Part 3: Creature of the Deep

The good news was that there was no one on the midnight train to NYC. The bad news was that Rae would get to NYC at 3am. Rae took off her jacket and nestled in the corner. She used her jacket as a pillow as she laid her head against the window.

Rae shrugged. Not the first time she slept on the floors of Penn Station, and it probably won’t be her last. The subways would be safe to ride around six or seven in the morning. Three hours wouldn’t kill her. The hour and a half to get to her apartment might though.

The sounds of the train turned into the sounds of the sea. Soon a dark, horizonless sea appeared in front of Rae. She lay on the beach, in different clothes, at a different age, staring above. The star-filled sky lit up the night.

The sea whispered, “Come back to me, my love.”

Rae sat up. Her heart picked up speed. She swallowed hard, dreading what was to come. Off in the distance, in the shimmering sea, a hooded figure stood. He sank into the sea, only his cat-like eye reflecting in the darkness. Rae lay back down and curled up.

“It’s been so long. Did you think? You could forget me?” The sea chuckled.

Rae heard them before she felt them slithering on her skin. Ice-cold tentacles with long claws on their suckers carefully wrapped themselves around Rae. She tried not to make a sound, fearing the consequences of doing so.

“Remember, I gave you your worth. I gave you purpose.”

A yelp escaped Rae. A tentacle tightly wrapped itself around her neck. The claws dug into her skin.

“Without me, you are nothing. Will always be nothing.”

The tentacles dragged her into the cold, shadowy sea.

“Come to the depths with me. For … the only worth you have is in my arms.”