer.”

Suddenly, an array of floodlights on the building were triggered at his approach, blinding me and reminding me why I was taken from the East Coast. Security. Safety. Protection. There was that old fear that somehow, I was the cause of the attack on my tenth Life Date. Not until I was on the back of Dad’s bike did it happen. In that moment, I stood, older, thinking about me being the cause. Something felt off, but I couldn’t quite figure it out, maybe because I was too busy shielding my eyes just enough to see Styx hit a code on a keypad by a rear door and slip inside the building.