p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fe832c1a4052b24a8f568a6ebba9ef6a"Jake had always been a dreamer. Where his fascination with the ocean came from, no one knew. He was a boy with the taste for adventure. He supposed that perhaps it was the fact that most of the ocean was unexplored that peaked his interest./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2f1ce0824610fd5a0f58d027a96b92b4"The last thing he had ever expected was to be sitting in the back of his company's rescue truck with a merman. Wait, did I just word it like it was em style="box-sizing: border-box;"his /emcompany? My bad, I meant the company that Jakeem style="box-sizing: border-box;"worked for/em. No, Jake was just twenty years old. He was in the middle of his summer break from college, working for a marine center as he worked to become a marine biologist./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a3c0a73ec37369044c61976576003580"The merman seemed to by eyeing him shyly, and flinched whenever anyone else got close to him. However, the merman seemed to be perfectly comfortable near Jake. After a while, the medics in the truck just had Jake next to the merman as they worked to get the ropes off of his tail. He seemed to remain more stable as he did so./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f0a4a94d339071e9ac6e0c56ff4b9aa9"The merman appeared to be in such bad condition, it was a wonder he survived. He knew there had been a big storm the other night- strong enough to knock out all the power and keep him awake at night with claps of thunder and strikes of lightning. He supposed that perhaps that was what happened to the merman. With all the blood he had seen on the sand, as well as how much he was bleeding now in the truck, it was a wonder how the merman was still conscious. However, he was still very pale and sickly looking./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="249d0b9d10877d8e0a6823bc1d982595"They soon all got to the marine biology center, which also doubled as an aquarium. The merman was rushed into a medical room, but Jake wasn't allowed back there. He hadn't worked there long enough to have clearance, nor could he serve as any help. The Brit worked there to help take care of the creatures in the exhibits, not to actually medically help them. Jake sighed, grabbing his cleaning supplies to start work for the day./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9f7951d0147eda7fc839a9172cc27fcd"But still, even as he started cleaning fingerprints off the glass of tanks, he couldn't help but wonder if the merman would be okay. He could still remember the fear fresh in his eyes. The pain./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="58d941a94bd6ff75c12035c3bd1ed57c"No, he mustn't think of the merman. He didn't even know his name. Why was he so concerned. I mean yes, it was a merman, but it felt like maybe that wasn't the reason he was worried./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9f5a95c2407e08c5eec4d743d33fcd49"And so the boy kept cleaning on, the thought of the strange, bronzy-orange merman in his mind the entire time./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2f1ce0824610fd5a0f58d027a96b92b4"The last thing he had ever expected was to be sitting in the back of his company's rescue truck with a merman. Wait, did I just word it like it was em style="box-sizing: border-box;"his /emcompany? My bad, I meant the company that Jakeem style="box-sizing: border-box;"worked for/em. No, Jake was just twenty years old. He was in the middle of his summer break from college, working for a marine center as he worked to become a marine biologist./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a3c0a73ec37369044c61976576003580"The merman seemed to by eyeing him shyly, and flinched whenever anyone else got close to him. However, the merman seemed to be perfectly comfortable near Jake. After a while, the medics in the truck just had Jake next to the merman as they worked to get the ropes off of his tail. He seemed to remain more stable as he did so./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f0a4a94d339071e9ac6e0c56ff4b9aa9"The merman appeared to be in such bad condition, it was a wonder he survived. He knew there had been a big storm the other night- strong enough to knock out all the power and keep him awake at night with claps of thunder and strikes of lightning. He supposed that perhaps that was what happened to the merman. With all the blood he had seen on the sand, as well as how much he was bleeding now in the truck, it was a wonder how the merman was still conscious. However, he was still very pale and sickly looking./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="249d0b9d10877d8e0a6823bc1d982595"They soon all got to the marine biology center, which also doubled as an aquarium. The merman was rushed into a medical room, but Jake wasn't allowed back there. He hadn't worked there long enough to have clearance, nor could he serve as any help. The Brit worked there to help take care of the creatures in the exhibits, not to actually medically help them. Jake sighed, grabbing his cleaning supplies to start work for the day./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9f7951d0147eda7fc839a9172cc27fcd"But still, even as he started cleaning fingerprints off the glass of tanks, he couldn't help but wonder if the merman would be okay. He could still remember the fear fresh in his eyes. The pain./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="58d941a94bd6ff75c12035c3bd1ed57c"No, he mustn't think of the merman. He didn't even know his name. Why was he so concerned. I mean yes, it was a merman, but it felt like maybe that wasn't the reason he was worried./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9f5a95c2407e08c5eec4d743d33fcd49"And so the boy kept cleaning on, the thought of the strange, bronzy-orange merman in his mind the entire time./p
