Jeff could sense something moving. The concrete walls of the pool were slowly moving back, the bottom was descending, and a whole mess of rocks and thick grass began to spread underneath him. Jeff tasted the water and realized it no longer had the sweet taste of chlorine. It tasted foul and bitter.
When he poked his head above water, he dissevered that the neighbor's house and backyard were no longer there. Instead, he was in the middle of Greenview Lake, the place his parents had taken him when he was little. How many years had passed since he'd last seen it? Five? Ten?
At least nothing was out of place. The whole area was exactly as he remembered it. Boats were passing by in the distance packed with the families that lived along the lake, laughter and loud talking could be heard from shore, and...a whole horde of kids were swimming right towards him!!
Jeff dived back underwater and swam deeper, where the water was dark and murky due to lack of sunlight. His scales adjusted to the new environment and colored his body black as a form of camouflage. The kids swam right over him, never knowing he was there. All of them were breathing hard, either swimming on their now with varying degrees of skill or pulling each other along on large boards. Jeff felt the nostalgia wash over him as he observed from a distance. Being a merman meant he would never be able to experience any of this ever again.
But reality soon set in. This lake was the perfect home for him. It was deep, large, and intimidating. It gave him plenty of room to swim around while also making it easy for him to hide from visitors who would never think of swimming to the bottom. He didn't like the taste of the water, but that was not important. And what's more, he knew from the old rusted signs posted near the parking lot that fishing of any kind was prohibited because the lake's fish were protected under environmental laws. This gave him a source of food. In fact, he saw a small group of fish swimming nearby and easily caught up, snagging one of them in his powerful jaws. He bit right into the rich flesh and tore the fish apart, cleaning every bit of meat from the bones, which he let sink to the bottom. A cloud of blood rose up to the surface, which he paid no mind to.
Jeff felt tired, so he swam to the back of the lake, where no one lived, and found a patch of sand near some rocks where he could rest without being seen. There, he laid himself against the soft surface and began a slow period of hibernation.