I push past seaweed into a giant cavern. Glowing urchins light up the walls and I discover a boy lying on the seafloor muttering to himself in a language I could not understand. Or maybe not so much a boy… he had fins where his legs would have been. What the hell? How can a boy have a tail? I’m gaping at him when he’s alerted to my presence. He looked at me fearful and I froze. I don’t know what this is or what I just got myself into. Panic rises and I’m scared, but as the seconds draw on with no movement, I find myself more curious and astounded. I break the stare down between us and look down. In my hand are my books. I hold the one I found outside the tunnel up, “I found this book earlier. Is it yours?”
His eyes go wide and nods.
“How is it unruined by the water?”
Mischief gleamed in his eyes as he said something unintelligible. “What? I don’t understand.” His eyebrows scrunched up and he looked confused for a moment. A second later he stated “M-magic.” It came out forced, like he struggled over the word but cracked a crooked grin. As for myself, I was confused. I never believed in magic but I'm staring at a boy with a tail…I decided to not question his answer.
“How did you…. find this place?” he asked. I looked around, find this? It was just a tunnel opening. What’s there to finds?
“I don’t know what you mean, I just seen the book earlier today and was curious.”
He tilted his head like he was considering something and nodded. “Do you like reading?”
“Yes, I do. I live on a ship so I can’t have a big library.”
With a smile matching his mischievous eyes he beckoned me to follow him. He led me through a side tunnel to another large cave…or I guess a room? It had plants covering each entrance and cut leaves down as a bed. And against one wall were books. It seemed like hundreds of books and a small pile of odds and ends like gold coins, jewelry, plates. I was amazed. “How do you have so much stuff?”
“Shipwrecks. Take off your mask.” He said abruptly.
“What? No! I can’t breathe underwater. I’d drown.” I exclaimed.
“No, you won’t, I promise. I want to see your face.”
I looked at this boy in front of me, his black hair a long mess slightly hanging over his sincere eyes a quiet smile on his pink lips. Studying him further he was pale and muscular, below his navel was where his tail replaced where normal legs would be. His tail was brightly colored a dark green shading to a deep purple. It matched his forest green eyes; his eyes that seems so deep….so trustworthy. He didn’t have gills so maybe it was safe to breathe this water? I mean the books are fine too… Sighing I close my eyes, take a deep breath and remove the mask. You’re not supposed to hold your breath at these depths therefore I breathe. Water floods my mouth and I’m drowning. Not getting oxygen is painful and I’m gagging on water. Suddenly I feel a soft pressure against my lips and my eyes fly open. The boy is kissing me! His eyes are closed as he presses his lips to mine. His tongue presses against my lips parting them and air flows into me. And I’m not drowning anymore; I’m being kissed. A long kiss with heavy emotions attached to it; I’m flooded with amusement, but with lower tones of loneliness and despair.
A thought floods through me; my first kiss. Was stolen. By a…a… half boy/half fish. He parts from me and we’re both breathless. And I blush, my face must be bright red. He sees me and laughs. “So, what do you think?”
“O-of what? Your kiss? I’m not gay dude!” I say flustered and then it hits me, “wait a minute, how am I able to breath now? Was it your… kiss? Or more magic?”
He laughs again and says “My kind have the ability to share our gifts and emotions through intimacy. So now you can breathe underwater! And understand me too when I speak in my native tongue. I understand a little English because of the books I find and the conversations I hear when I sneak up to the boat docks.” I blush when he spoke of intimacy but become more muddled. “How long will I be able to breath underwater?”
“As far as I know, forever. What’s your name?”
“Dakota. And yours?”
“Kaiden.”
Awkward silence falls between us as I try to grasp what just happened. So many questions run through my head as I stare at this creature in front of me. I don’t know what to make of this. I feel kind of crazy. As if he can read my mind he asks, “are you okay?” He smiles kindly at me and it takes me a minute to respond. When I do, I hand him his book back but shakes his head. “Would you like to trade books?” he asks, “Obviously living here…I don’t get new reading material often.”
“That would be — “
Suddenly he pushed me off into the seaweed entrance I came from and told me to quiet. “Kaiden! Why are you not with Julianna? We all have a big day tomorrow!” Boomed a voice coming from an entrance on the far wall. Another half fish person swam into the room, she was quite a lot bigger than the boy, the only seemingly human part was her face the rest of her was fish. “Yes, mother I know. I was just finishing my book.”
“You and those filthy human trinkets of yours” she scoffed, “I wish you would not play with such things. Humans are cruel beings. War will be upon us soon at this rate. We need to secure your future.”
“What do you mean mother? There was another attack?”
“Yes, and it doesn’t seem like an accident. This was close to home, so please for my own sanity, will you stay here and not wander off? As a Prince, it is your duty to be involved in the upcoming decisions and be at the council meeting tomorrow. As well as secure your future throne. Is that understood?” she asked but it clearly wasn’t a question.
She left leaving the room silent. Slowly, he came over to me. Shoulders sagging with sadness on his face, he said I should go back to where I came from. His pain was palpable; springing back the memory of his kiss. Intimacy shared emotions and he was horribly lonely in this life. Just like I was. I didn’t want this to be the last time I saw him. I hugged him and said, “I’ll go, but not without trading books.” He led me over to the pile of books, explaining the various shipwrecks he attained the different books. Most were older books, lightly used despite their age. I decided to keep the novel I had and I handed him my book in return. “I promise I’ll bring this back and we will trade books again.” This earned me a bright smile. “Thank you.”
Trying to prolong our goodbyes, I let my curiosity take over and asked, “So you’re a Prince huh?” He only nodded. “Why would there be a war?”
“The humans have been killing our kind, dwindling our numbers. We must stop them,” he said, “technically I should’ve killed you on sight, anyone else who seen your first would have. This place is dangerous for a human like you.” He said not meeting my eyes.
“Humans don’t know about your kind; how could they be hunting you? What even are you?” I asked confused.
He shared in my confusion, “How do you not know? We are the merfolk.” He pulled a book off his shelf and pointed at The Complete Collections of the Grimm Brothers fairy tales, “We are your stories. And now we are hunted.”
“Mermaids…...?” I guess I should’ve known by his looks, I just didn’t think they existed. But then what else would he be? I can’t believe I didn’t figure that one our myself! “I think the correct term would be merMAN.” He said laughing. I smiled too, “Well I apologize! You merMEN aren’t supposed to exist.” I exaggerate and we laugh.
We talked for what seemed like hours about various simple subjects. He sighed dramatically when I told him that I should head back home. He seemed disappointed and as he led me out of the tunnels: I find that I don’t want to leave yet. I think back on the events of the night, my first kiss, more importantly the emotions behind it. We reach my pod quickly and he stares at me.
“I’ve never seen one of these up close before. What is it?” Kaiden asked quietly.
“It’s my submersible. It allows me to be underwater for extended periods of time so that I may observed everything.”
“You won’t need it now.” He stated matter of fact-like.
I blushed. I guess I don’t, now that I have been kissed by a merman.
Comments (3)
See all