This is dedicated to all those wonderful, horrible people who draw Merman Slaine. I'm not naming names, but you know who you are. This is all their fault.
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They keep calling him a pet. He doesn't know what that means, but he knows he doesn't like it.
They keep him in a see through thing of water, that they call a tank. It is too small, there is hardly enough water for him, and it gets murky within a few days. If he was fully grown, it wouldn't hold him, but he is not, so it does. There is also no salt in the water. It made him sick at first, but he's gotten used to it. He still hates it though.
He hisses and snarls at any of them that get to close, because he doesn't want them to reach into his small bit of stale water again. The last time, they grabbed him and pulled him out as he hissed and screeched at them, and tried to bite. They shoved something in his mouth so that he couldn't snap at them. As he thrashed his tail and tried to get them to let him go, they grabbed his flailing hands, and slowly ripped out his claws one by one. Then, once they were done they dropped him back into his small bit of water, and took the thing out of his mouth.
He should have bit them then. He had the perfect opportunity as they took out the thing in his mouth, but he was too busy looking at his hands in horror and whimpering. His fingers were just stubby, useless things now, no good for tearing or ripping, and they'd hurt like nothing he'd ever felt. He'd been shocked then, astounded and frightened at such cruelty. Now, he looks at his hands sometimes, and wonders if he's ever going to be able to hunt again. He wasn't good at it before, but he was getting better. He had been learning. Now, it probably doesn't matter. Humans never return what they take. He's afraid that his teeth will be next, so he hides in the farthest corner of the tank they've put him in. It isn't really hiding, because they can see him from everywhere, but it's as close as he can get.
The humans scare him, he has no idea why his father thought they were so interesting. They're cruel. No normal predator would play so much with their food. Killer whales will play with their food for a while, but when they get tired, they eat it. He doesn't know if the humans are going to eat him, but it has been at least ten nights, and they have not. Some of the humans like to scare him, and torment him for fun. They bang on the glass so hard that it makes the whole thing rattle, and when he flops away from them in fright -because swimming in such a small space is very hard- they chase him around the tank, because there's no where for him to hide from them. He tries to scare them back, hissing and snarling at them, but they just laugh at him. He's still small, he isn't scary yet. He did manage to scare one, once, but he found that was a bad idea. The one he scared kicked the tank so hard, that it tipped over. What precious little water he had, had started to pour out, and he wailed and screeched in distress. He thinks it made the human feel better to see him so upset, so the human eventually stopped, and righted the tank, but it had frightened him. He doesn't try to scare the humans anymore. The only time he snarls at them, is when they get to close, which is all the time. They are never far enough away, but if they aren't too close, he stays as quiet as he can. Sometimes, if he's quiet, they won't look at him, or make their ugly faces at him.
He has decided that humans are evil things. He'd never thought of anything as evil before, but is sure that humans are evil. Even predators have to eat, they kill for good reasons. Humans don't seem to need to kill, they just do what they want. He has no idea if they want something from him, or if they are just being mean because they can. They're unnatural, evil, and cruel.
He is convinced of that one simple fact, until he meets the girl. The girl is small, smaller than him, and she is beautiful. It is a strange thing to see such a beautiful human, because humans are not beautiful things. She is still beautiful.
They give him to her. He is her pet, he hears them say that. He hates humans, and he hates the word pet, but he has a hard time hating the girl. Her eyes sparkle, and she smiles, and she is beautiful. He almost hopes that she is nice, unlike the other humans, but he is then reminded that she is human. All humans are evil. When she presses her hands to the glass, and peers in at him he retreats to the other side of the tank.
Her voice is high, like that of a bird, as she looks at him, and asks questions. Humans make a lot of noise, he can only pick out some words that they repeat a lot: like pet, and like tank. For creatures that are so mean and violent, they make a lot of noise with one another.
At the end of their noise making, he and the tank are moved. He hates when the tank is moved, it reminds him of when he lost all that water, of drying up, of falling. He curls up, and hides his head in his tail fin, waiting till they are done moving him. It takes a long time, but when they finally put him down, he slowly looks up.
The first thing he notices, is the sky. The beautiful blue sky stretches above him. The large human caves get in the way, but he can see the sky, and that is more than he ever thought he'd see again. When the humans move him around a lot, they usually cover the tank with something, so that no light gets in. It's frightening, to be in a place so dark. It reminds him of when he ventured to deep, where no light reaches. He hadn't seen the sky since they dragged him out of the ocean.
For a long time, he just stays like that, curled in on himself, and looking up at the sky. He's still anxious, he still gnaws on his fingers nervously, but the sky is there, looking down on him, and he's looking up at it, and it is better.
Later, when the sky is changing colors, the girl returns, and she is not alone. He had been so absorbed with looking at the sky, that he hadn't looked at anything else. He is frightened again the minute he hears the sound of human feet. He scurries to the far end of the tank. It isn't very effective, but it's all that he can do, as his heart starts to race.
The girl smiles at him, but there are two big men next to her, and even if the girl isn't frightening, they are. She makes noises at him, noises he doesn't understand, as he stares at her with worry and suspicion on his face. She then motions to the two big men. They move towards him, and he pushes himself as far away from them he can. It doesn't matter, they're going to do what they want. Their long arms are going to reach in for him, no matter what he wants, but he can't help the impulse. He screeches at them, telling them to go away, but humans either don't understand him, or don't care.
Their hands don't reach into the tank, but they settle on it. It is with fear that he realizes they are going to turn the tank. They're going to spill his murky water. Then he really starts screeching at them. He's almost tempted to reach up and try and bite one of them, but fear roots him to the bottom of the tank, pressing down as tightly as he can. He is reminded that he doesn't have claws, as his useless stubby fingers paw helplessly at the sides of the tank.
In one great rush, his fears are confirmed, the tank tips, and then falls on its side. He has just enough time to be surprised, before he is suddenly emerged in water again. But this water is different. It still doesn't have salt, but it is big. It has rocks and plants at the bottom, and it is so much bigger than the small tank. Maybe most importantly, it doesn't have see through walls. It's made of stone, and normal things. Without a second thought, he swims around, overjoyed to be able to move like he's suppose to. He'd felt so wretched, so weak, and so ill in that small little tank, but he can feel those things slipping away from him as he is able to swim back and forth. The water isn't very big, but it's big enough. There are things to look at, and places to hid, and plants to play in.
He wants to sing with joy. He never thought he'd be in such a place again. He was sure that the humans were going to eat him, or just hurt him until he died. It isn't perfect, it isn't the ocean, but it will do.
He's swimming around in excitement, when he hears a human noise, and looks up. There is a strip of land, that goes over the water, and on the strip of land, is the girl. She is looking down on him, her eyes sparkling, a smile still on her face. He should hide. He should find the most secluded part of the pond, and hide there every time she or any human comes to this place. He's still afraid, afraid that they're going to take him away, that they're going to keep hurting him. But he thinks about how small she is, and how beautiful she is, and he slowly make his way to the surface.
He pops part of his head out of the water, so that only his eyes are looking up at her above the water. Her wide green eyes look down on him, and she starts to chatter away like a bird. Her voice is beautiful too, he decides. The girl stays there for a long time, dangling her feet over the side of the strip of land, throwing pebbles into the water to see them ripple, and chattering away with him. He can't understand her, but he realizes he wants to.
Late, when the stars are out, another human comes. This one brings fish with her, and dumps the fish into the pool. The fish aren't even dead yet, and he cannot control his excitement. He is happy to find that he can still hunt, even without his claws, but it takes a while. Some of the fish survive, and swim off, but he decides that it's okay. He needs to keep some of them around for tomorrow.
The girl enjoys watching him. He doesn't understand why, but she does. She coos and encourages him, and he is stuck wondering if she is actually human, or something else. Humans are cruel, and mean, and evil, but the girl is not. She is small, and sweet, and he likes her. It is a strange thing to realize, but he does. He likes her. She spends a lot of that evening sitting there chattering at him, and he finds that he doesn't mind. In fact, when she does get up and leave, he is sad to see her go. As she walks away, he pushes himself out of the water up to his chest, the farthest he's dared to go with her there. She turns one last time, and the smile on her face is brighter than before. Has he made her happy? He hopes so. She waves her tiny hand, and disappears back into the looming human place.
He is worried for her. He is worried that she will never come back out again.
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I apologize to those that are following my other work. This would not leave me alone. This is potentially, to be continued, but my primary focus will remain on My Soul To Take. Honestly, I couldn't talk myself out of at least giving this a try.