User blog:Revontheus1746/The Husband Tales, Part Three

A friend of mine once told me, 'they who deny aid to monsters are monsters themselves'. The rest of the people have noticed her and won't dare go near her for fear of.. well, bad things. I can't blame them and I won't. I approach cautiously, and she weakly stirs. I see her cheeks are a deeper shade of the grayish green hue of her skin. Gods, that skin is beautiful.  'Focus,' I tell myself, 'you only need to help her. Anything other than that is out of the question.'

As I pick her up from the sand, she latches onto me and tries to wrestle my mouth open. No doubt to get at the moisture. "I know you're dry, but let me get you somewhere more moist!" She's not intent on stopping anytime soon, so I beat wobbly feet to a large trench someone had dug. The tide had come in earlier, flooding it and heating the water to a relaxing temperature, almost as if we were in the tropics. Must have been seven feet deep and full of different plants.

Changing tactics, she wraps all of her kelp around me, and I am not prepared for the shift of weight. I fall right into the trench along with the Flow Kelp. Breaking the surface of the water, I gag at the bite of the saltwater that went down my throat. After recovering and getting a few questioning looks from everyone else, I look to my left and see a couple floating strands of kelp floating into the current. 'At least I got her back in the sea,' I think, 'now to get out of this soaked shirt. Have to get back to cleaning the beach.' I start dragging myself out of the trench, but can't seem to completely bring myself out.

'Am I caught on something? I didn't see anything down there except the-'

I reach down to free my foot and my heart almost stops. The Flow Kelp I 'helped' into the water slowly breaks the surface and stares at me. I feel the slimy kelp overtaking me.. what a feeling. No, no! Must not.. fall to it! I whip my head around to cry out for help, but the Flow Kelp covers my mouth, muffling my cry. Before I'm dragged underwater, I make one last attempt to signal for help from the others. To my dismay, none of them saw me, and I was crushed.

I can't even muster the will to fight back or struggle. I just let her do what she wants. What's the point of resisting if it isn't buying me any time? I'm left with my arms free after I cease my endeavours, and the Flow Kelp turns me to face her. Her eyes. Her skin. The feeling of the kelp. It's taking my sense away from me. I embrace her tightly.

"Has anyone seen Sam?" one of the group asks. "I thought he was helping that- oh. Oh no." another realizes. "What? What was he helping?" asks yet another. "He was helping a Flow Kelp back into the water. Over by the trench, go!" When they arrived, the group saw nothing. Nothing in the trench. A single strand of kelp floated at the water's surface before sinking beneath the waves again. "Is he..?" "Gone. It took him and swam." "This is what he gets for trying to help? Stolen away to probably drown somewhere? Sam..."

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">A few years later, I emerge from the tides with a bundle of living kelp attached to my back. At first, the added weight causes me to stagger, but I eventually balance out and push a few kelp strands out of my field of vision. I'm treated to the sight of frightened beach-goers shouting and running all over the place. Truly panicked and, admittedly, hilarious.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">"Kelp monster! Help!"

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">"It's so slimy!"

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">"It's gonna eat us all!"

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I guess we ruined their day at the beach. Oh well, I've got a few hours on the surface before Kendra dries out. Kendra's the Flow Kelp I helped that dragged me into the ocean. Her figure gets rather.. well, noticeable when she absorbs moisture. If I let her shrink too much, I don't think I'll get back to the sea quick enough. She might actually lose control and attack me again.. just thinking about it makes me shiver. But again, I have a few hours.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I use most of that time to show Kendra the surface. Other than the beach, everything seems to have changed in some way. The forest near my house was smaller and less.. alive somehow. I saw people milling around it, so I went on over. I stayed in the shade so the sun wouldn't dry Kendra out too quickly. I couldn't believe it at first, but my parents were there! I ran on over shouting their name, not really taking into account what they might see calling their name.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">They were of course horrified at first. My dad grabbed a sword he'd forged a while ago and charged. My mom.. well, she was throwing things, trying to support my dad. "Dad, wait! It's me, Sam! Don't attack she'll-" WHAM. My dad prematurely sheathes his sword and tackles me to the ground. At first I think he's trying to wrestle me free of Kendra, but she seems fine with him despite him tackling us. Mom's stopped throwing things and looks on cautiously. Dad parts the kelp in my face and looks down at me with tears in his eyes.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">"Where in the name of the Chief God have you been, boy?!" he asks, hefting me up to my feet and dusting me off. I'm just wondering how he managed that with Kendra's added weight, but that's for another time. "It's, uhm.. kind of a long story. Is that pond out back still there? Kendra'll need some moisture soon if I want to stay on my feet." He seems bewildered at my question, but nods. <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">The pond is full of scum, much to my chagrin. <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> Great, I have to clean it out and Kendra's getting handsy.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I manage to get it clean before Kendra binds me again, and I feel relief replace panic as she settles down and takes in the moisture. "Okay.. now, about being gone for.. how long?" Mom walks to the edge of the pond and sits in the grass. "Three years, Sammael. You've been gone three years. I- <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">we <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> thought you were gone or worse." My eyes went wide. <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Three years?! <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> Kendra giggled, causing me to try and face her, only to find out she'd locked my head in place with her kelp. "You kept me for.. three years..?" All I got in response was a pat on the head.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">My mom gasped and my dad approached. "Ah, I see what gotcha. Flow Kelp.. at least it wasn't a Mershark. I hear they bite quite a lot." I smile a bit and this causes dad to do the same. "I missed that smile, y'know? Even before you left, I missed the way it glowed in the light of the sun. Your mother, well.. you know how she is." I teared up a bit. It was good to visit my parents, even if it was briefly. I gathered a few things from inside the house, hugged mom and dad, then me and Kendra went back into the sea.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I occasionally visit them, and I even found one of my old friends. She was admittedly a little disappointed that Kendra got to me first, but said she didn't have any hard feelings. "After all, if the Gods will it, it'll happen, right?" I nodded, but I wasn't too sure about that. After this brief visit, I couldn't keep Kendra out of the sun, so she got handsy again and left me panting. I could barely make it back to the sea without collapsing again. Once we sunk to the bottom, I guess she wasn't satisfied with the saltwater, so she wrung me dry.

“If this were the ending to some comic, it'd show my hand reaching out to try and get away from my assailant and into the frame, then a strand of kelp would wrap around it and drag it back out of frame. Maybe in the last frame it'd show a heart coming from the side. So, uhm.. yep. That’s how I met Kendra.” Seton just gives me a look of astonishment and drops his glass. “That’s.. that’s messed up, Sam. I’m gonna need another drink.” He walks off and Kendra quietly chuckles. I have no regrets.