Chapter 7
741words
Dr. Chenowith slammed onto the railings, causing a loud crash.
I had underestimated his strength. He swung back, and his webbed hand clamped around my arm like a steel vice.
I was in excruciating pain. My bones were about to break.
"Let me go!"
I pulled out my folding knife and stabbed it into his arm. The blade stabbed into the scales, but slipped away as if it was stabbing into a tire, leaving a white mark.
"It's useless!"
He snarled and flung me away. I landed badly on the control console, bleeding from the corner of my mouth.
Dr. Chenowith came closer, step by step, and asked, "Why are you resisting?"
The scary thing was that he did not look murderous. He looked oddly sympathetic. His uncanny imitation of compassion made it seem even more creepy.
"Think about your ex-boyfriend. You two were so much in love, yet you ended up breaking up because of money."
He stopped in front of me and bent down, staring at me with that huge fish eye of his.
His tone suddenly softened, like a caring older brother.
"Think about how low-ranking you are in the company. Think about the anxiety you have about making rent every month. How tiring it is to be human."
His words hit every raw nerve.
My hand trembled a little.
Yes, he was right. What was the use of being human if we were overworked like a robot, selling our soul just for a miniscule salary?
No one to love us nor care for us. Even dying was costly, having to worry about the rising cost of a graveyard burial plot.
"You won't have to worry if you become like us," Dr. Chenowith said with a tempting voice.
"In the deep sea, there's no rent or mortgage, no KPIs, no betrayals. Only eternal peace and love from the God of the Seas."
I was starting to cave in. The buzzing in my mind started once more, but that time, it was no longer painful.
On the contrary, it turned gentle and warm, like a mother's hug.
The gills on my neck opened up, greedily taking in the warmth.
The knife in my hand was slowly slipping away.
Dr. Chenowith smiled in satisfaction. He reached out, wanting to pat me on the head.
"Good child. Take it all in…"
Just when his fingers touched me, I noticed a photo on the corner of the control console. A photo of him when he was younger, carrying a little girl in his arms. The little girl was beaming, clutching a seashell to her chest.
On the back of the photo was a handwritten note.
[To my dearest Nina, Daddy will cure your sickness. I promise.]
My chest tightened.
Cure her? Was that what it was all about?
I suddenly asked him, "Where's your daughter?"
My question came all of a sudden, causing his hand to stiffen mid-air. His half human, half fish face had a pang of mixed emotions.
Confusion, pain, grief, all the signs of humanity resisting his monstrous form.
He muttered, "Nina… Nina's in the sea. She's really happy…"
"She's dead," I interjected coldly.
"You handed her to that monster, right?"
"Shut up!"
Dr. Chenowith was suddenly aggravated. His face was distorted as tears started streaming down from the human eye. The fish eye was equally cold and dead.
The split between the two was unbearable to look at. He looked terrifying, yet pitiful at the same time.
"I was doing this to save her! Only the God of the Seas can rescue her!"
"You're just lying to yourself! You're a coward!" I bellowed.
Taking advantage of his emotional outburst, I picked up the knife on the floor.
However, I did not aim for his arm. Instead, I aimed for his teary human eye.
I drove the knife into his eye hard. Blood splattered everywhere.
"Argh!"
He screamed in horror, clutching his eye, and rolling on the ground in pain.
The so-called perfect evolution that he worshipped could not withstand the oldest wound on earth.
Grief.
Having emotions was what it meant to be human. It was a weakness, yet also the sharpest weapon.
Catching my breath, I looked at the half fish, half human monster on the floor. There was no triumph in me, only a hollow sorrow.
I turned around and looked at the control console. If I destroy it, maybe everything would end.
