It had always been like this for him, calm and quiet.

From what he remembered from long ago, no one had looked at him like that… ever. The strange girl that had approached his tank was different from the other humans who had captured him. It wasn't hard to notice… after all, she didn't apparently see him in the murky water.

It pulled his heart strings when his hand pressed against the glass and watched as she jumped back in terror. He had seen that look before…

When he was "born," it was a known fact to his kind that his mother, a beautiful lake siren, had accidently dropped his egg during the growing process. When he hatched, he was very different compared to his brothers and sisters. The first thing he heard was screams.

They were coming from all around him. His beautiful mother, who was part mer, had stared at him before closing her eyes, and turned away.

"You are no child of mine," she whispered, "you are a creature that will always looked upon as a monster."

She did, however, allow him to travel with her and his siblings, until he was five years old. It was then that she abandoned him, taking his siblings with her and leaving the underwater cave they had lived in for some time.

The first few days were frightening for him. He stayed in the cave and waited for their return, watching as schools of fish traveled by. But, as more and more time went on, he knew that he was left to fend for himself.

As he grew older, he learned what he could from others that lived nearby. With mostly bull sharks, crocs, and piranhas as his teachers and companions, the tricks of capturing prey seemed almost too easy. He often wondered how stupid some of these creatures could be.

It wasn't until his twentieth year that he had found something amazing.

Although he looked like a monster, in some of the other water creature's eyes, he was a guardian. There had been plenty of times when he worked with some of the smaller, friendlier creatures that lived on the bottom. Also, they seemed to be enchanted by his voice. When he spoke, they seemed to calm in the efforts to get away. It was then that he had learned what some would call kindness.

But, even the most calming of times have to come to an end.

It was on that faithful day, while doing his patrol over his section of the river, that he came across something foreign. It looked like a large box with bars on three sides and an opening. In the center of this object was what looked like a pile of raw meat. He cocked his head, trying to figure it out what the heck it was, when he heard something.

He looked up and saw the bottom of a large boat. He had seen many of them come through the area, but never approached them. What he knew of these "humans" was very little, only that they were dangerous and killed when they wanted to. They had often came on shores, collecting small rocks and shells, and some even ventured to his domain, gathering some of the underwater plants and larger rocks. Of course, he remained hidden, and watched.

The ones he had seen before seemed pretty harmless, but these ones might be the dangerous kind. If this was a trap, then these humans needed a scare.

He swam away, then stopped a good couple feet away, than swam with all his might, breaking through the cage. However, that seemed to alert the humans above. He dived to get away, when a roped fishing net scooped him up.

Using his clawed hand and sharp teeth, he tore at the net, unable to free himself.

The water disappeared from around him, and he heard gasps and turned slightly to see shocked faces similar to his own.

Then a voice rose from the crowd, "What the hell is that thing?"

That, was about two months ago, then he was brought here. They kept him in water similar to that of his home, but it wouldn't be the same.

There were no plants on the bottom of this cell, only a hard rocky floor, and no colored fish swimming freely. No cave, no friends, no nothing.

He yanked slightly on the collar that the humans had placed around his neck, but it would be of no use. His strength had left him after being probed with the electric poker so many times and being pulled from the water so he couldn't breathe. The scars from these humans had destroyed his scaled body, so much that the few scales that were left held no more shimmer from the light.

He traced one scar thoughtfully, then heard soft tapping sounds.

Lifting his head, he looked up to see a figure had approached his new water filled home. It looked like the human he had seen earlier, the one who had been tapping against his "carrier."

Slowly, he swam upward. His head poked up and watched with fascination as the girl smiled softly at him.

How could she not be afraid?

Chapter 3!

Feedback needed! What do you all think so far?