I close the door to my room and he goes over to the bed to sit. He has mixed expressions, his smug smile replaced with a concerned frown.
“You purposefully made me look like a bad person. To make him jealous?” He folds his arms looking small and angry.
“I got angry when he woke up and started calling your name and asking for you.”
“So…you wanted to hurt me?” ‘I’m more annoyed than hurt.’
He winces. “N, no, I wanted him to know you care about me too.” His eyes are dilated and he’s breathing rapidly.
I remind myself not to cause another panic attack. I crouch to look unthreatening.
“But you seemed to be getting along great. So what changed if you didn’t like him?”
“I was jealous…but I was curious about him so I started talking to him and-.” He fiddles with his hoodie strings. “He asked me a lot of questions about us.” He stops talking, looking up at me scared.
“Why don’t you hurry up and say the part that's bothering you?”
He looks guilty, “I told him I’m a merman.”
I blink taking a second to process this. “Why would you drag him into this too?”
“Human family.” He starts crying, hyperventilating. Apparently he’d been dreading the consequences of his actions for a while and I regret making him this scared of me. No it wasn’t me, it’s because some trauma had been triggered. ‘Something with the lab he was grown in.’
“I’m worried he’s not going to be able to keep the secret and then he’s going to get hurt. You put yourself in more danger by telling him.” This obviously doesn’t make him stop freaking out.
“You’re going to have to protect him now.” I say getting up off my poor knees and sitting beside him on the bed. He starts doubling over rocking, “How?”
“I don’t know for sure yet.” I tell him with a tired expression. “You just have to convince him to keep you and everything a secret no matter what.”
He looks at the wall as he calms down a little, “I don’t think he will tell anyone.”
I hear the mermans stomach rumble and hungry myself, get up saying, “Let’s eat.” ‘This conversation will just go in circles anyway.’
I bite into the sandwich I made looking across the table at the two, moppy, young men.
‘Again it looks like they were whipped but all I did was ask them what was going on, maybe I’m reading into it too much into it and they’re just recovering from everything.’
The merman nibbles on raw fish and Andreas doesn’t eat a bite watching both of us nauseous. I swallow my bite standing up. “Well I have things to do.” I say taking the sandwich outside to watch Honey and make sure she wasn’t tearing any sirens’ apart. I feel the smile on my face fall when she’s barking rabidly at something at the docks. I grab the tranq gun from the lab and run down the hill. ‘I’m getting sick and tired of that siren.’
The words, ‘sick him’ ready on my tongue, I see that though Honey is barking she doesn’t move from where her feet have planted on the end of the dock, fur standing up on her back. I feel my eyes open wide when I see a large group of seals. I make a sharp noise of rebuke to Honey. She looks up at me, begging me to “sick her” on the seals. I send her up the hill a little ways by throwing my sandwich then edge closer to the relaxed group of seals making sure none of them are hurt.
Suddenly remembering what Andreas had said about a group of seals saving him I ask them, “Are you the ones who saved Andreas?”
They all look at me silently and I flush feeling foolish until one by one the seals nod their heads. I’m in shock and don’t respond as they splash into the water disappearing except for one. Except this was a man not a seal. He’s badly injured and I instantly get a feeling of dread. I don’t think I could carry him. He’s still breathing but it sounds wrong. Are the seals asking me for a miracle? Because I’m going to need to call an ambulance.
The man opens his eyes and, seemingly recognizing me, tells me in a deep voice, “Don’t worry, I heal quickly.” As if to prove his point he stands up from where he was sitting against boxes and rope. He looks up at the house. “My brethren thought it’d be safer here where the siren is scared to return.”
‘He knows a lot.’ I think.
I watch as the seals resurface with fish and one drops it on the dock, I’m guessing for the injured man but he doesn’t even look at it.
“You have knowledge of medicine.” He continues. I look at him again and since he is somehow standing gesture for him to follow me.
“I guess I owe you.” I say.
He shakes his head, “You help the seals all the time, sometimes unknowingly helping one of us.” He limps up the hill after me. “I’d rather I healed somewhere familiar but the siren is out for revenge.” He breathes heavily but manages a laugh. I look at the man closer and he pauses as I realize he’s a selkie. He’s wearing seal skin as clothing, which barely covers him. His eyes are all black and he has sharp teeth.
He smiles at me in a friendly manner. His bottom canines are longer, sharper. He blinks at me and I shake my head to refocus.
“Sorry, it’s been a long week.” I explain.
“We know.” He snorts.
I open the door to my lab and extend a hand for him to go inside. He looks around and I can see it makes him uncomfortable but he steels himself pulling the seal skin tighter around him and enters.
“Do you not like lab equipment? I know it can look cold and sterile but it can be life saving.”
“It’s more like man made buildings, they’re claustrophobic.” He says looking out the door I was just about to shut I leave it open.
He relaxes a little bit. “Thank you.”
I nod and gather once again all the things I need for cleaning wounds. “So the siren is after you in particular?”
He makes a pained expression, “I think he’d go after anyone but I don’t let him.” Looking at me and then his body he asks. “Would it be easier to take care of me in this form or as a seal?”
I honestly would rather take care of a seal and he seems to see it in my face because he starts removing the seal skin from around his body.
“Wait, will that cost you a lot of energy?” I ask worried about stabilizing his condition first. He shakes his head no and calmly puts his feet into the tail and slides the skin up until he tucks one arm in and uses the other to throw the head off the seal on like a hoodie but then I’m looking at a real seal and not a man in a seal skin. It offers a flipper.
I hold out my hand and shake the flipper, “How-?” I ask reeling.
The seal barks. Oh that’s right seals can’t talk which is probably why he chose the human form in the first place. Confused and starting to get used to being confused I push everything but taking care of the grievously wounded seal out of my mind. The wounds are still fresh and I see that some are hours or a day apart. The siren wasn’t letting this one go. I put on my music as I inject him to help him sleep through the most painful of the process.
I make sure to start with the deepest wounds. He’s not wrong about healing quickly. The smallest scrapes have healed by the time I stitch him up. I still give him a blood transfusion due to how much he lost, hopefully as a seal he’s compatible with real seals’. I wonder why the merman isn’t like that. What differs in their biology? Or are seals-selkies more likely to get attacked by sharks so they evolved to heal quickly while the mercreatures evolved to prioritize other methods of survival.
Pulling down my music sensing the fact I’m being watched I see that the mercreature is peeking through the kitchen door. His eyes are wide and worried. “Is something wrong?” I ask.
“You were gone for a long time.” He focuses on the seal and then looks back up at me. I can’t read his expression very well. “What’s a selkie doing here?” he breathes finally. I guess he has a bit of reverence towards them.
“Well since helping you they’ve been watching me apparently.”
“They are always watching. Also very careful-” He says, taking a step forward but stopping in a manner that I knew he wasn’t going to come any closer. “Who they chose to trust.” He looks back at the kitchen. “Andreas is hurting a lot. He asked me to find you.”
“They were the ones who saved Andreas.” I catch him up to date.
“I know, Andry told me.”
‘Andry?!’ I think. I look down at my progress. “Just give me a second to finish stabilizing him or…” I look at the merman. “You could grab it for me.” He perks up a little. I rattle off the name of the medicine and he pulls multiple containers out starting with the letter.
Looking up I gesture to the right bottle. He holds it up and I nod. “Give Andreas two of those. Only two.” I look at him intensely and he nods. “Human medicine is dangerous so you have tofollow the instructions perfectly. The other medicine he needs will help him sleep.” I trail off as I check that the seal's vitals are still stable. Cleaning up the station and tools I make sure to wash my bloody hands. “It’s that one.” I gesture to one of the ones he pulled down and once he confirms it with me say, “He only needs one.”
I startle as the seal wakes up and then realize it’s probably because of how quickly they heal. I put him back under and then worry that the mercreature could mix up the medicines or not be able to open them at all. My worries are confirmed when he approaches me. He looks up at me with fin-like eyelashes and scales on the corners of his eyes. I lift my hand brushing them, “You’re turning back.” He presses his face into my hand, tearing up. “Are you in pain?” I ask.
“Yes, no, n, not really are you mad at me?” He asks. I stand up straighter. ‘I needed to think and plan how to handle the two annoying men. Obviously I should take Andreas back home once healed and I need to come up with a few excuses for when I go back to work. I still have to take the mercreature to the market. I haven’t really had a lot of time to figure out how I feel about all this, I’m stressed to say the least.’
“I, I don’t know.” I answer, finally. “I’m just worried. Promise me you’ll ask before telling anyone else that you’re a merman, okay?” I look at the seal again and let him sleep. Washing my hands again before going to help Andreas.
I give Andreas the three pills and some water. He looks pale holding his stomach, he acknowledges me silently.
I open the front door so that I can call in Honey to find her eating the rest of the fish.
“That better not make you throw up.” I mutter.
Andreas' voice cracks weakly, “Can you make me something to eat that I can hold down?” I nod and realize that he’s probably going to need to be bedridden for a while. I approach him and he looks hesitant like I’m still mad. I sigh.
“Can I carry you?” He nods before I even explain why. I make sure to be very careful picking him up. He makes a sharp noise and I hesitate on whether or not I should just bring him back to the lab. He needs to stay still until he heals which means I need to set up a catheter. I decide to set him up comfortably in the guest room. I lay him on the bed with a grunt and adjust the pillows around him.
He lets out a little whimper and I look at his chapped lips.
“I’m going to set up some medical equipment in here with you okay?”
He nods.
“I’ll be back with some light broth for your stomach, don't worry it’ll sit easy on your stomach.”
Randomly I remember that he liked breakfast on toast. I’ll make him some once he starts feeling better.
I go to the closet and pull out the equipment for a long bed rest including a catheter, and an iv drip to get him rehydrated quickly without having to force liquids. I look at the heart monitor, the expensive equipment and block the memory, returning to the bedroom. I start setting up the equipment and he goes, “What’s all this stuff?”
“It’s so you’re more comfortable.” I dismiss.
Going to the kitchen I start some broth on low heat.
Then going to the lab I check if the iv fluids are still in date. They are. I will need to get some more stocked soon. I glance at the seal he would probably benefit from one and I don’t want them going to waste. I’ll wait until he wakes up. He needs to be in human form for it.
Grabbing another armful of supplies I hesitate as I see a wrist bracelet I didn’t know I’d forgotten to get rid of. Their name causes me to let out a shuddering breath and I close the cabinet full of life sustaining medical supplies and equipment.
“It’s almost like a hospital in here now.” Andreas murmurs weakly. I nod in agreement as I sanitize my hands and a medical table to hold the sterile equipment.
I prepare the equipment next to his bed and then open the packaging making sure it has everything I need. Alcohol cleanser, gloves, an alcohol wipe, a disposable tourniquet, an IV cannula, a suitable plaster, a syringe, saline. The only thing I don’t have is a clinical waste bin.
‘I have one in the lab but I should have extras somewhere.’
“I’m sorry for not doing this immediately,” I tell him. “I’ve been distracted and it’s been a while since-” I cut myself off he tilts his head. I gesture to my own arm and the supplies, “I’m going to put an iv in your arm so that I can get you rehydrated and administer medicine. You needed to be bed-ridden with those wounds.” I beat myself up a little bit. He's a human, not some magical mercreature.
“How long?” He doesn’t seem bothered about being bedridden his eyes sparkle a little.
“Well that’s up to your body but those stitches are going to help you heal faster.” I hesitate for a while, “Andreas I am not a human doctor. If I think your life is in danger at any point you have to let me take you to the emergency room.”
“No. I consent to you helping me and if you don’t want to be responsible I’ll do it myself just…tell me what to do.”
“Are you scared of hospitals?”
He shakes his head a little, “I have insurance.” He bites his lip, “Through my parents and I’d rather die than ask for their help.”
I raise my eyebrows and then frown. “I’m going to help you but-the hospital will keep them out of the room and away from you because you’re an adult, they’ll never even know you were there I’ll even pay the bill, please.” I watch Andreas's eyes widen as my eyes water, “Please Andreas, let me take you if you’re in danger.”
His eyes well up and he apologizes, “If you promise to keep them out of the room…m, maybe but I don’t think I’ll get to that point. I believe in you.”
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