Cynthia

by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  “Tío, this is Leah.” Roger introduced us. “She’s here to meet the pods.”

  His uncle took my outstretched hand, bent and kissed my palm. “It’s a pleasure, to finally meet the one who has my little nephew whipped.”

  Roger let way to a nervous chuckle. “I ain’t whipped.” His face reddened and he grew impatient. “Show her the pods, Tío. She thinks I’m trying to sell her to pirates.”

  I held back a smile. “Does he really like me that much?”

  Roger glanced away. “Leah,” he whispered, grazing his fingertips against my arm. “Look at what’s inside the pods. You won’t believe your eyes.”

  “Yes,” Tío said, motioning for me to follow him to a set of hulls that ran low to the ground. “These are what put me on the map with marine biology.”

  “You’re a biologist?”

  He nodded, guiding me to the first pod. “I dabble in genetic engineering, too.” I glanced inside and couldn’t believe my eyes. Tiny, one inch tiger sharks swam back and forth. There were two hammerheads fighting, ramming their flat heads against each other, and inside small, miniature rocks and sea-grass, was the exposed tail belonging to a nurse shark.

  “Is this real?” My eyes widened, glancing at quarter-inch lobsters and microscopic shrimp in the next pod. “What’s in that bowl?” I stood on my tip-toes, spotting a school of krill no larger than one of my eyelashes. “How’d you do this?” I could barely make it out, but it looked as if there were clams hiding in moss or maybe a reef, a reef so small it was unrecognizable to the human eye.

  Tiny orcas spit water from their backs. I laughed, spotting a pod of humpbacks in another bowl. “These are incredible. Your uncle is a genius.”

  “Look over here, it gets better, more amazing!” Roger pointed to the other side of the cave. Right at the ledge, there were two large waterfall pods. They were triple the size of the others. “I like to think that these are Tío’s greatest achievements.”

  One-inch barracuda swam to the edge of the bowl, glancing at my earrings. “They’re attracted to shiny things,” I said.

  “Yes, they most certainly are.” Tío agreed. “They’re quite vicious no matter their size. One of my contemporaries used to call them the Devil’s pets.”

  “These little ones are cute.”

  “Don’t put your hands inside or you will think otherwise.”

  I stepped over to the next pod. Here, tiny octopi littered the bowl. They were in various colors, shapes, and species, I’d never even had the chance to read about. I prided myself on the many books I’d devoured as a youth. In a mere ten minutes, I’d superseded any knowledge gained from a textbook, just by standing inside this unconventional lab. The cave was incredible and Tío, a certified genius. “Can I hold an octopus?”

  Tío nodded. “Just be careful. They frighten easily.”

  I placed my hand into the water and two octopi suctioned onto my middle finger. One was spotted, and the other a neon green. “And, to think, when Roger had me in the dark pool, I thought he was going to get us eaten by giant monsters.”

  Tío chuckled. “Nonsense, Cynthia would never let that happen.”

  “Cynthia?”

  “She adores Roger.”

  Roger snuck up behind me, gripping my waist. I jerked, stumbling into the hull. Water spilled and several miniature octopi slipped from their home and dropped into the small mere beside us. “Careful!” Tío shouted. “They’re not ready for the ocean yet!”

  The tiny octopi latched onto my finger.

  “Ouch, ouch, get them off!” I shook my hand over the bowl. Roger massaged the tops of their heads. “Hurry, take them off.”

  “Calm down, they’re just frightened,” he said. “Stand very still and I’ll be able to get them off you.”

  “Who’s Cynthia? Were you planning to tell me about her?”

  He said nothing, just gently massaged the creatures.

  Slowly, they unlatched themselves from me. Blood trickled down my finger and there were multiple, minute gashes in an umbrella shape down the side of my middle finger. “Another scar, Rog. One of these days, you’re going to get me killed.”

  “It’s a tiny cut.” He wiped my finger on his shirt and then kissed where I’d been attacked. “Don’t be so dramatic. Besides, it makes you look tough. Welcome to the three-oh-five, Baby.”

  “You’re not funny.”

  He laughed, wrapping his arms around me. He was strong and I loved the way he smelled in the crook of his neck. I sighed, resting my cheek against his shoulder, breathing him in as our chests touched with each inhale.

  “I was praised for my aquatic infinitesimal organisms, that is, until those morons got greedy,” Tío said.

  I turned, to see him on his hands and knees, leaning over the ledge where the octopi fell.

  “I’m sorry for hitting the pod. It was an accident.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Leah. Roger knows better than to rough-house in my lab. He’s acting like a boy attempting to impress his crush on the playground.” Tío peered over the lip, saving another tiny octopus. He placed them back into their containment. “There, there, little ones. I won’t let any harm come to you.”

  “Who’s Cynthia?”

  He frowned. “You mean, Roger has never told you about his first love?”

  My stomach churned, even against the warmth of Roger’s hand pressed against it. He kissed my neck. “Come meet my other girlfriend.”

  I could barely breathe. “Who are you?”

  “We’ve been together four years and I wanted to introduce you to my world. You think I’m some thug from the streets. I know you do, I see it in your eyes sometimes.”

  “I’ve never said that.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “Roger, I—”

  “Look, I thought you were some stuck-up, boring, chica blanca, when we met. I didn’t even find you attractive.”

  I turned around and shoved him. “You think I’m ugly?”

  He pulled me towards him, by the edges of my shirt, so that our stomachs touched. “You’re beautiful, inside and out.”

  A fire burned within me, but quickly dissipated. “I’m not going to be the other woman.”

  “You’ve got no choice. Now, come meet my girl.”

  I recoiled, but he tightened his grip, refusing to let me run. “Don’t be jealous. There’s plenty of me to share.”

  “I’m not interested in polygamy.”

  He froze, nodded, and forced me towards the edge of the cave. “Cynthia’s going to be very disappointed when she finds out you’re selfish and don’t like to share.”

  “Roger!” I dug my heels into the ground. “Stop it. I don’t want to go back into the water. There’re giant eels in there.”

  “Chill out, Mrs. Cranky Pants. We’re going through a dry, water-free tunnel.”

  Tío stood behind us. “Yes, you’re in for a grand treat. If you enjoyed my aquatic infinitesimal organisms, then you’ll be amazed at my gargantuan marine life. They were my rise and downfall.” His eyes narrowed, “but only because the greedy sponsors couldn’t wait for my formulations to become perfected. They rushed into production without proper testing and caused my research to become banned. I’ve got activists against my work, when at one time, they loved me!”

  A strange chill ran down my spine, causing my knees to grow weak. “What else did you create, Tío?”

  “Take your earrings off and I shall show you.” He smiled, motioning for me to place them in an indented nook cut into the limestone. “Thirty years ago, this facility was, not only a research center, but also it was an amusement park for animal lovers. I’m allowed to stay and maintain it.”

  “Why do you need to maintain an abandoned park?”

  “To keep those outside safe, of course. Come, follow me.” He passed us along the narrow path that stretched around to the other side of the waterfall pods.

  “Safe?” My legs trembled and Roger held me up. “Where’s he taking u
s?”

  “It’s okay, I spent my childhood here. You’ve got nothing to worry about, I promise.”

  “Right. I almost forgot. I’m supposed to trust you.”

  “Exactly.” He patted my bottom, nudging me with his knee, right in the center of my rear end. “Wait till you see what’s on the other side of this cave.”

  I followed Tío around the bend, careful not to fall on the narrow parts of the trail. The ground was slippery and I wished for nothing else but sea-shoes. Roger begged me to get a pair, but I’d refused, saying the idea of exploring caves would never interest me. He’d been disappointed when I said that. Now, I could see why. He loved this place and if I didn’t like exploration and danger, how could he ever show me who he truly was?

  Since meeting him, I’d been thrown into situations I’d never imagined were possible. Sprained ankles after ‘adventures’, an upset stomach from unknown foods, and the feeling of claustrophobia and fear, was a regular, especially in the past two years of our relationship.

  There was a lot of give and take, though. He’d accompany me to the operas, and teased me as I cried during the ballet. My favorite, was his unexplainable fear of dogs. I had two of my own and would take in fosters whenever rescues needed to save ones deemed unadoptable.

  My favorite challenge was to show a poor, abused creature, that he or she was worthy of love, and that I loved them. It took a lot of time, but once they gained confidence in themselves, they became great companions, and we could get them adopted, especially to single women who needed a protector. Saved animals were always the most loyal. They appreciated being given a chance and knew when their owners were in danger.

  Roger would sit frozen on my sofa whenever I’d invite him for dinner. Once, my dogs jumped in his lap and slobbered on his face. He’d made a shrilly noise. It came deep from his throat and still, to this day, I wonder if that is his way of screaming in terror.

  He protested when I brought home the Great Dane with a fear-biting problem. “That thing could chomp your head straight off your shoulders.”

  “He’s old and half-blind. Someone’s been mean to him and I’m not letting anyone else torture him. They’ve locked him in small cages and let him starve. Look at his ribs, poking from his chest. He’s been tortured. He can stay in my backyard for the rest of his days. He doesn’t know an inside life, but my yard is big and he’ll have free reign of it.”

  “What about your dogs?”

  “They can play in the front.”

  “He’s a monster and I forbade you to keep him.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing I don’t listen or you’d have him stuck in another kennel—to die lonely and despondent. Nope. That’s not happening. I’m giving him a home.”

  “If you keep this dog, then you better not say no next time I go skydiving. Having that beast is more dangerous. You’re jumping out of a plane.” He grabbed his phone and punched the keys. “Yeah, next weekend, we’re jumping. There, I’ve ordered our tickets.”

  “Dropping to my death from the sky is less dangerous, really?”

  Roger rested his arm on my shoulder. “We’re almost there.”

  I shook the thoughts of Great Danes and fosters from my mind. Yes, I was in a dark, dank cave with two lunatics who were taking me to who knew where. Would I survive? Only time would tell. At least my dogs were with my sister this weekend. She’d agreed to watch them so that Roger and I could celebrate our four-year anniversary.

  “Okay, we’re here.”

  I peeked around the bend and immediately, my jaw dropped. The walls to my right were limestone and most likely the back of the pods’ cave. There were no walls to my left. Instead, there was an elevator with glass, aquarium walls. A giant starfish, the size of my coffee table had suctioned itself to one of the panes. Blue neon tetras, the same little one-to-two-inch tank fish I’d had as a child, swam past. They were nearly six-feet in length!

  “I didn’t know tetras could grow this large and aren’t they freshwater?” I pressed my hands to the glass, just below the starfish. His saucer-sized suction cups contracted. There were thousands of them along the inside of his five legs. Yes, thousands of twitching pieces of flesh that reminded me of alien creatures.

  “It’s the future of genetics, darling. I’ve learned to alter their DNA.” Tío pointed to the elevator. The doors opened. “Ready?”

  I stepped inside, my mouth still wide open. “How did you make such small creatures and then, these enormous ones?”

  He pressed the last button and the doors shut. “I found a way, through environment and selective matting, to create smaller fish. I created micro predators and colossal prey.”

  “What inspired you to design all of this?”

  “I wanted to have the chance to study more closely the dangerous species. I figured if the world wasn’t afraid of sharks or whales, for that matter, then maybe they’d take more of an interest in their survival and want to save their dying habitat.”

  “Why the giant fish?”

  “That was the fault of my sponsors. I only agreed to do it because they said we’d use small, harmless species. Some of my colleagues took my predators and put them in larger ecosystems.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Part of the reason they stay small is due to their environment. If you take them out of small containments and place them in larger ones, the genetic alterations I’ve implemented into them, have a reverse reaction, causing enormous mutations.” He smiled. “This is the perfect floor for you. Leah.”

  “How many floors down does this go?”

  “I can’t reach the depths of the caves. There’s so much life, it’s fantastic!”

  The elevator doors opened onto a long, glass tunnel. I stepped out, dizzy. A giant shrimp, the size of a small car, crawled beneath us and a large puffer stared at us through the glass barrier with its bulging eyes.

  I recoiled into Roger. He rubbed the sides of my arms, kissing the crook of my neck. “Incredible, right?”

  A Seahorse, the size of a tractor, floated out into a darkened area of the underwater cave. “How big is this place?”

  Tío thought, pressing his thumb to his wrist. He nodded, counting quietly. “It’s large, and I control most of the beach. After one hundred feet from the shoreline, there are walls that block my designs from infiltrating regular sea-life.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  He scoffed. “If they’re this big now, imagine what would happen if they had the entire sea to grow into?”

  Adrenaline coursed through my veins. “I never thought of that.”

  “Look!” Roger pointed out into the ocean. “Here comes Cynthia. She used to be a mini, but she escaped her pod a few years back. Wow, Tío, she’s grown since I last saw her.”

  He nodded in disappointment. “You should see her little demons. They’re killing the tetras.”

  Roger shook his head, rushing to the side of the tunnel. “Hi Cynthia, my girl.” He pressed his palms to the glass. An enormous tentacle, as long and thick as a palm tree, appeared out of the darkness. “Today’s the day. Here’s Leah.”

  “Cynthia’s an Octopus?”

  “Yep. Come meet my girl.”

  “What kind of name is Cynthia for a—”

  “I was a kid and I couldn’t say, oh heck, Tío, what’s Cyn’s real name?”

  “She’s a Coastal Neptunian Thalassic Aquatic lifeform.”

  “Right, now Leah, meet, my first love.”

  “Octopus wasn’t a good enough description?”

  “Not with a bunch of science geeks.” He shoved me in the back. “Stop stalling. Meet Cynthia.”

  I stepped forward, staring up, forcing a smile.

  Glowing red eyes glared at me. They were as big as the tires on my car. Her skin was brown and spotted like a leopard. “She doesn’t like me.”

  “Nonsense. She’s a gentle giant. I’ve been in the caves and we’ve played together among the tetras. I can’t go in anymore though—not s
ince the accident.”

  Tío grunted, guiding us deeper through the tunnels. “Yes, that was when the ‘no rough-housing’ rule came into effect. He was just sixteen and I’m sure he regrets it now.”

  “What did you do, Roger?”

  “Well—”

  Before he could finish, something impacted the glass. I stumbled, grabbing his arm. The tunnel creaked, swaying, slowly, from side to side. My stomach churned.

  “Roger, what was that?”

  “My mistake,” he said. “Run to the elevator, Leah! They’re attacking and I don’t know why.”

  “What’s attacking?” I glanced above me at the sound of crackling glass. Drops of water hit my forehead. My eyes widened in horror. Giant barracuda, over ten feet long and two feet wide, opened their mouths, exposing razor-sharp teeth. I’d be sliced in half with just one snap of their powerful jaws.

  “The tunnel is splitting, run!” Tío shouted. “Hurry, before it’s too late!”

  We ran, feeling the glass splinter. Cracks ran before us, towards the elevator. “I knew you’d get me killed.”

  “Don’t panic, Leah.” He shoved me through the doors and pressed them shut.

  “Roger!” I pounded my fists on the hard metal. “What have you done! Roger!” As the elevator climbed, floor after floor, dinging with each story up, I slid down the wall, tucked in my knees and sobbed.

  He’d saved me. There was an awful scream that rumbled up, vibrating the elevator floor. Was that my Roger? Were they eating him? I shivered at the thought. What could I do? He was going to die if I didn’t get him out of there. What about Tío?

  I covered my head with my hands and rocked, knocking my back against the steel wall. “What do I do? What do I do?” A horrifying revelation came to me. I had to get back in there. If there was any of my Roger left to save, then I had to at least try to get him out.

  Sure, he was a hothead, thought he knew everything, and could get under my skin something awful, but I couldn’t imagine life without him.

  The doors opened and I rushed out, following the path back to the pods. There was a pool of water that I was almost certain led to the underwater tunnels. If I could just get in there, then I’d be able to find them. I’d seen diving tanks hanging on the wall when I first entered. Would I be able to figure out how to use one?