Asha Avery “Listen up! Hey! Listen up!”
Asha Avery
“Listen up! Hey! Listen up!”
The whistle blew as a line of students in matching maroon swimsuits with our heads either covered with a swim cap and goggles propped on top.
Our hands were behind our backs, waiting as the Olympic sized pool rippled and waved back and forth below.
The indoor gym was massive with the stench of salt water and chlorine and the heavy lantern lights above shined down creating orbs in the reflection of the blue water.
Instructor: Professor Negeri.
Negeri was a tall woman, well over six feet with the nerve to well damn heels.
Her arms, fingers, legs, torso, everything on her was lean and long when she moved.
Her straight jet-black bob wig she chose to wear always had us cracking up behind her back when it swayed from side to side when she spoke but today, she kept it cute in her windbreaker set.
One of the male coaches wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts had the whistle as he stood on standby.
I could tell he was a siren, much older siren with his body looking out of shape above water.
His stomach poked through, and his beard made his cheeks fluffy, and he even had his lunch sitting there on a chair waiting for him to finish eating. He was the lifeguard for today.
“That is supposed to be the man that will save us if one of us drowns?” One girl whispered to another with uncertainty.
“I guess so,” the other replied.
I smiled. I’ve grown to know better. My toes inched closer to the edge, dangling and itching to touch the water when the lesson began.
“Alright!” The coach yelled after taking a final bite of his sandwich. “I’m only gonna say this once so your professor doesn’t have to repeat it! This pool serves many purposes! I hope to high water everyone here knows how to swim, yes?!”
Everyone gave a dry yes in response.
“This is not the water you want to fuck around in! I can tell you that! My job is to make sure you guys come back alive and safe! Find the red flag in the water and swim to it when it is time to return, do you understand?!”
My brows came together, confused as I stared at the pool. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was inside a YMCA the way this place was set up so what red flag is he talking about?
“There is no tugging or pulling on anyone, do you hear me?!” He shouted as he reached to take his shirt off, releasing that gut of his to the public.
He tapped it like a drum he was proud to beat on.
“I may not look like something above water, but below sea level, I can handle myself just fine. Since this is the first of its kind, Coach Namir will be on standby as well,” pointing to the top of the bleachers.
I hadn’t even noticed a man sitting in the corner texting on his phone when he gave a simple wave of his hand in acknowledgement.
I smiled with a wiggle of my shoulders. I told him I was interested in joining the swim team and he said, if I could swim faster than him, he would look into putting in a good word for me.
“Alright, it's on you Professor,” the coach said as he proceeded to sit back down with his black shorts sticking to his legs like second skin. Professor Negeri stepped up with her notebook in hand as she nodded graciously towards the man.
“Students, this will be the first time the school is allowing us to do this so let's set a good example. Did we all read the passage on Mama Wata? Can someone tell me what she represents?”
“The duality and balance of good and misfortune,” a student said with her chest poked out on purpose for the only two male teachers in the place.
“She is a water spirit associated with love, and healing but can become dangerous if disrespected. Some even say she is connected to those who have fallen from the slave ships when they crossed the seas to America. She became enraged and tried to burn as many ships alive as possible while saving those who drowned below.”
“Yes! Balance! Duality! That is what we are learning today,” Negeri said as she began walking. “The balance of good and bad! Love and heartbreak! Seduction and danger! Sun and moon! Night and day! The moon pulls the tides but needs the sun to be seen! Why is that?”
I began tuning out as a familiar sneaky black tail curling upwards in the air, slipped through the folds of the bleachers.
His chunky body began moving until he leaped up towards Namir and sat just a few seats below.
Now what the hell was Quan doing here? Did he not have any damn classes?
Why is he just slinking around like a damn… cat?
“Does everyone understand?” Professor Negeri asked, snapping me back to reality.
The whistle suddenly blew as everyone made their way into the water.
Some sat down and took a step in while others cherry bombed with a splash.
I glanced back at Namir who was watching as I took a few steps back, adjusted my locs and inhaled, opening my pores in my skin to smell the water it knew was coming.
“Fuck this shit,” I muttered as I took off and dove straight for the center, shooting like a dart into the water.
The water felt warm almost instantly as I saw legs sprawling and arms flapping about.
I might have been the only siren in the class come to think of it.
I turned around in the water, deciding to breathe out as I watched the coach point towards the surface.
It should have been lights from the gym but instead as I swam back up, I noticed the change in scenery right away.
I could feel something moving in the water, almost pushing us up until everyone was gasping for air above the chaotic waves of the sea.
“Can everybody hear me?!” The coach yelled as he pulled himself up on a floating plank of wood with the red flag sticking up. He sat down as his body took in the water, seeping back into his skin while the waves carried him from side to side. “Can everyone hear me?! Raise your hand if you can’t!”
I looked around, seeing everyone barely hanging on as the sky above looked cloudy.
There were seagulls flying above but I didn’t see any sign of land for miles.
There was no sign of our professor yet until I watched a pair of lanky hands climb onto the plank board from behind.
The coach quickly turned around to help as Professor Negeri pulled herself up in her swim suit that came with conservative shorts.
“I want everyone to be still! We are in Mama Wata’s territory! She is a Goddess; therefore, we must come with respect!” Negeri said as she raised her hand in a waving like motion. “Be still! Rest your hearts and be still!”
I watched as she clumsily pulled out a sandwich baggy full of crushed petals of flowers while the coach lazily watched each student in the water with his feet dangling.
Professor Negeri whispered something under her breath and in a matter of seconds, the rocking waves slowed…
They became still and everything grew quiet.
I closed my eyes, feeling movement beneath my legs, the current shifting as if something was moving in the water around us.
“Gods thrive off of belief and respect,” Negeri said. “Pay your respects to the water, to her water…pay your respects to the ancestors that lost their lives…and gave their blood for you all to thrive…”
“My ancestors weren’t slaves,” a girl said with an attitude.
“Neither were mine.”
“Somewhere in your family might have been if you had any ounce of black in ya,” another girl said, but they weren’t buying it.
I closed my eyes and dipped my head back before allowing myself to float on the water like my own bed.
I thought about my man, and the days where he would lay just like this on the water with me on top of him.
Just floating in peace. As soon as I was done for the day, my bags were already packed and ready to spend the night with him once again.
“Asha!”
My eyes burst open at the sound of my name as I looked at the sky clearing up.
It was like a loud whisper, a hissing of my name like they weren’t trying to be noticed yet too frantic to ignore.
The waves were still calm, and the water cradled my skin, keeping me afloat but it was quiet, too quiet now.
I picked my head up to look around realizing I was the only one left in the water.
There was no red flag, no floating plank of wood, and no sign of life outside of me, just the water.
“Asha!”
I whipped around again, hearing my name. The voice vaguely sounds familiar to me, so I foolishly called back to it.
“WHAT!?” I barked, wading my hands in the water back and forth in a slow push and pull motion. “YO?!”
When I heard nothing back, I pinched my lips to the side to think before grinning.
“YERRRRRRR?!”
Nada. Nothing at all. If this was another one of those spiritual juju moments where I’m supposed to talk to my ancestors, they’re gonna have to do a little better than this.
I sunk deeper into the water before flipping beneath the surface as I heard the screams. I could hear the piercing screams but where is everyone?
What’s happening? Where is it coming from?
Exhaling, I released a stream of bubbles from my nose as I dove deeper into the water, letting my body mimic the underwater current as I pushed forward with my webbed hands stretching out.
The screams were fading when I saw a student’s hands reaching, panicking as something thick wrapped around its body.
I saw long thick hair swirling around as the rest of the body began to cover the student.
Her eyes locked with mine with so much fear that I froze, not sure of what to think.
It reminded me of myself last year when I thought I was drowning and the way the water terrified me.
I felt like I was watching a replay of my former self.
Out of nowhere, something darted past me like a missile in the water.
I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but I broke into action, diving further into the darkest part of the ocean as I saw Coach Namir himself get tangled with the dark entity that was nothing but hair.
I reached for the student’s hands, attempting to pull her limp body free.
The serpent’s body constricted tighter around her as I watched in panic as Namir’s body shifted into a full-blown werewolf, showing nothing but teeth.
Other bodies began to dive into the water for help when I managed to pull the student’s body and pull her back from the chaos.
With one hand shooting up, I pushed the water down, propelling myself with speed as I clung to the girl’s waist.
“Come on, come onnnn,” I urged with bubbles trickling through my teeth.
The surface felt like it was miles away when Namir’s body shot past me.
He was taking in the water, howling almost in panic before he shot above the surface with me breaking through moments later with the help of two other sirens.
The students looked terrified as they stood draped in towels, trembling with security standing all around the pool.
Namir was coughing as the medical team came to tend to his shrinking body.
The girl who was in my arms was immediately taken away while I was rushed out of the pool.
Nobody knew what the hell just happened, but I could see Professor Negeri carry a worried expression as she spoke with the dean who was now present. I looked at Namir as he continued to cough, and his claws clenched at the floor while his spine curved against his skin with each desperate breath.
“The pool will be closed until further notice!” Dr. Joy Vaughn called out as she motioned for Professor Negeri to follow her. “Students, please make your way to the clinic and counseling should you need it. This class will be redirected to Study Hall until further notice.”
That should have been music to my ears since study hall was optional, but when I looked back at the pool, I almost backed up when I saw the once clear blue pool was now the color of red, blood red to the point where you couldn’t see the bottom.
What the fuck just happened?