prologue

Something entered my waters, something that shouldn’t be here. I could feel its emotions from my resting place amongst the sand miles away, judging by the faintness, and I could tell it was human by the taste of the complexity of their delicious despair.
It’s been so long since I have feasted upon a human, especially one that has seemingly already accepted death. I was practically salivating as my tentacles and ink propelled me forward toward them.

As I got closer, I saw their body sinking further into my depths, and I could start hearing their thoughts. This human didn’t accidentally fall into my waters. No, this human wanted to die. She didn’t just accept death. She looked for it.

My curiosity started to overpower my hunger. I rarely see a human in this state, this far out in the oceans. Usually, they’re fighting for their lives as they sink deeper. But, no, this human wants to go deeper.

Maybe I should help her.

I’m directly under her now, watching her slow descent. She has probably been in the water for less than two minutes, but I don’t want to wait any longer. I need to know more using the tentacle; I reach up and grab her arm, flipping her body so her eyes are looking directly at me instead of the dying light of the boat above.

I don’t know if she recognizes what she sees, but her eyes are wide, and her heartbeat picks up speed. She’s not afraid more than startled. I was so fast as I swam underneath her, I’m surprised she hadn’t felt me before now, but maybe she was just too consumed with her emotions to feel the water shifting underneath her. But she notices me now.

I connect with her eyes and fall into them to understand her a little bit more. I watch memories of her past fly before us. I watched her grow up, move out of her abusive family’s house, move in with her boyfriend and find her best friend, Sadie. Then I watched them completely shatter her. I knew that they were both up in that boat above us, and I know Liliana’s heart now, and I want it to be mine.

How did one of my favorite poems go again?

Ah, yes.

“Drown your tears in me, my dear. As you drown, my dear, in me.”

Thank you for your offering, Liliana.

I accept.