Bikhre

Listening to Bikhre from Moothon always makes me feel like I am drowning in a calm grey sea. I’ve always wondered how it feels to dive deep, deeper. Will there be mermaids, with glistening scales for skin, catching persistent rays of the sun, once I cross a depth? I don’t think they’ll be wearing seashell bras. Do you actually believe a woman, half-fish or otherwise, will wear those once they are out of civilization! I laugh thinking about it and then I jump. The mermaid has got webbed hands and scales up to the chest, the heart needs warmth; the ocean is brutally cold. She smiles sweetly, spiked teeth almost greenish. She can easily kill me, eat me maybe, but she doesn’t look cruel in any way. I guess that’s another thing that one sheds with civilization. She swims away, her hair, with seaweed braided into them, like a thick eel behind her. I swim further down; it is getting more difficult to breathe. I should be dead by now. I don’t think any human can hold their breath this long. But I can still see tiny bubbles coming from my nose and mouth. I spot a shark zigzagging her way towards me. I pause, will she be as kind as the mermaid? I blink and she’s by my side, her mouth- a bloody gash, inches away from my face. She bumped her head gently on my chest, I let out more bubbles, larger this time. She circles me once, twice, and starts swimming downwards and stops. She bends, like a large jelly, to turn to look at me. I start swimming down. It’s getting darker. I can barely make out her silhouette. We swim in silence. It’s not like we can have witty conversations anyway. Jellyfishes, lots of them, brightening the gloomy waters a little, swim past us, towards the light. They seemed to laugh at the fools who were going where there was no light or warmth. The shark stopped suddenly. Then quickly went the other way. I continue swimming towards the seabed, except no bed was visible anywhere near. I noticed no more air bubbles were coming out of me, it hasn’t for quite a while now. I try to inhale, knowing I’ll take in salty water; but nothing happened. It was like being caught in the air. I open my mouth, water went in and came out freely. I remembered how even the tiniest bit of water getting into the nose and mouth was painful while learning to swim. Now it was like I was breathing air, easy and painless. I feel something poking my side. I look down, there were gashes on my either side. I expect blood to come out any moment. After a few seconds, it strucks me that they are gills. I see it flapping gently, like clothes catching a breeze. I laugh, no sound comes out of my throat. Fishes don’t speak. I swim further down.