I honestly hate when someone writes a review saying they hate a story, don't sign in, and don't say why. Cuz then I have no way to contact them and ask so that I can improve on it later. It leaves me thinking for HOURS like, "Fuck. What did I do wrong that made them hate it so much?" And I sit and ponder all the spaces I thought weren't my best. For a very long time.
Two Legs, One Heart – Chapter Two
Jack didn't want to worry his mother, but here was no possible way he could have ended up home. Not only home, but safe, alive, and not-full of salt water. It didn't add up in his head. The ship had been past the reefs- it would have taken him past sunrise to swim back to shore. And besides that, he had been drowning! He had physically felt himself breathing in water. A horrid, dark feeling that told him in ways no words could that he was going to die. He could never have started swimming when he was drowning.
And what about what he had seen? He had been certain there was a man. But how could a man be swimming so far out in the ocean so late at night and not be drowning himself? It didn't make sense. He had felt something while he was drowning, but when he was on the shore… Maybe his mind had been playing tricks on him. There couldn't have been another man, the others had said he was he only one they found.
He was the only survivor of the wreck. Others went out and searched for them during the day, once he told everyone what happened, and came back with nothing. It had been more than a miracle that he survived. Considering the fact that his own father had died at sea and his body had never been found, Jack could understand why his mother was so overjoyed to believe in this miracle. Jack wouldn't make her worry over something that didn't happen.
Sitting with his younger sister Maria, Jack pushed his toes under the sand of the beach with a content sigh. He wouldn't tell her that he was secretly searching for a man with black hair.
Pitch had gone off on his own again. The rest of his pod didn't really mind, they were used to his need for alone time. He stalked a school of very confused sardines for a while, laughing at the way they tried to avoid him, bumped into each other, and swam into him afterwards. He ate a few of them, went and attacked a jellyfish field, laughing as they stung each other, and then swam off to find some more food.
"Pitch!" one of his pod mates called to him, swimming fast. Pitch turned and smiled at the deep blue-tailed male. This male was called Aster, simply because that was what his mother called him, it had no reason. If he were called by reason his name probably would have been Blue, with his blue-grey hair and tale.
Floating where he was, Pitch smiled warmly at him. "Aster," he greeted, swirling around him a little, "What is it?"
Aster grinned with his large, bucked teeth. "I've found the carcass of another two-leg from the move last night. Wanna join me in snacking on it?" Pitch grinned and that was all the answer he needed. They swam off excitedly.
Jack and Maria were skipping stones on the water outside their house. He smiled brightly at her when hers went farther than his.
She picked up a rock and then frowned at it. Dropping it, she made a face and growled, "Ew, it's all mushy!"
Lifting the rock she dropped, Jack smiled when he found that it had algae growing on it. He tossed it into the water. They continued for a little while before their mother called them to the house for supper.
Jack turned to go and stopped, looking at his feet. "Ick," he grumbled, "My fee are all seaweed-y." He told his mom he'd be there once he washed his feet. Once that was taken care of, he went in and sat at the table with his sister.
After they ate Maria began coloring on parchment in the sitting room. Jack was attempting to help his mother clean the plates from supper. In the middle of this task, there was a knock at the front door. His mother stopped, dried her hands, and went to answer.
Jack listened intently. It was the town lawyer. "I was taking some friends out for a boating trip. We'd all be very honored if you would join us." Jack rolled his eyes at his pathetic attempt at asking her on a date. His mother wasn't interested anyway. She was still getting over what happened to their father. (Having the constant reminder of the ocean in their backyard probably didn't help.)
"No thank you, John," she said gently, "You know I can't leave my kids home alone. Besides, I'm a widow now…" Jack nodded firmly. Damn right.
"Oh, but it'll just be a few hours. We really insist you come."
"No thank you," his mother replied sternly, "I will not leave my child who just nearly drowned last night home alone when he could suffer a dry-drowning seizure spell."
"You worry too much, Jill," he said, "Just come with us, take a load off, relax a while."
Finally Jack gave up with listening to this man badger his mother. He walked away from the dishes, out behind her, and said, "Mom, I can't get the stains off the knife…" Instant ticket to get mom to say she had to leave and make John listen.
When they returned to the washing, Jack muttered, "I hate how he calls you Jill- like he knows you."
"Jackson," his mother began in a warning tone.
"He should call you Jillian like every other stuck up lawyer in town does," Jack finished, hissing darkly. His mother frowned at him for that, but Jack pretended not to notice.
Pitch was wading behind rocks along the shoreline. Searching for his two-leg under the guise of searching for pearls. He didn't want his pod knowing that he was going against their nature by wanting to see a surviving two-leg.
He frowned by every shelter. None of them yielded the sight of his lovely Jack. Where was he? Did he even live here? Pitch could have brought him back to a pod of completely unrelated two-legs. He frowned at his own idiocy.
As he swam, one two-leg's pet four-legged canine began barking at him. He hissed at it and hurried away before the two-leg it belonged to came over.
Jack came back out and sat on the sandy beach with his mother and sister. They did this a lot. Most of the time they wondered what ever happened to their father. He had only gone on a trip for work reasons, and the ship never returned. They found out months later it had been sunk, but no survivors were found.
Jack was sure that was what his mother was doing. Right now, though, all he was doing was wondering about the mystery man again. There was no way he could have been real. Absolutely no way.
Pitch stopped dead when his eyes finally landed on a striking head of white hair. "There he is…" he whispered to himself, hiding behind a rock. He actually had found several pearls, and had them collected in a pouch around his waist. He made sure no to push into the rock and lose them.
And then… he waited. He stared and watched Jack sitting. He frowned unhappily at the fact that he was sitting with two females. If either one was his mate he'd eat them in an instant. Already possessive of his two-leg- probably not a good thing.
Jack was talking. "Mom," and then Pitch couldn't understand much of anything else he said. He spoke a few two-leg words, but Jack didn't say any of them. A word he knew was "Help", two-legs usually shouted that when they were being attacked or drowning. And another he knew was "Ocean". That was their word for his home.
Why couldn't Jack say things he understood? He tried picking out words. He called the other to-leg, the smaller female, Maria. Pitch wasn't sure what Maria meant… "Bug," he whispered, repeating the word Jack had just said, "Bug, bug, bug, bug…"
"What does "Bug" mean?" Pitch whispered, watching them again.
The smaller female got up at one point and ran to the water's edge, lifting a piece of an oyster shell. "Shiny" she said. Judging by the smile on Jack's face, as well as hers, this was a good word. Would they like pearls?
He waited until they went inside their shelter. (Pitch would memorize where it was and what it looked like.) After they were gone he swished up to the sand and tossed a few of his pearls out away from the tide. Then he backed off behind his hiding spot and waited again.
They came out later, but didn't notice them right away. Pitch didn't mind, he was happy watching Jack's face crinkle and move with every smile. He was so beautiful.
Suddenly Jack noticed a pearl. His face exploded into a smile and he quickly pointed it out to the smaller female. "Maria, look! A pearl!" Pitch would memorize that phrase- if only because of how incredible it sounded coming from Jack.
Purring softly, Pitch watched him scour the sand with his sister for more. They found the blue one he tossed up, the fleshy colored one, and the solid white one. There was still a pink one up there somewhere, but they could find it later if they needed. He just wanted to watch Jack.
How he managed to coordinate those long, gangly legs of his, Pitch didn't know. He wanted to touch them and see how long it would take before he had Jack on his back. His body itself was pretty thin, but those legs were like sticks.
If he were Pitch's kind he'd be dying of starvation at this point. Too thin. Obviously the two-legs didn't eat their own kind, but if they wanted to stay fatty and full they really should have considered it.
Jack ran one of his hands through his shimmering hair. Pitch wished he could do the same. Gosh, if the others knew he'd be deserted in a heartbeat. This was dangerous behavior. He knew from experience that he was asking to get caught. And getting caught meant exposing the others. Everyone remembered those stupid sirens who purposely let the two-legs see them. Now all the two-legs had stories about their kind and legends. Pitch didn't want to make those stories true.
But what he wouldn't give to just hold Jack against him again; maybe not drowning, but conscious and holding him back. He had his own body heat and it had been intoxicating for the duration he held him.
Maria continued searching the sand for more pearls. Jack watched with his mother, both of them smiling. She was determined to find all of them.
"Don't you think you would have found them already if there were more left?" his mother called to her, "It's getting dark, sweet-heart, we should be heading in."
Pouting unhappily, Maria followed her. Jack stood and watched the water for a moment before he would go as well. It still didn't add up. He shouldn't have survived. There was no possible way he could have… Did he have an angel watching over him? Was that who that man had been?
