Tales From Mako Island

Into The Woods

Emma stepped over to the bed, and slumped down where her friend was sitting, still catching her breath.

“That was quite a stunt, you just pulled! I really thought you’d fall!”, Emma said.

The other girl grinned. “It felt really great!”, she answered breathlessly. So great actually, that her heart was still pumping the excitement through her veins, and she felt the rush of adrenaline sharpening her senses. She couldn’t say, whether it was from the jump, the risk of being caught, or the closeness of the blonde girl beside her, but she felt great, excited and daring.

“Next time, give me a warning, will you?”, Emma tried to sound stern, but Rikki could see her own excitement mirrored in her friends eyes. Their glances locked, and for a long moment, they looked deep into each others eyes. Rikki felt the tingling sensation in her stomach intensify, until Emma began to blush, and broke their stare. Rikki acted on impulse, still high on adrenaline, she grabbed Emma’s shoulders, pulled her closer and placed her lips on the blonde girls mouth. Emma’s eyes widened in surprise but she didn’t pull back. Rikki enjoyed the softness and sweetness of the girls lips. Gradually, she opened her lips, and began to explore with her tongue. To her surprise, when Emma felt her lips part, she opened her mouth to let Rikki in. After what seemed minutes, they parted to catch for breath.

Emma blushed again, and pressed two fingers onto her mouth, as if to check, that what she just felt was real. “What was that?”, she whispered.

“A kiss”, Rikki answered. “And a great one.”

Emma looked at her friend for a long while. Eventually, she spoke again:

“Are you in love with me?”, she asked.

Rikki couldn’t answer. There was a big lump in her throat, and she felt weak. So she just nodded. Emma’s hand now reached out to her face, gently touching her cheek, slowly, and insecurly guiding Rikki’s face towards hers, and back into a kiss.

This time, it was Emma who took initative, and Rikki answered the kiss eagerly.

Rikki’s hands tenderly worked their way down Emma’s back, pulling up the hem of her shirt, and then, very slowly, working their way back up over the bare skin of her belly. She could feel Emma’s body begin to tremble, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“What will happen now?”, Emma broke the kiss.

“Guess, that’s up to us”, Rikki smiled, as she gently pushed her girlfriend into the pillows.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. Both Rikki and Emma couldn’t say, when they finally fell asleep, but when Rikki woke up, it was already dawn. She felt the warmth and softness of Emmas body and fought the urge to snuggle back into her embrace and fall asleep again. Tempting as it was, she heard the sound of dishes being put up in the kitchen, so Emma’s parents were already up. And under the circumstances Rikki thought it would be best, if Mrs. Gilbert did not find her eldest daughter in bed with a naked girl on a school days morning.

She gently kissed Emma, got out of bed slowly and started to collect her clothes. With the bed empty, Emma stirred in her sleep, beginning to wake.

“Rikki? Where are you going?”, she asked sleepyly.

“School I guess”, Rikki answered. “Do you think you’ll make it out of bed, to get there too?”

Rikki smiled at her girlfriend. “I need to get home first, so that mum doesn’t freak out. Normally she doesn’t care, if I’m staying out at night, but one never knows.”

“What about breakfast?” Emma asked, while she watched Rikki dress.

“Nah. Your mom’s going to have kittens, if she finds me here; plus technically you’re still grounded.”

Emma frowned “You can’t go to school without a decent breakfast.”

Rikki couldn’t help but smile. That was Emma, always caring.

“I’ll be fine. But I’d be ever grateful if you’d bring me sandwich.”

Emma grinned. “How grateful.”

Rikkis smile broadend. “Come by my place tonight, and I’ll show you.”

Emma grabbed her girlfriend by the arm and pulled back into the bed. Their lips met once more.

“Something like this?” Emma mocked.

“That’s just the preview.” Rikki whispered. Then she got serious. “We need to talk about this.”

“About what?” Emma was puzzled.

“Us. Are we going to tell anyone?”

“Should we?”

Rikki thought for a moment. “I’m not talking YouTube here, but I guess it would be a bit hard, to keep this from our friends.”

Emma was silent for a while. “They won’t freak, right?”

“Why would they? Are you freaked?”

“To be honest, a bit. But in a good way.” Emma replied. “I still don’t get, that we actually did this!”

“Yeah, it was really something.” Rikki stated. “But it was good. And I definitly want to do it again.”

The noise downstairs got louder, and Mrs. Gilbert’s voice sounded upstairs. She was saying somthing to Mr. Gilbert about waking the kids. Rikki got up again.

“I guess this is my call”

She walked over to the window, opened it as silently as she could and climbed over the sill.

Emma got up, wrapped herself in her sheets, and got towards the window.

When Rikki was over the sill, she turned around, leaned into the window, and kissed Emma.

“See you at school”, she said tenderly, and then more quietly: “I love you.”

Then she turned around, jumped back onto the tree, climbed down the branch, and let herself fall the last few feet.

Once on the ground, she got up, showed Emma the thumbs up to indicate that she was alright, and disappeared into the foggy morning.

Rikki hurried across the school-yard towards her friends. Her mother was home, but she hadn’t realized that Rikki hadn’t been sleeping in her own bed. She hadn’t been asking many questions on Rikki’s whereabouts ever since dad left, and when she did, she was content when Rikki told her she’ll be sleeping over at Emma’s or Cleo’s. Mrs. Chadwick had met both girls, and considered them a good influence on her daughter. Rikki wondered whether she would this indifferent, if she knew that Rikki slept with one of them.

She finally caught up with her friends.

“Hi guys!” Her gaze met Emma’s and the other girl looked down, but smiled shyly, then handed her an enormous tuna sandwich wrapped in paper.

“I thought you’d be hungry.”

“How could you have guessed?” Rikki grinned sheepishly and took the sandwich. She unwrapped the snack and buried her teeth in it.

“You have wings, baby” she said through a mouthful. Emma blushed.

Cleo and Lewis stood by and watched the scene in utter bewilderment.

“Did I miss something here?” she asked.

“Um, no.”, Rikki tried to sound casual. “Emma and I have been talking earlier this morning and she was so sweet to bring me a sandwich. You know my mom, not a crumb of bread in the house.”

The school bell rang, and the four headed for class. Lewis had put an arm around Cleo’s shoulder while they walked ahead. Rikki felt the urge to do the same with Emma, but didn’t dare. She looked into Emma’s face.

“Tell them?”, she mouthed silently. Emma blushed again, and shook her head.

“Later” was the silent answer. Although Rikki had a feeling as if she needed to tell the whole world she was in love, she shared some of Emma’s concern. She had little doubt that their friends would accept their love, but it was another thing outing yourself on a school yard in the middle of a host of 16-year-olds.

So they trailed off behind their friends, each of them yearning to hold the other girls hand.

After class they had planned to meet at Wilfred’s as they usually did after school, and it angered Rikki that Emma wouldn’t be there. She just had 3 classes without her, and was already missing the girl. But Emma had to go to her counseling session so Rikki caught her outside school grounds to say

“Laters!”

“Hey, honey!” Emma smiled back as she heard Rikki’s voice.

“Hi!” she replied smiling.

“I didn’t expect to see you before my counselling.”

“What did you expect me to head off without a goodbye kiss?” Rikki drew closer to her friend. “You don’t know me very well, do you?”

“I plan to change that.” Emma looked around to make sure no one who knew them watched before she put her arms around Rikki. “I missed you”, she whispered. Instead of an answer, Rikki kissed her girlfriend.

After a while they broke the kiss for breath and Emma checked her watch. “Damn. I have to go or I’ll be late.”

“Let me walk you there” Rikki offered.

“No. We’d better not been seen together. I don’t want that counselor telling mom that I’m kissing you. Mom already thinks you’re trouble. She’ll have kittens, if she knew that we’ve snogged.”

“Among other things, we snogged yes.” Rikki grinned. The thought of last night’s events rose desire in her again, and she tried to slow her breath. Standing this close to Emma didn’t make it an easy task. She couldn’t help but touch Emma’s arm, and a second later they were kissing again.

“Now I really need to hurry” Emma whispered when they finally broke their embrace.

“I know. Don’t be frightened. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

Emma sighed and gave her lover a last hug. “See you tonight?”

“Your window it is.” Rikki confirmed. Emma looked at her, and then headed off.

Emma hurried down the streets, hoping she would make it in time. She didn’t really want to have this counselling session, but if she was late, she’d be in even more trouble, than she was already in. At the address her mother had given her, she found a small white house. It did not look exactly like she had imagined a psychiatrists office to look like. The house was shabby and in desperate need of paint. The garden looked as if no one had been looking after it for a very long while.

“Is this the right address?” Emma asked herself. But the number was correct, so she straightened her back and entered.

The paving stone were loose under her feet, and the creepy feeling got more intense. At the house, she rang the doorbell. Almost to her surprise, it worked. She heard steps from inside, and prepared herself for a friendly “Hi!”

When the door opened, her words stuck in her throat as she stared into the face of Dr. Alice Denman.

“Hello Emma!”, Denman greeted her with a fraudulent smile. Emma turned to run, but Denman had been prepared. She grabbed Emma by the shoulder and pulled her back with one hand. With the other, she produced a water pistol and sprayed Emma’s head. Emma tried to pull free and was struggling to evade the water jet, but it was in vain. She could feel metamorphosis coming, and the moment she turned to water, Denman let go of her and shrieked in surprise.

Only an instant later, she was in her mermaid form, unable to stand for the lack of legs, she fell backwards and hit her head at the doorstep.

Denman was looking down on the girl’s mermaid-shaped body and raised a brow.

“Fascinating.” She grabbed the unconscious girl by the arms and dragged her inside.

Better not come ’round. Mom’s watching me like a prison guard. Love, Emma

Rikki stared at the text message on her mobile. She had tried to call Emma for the past hour repeatedly and sent over 20 texts. No reply so far. Something wasn’t right here, that was sure.

I’m coming over now

She pressed the Send-Button on her phone. This time she got a response. When she read it, her heart sank.

Don’t

Rikki let herself fall into her cushions. All the happy whirling inside her had gone. It had solidified to a lump, that set in her belly like stone. What did she do wrong? Why wouldn’t Emma talk to her? And what had happened with that counsellor? Rikki had the odd feeling something must have happened that afternoon, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. Part of her was angry, and part of her was incredibly worried. She pulled the sheets over her head and lost the fight against her tears.

The next morning Rikki strode towards school. She hadn’t have much sleep and she was late. She also was determined to find out what Emma’s strange behaviour meant. Her tears had dried and she was mostly upset now. If Emma had changed her mind, she could bloody well talk to her face and make it a clean break-up. When she arrived at school however, Emma wasn’t there. She looked around, and didn’t find her friend. She found Cleo and Lewis snogging in a corner, but neither of them had seen her.

By the end of the second period it was clear that she wouldn’t show up anymore. Emma had cut her classes for real this time. Rikki’s anger was long gone, instead fear had taken a cold harsh grip on her. Maybe Emma was uncertain of what to make of the two of them, but cutting classes because she was heartbroken was so way out of league for Emma, that her absence could only mean one thing: Something had happened. Rikki tried to call, but Emma’s phone was off-line. She left message after message on her girlfriend’s voicemail. But no answer. During lunchbreak she met with the others, as they usually did.

“Did any of you hear from Emma?”, she asked even before they had the chance to say “Hi!”

“I thought she called in sick?”, Cleo was puzzled.

“Did you talk to her?”

“No. I just assumed.”

“She’s not answering her mobile. I rang her house, but there seems to be nobody home.” Rikki explained in a grave voice.

“The last time I spoke to her was last night. She was very upset. I thought it was because, um,” she blushed, “not important.”

“Something is not right here.” Rikki heard Cleo’s concern reflecting her own fears. “Lewis. Tell her what you’ve found.”

Rikki looked curiously at Lewis. The blond boy sighed. “It’s nothing conclusive yet.”

Rikki gave him a look that said “Spill it out!”

“Alright,” he replied to her silent stare. “I have reason to believe, that someone meddled with the schools computer system. It seems some student’s profiles have been altered.”

Now it was Rikki’s turn to be bewildered. “Wait, you have access to the schools computer system?”

“It wasn’t that hard, their database is linked with the school’s WLAN,” he said casually. “Someone has to keep a watchful eye on our private data.”

“Obviously.” Rikki stated. “What did you find?”

“Not much so far, I know that some files where altered by someone who is not a teacher, or a sleepless teacher working at 2am. Emma’s file is one of them.”

“Could this have to do with the accusations against her?” Rikki wondered.

“Likely. I can tell you, when I manage to access the data.”

“Get on with it then!” Rikki was quite bossy, but Lewis didn’t care. Even under normal circumstances no one had to tell him to hack into a computer, and he knew what was at stake. Emma was his friend too.

Rikki checked her watch. “I head to Emma’s place, the moment they let us out of this darn school. You two check the records?”

Cleo grinned and gave Rikki a salute. “Yes, Ma’am!”

Lewis just patted Rikki’s shoulder. “I call you, if I have something.”

Emma had been wandering around town for half the day. She had been on her way to school, but the idea of facing Rikki now was too much for her.

After Denman had knocked her out yesterday, she had found herself strapped to a metal table, still in her mermaid form. One of Denman’s assistants had been spraying her with water constantly, to keep it that way, while Denman had taken blood samples, cut out tiny bit’s of her skin, and broken off some scales from her mermaid’s tail, which was especially painful. She remembered she had been crying and begging, but Denman had been utterly unimpressed. After what seemed hours, she had been allowed to dry herself and go home. Before she left, Denman had demanded her to come back to their next session the other day. If she refused, Denman threatened, she would tell the world what she knew about the girls. Emma was instructed to never speak of what happened, or she and her friends would suffer. After she got home, she had locked herself into her room and cried. There was nothing she wished for more than Rikki’s arms around her, but she knew if Rikki was here, she would tell her everything. And then Denman would go after Rikki.

Why was everything so fucked up? Rikki was now probably very pissed with her, and she didn’t have the power to face that. So, for the first time in her life, she had cut school entirely. She had thought about swimming to Mako Island, but she was too afraid to get into the water. The idea of changing into her mermaid form suddenly scared her very much. So she just walked around, torturing her mind to find out what to do now. If she didn’t show up to her appointment with Denman, the doctor would certainly go after her. But she didn’t want to go there. Maybe she could run, head south for Canberra maybe.

The Decision was taken from her, by Denman’s assistants. They had been observing her, and quite suddenly two men caught up with her.

“I believe you have an appointment Miss Gilbert!”

The man wore an ugly 70’s style leather jacked, and as he pulled one hand halfway from the pocket, she could see he carried a handgun. Adrenaline shot through Emma’s veins, for a moment she thought about running, but the firm grip the second man closed around her arm made clear, that running wasn’t an option. Emma went with her captors.

“Today,” the man said “Doctor Denman needs you a while longer…”

 Previous chapter

Next chapter