With Flecks of Gold

“Love, I know you’re out there.” I bit back a frustrated groan. Not him again. “You can’t possibly think that I’m done with you.”

I couldn’t stand hearing his annoying voice again. I felt anger bubble up inside of me like an old friend I hadn’t seen for around... 5 minutes. I took a soothing breath and attempted to slide myself deeper into the water, completely hiding my tail.

I lightly smiled to myself. I hadn’t noticed until now that all of my pain and bruises were gone. It was as if I was a whole different person, a whole different species really. It was as if all of my problems had been covered up. It erased everything bad about me and turned me into this new being, this magnificent sea creature. It was breathtaking and magical. It was something that I had all to myself. It made me different than everyone else. It made me special. I probably should have been flipping out, considering I had pretty much turned into a fish. But I couldn’t help being overjoyed in a sense.

My thoughts were cut off when I heard tentative footsteps entering the water. My breath hitched in my throat. What did he want with me anyway? What was he doing here? How did he find me?

“Lauren…” He called out. His tone was almost ghostly. He took a few more steps forward. Did he know I was back here? Did he know what happened to me?

I heard him coming closer. I panicked, throwing my arms out to the side; I was hoping to splash him. What actually happened was beyond what I was aiming for. A fast, strong tube of water shot though the air. It blasted him straight in the face. I peaked my head over the rock I was hiding behind just to see the damage. I held back a laugh. He was dismantled, sputtering and coughing up mouthfuls of water and profanities as he lay vulnerable in the canal. He was soaking wet.

“God… Dammit… What the—“ he whipped his head back and forth in an attempt to rid of the water trapped in his sopping wet brown, curly hair. I took advantage of his flustered state to make my escape. I glanced to my left, and without another thought, dove into the deeper waters.

***

I felt the power coursing though my body, I felt it pumping to the very tip of my tail fin. I was no longer aware of where I was. Was this a river? Was it the ocean? Was it China? Who knew? The only thing crossing my mind was how invincible I felt. I was the queen of the ocean. I folded my delicate fingers over each other and moved my body to the rhythm of the water. Currents slowly ran through my body, creating waves in my movements. They travelled through my solid figure with ease, starting at my fingertips and ending at the tip of my tail. I was gliding through the water like it was nothing. I was made for the sea. I could feel it.

My mom couldn’t catch me down here.

Harry couldn’t catch me down here.

Not even my very own thoughts could catch me down here.

I felt truly free.

I closed my eyes and noted how long I could hold my breath for. It’s been a long time. Was it 15 minutes now? Could I hold my breath forever? Surely I needed oxygen at some point.

Although I didn’t feel like I needed it, I decided to swim to the surface to take a gulp of air, just in case. I poked my head through the surface and felt the water caress down my cheeks as I lifted my head towards the sunlight. My hair was in a soft, wet mop behind my head. Using tiny flicks of my tail to keep me treading at the surface, I scanned my surroundings.

I certainly wasn’t in the river anymore.

A wave of panic flushed over me. Where was I exactly? Would I be able to find my way home? Back to the lab? Was my mom okay? I mentally cursed to myself. Why hadn’t I thought of these problems before? It was as if the water made me forget about everything. I sighed in frustration. Didn’t I have school tomorrow? I laughed to myself at the thought. Between nearly getting murdered and magically transforming into a mythical sea creature, school seemed rather unimportant at the moment.

I pondered at my newfound thoughts.

Would I be able to transform back?

Would I be all alone in the ocean forever?

I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows. Perhaps I wouldn’t mind that all that much.

Nonetheless, I took one more glance over my shoulder before inhaling and submerging myself into the ever-promising sea once again. I let my usual steady rhythm of movement take over me as I thought about what I was to do next. Finding a private place to beach myself at seemed a top priority at the moment so I decided that is what I would do. I didn’t want to freak out quite yet, there were too many questions running through my head to lose my cool just now.

After many minutes or perhaps hours of interchangeably poking my head out of the water and swimming for short distances, I had finally found what I was looking for. A private beach.

It occurred to me that I had been swimming for a long time and I wasn’t in the least bit tired. I wasn’t even sure how far I had gone, it just seemed like I could keep swimming forever and ever and ever.

I peered out of the water once again and proceeded to claw my way up the sandy beach. I winced at the scratchy terrain irritating my exposed midriff. Mermaids were meant for the water, not land.

I sighed in relief as I had finally gotten myself completely up and out of the water. I lay there helplessly on the sand.

Particles of the grainy substance remained stuck to my scales as I struggled to move myself further and further away from the sea, becoming more tired in the next couple of minutes than I had in the last hour or so.

'Mermaids belong in the water, not on land.' I thought to myself, again.

As I sat there aimlessly, waiting for my body to dry off, I realized I really didn’t have much of a clue at all what time it was, or how far I had travelled. I had no idea how to get home from here.

I grunted and flipped my body over, exposing my bare stomach to the sunlight. I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. It felt hotter than usual for some odd reason. I had probably ventured further down south. But, still. It felt unusually warm. Blaming it on my previous exposure to the cold seawater for a prolonged amount of time, I let it slide.

I dried off quicker than I expected, and before I knew it, my tail and chest were radiating an odd light that I hoped was signaling some sort of transformation back into a human. Lucky for me, my assumptions were correct.

Although my tail had disappeared for now and the glowing faded, alerting that the transformation was complete, I was struck with yet another obstacle. As my tail had disappeared, my bruises and scars from my encounter with Harry had returned. I groaned in frustration and protest as I attempted to move. My body was just not having it. Slumping my body into the sand in defeat, I decided now would probably be a safe time to call for help. After all, even with legs, I was stranded on the beach.

“Hello…?” I cried weakly, wincing at how tired and beaten down my voice sounded. I continued calling for help, however, hoping that perhaps somebody would be out here to help me in my time of need. “Hello!” I called a little louder this time, hoping that I may be heard. A slight gasp escaped my lips upon hearing a small movement somewhere amongst the trees. “Hello? Is somebody there?” My voice sounded more hopeful this time.

To my relief, I spotted a head slowly peak its way out of the bushes. The expression on my face, I assure you (even though I couldn’t see it for myself), was overjoyed. Somebody was here to save me. “You!” I called out to the strange person behind the bushes. “Help me, won’t you?” I was begging now, I was desperate. Thankfully, the mysterious soul ever so cautiously began to completely reveal himself from behind the bushes. His appearance tugged at my heartstrings.

His clothes were tattered and clawed at, exposing irritated, red skin beneath the thin material of his t-shirt. There were gaping holes in the knees of his jeans, suggesting some sort of harsh contact with the ground. Dirt, mud, and what looked like blood stained his cheeks and arms. As he approached me further, I noted dirt and grime hiding under his fingernails and in the creases of his palms. His semi-short, blond hair was un-kept, but not so much that it was unattractive. His icy blue eyes were laced with fear and nervousness as he approached me, unsure of his actions.

I stood fairly still, being extra careful not to scare the poor lad away. It’s not like I could really do anything anyway, I was pretty much defenseless and vulnerable for the most part. Although, he wasn’t entirely aware of this.

“Hi, there!” I greeted lightly, wanting to sound as innocent and as harmless as possible. “Will you please help me? I can’t move very well…I’m…” I paused, trying my hardest to scoot a little closer to where he was all to slowly advancing towards me. “I’m hurt.” I forced, using the last bit of enthusiasm in my voice that I had left to urge him to walk the extra step to come and help me.

His guarded eyes and expression softened at my last words and he visibly relaxed, coming towards me at a faster pace.

“Sorry, love.” He stated, warming my heart with a smile. I noted a heavy Irish accent. “Ya' never can be too careful around here, ya' know?” I didn’t completely understand what he meant by that, but I didn’t say anything, now wasn’t the time to create friction between us.

I winced, trying not to let the threatening whimper of pain escape my mouth as he gently curled one of his muscular, tanned arms around my nape and the other under my knees. I couldn’t help squeaking a bit at the pain coursing through my body as he lifted my fragile figure from the sand. The look on his face was apologetic and sympathetic.

“Sorry,” He attempted to comfort me. “You’re pretty beat up dere'.” A look of concern flashed across his face as he slowly began to make his was back over towards the forest; my body limp in his arms. I let my eyes drift shut because of the sudden heaviness I felt upon my body from being lifted, yet I did not fall asleep in his arms. I forced myself to stay awake.

I kept my eyes closed until we reached what appeared to be a small tent in the middle of a dense forest. Oak and maple trees were thick and powerful, providing us with shade and comfort from the unforgiving sunlight.

I moaned in protest as he set me down ever so softly on what I figured was his sleeping bag. It was soft and plush, comforting, but not as much so as the water had comforted me. I silently smiled to myself at the memories, hoping this boy didn’t catch me in the act. Thankfully, he didn’t. Even if he did, he let it be.

He gave me a small smile and appeared to be looking over my wounds. His brow furrowed in concern as his fingertips lightly brushed over the deep gashes in my hands and on my thighs. I whimpered in pain, which only caused him to flash me an apologetic look.

“You’ve got some pretty deep cuts there…” He spoke, turning his body around and fumbling with a dark yellow duffle bag at the other corner of the tent. I heard zippers open and shut along with the sound of paper crumpling. “Have you been in contact with any sharp objects?” He asked cautiously, shooting me a sideways glance from what he was doing over by his bag.

“Glass.” I answered simply, not wanting to trigger the memories any further of me collapsing through the thick wood of the table and stumbling into the broken glass beakers of radioactive chemicals.

He nodded knowingly and turned his body again to face me, he had a tube of ointment in his palms along with a few bandages to cover my open, and might I add bleeding, wounds.

“Looks like you had a pretty bad fall here, love.” He trailed off and opened his mouth again as if he was going to say something else, then shook his head and closed it quickly, dismissing the thought. I had a pretty good idea what he wanted to ask me but I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. I wasn’t ready to talk about Harry, or my mom, or any of it. I just wasn’t really prepared to deal with those emotions yet. So much had happened at once that I needed a little more time to process exactly what had happened to me before I opened up and talked about it.

He wordlessly continued to tend to my wounds and I couldn’t help but notice a small bead of perspiration drip down his forehead in concentration. I was watching him so intently that I hadn’t even noticed him remove himself from my injured areas to smile at me.

“All done!” he announced proudly, turning around to place the ointment and the bandage wrappers back in his bag-of-tricks. “Anything else hurt?” He questioned further, settling at my side once again.

“No.” I lied. He raised an eyebrow at me, obviously not convinced at my words. “Well, I mean yes.” I chuckled lightly to myself. “But you’ve already done so much for me, I don’t want you to go through anymore trouble.” I replied honestly, giving him an appreciative smile. “Thank you for everything, by the way.” The sympathetic smile returned to his face but disappeared quickly when I tried to get up. He placed a gentle hand in front of me, stopping me from moving anymore, and coaxed me back down to lie on the sleeping bag.

“I’m sorry, darlin’, but you are in no shape to go back out dere'. How’s about you stay here for da’ night and we talk about it in da' mornin’, yeah? You need your rest.” I sighed and nodded in defeat, although I was convinced that I could very well take care of myself.

Notes

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