Chapter Two

The World Above the Rocks

Tuna and Melody stayed together for over an hour, which had become their daily habit for a long while now, and Tuna every single day, would look forward to her arrival. It was exciting for him, and he wondered before-hand what food she might bring him on that day, what stories she would tell.

To Tuna, the human-world, the world above-ground, was like a dream, a fantasy, so distant and mysterious. Everyday Tuna would learn a little more about it, and he liked that.

Eventually Tuna said his goodbyes to Melody, reluctantly slipping back into the water. Melody packed away the remaining items she had brought, folding the rubbish and putting it neatly away into her basket.

‘I’m gonna miss you,’ Tuna said forlorn.

‘I’ll miss you too’ she said to him, reaching out and grasping his hand firmly. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Brublebleubgluglubgrungle….’

‘I can’t understand you when you speak underwater’ she told him.

‘I said I love you.’

Melody’s eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed suddenly.

She lowered her head, rising to her feet.

‘You’ll say it back to me one day’ Tuna said, slapping his tail in the water moodily.

‘You shouldn’t say things like that so easily’ Melody said, in a scolding manner. ‘To be in love with someone is a really deep and sincere thing.’

‘But it’s true!’ Tuna protested.

‘Well… I won’t argue about it again.’

‘Brrrubbbubbbubbbubbbbbmmmmglugluglug….’

‘Goodbye Tuna’ she said to him. ‘I’ll see you again tomorrow.’

The next day, at around the same time, Tuna waited by the rocks, huffing dramatically, and slapping his tail in the water while he waited.

He tilted his head towards the sun, frowning to himself, before dropping his head

‘She’s late’ Tuna lamented. ‘What’s taking so long…?’

Tuna rolled onto his back, lying on top of the warm rock with his tail still in the water.

He huffed again, gazing up at the clouds drifting slowly overhead.

‘What’s taking so long?’ he said again, speaking towards the clouds. ‘She’s never been this late before.’

He rolled back onto his front, chin resting on the rock.

‘I hope she hasn’t forgotten about me’ he grumbled to himself. ‘What if I said something to upset her, and she doesn’t want to see me anymore…?’

Tuna then wracked his brain, for anything he might have said that could have been perceived as negative in any way.

‘I don’t think I did anything wrong’ he eventually concluded. ‘I’ve been the perfect gentleman this entire time.’

He frowned to himself, brow furrowed as he mustered all of his concentration and serious thoughts for this.

‘I know Melody. There is no way she would abandon me like this. She did say that she would see me again today.’

Tuna cast his mind back to the day before.

Goodbye Tuna. I’ll see you again tomorrow.

‘She definitely intended to see me’ Tuna concluded. ‘Which mean…’ he continued to frown, the thoughts coming to him, ever so slowly, ‘…if she hasn’t come to visit me…’ he mumbled, ‘…then that must mean she is somehow unable to.’

Tuna gasped dramatically.

‘She must be injured! Or maybe she’s been kidnapped and held for ransom! Is her family rich??? I can’t remember if she ever said so…that means they must be poor. Oh no what if she doesn’t have the ransom money to pay? I don’t have any human money…. I don’t even have pockets.’

Tuna looked down at himself, staring at his own hips where, if he was wearing trousers (if he was able) he might have had pockets.

‘Why don’t mermaids have pockets?’ he complained. ‘That would be so convenient. What a terrible design-flaw!’

He grimaced, glaring with determination towards the top of the rocky slope, where Meldoy had so many times before appeared from.

‘I have to risk my life to find her’ Tuna said with determination. ‘I have to find her. I will find her…if it’s the last thing I ever do… but how…?’

He thought to himself for a moment.

‘This isn’t a fairytale… I can’t just make a deal with a sea-witch and exchange my voice for legs and spend the next three days or whatever blah blah blah…’

He balled his fists then, overcome with fresh determination.

‘There is only one thing for it…’ Tuna said, lifting his body fully out of the water with a SLOSH.

‘I have to find her myself. There is no other way…’

He flopped forwards onto the rock, splashing everywhere.

‘I can do it’ he groaned, crawling forwards. ‘It can’t be too hard.’

The task however, was in fact, more challenging than he initially realised. Tuna did eventually reach the top of the rocky slope, but it had taken him a long time, and had caused him great strain on his poor muscles.

‘I didn’t realise my upper-body strength was so non-existent’ Tuna groaned, massaging his arms. ‘I’ll have to do something about that…’

He lowered his arms then, facing ahead of him, at this brand-new world.

It was green. Much more green than he was used to. There was of course green in the ocean, thanks to the algae and forests and beds of seaweed, but this was a different sort of green.

Grass and trees were things he had never seen before, at least, not this close anyway.

Tuna lowered his head, hunching his shoulders.

He reached out, touching the grass.

‘It feels weird… and kinda spikey…. but in a soft kinda way…. Hu…’

Then he saw something that caught his attention beside him.

‘Bush’ he said, leaning into it. ‘I’ve heard of these before. Melody told me.’

And then he realised.

‘Melody! I have to find her!’

Tuna glanced about him, eyes darting in all directions, taking in this bizarre new place.

Though he didn’t know it, he was at the edge of a park.

It was a modest park at the edge of the town, and fairly quiet. People could be seen in the distance, going about their business, doing all sorts of different things, in different places. Tuna watched all of this with fascination, however most of what he could see, he could not comprehend.

He saw someone glide by on a bicycle, and his mind went completely blank.

‘………………………………………………what is that…….?’

‘What is that?’

Tuna turned towards the unfamiliar voice, seeing a teen girl there.

‘Uuhhhh…….hi?’ he said.

 ‘Is that a mermaid?’

‘Did you just call me a that?’ Tuna crossed his arms. ‘That’s rude. Is that normally how you greet people?’

The teen just stared at him, mouth agape.

Tuna stared back at her, unsure of what to do.

It was at that moment, one of the girl’s friends called out to her.

‘Monica? Are you ok?’

‘I found a mermaid,’ the girl who’s name was apparently Monica, replied to her friend.

‘What are you talking about?’

Tuna could not see the friend from where he sat on the floor, but then she appeared beside Monica, then a third girl appeared.

The three of them stared.

‘Hey are you a mermaid?’ one of the girls asked.

‘Did someone say mermaid?’ came another voice from an unknown source.

‘Mermaid? Where?’

‘I wanna see!’

In no time at all, Tuna was surrounded by strangers, swarming around him and staring.

Feeling overwhelmed and perplexed, Tuna could only stare back wordlessly, hugging his tail to himself, in an act of self-comfort.

‘Woah…. a mermaid…it’s a real-life mermaid.’

‘No way is that real. It’s a fake tail…he’s kinda cute tho…’

Tuna shrunk back even further. He had never been the centre of such spectacle before, and he didn’t know how to react.

‘This is scary…’

And then another figure appeared amongst the people, this one taller and more imposing. She barged the others out the way, standing at the front of the crowd.

‘This person belongs to me’ she declared loudly. ‘You can all go away now.’

‘Who are you?’ Tuna asked. ‘Are you going to hurt me… do terrible things to me…?’

‘What? No!’ the woman straightened up, regaining her full height, and Tuna was able to see her clearly now.

She was muscular, broad-shouldered. Her trousers and shirt were close-fitting, showing her healthy and strong physique.  

‘My name is Sayu. I’m Melody’s sister.’

‘You’re her sister?!’’

Tuna shrunk back even further, trying his best to become a ball.

‘You can’t be related to her? How would that even be possible?’ Tuna lifted his tail-fin, hiding his face behind it. ‘You’re too titanic.’

Sayu reached forwards, grabbing Tuna’s shoulders firmly, a forced smile upon her face, her brow twitching with irritation.

‘It’s not nice to comment about people’s appearance.’

Tuna let out a shriek then, as Sayu lifted him, carrying him over her shoulder.

‘Put me down you brute!’

‘Stop wriggling!’

‘Help I'm being stolen!’

‘You want to see Melody don’t you?’

Tuna stopped flailing around.

‘I’m taking you to her. Stop panicking.’

Tuna relaxed his body, allowing his weight to be more evenly distributed over her shoulder.

‘That’s more like it.’ She turned around. ‘Everyone out the way!’

‘Hey, you can’t take that mermaid away’ a stranger exclaimed. ‘Surely it belongs in a museum or something…or an aquarium or some sort of science facility.’

Tuna let out a sob at being called a that again, not knowing what the on earth these places were, but they sounded scary.

‘This person belongs to me’ Sayu reiterated, her tone harsher than before. ‘And besides’ she added, shoving past the man, ‘mermaids aren’t real.’

‘What?’

But Sayu was already making her way through the crowd, before the man had a chance to question her further, Tuna waving him goodbye as he was taken away.