Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00The storm wrenches the fishing vessel in half, the yawning sound of metal buckling and ripping
00:05can barely be heard over the explosive waves.
00:08Crew members pour out of the fragmented ship, washed away with the water like ants fleeing
00:13a flooding nest.
00:14The deck lurches and tips upwards into the air, a wave crashes against it, almost knocking
00:19the sailor off the railing, but he clings on for dear life.
00:23Soaked through, shivering violently, and feeling the dreaded exhaustion creeping into his limbs,
00:28he looks around helplessly as his crewmates drown around him.
00:32Only one man remains on the deck with him, but the captain's usual steely confidence
00:37has gone.
00:38Behind the man's bushy beard and grizzled skin, the sailor sees a little boy scared
00:43out of his mind.
00:44The captain grabs the sailor by the scruff of the neck and hauls him close enough for
00:47them to shout over the sound of the seas around them.
00:50I saw her!
00:51The captain's rambling and ranting, repeating himself and gesticulating wildly at the seas
00:55around them.
00:56The Nyhead!
00:57I saw her in the water this morning!
01:00Our voyage was cursed from the start!
01:01We should never have left port!
01:03She's in the water now!
01:04She-
01:05A colossal wave throws what is left of the boat through the air.
01:09The railing slips through the sailor's fingers as he flies high between the waves.
01:13For a moment, the world stands still.
01:15It's like he's a gull hovering in place, surveying the carnage beneath him.
01:19And there in the water, what looks like...
01:23But the world isn't standing still.
01:24He hurtles back towards the ocean and slams into it, hard enough to knock the air clean
01:29out of his lungs.
01:30Icy water tugs at him, pulling him downwards, deeper and deeper, colder and colder, like
01:36arms wrapping around him, dragging him.
01:39The sailor wakes with a start, water laps at his face.
01:43What were once hulking waves are now little more than ripples.
01:47He spits out a mouthful of sand and shakes his head, his body trembling violently from
01:51the cold, but the warm glow of the sun on his back is already doing its best to help
01:56him.
01:57How on earth had he survived that?
02:00There are groans all around him, dotted along the beach are his fellow fishermen.
02:05He hasn't got the energy to count them, but it doesn't look like all of them.
02:09Just ahead of him, further up the beach, sits the captain.
02:12Rocking back and forth, trembling, the captain noiselessly points a finger out to sea.
02:17Seeing what little energy he has left, the sailor rolls onto his back to see the silhouette
02:22of a woman standing there on the water.
02:25No, not a silhouette, the morning sunlight is shining straight through her, as if she's
02:29made of nothing but water.
02:31She steps delicately across the surface of the water, walking towards the coughing fishermen
02:36who have all seen her by now.
02:38There's a delicacy to how she walks, tiptoeing gently on the rippling water, as if scared
02:42of disturbing it even slightly.
02:45The light dances and glitters on her skin like it does across the ocean.
02:48No, not skin, she really is made of water.
02:52Every inch of her is composed entirely of what looks like the purest, cleanest water
02:57the sailor has ever seen.
02:59Was it her?
03:00The arms that he felt dragging him through the water?
03:03Did she save him?
03:04Did she save all of them?
03:06The water nymph waits with the men until the ambulances arrive.
03:09She walks across the sand going between them.
03:12Every few minutes, she dips her toes back in the sea and takes what looks like a deep
03:16breath, even though she has no lungs to fill, then she's back amongst them, offering noiseless
03:21comfort.
03:22There's an old abandoned house just up from the beach, what looks like the mansion of
03:26a former millionaire.
03:27In apparent fascination, the nymph keeps going over to examine the ornate fountain in the
03:31courtyard.
03:33Even in a state of disrepair, the fountain is stunning.
03:36She lowers herself gently into the water and disappears under the surface, just as the
03:40first ambulance rounds the corner.
03:43As the paramedics wrap the foil blanket around the sailor and walk into the vehicle, he catches
03:47the nymph poking her head out of the surface of the fountain's water.
03:50He's not the only one to see.
03:52Tucked just out of sight near the treeline is a nondescript black sedan with a group
03:57of men sitting inside.
03:59One of them takes a photograph of the waterwoman in the fountain while another talks urgently
04:03over the phone.
04:04The sailor has barely been in the back of the ambulance for two minutes before one of
04:08the men from the car approaches him.
04:10The man holds an expensive looking watch in his hand.
04:13Excuse me sir, does this belong to you?
04:15The sailor sits up suspiciously.
04:17He's about to open his mouth to refute the man when the needle penetrates his thigh and
04:22the amnestic fills his bloodstream.
04:24By the time the sailor arrives at the hospital, all his memories of the previous twenty-four
04:28hours have slipped away into the abyss.
04:32The containment team is at work in less than six hours while a group of agents, dressed
04:36in scrubs, follow the ambulances to the hospital to ensure all accounts of the ship's crash
04:40have been entirely erased, another team sets to work cordoning off the beach.
04:45A tourist family, excited about their day at the beach, argue with the disguised agents
04:49cordoning off the road.
04:50I'm sorry ma'am but there's nothing we can do, a shark sighting is a shark sighting,
04:54we just can't risk it today.
04:56Meanwhile, a steady stream of construction vehicles rumbles past followed by a large
05:00Home Depot truck.
05:02They all pull up outside the mansion, where a team of agents has the fountain surrounded.
05:06Tasers and cattle prods at the ready may grip their weapons at even the slightest ripple
05:10of water.
05:12Excavators get to work quickly, drilling at the ground around the fountain and cracking
05:15through the paving stones.
05:17And before anyone nearby has any clue of what's happening, the fountain has been removed,
05:22loaded into the back of the watertight fake Home Depot truck and has disappeared over
05:25the horizon.
05:27The water nymph refuses to poke her head out of the water the whole way, the world around
05:31her is dark and dry, it shakes and rumbles for hours.
05:35The beautiful fountain she'd climbed into just a few hours earlier now feels tiny, there's
05:39barely enough water in here for her to swim in a circle.
05:42She'd always observed these strange looking vehicles from a distance, lifting her eyes
05:46up above the waves for a few minutes to watch them crawling along the dark roads with their
05:5018 wheels.
05:51She'd always wondered what was inside all of them, with their colorful paints and strange
05:55names.
05:56At least she now has some idea of what Home Depot does, part of their business model evidently
06:01involves kidnapping.
06:02To stop the panic rising up too high in her chest, the water nymph focuses on stilling
06:06the water in the fountain.
06:08All of the bumps and turns in the road, she focuses all her energy on holding all the
06:12water in place and keeping it level.
06:14If the water around her is still, maybe she won't feel so scared, it isn't really working.
06:20But at least her precious little amount of fresh water isn't spilling out all over the
06:23watertight inside of the container.
06:26She's just about convinced herself that she's used to her cage when it suddenly stops.
06:31The rumble sound cuts out, the shaking stops, and voices somewhere outside discuss what
06:35to do with her, saying words like containment protocol, initial testing, and security measures.
06:42The water nymph dips her head back below the surface of the water as the rear doors open.
06:46She's going to make the most of this, that's what she's decided.
06:49Having spent all her life underwater, observing the humans from afar, she'd always dreamed
06:54of one day meeting one.
06:55There had been moments, sure, times when she'd wave at a child on the deck of a ferry or
07:00guide a ship through the fog, but up close?
07:03Never.
07:04They look funny, these people.
07:06When you see them up close, they're such strange colors, so fleshy and hairy, it's bizarre
07:11not being able to see through them.
07:13How are they supposed to swim?
07:15These humans in particular are even more strange than the others.
07:19Dressed in long white coats, always walking around with clipboards and strange little
07:23devices that light up and make sounds when they poke them.
07:26She wonders if they get sick of having their legs stuck to the ground all the time.
07:30What if they see something interesting floating above them?
07:32They can't just swim upwards, they need to get on one of those plane things.
07:37This will be fun, getting to meet real people for the first time.
07:40She keeps telling herself that, because if she doesn't, it all becomes too scary.
07:44They haven't put her back in the sea, a river, or even a pool, they've just kept her in her
07:49fountain.
07:50It sits right in the middle of a brightly lit chamber, four white walls, a white ceiling,
07:55and a white floor.
07:56One white door.
07:57The lights are always on, the temperature always the same.
08:01For days and days, she just sits in her fountain, alone.
08:06Occasionally one of the humans will come in wearing a big rubber suit.
08:08They look totally ridiculous, taking big slow steps, they'll approach her fountain.
08:13The first time, she jumped up out of the water to greet the human, doing her best to wave
08:17like she's seen them do to each other.
08:20But the human immediately turned around and ran back out of the chamber, so next time
08:24She was slow and gentle, raising both her hands innocently and letting the human approach
08:28without doing anything.
08:30The human lowered some kind of glass container into the water in her fountain and took some
08:34of the water away.
08:35He must have been thirsty.
08:37She's seen the humans get like that sometimes, how they're not thirsty all the time she has
08:41no clue.
08:42It doesn't look like there's a drop of water anywhere in them, except for their eyes.
08:47She tries to catch the human's eye as he leaves, but he just walks straight out of her chamber,
08:51carrying away the little container of water.
08:54But this time, she has an idea.
08:56She waits patiently for a few days, waiting for another one of the humans to come and
09:00see her.
09:01It's hard to tell how much time has passed because it's always sunny in here, but it
09:05must have been a few days by now.
09:08Sure enough, the door opens and a human in another big rubber costume comes in.
09:13She rises out of the water slowly so as not to scare them and lets her form melt and shift.
09:18Seeing her body flow into a different shape, she does her best to copy the human's big
09:22rubber suit.
09:23She's practiced this for years in the sea, copying the shapes of different humans she
09:27sees.
09:28The human stops walking and stares at her.
09:30She tries to wave again.
09:32The human waves back.
09:34Success!
09:35For almost a minute, they stand there waving at each other.
09:38She knows this is longer than most humans would wave at each other, but it's just so
09:42exciting she can't help herself.
09:44Maybe this will be her first friend.
09:46Imagine that, having a human friend.
09:48The human takes a hesitant step towards her.
09:51This is her chance.
09:52Lifting herself up and out of the water, the nymph steps out of her fountain for the first
09:56time.
09:57She pauses, careful not to spook the human.
09:59They do scare very easily, but this time, he stays.
10:03Better than that, he takes another step towards her, then another until they're within touching
10:08distance.
10:09She can feel the water beating in her chest, pumping excitedly through her body.
10:13The human has another one of those glass containers in its hand.
10:16It raises the container up slowly for her to look at.
10:19She leans in to see why this strange little creature is showing her a piece of glass.
10:23She's seen these a thousand times before in the seas, there's glass and plastic everywhere
10:27for her to look at.
10:29What's so special about this one?
10:30The human takes a swipe at her.
10:32The glass container strikes the side of her head and extracts a chunk of water.
10:36She staggers away, hands raised in fear.
10:38What had she done wrong?
10:40Why did the human do that to her?
10:42She feels faint, her head swims and not in the usual pleasant way.
10:46Her body works hard to redistribute all the water around her body, rebuilding that part
10:50of herself in a split second, but it doesn't stop the pain or the sudden wave of tiredness.
10:56She stumbles back into the fountain and plunges beneath the surface, letting the water merge
11:00with her body again.
11:02But the surface of the fountain isn't still.
11:04It trembles and shakes as she lies at the bottom in fear.
11:08Why had the human done that to her?
11:09By the time she has the courage to peek out of the water again, the human is gone.
11:14The lights in the ceiling seem brighter than ever.
11:17The next day is the first time she really misses the sea.
11:20She would race from coast to coast, feeling herself getting dragged along in the ocean
11:24gyres as she flowed between continents.
11:26She would study the rainbow colors of the Great Barrier Reef before catching a current
11:30to Venice or Jamaica.
11:31She'd hug the bottom of cruise ships and dance in and out of the propellers on the backs
11:35of cargo ships.
11:36But here, in her cell, all she can do is swim around her fountain, round and round in circles.
11:43That is, until the humans return.
11:46Three of them come into her room, each carrying strange long objects.
11:49She's not sure she's seen those things before and is desperate for a closer look, but after
11:53what happened with the glass the other day, it doesn't seem like a good idea.
11:58She still hasn't worked out what she did wrong there, but clearly the human was not happy
12:02with her for some reason.
12:04She seems to be very gentle with them for the time being, until they're proper friends.
12:08The three humans have a box with them, full of water.
12:11She's so excited to see it, she leaps straight out of the fountain before realizing she needs
12:14to be careful.
12:15Patiently as she can, she approaches the box and touches it.
12:19The humans nod encouragingly.
12:21Her excitement overwhelms her and she dives right in.
12:24It feels so good to have fresh water to explore, even if it's just a small tank.
12:29She barely even notices as they close the lid on her and wheel her into a different
12:32room.
12:33A glass wall lines the edge of this new chamber.
12:37Finey little humans in white coats stand behind it, making notes.
12:40She climbs out of her little tank and waves at them.
12:43It's a smaller room than her normal one, why have they brought her in here?
12:46A slamming noise behind her makes her jump, and she spins around to see the three humans
12:50have wheeled away her little tanks on wheels, leaving her alone in the room.
12:54She looks around with a little anxiety.
12:57There's nowhere to swim in here, have they made a mistake?
12:59She can't be here without water.
13:01Doing her best to copy human movements, she tries to mime to the people behind the glass
13:05that she needs her water.
13:07They don't seem to understand her, just start scribbling even more things on their clipboards.
13:12It's warm in here, warm and dry.
13:15This isn't good.
13:16In no time at all, she can feel herself drying out.
13:19An hour goes by, then another.
13:21She's never been out of the water for this long.
13:24What are they doing?
13:25Don't they understand what she is?
13:27Her head starts to feel faint.
13:28She slumps down on the floor and turns herself into a ball, shaped like this hopefully.
13:34She won't be evaporating so fast.
13:36Then they'll give her the water back.
13:38For hours she sits in a ball, waiting, until mercifully her little tank on wheels returns
13:43and she's taken back to her fountain.
13:45They do the same to her the next day, and the day after that, starving her for hours
13:50and returning her to her fountain.
13:52They top up the water in it occasionally, but other than that, they don't seem to be
13:56doing anything nice for her at all.
13:58Are they doing this on purpose?
14:00Surely not.
14:01She's their friend.
14:02She's being kind, doing all of their weird games even when she doesn't want to.
14:07Humans aren't cruel, they wouldn't do that to her.
14:09But then she finds herself in a different situation entirely.
14:12They do the same as they've been doing for the previous few days, wheeling her into the
14:15testing chamber and making her stand there on her own.
14:19But it's colder today, much colder.
14:22She tries to explain to them through the glass, rubbing her shoulders and shivering, but they
14:25just keep making their notes.
14:27This isn't good.
14:28She can't stand the cold, it's not good for her.
14:31Painful crystals start forming on the surface of her skin, stabbing into her and solidifying
14:35her body.
14:36She cries out noiselessly, but the humans keep going until she feels herself losing
14:41consciousness.
14:42Weeks go by, and with each experiment they do, the Water Nymph worries more and more
14:47that these humans aren't really her friends.
14:50They've started giving her mazes, complex plastic structures that she gets forced unceremoniously
14:55into, where she has to swim through various pipes and tubes until she can push a button
14:59on the other side.
15:00At first she was expecting a prize, maybe this is why they had her kept here for so
15:04long.
15:05They needed help solving these puzzles, and their fleshy bodies couldn't fit through the
15:09tubes.
15:10But nothing happens when she presses the button, they just pull a plug and drain her out of
15:13the bottom.
15:15Today she's had enough.
15:17When are they going to put her back in the ocean?
15:19She's just going to wait here at the start of the maze until they tell her.
15:22It's only fair.
15:23The water in her chest leaps for joy as a human enters the test chamber and approaches
15:27her.
15:28She raises out of the water in waves to greet him, just as he lifts the long strange device
15:32in his hand and jabs it into her chest.
15:34The electricity shoots all through her body and sets her mind ablaze, it takes all her
15:39strength not to burst into a thousand droplets.
15:42Convulsing and crying, she falls backwards into the maze, the human brandishes the weapon
15:46at her again.
15:48She has nowhere to go but into the maze.
15:50She solves it in a split second, but as she presses the button, she feels a sinking feeling
15:55settling over her.
15:57What if they don't want to let her out?
15:59It's all her fault.
16:00What was she thinking?
16:02Her one shot at making friends, and she'd blown it.
16:05She sits crying in her fountain, feeling her tears flow into the water around her and back
16:09into her body.
16:10It was the acid.
16:12She hates acid, and always has.
16:15She'd swam near a factory once and got a dose of it.
16:18It hurt, more than anything she'd ever felt before.
16:20It would flow into her chest and sit there, burning and burning.
16:25She can still feel it now.
16:27So when the humans in the rubber suits had poured some into her fountains, she'd lost
16:31her temper, slamming into them with all her force.
16:33For months they'd been hurting her, jabbing her, and exhausting her.
16:36But they're her friends, right?
16:38And you shouldn't hurt your friends, you definitely shouldn't kill your friends, you shouldn't
16:43rip open their rubber suits and force yourself down their throats, drowning them in their
16:47own bodies.
16:48Her fountain's red with blood and burns from the acid, and it's all her fault.
16:53What had she done wrong to make them treat her like this?
16:56Why couldn't they just be friends?
16:59After a few weeks, a group of humans come in and clean up the mess, refilling her fountain
17:03with clean water.
17:04She doesn't lift her head above the surface.
17:06They install a pipe above her fountain that drip-feeds water onto her.
17:10Drip, drip, drip, and just like that, she's no longer seen as human.
17:16Drip, drip, drip.
17:18The lights burn white, the door stays closed.
17:21Drip, drip, drip.
17:24The water nymph sits in her fountain.
17:27Drip, drip, drip.
17:30After a year, she stops crying.
17:32A year after that, she gives up on thinking too.
17:36Three years of near silence pass, with only the sound of dripping water from the pipe
17:41until the door to her chamber opens.
17:44Something flutters in her chest.
17:46She lifts her head out of the water.
17:47A friend?
17:49Check out the Dr. Bob Patreon and become a junior researcher today.