Falling in Deep Collection Box Set

by Pauline Creeden

  Adding the wife and little girl seems to do the trick. The older man smiles at me. “Fifth floor? I think I do remember management saying that the Bolters were moving, actually.”

  “Yes, the Bolters—that’s who we purchased from. You really are welcome to walk me up.”

  “Nah, that won’t be necessary. Welcome to the building. I’m Bill and I work weekday mornings.”

  “Nice to meet you, Bill. I’m Connor Andrews. I start at the hospital a week from Friday.”

  “Wonderful. Guess I’ll know who to go to if this old ticker starts acting up.” Bill taps his chest and smiles wider.

  “Have a nice day, Bill.” I turn from him and I have to control my body so that it doesn’t race toward the elevator and hit the button a dozen times. When I am standing there, desperately trying to appear patient, my eyes see the stair entrance. “You know, I guess I’ll take the stairs. Never can have too much exercise, and that marathon is coming up quicker than I thought it would.”

  Bill says something, but I do not hear him. The door to the stairs is already closing behind me. I take the stairs two at a time. She has to be okay. Whatever is making me feel anxious and scared isn’t real.

  The door to Lena’s condo is not locked. It isn’t even closed all the way. My mouth wants to fall open and yell her name, but I stop myself. A voice is carrying to me. I move further into the living room/kitchen combination and listen carefully until I know where the voice is coming from.

  My feet take me to a door, also partially closed like the condo entrance. The words that someone is speaking are clear now. It is a man’s voice—one I feel that I have heard before, ordering a flat white with two sugars. Truman. The fiancé.

  “We’re intertwined, Lena. You cannot get away from me, no more than I can get away from you. It is fate, an undeniable force. A train thundering toward a bridge that is not built. It can’t be stopped. It’s forever until we crash and burn. Forever.” There is quiet for a moment, the sound of water spilling. “You were really going to leave me this time, Lena. I knew it. I couldn’t let you leave me, not for someone else. I couldn’t let us fail… I couldn’t be more like my father. You’re mine. Forever. And I’ll remember you, I promise. You’ve let me have a future now. You’ve helped me recover from my mistake. I’ll name a foundation in your honor. I’ll let everyone know what a special person you were. The money won’t be wasted. I promise. God… God, Lena… you’re so damn beautiful.”

  Quiet again, more water splashing.

  I push the door further open and the hinges make no noise.

  Anger should flood my body when I see what is happening behind the door.

  Lena is naked, her purple-red hair soaking wet and hanging over the edge of the tub. Her face, her gorgeous face, is bruised and lifeless.

  Truman is kneading her left breast as he murmurs his words, his empty promises. His other hand strokes himself, over and over. I see the way his elbow moves toward and away from me as I stand behind him.

  I am cold.

  And I am frozen until his eyes close and his head tilts back toward me. But I begin to thaw as he squeezes her breast roughly, as he climaxes, as he adds off-white color to the water on the tile floor.

  “You fucking bastard.” I see red and my scream is bestial as I launch myself toward him, but he is fast, sidestepping my tackle and letting me slam into the bathtub. Water sloshes all over.

  As quickly as it came, the anger drains from my body, because I am so close to her and she is gone forever. There is no waiting, no hope for an opal ring upon her finger. The starfish around her neck seems to stare at me; another pearl is gone from it, and the sight of it missing increases the ever-building ache in my heart. I told her that I would break if she left me.

  I hadn’t been lying.

  She’d given me a sliver of true love.

  I could have lived forever without knowing her.

  But knowing her and losing her… I will never live again.

  “I’m so sorry, Lena. I’m so sorry.” And I am, because she was everything…

  Everything.

  Putting my hand in the water, I let it sink elbow-deep, and then I thread my arm beneath Lena’s body. Pulling her to me, not caring that I am becoming soaked, I hold her close. I cradle her like the most precious thing. The most precious thing that she is and always will be to me.

  And I know that I would have followed her anywhere.

  I still might follow her anywhere.

  I hear voices behind me. More than just Truman now. EMTs and two police officers have arrived.

  Hands are on my shoulders. They are trying to take me away from her. But I won’t leave her. Shaking my shoulders, their hands fall away from me.

  “Leave me the fuck alone.”

  “Sir, you’re not family. Her fiancé has asked you to leave once already.”

  “He didn’t fucking ask me anything.”

  “Sir, you need to leave.” A hand grips my shoulder again.

  This time, when I see red, I do not let the anger leave me until I have lashed out and punched and kicked my way into a pair of handcuffs.

  Hello

  Lena, disoriented, her brain unable to understand the finality of her situation, bobs up and down in the still, calm waters of a vast sea. A fog plays at the corners of her eyes.

  Part of her has remained in the bathroom, staring at Truman through the undulating bathtub wetness, her brain shouting at him to save her. But the rest of her is here. Here forever. Finally, the disorientation dissolves into seafoam and everything clears. Lena sees the bright blue sky and the pelican soaring above her head, her head that is crowned in coral again.

  Raising an arm to shade her face from the sun rays brightening the day, Lena is mesmerized by the beautiful green of her skin. It’s dandelion stalk and shimmering eye shadow; the shade changes as she rotates her arm. I’m so beautiful.

  A light weight rests against her chest and Lena touches it gingerly. It’s the shape of a star—her necklace. Now it buoys her up instead of pulling her down violently. It is as if the starfish is happy here, like Lena and the necklace belong in this place.

  Something brushes against her and Lena beats her powerful tail twice. She is carried several feet away from where she was relaxing in the water. A little fish jumps, its scales catching the light in a mesmeric way.

  “Flounder!” Lena cries happily, swimming toward her friend. “I’m so happy to see you!”

  Flounder nibbles at her fingers and then plunges into the water.

  “Wait for me!” Lena cries, diving headfirst, her tail breaking the ocean’s surface in a colorful kaleidoscope of mother-of-pearl scales that change like an oil slick in the light. “Wait for me!” She yells again, her voice bubbly and bell-like beneath the waves.

  Lena does not stop to wonder at her surroundings this time; she only wants to follow the little fish and whatever force is calling her forward. There is no hope this time. There is knowing. She will get to that place, find what is willing her forward. She will never again be yanked out of this reality that is so right and wonderful and wet.

  “Come home to us, Meri, Ocean Eyes, sea child. Come home to us. Come home to us, Meri, Ocean Eye, sea child. Come home to us.”

  They are the voices that Lena has heard before. They are filled with love and a degree of sadness she does not understand.

  She is so close. She can see the mirage of something; it is waving and changing like circus glass. As she moves nearer and nearer and her lovely, strong tail beats steadily behind her, Lena gasps. The castle beneath the water is unlike anything she could have ever imagined.

  Translucent glass rises from the sea floor and it is illuminated by glowing coral and bioluminescent animals. Beneath an archway, a man and a woman reach out to her. A merman and merwoman. Their tails are the same as Lena’s—mother-of-pearl and glinting in the deep ocean radiances. Their skin is the same as Lena’s—flower stalk and shimmer—and atop the merwoman’s head is a crown of intri
cate coral.

  Wonderment fills Lena’s body, and a sense of rightness that has been absent all her life.

  Memories are emerging from her subconscious and mixing in her mind the way the creatures and particles and plants mix in the sea that spreads out around her, farther than she could ever hope to travel. Human life. Mer-life. Friends from the land. Family from the sea.

  Lena pauses in the water, staring ahead in amazement.

  ***

  Swimming toward her is a face that takes her breath away—if breath can be stolen from water and gills. It is Connor’s face, but she knows instantly that it is not her Connor. No, this is another man, one who died just as she has so recently died. A twin who is a merman, a brother with a single dimple. As he draws closer, the merman thinks to Lena and it is strange to hear his thoughts inside her head: You are the one, the one who loves him. I’ve felt you from the beginning, from the moment he first saw you. Orange dress, burgundy hair, butter in your coffee. You’ll bring him home, Sister. You’ll bring him home.

  There is so much to understand, so much to hope for; memories continue to flood back like tiny particles through a sieve.

  Two couples on a beach.

  A hummed song, full of conflicting happiness and grief.

  And her name. Once her middle name, now her full name—Meri—being whispered by voices that are more like instruments in a symphony rather than tools to mimic words and speech.

  Lena continues to stare across the space to the castle. Deacon is nearly to her. Nothing can be explained. And all that has happened is so strange and wonderful—the magic that moved her from bathroom to sea, the brother to the man she loves swimming toward her, the beautiful mermaid body that is now her body.

  Everything has changed, everything is altered, but Lena knows, in the center of her body, that she is home. She is no longer an orphan or insane or sane or daydreamer. She is truly and forever Ocean Eyes. Meri of the mermaids.

  About the Author

  Eli lives in Virginia with her husband, three kids, and rescue dog. She attended USC-L, Columbia College, Texas A&M, & George Mason University.

  Settling on Biology, Eli participated in several research fellowships (in Texas and at NIH in MD), worked a few random jobs, and finally settled into a Sterling, Virginia lab where she focused on mastering practical histology and pathology procedures and applications.

  Choosing to be a dedicated homemaker after the birth of her first biological child, Eli rediscovered her passion for writing. She’s never regretted the decision; not only are her kids the most amazing creatures, but writing fulfills her soul in a way science never did.

  Eli is the author of Dead Trees, Dead Trees 2, Mastic, DRAG.N & Z Children: Awakening. She is a contributing author to Let’s Scare Cancer to Death, State of Horror: New Jersey, State of Horror: Illinois, & Fading Hope. Her books are available in eBook, paperback, & audio formats.

  Connect with Eli online:

  Twitter: @Author_EliC

  Facebook

  Goodreads

  Wordpress

  Check out Eli’s other works on Amazon!

  Cold Water Bridegroom by B. Brumley

  Having grown up in San Francisco, Calder Brumen is drawn to the ocean, and he’s spent his life trying to capture the beauty of the Pacific on canvas. Over time, he has become obsessed with painting the image of a dark haired mermaid named Gaire, and Calder struggles to explain his devotion to these portraits to his best friend. When Calder finds sandy footprints leading to the edge of his bed, he suspects that the haunting siren is real.

  Pursuing the truth, Calder is dragged into a murderous, underwater plot that could destroy them all. And he must choose – is the possibility of a lifetime with Gaire worth risking death for himself and everyone he loves?

  On the Land

  Prologue

  Surrounded by dark waters deep enough to void the sunbeams from the surface, a translucent octopus lounged on a circular outcropping adjacent to a dome-shaped membrane. One limb was pressed through the boundary into the dimly lit cupola, suction pads testing the difference between the ocean and the air in the rotunda. A tattoo marked the trespassing appendage; a white-haired mermaid clutched a trident in one hand while the other gripped a crown in a tight fist. The cautious creature eased into the city by half inches until the sound of nearby footsteps forced a retreat, and the cephalopod whooshed away, opening and closing in umbrella-like movements.

  From the left, a dark-haired woman strolled into view. When she paused, she tucked a long strand behind her ear, exposing a pale neck while shifting from one foot to the other. “Hurry, hurry,” she muttered softly, peering into the darkness beyond.

  “Because she said I should hurry, if I’m going. That’s why. Premonitions are uncommon. It’s unexpected.” She shook her head. “I don’t want that job. Are you almost here?” Her furtive whispers quieted, and she tilted her head as though listening. “Good. Hurry, I have to save him from her, and I don’t want to go alone.”

  She studied the promenade. Empty. She took a deep breath and stepped through the thin film separating the air from the water. Now in the water, on the circular outcropping, she crouched and then leapt, pressing her legs together as she hovered in the air.

  A glow surrounded her as two black dolphins arrived. “There you are.” Each took a position at her side, and they sped away from the underwater city.

  Inside the dome, at the crest of a gentle rise, through an opening in the coral, a white-haired woman observed, arms crossed, eyebrows pulled down in a heavy scowl.

  Chapter 1

  A breeze, cool and long, blew across Calder Brumen’s bed, stirring him from a deep sleep. The room was still dark, and Calder grimaced. His chest tightened with remembered desperation.

  Here we go.

  A puff of wind followed, ruffling the bed skirt and lifting the sheet. It was the same nighttime tug that nearly launched him from his bed. Once again, it was followed by the covers sliding slowly across his naked body.

  She’s back.

  Every nerve ending pricked beneath the silk dragging across his skin. Breath left his body as he strained toward the shapely figure now standing at his bedside. He groaned, but did not move. Her bare belly button hovered at eye level nestled just above the two curves of her pale hips that sloped down behind the edge of the mattress. Shadows hid her torso, but her green eyes glowed. The limited light illuminated only her silhouette, highlighting her womanly shape.

  “Gaire.” He spoke her name as a command, enunciating the hard “g” sound and sighing on the “air” sound in her name.

  She frowned.

  “Stay.”

  Don’t make me wait again.

  She leaned forward so far that her ebony hair splashed across Calder’s middle. With each falling strand, Calder’s abdomen pulled tighter and tighter with anticipation. His eyes fixed on the moonbeam face, thirstily drinking in the view of her bottom lip clutched between her white teeth.

  When her tongue swiped across her mouth in a nervous gesture, he moaned.

  This is so real… This must be real. Keep her talking. Stay awake.

  Moonlight glinted on the scales covering her hips. “Tell me about your tattoos.”

  “Tattoos?” Concern crossed her features, and she asked, “How do you remember my name? You shouldn’t be able to remember.”

  He reached for her. “Last night, you said… You told me your name. Gaire.”

  She only whispered, “Hush.” Pulling the bedding from the floor, she slipped into the bed, covering them both. Her full length pressed against his side. He rolled toward her. “You’re dreaming. Go back to sleep.”

  The edges of the room twisted inward when Gaire’s fingers fluttered up his thigh. The scent of saltwater, coconuts, and jasmine grew stronger, lulling him and clouding his mind. His thoughts fell silent, swallowed by the warmth of her gentle lips on his. She murmured something against his mouth, but he could no longer understand the words drifting in
the confusion her nearness wrought.

  Calder snorted and threw back his head as consciousness startled him.

  “Gaire,” he bellowed, already knowing.

  He glanced around the room through squinted eyes. The glaring sun streamed through the open sliding door. The white chiffon curtains fluttered in the wind, no other movement in the room and no response to his call. When he propped himself up on his elbows, bits of sand jumped along the edge of the king-sized bed.

  Real. She’s real, she’s always been real.

  He scrubbed a hand across his face. Small sandy footprints led toward the bed from the balcony, but none led away. Flashes of softness, warmth, bright red lips calling his name, feathery kisses on his chest, and down… Need crept across his body.

  I think I’ve finally gone insane.

  * * *

  Calder dipped his brush in the pea green paint, then swirled the bristles against the canvas before him.

  Not quite right.

  He took one step backward, bumping into yesterday’s ocean-covered canvas. Concentration broken, he growled and threw the small brush onto the paint-spotted, used-to-be-somebody’s-trash of an end table. He tugged at his red beard while studying the latest artwork. Residual white paint streaked and re-streaked the wiry hair with each finger stroke.

  I can’t just paint her into this scene. God knows I want to.

  His thoughts drifted to running his brush along the curve of her waist and hip.

  Three nights. She’s been back three nights in a row. It’s usually months between her visits.