"I'm gunna get you real good this time, freak!" Professor Croydon gurgled in his drunken madness as he strode towards my tank. A malevolent smile was stitched onto his fleshy face. He pressed himself against the cool glass and moaned. It was a revolting sound.

Beads of perspiration stuck to my tank as he peeled himself off it. I felt vomit creep up my throat as I unwillingly watched him pull at his clothes with trembling fat fingers. The scientist’s breath had begun to speed up as he reached the ladder and heaved himself upwards, leaving his clothes scattered on the cold, tiled floor below. The beat of my heart matched the clank of his footsteps.

I pushed my scaled back against the furthest glass pane as my eyes widened in horror and repulsion. His eyes glowed with forbidden passion and indistinct hatred. He started swimming through the chlorine filled water of my tank towards me. I tried to dart from his stubby fingers, but it was no use; his willpower overcame my scared attempt at fleeing.

"There's no point trying to escape. I'll always catch you."

His oleaginous fingers caught my scaled legs, and with a tremendous amount of force he wrenched me towards him. I tried to make him let go. I tried to swim to the other side of the tank, but all the thrashing and splashing just made him clutch on harder. He laughed - an insane, devilish cackle that froze even my cold blood.

One of his greasy hands released my tail and moved towards my neck. With a movement that could be considered graceful for such a bulbous creature, Croydon managed to manoeuvre my slippery body into a position where I could neither escape nor breathe. His grip on my throat tightened.

“I'll always catch you.” The words rang through my brain as my oxygen supply got lower. My vision became hazy and grey – black patches appearing at the edges. A spine-chilling thought filled my mind as the patches grew. It was the thought of what he would do to my lifeless body. Then I was fading...

A sudden realisation sparked my dying mind: this was my element, not his.

He was grinning with delight. Every inch of his body was anticipating what he thought would happen next. He was muttering joy-filled gibberish to congratulate his success of capturing me. If only he had realised that those would be his last words then maybe he would have said something more literate.

I stopped struggling. A barmy smirk of triumph was stretched across his plump face. He had won! His thoughts were obvious by the way his monstrous fingers ran excitedly over every inch of my body. He enjoyed molesting the smooth scales that were scattered across my face, my pointed ears and my long hair that swirled about in the sterilized water that surrounded us.

He squealed with a devilish delight as I twisted my body so that I was facing him. The fanatical Croydon thought that I was making it easier for him. He braced himself. As he did so I dove in towards him and sunk my jagged teeth into his fleshy shoulder. He screamed out in agony – like an animal shot down by a hunter.

You’re my prey now, I thought viciously as his blood soaked my mouth. He began to thrash about wildly, water splashing everywhere. I ignored it and kept him locked in my powerful grip.

It was peculiar. This grotesque ogre had blood that tasted sweet, alluring and slightly metallic. The more I had, the more I wanted. The more I wanted, the more I had. Until I had sucked him dry. I was so enthralled by his blood that I did not notice he had stopped flailing about. I released the corpse.

The hideous cadaver descended to the bottom of the tank, the water moving its lifeless arms. It landed with a soft thud that vibrated the glass below. Bitterness washed over me as I swam down towards it. In a final flash of fury, I dragged my hand across its face and tore open the pale skin.

*

I stood on the shoreline. The sea brushed at my feet. I welcomed the unsullied, salty air with an enthusiastic sniff, the heartening scent of home evaporating baleful memories that festered in my mind. Home, I thought with fathomless gratification. It was a place I doubted I would see again when I was incarcerated inside Croydon’s lab.

I looked up at the opaque sky, observing the blacks, purples and indigos that made up its colour. I looked at the stars that glimmered, contrasting greatly with the darkness. I watched the moon and its all glory, beaming like a monarch in its kingdom of the night. All these features brought back the words of an ancient poem that had long since been forgotten until now:

Gliding through the misty skies

Surrounded by a thousand eyes,

A ghostly orb inside the night

Pulsing with its cold cruel light

Before my body met with the ocean, I smiled.

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Author guidance for This story

A short story that I wrote for an English assignment.
Feedback welcome.

updated Jan 2 '11 by Lexiehar