**12 YEARS AGO**58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lfWTASTfj
Oscar was enjoying himself as he waded in the ocean, letting the waves roll him over and send him back to the shore. He laughed as he got back in the sand and ran up the beach to the small umbrella that was there. Oscar and his father, Isaiah, had taken this trip to get their minds off of the tragedy that they had endured the year before. Oscar’s mother had been battling cancer for a while but she ended up losing her fight the year before. It had been a hard road for all of them, but especially for Oscar. Isaiah knew he was trying to be brave and helpful but he was a little boy. He knew it was hard for him to deal with all of this right now. When Isaiah and his wife bought the beach house they were at, they made a promise that they were going to make use of the house and not let it sit there. Unfortunately, the cancer overtook her before she could see it and make use of it. Instead of getting rid of it, Isaiah decided to keep it and would use it to later give to Oscar, if he wanted it.
Isaiah had set up a small umbrella out in the sand for Oscar to put his things under while he played in the ocean while he tried to fix the place up a little better. Oscar grabbed his goggles and snorkel and put it on, heading back to the ocean. He waded out a little ways and then put his face in the water, looking around at all the wildlife under the water. He allowed the waves to carry him as he breathed through the snorkel, taking a little break from swimming around. As he looked around and started to get into a little bit of deeper water, something shimmered by the base of a large rock in the ocean, catching his attention. He tread water for a moment to get some air and then took in a large gulp, swimming down to where he saw the glimmer.
When he got there, he was surprised at what he found. It was a little mermaid, no older than him, who looked like they were having a bit of trouble. From the small trail of blood Oscar could see coming from their tail, they were wounded somehow. Oscar swam back to the surface and got another breath. He swam as fast as he could to the mermaid and was able to get into its view. Seeing Oscar, the mermaid gasped and curled in on itself. Oscar pointed to his foot and then at the mermaid and held out his hand. The mermaid looked at him with skeptical sea green eyes, confused as to what this bumbling creature wanted. Oscar pointed to the surface and held out his hand again, Against it’s better judgement, the mermaid grabbed his hand.
Oscar couldn’t believe he was actually holding hands with a mermaid. Isaiah had always told him of the legends of this beach and why it was so special to him and his mother. Isaiah said that long ago sailors used to sail through the stretch of ocean and swear up and down that they encountered merfolk and other sea legends. There was always a bit of mysticism around these waters, but to actually be holding hands with one? Oscar was completely ecstatic. Oscar broke the surface first and the mermaid slowly came up out of the water, only the eyes showing. Oscar looked at them and smiled.
“I saw the bit of blood on your tail. Are you hurt?” he asked, not sure if merfolk could even speak English.
The mermaid looked away for a moment and then nodded a little, answering Oscar’s question. Oscar lit up.
“So you understand English? Awesome! I was afraid I was going to have to try and act it all out. You wanna come to the shore so that I can take a look at your tail?”
The mermaid looked at him again and shook its head, obviously afraid of Oscar taking it any further from the ocean. Oscar moved his goggles out of the way and smiled at the mermaid.
“I promise that I won’t hurt you. You’re the coolest thing I’ve seen all summer!” The mermaid made a face at him. “I know that doesn’t really say much but I promise that I just want to help. I can’t breathe in the water so I need to go to shore.”
The mermaid eyed him some more but finally pulled its webbed hand out of the water and held it out to Oscar. He grinned again, taking the mermaid’s scaly hand, and they swam to the shore.
When they finally got closer to the shore, Oscar was able to stand up and walk. The mermaid just glided with the waves until it was too hard to hold hands. Oscar held out both of his hands and the mermaid looked at him in confusion.
“I’m sure you can’t navigate on the sand, right? I was just going to haul you in.”
The mermaid gave Oscar a very human look of ‘I don’t think so’ and Oscar laughed.
“I know it sounds so stupid, but I promise I’m not trying to do anything weird.”
The mermaid was about to leave when a larger swell in the ocean lifted the mermaid up and basically made the decision for it, knocking it into Oscar as he tried to run away from the abnormally large wave. They toppled over each other and ended up on the sand, mermaid on top. Oscar coughed a little and tried to sit up but was being held down by what felt like a rock. He looked over his shoulder and saw tendrils of bright turquoise and sea foam green, meaning the mermaid was on top of him. He pushed with all his might and the mermaid rolled off of him, landing unhappily in the sand. Now that he could see the mermaid better…
“Oh my god, you’re a merman.” The merman nodded with a look like he should have known. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were girl this whole time.”
The merman shrugged. Why was that his problem? Besides, it wasn’t uncommon for that to happen.
Oscar looked down the body of the young merman. He looked about Oscar’s age with his turquoise and sea foam green ombre hair falling to his hips, which was the reason Oscar thought he was a girl in the first place. His soft and lithe frame and features didn’t help. He also had glistening scales that covered his hands and forearms, trailing on his triceps. His tail was the most beautiful think Oscar had ever seen though, a gorgeous mix of blue and greens, all laid out in perfect ombre pearlescent colors. Even the fan of his tail was glistening and ethereal… and bleeding.
“Oh crap, your tail is bleeding!” Oscar said, scrambling to the end of the tail.
The merman propped himself up on his elbows as Oscar tried to figure out how to grab his tail. He finally just grabbed the fan and pulled it to him, inspecting the bleeding. There looked to be a large hook right where the last joint of his tail would flick the fin and allow him to swim gracefully.
“Have you tried to pull it out?”
The merman made a face at him.
“I know that seems like a stupid question but I just wanted to know. Does it hurt too bad?” The merman nodded as Oscar inspected it a little more. “I may have to get some tools from my dad. He said that sometimes you have to cut the hook off of a hook so that you can pull it through or all you’re going to do is tear the flesh. I don’t want to hurt you anymore than you already are… Hmm… Do you feel safe out here?” The merman shook his head. “Okay, okay, I get it…”
The merman waved to get his attention and Oscar realized that he hadn’t spoken a single word since they met.
“You can’t understand me right?” The merman nodded. “Why aren’t you talking? Can you not speak English?”
The merman shook his head and then touched his throat. He tried to make a sound but it just came out as an ‘eh’ sound. Oscar nodded.
“You can’t talk…” The merman shook his head. “Were you born that way or did something happen to make you that way?” The merman held up two fingers. “You got that way? What happened?”
The merman looked around, trying to figure out how to explain everything. Oscar went back toward his face and pointed to the sand.
“You may have to draw it.”
The merman nodded and turned over. He drew four merfolk and the last one he pointed to himself. Oscar understood the pictograph: it was him and his family. The merman then balled up his fist and smashed one of them, then he drew a crude looking shark and made arrows pointing at the other two, X-ing them out. Oscar understood.
“You lost all your family… You must have seen it happen, huh?” The merman nodded. “I know how that feels. I mean, I didn’t have something crush my dad and then a fish eat my mom and sibling, but I know what it’s like to lose a parent. My mom died last year. She was supposed to come with us on this trip but she just… couldn’t make it.”
The merman made a trilling noise, touching Oscar’s arm. Oscar smiled and looked at him.
“She’d have loved to know that you exist. If she were here, she’d have picked you up and taken you to the beach house to fix your wound and fed you fish every hour.” The merman seemed to like that idea and let out a loud pitched squeak, his multi-pointed ears flaring out a little. Oscar laughed. “Yeah, you’d have liked her… Well… I don’t know what to do. I can’t get that hook out of you without a tool but you can’t just stay out here on the beach… Would you be willing to wait until tomorrow for me to get the hook out of your tail? I promise I will.”
The merman moved his mouth a little but nodded in agreement. Oscar held up his hand and curled his pinky.
“I pinky swear that I’ll come back to you.”
The merman didn’t really get what was going on but if humans made contracts this way, who was he to say anything. He also curled his scaled and very pointy pinky around Oscar’s and Oscar tightened his, shaking their hands.
“Awesome! Here, let me get you back in the water, okay?”
The merman nodded as Oscar tried to figure out a way to get him into the water.
“Can I just roll you?”
The merman shrugged and nodded, laying down on the ground.
Oscar began to roll him, grunting from the underlying weight of his tail.
“You are ten times heavier than I thought!” he yelled, pushing the merman to the ocean. “By the way, do you have a name?”
He stopped long enough for the merman to try and respond. The merman pointed at Oscar and then his mouth and shook his head. He let out a squeak and Oscar nodded, thinking he understood.
“I can’t say it in dolphin squeak because I’m human?” The merman nodded. “Well then, can I just give you a name? How about Mer, for merman?”
The merman gave him a displeased look. Oscar also made a face.
“Well, you don’t look like a Henry or Bob. I think it suits you… Mer…”
Mer just sighed, knowing he was stuck with the stupid name. He just let this human roll him back into the ocean and swam out a little ways, stopping at a huge boulder that was in the ocean.
“Let’s meet here at this boulder, okay? I’ll be back tomorrow!”
Mer nodded as Oscar ran off. He didn’t know why he trusted this human, but he felt a connection to him more than he had with anyone else of his species.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwPI1B8gVA
