He had a fancy house. Sure, the memories in it were not great, but he could lie down and stuff his face in there without an issue. Despite that, he could not call it home. That label was reserved for another place. It was not too far away, maybe twenty minutes on feet, but time did not matter. His friends often spent time there with him, amazed at his skills. He did not like to brag, but realistically, he was the best in town. It was not surprising, considering how much time he spent there. His parents got to the point where they gave up asking where he went whenever he got home because the answer was always monotonous. He had quite the reputation for it too. Perhaps the bleached hair gave it away… But he let them run their mouths.
He loved dipping his toes in the luminous water. The way it ran down his skin was refreshing. As he delved further, his mind became as clear as the ocean. Sinking his hands deep, he sliced through oncoming waves. A stream of ardour glimmered in his eyes at the sight of a fine swell. Set on his target, he popped up, balancing his structure and slackening his arms in the air. Beads of salt water pelted on his growing cheeks. He chuckled, soaring across the curl with bright eyes. In those very moments, he felt alive. Nothing could compare to it. They called him a natural, for he never faced problems with the sport.
That was until one fateful afternoon. Maybe it was a rough day — a mixture of teach and parent lectures, but his brain felt cloudy and the only answer was the beach. As he approached the shore, the only sounds in his ears were the rough crashing of waves. Thick borders of foam outlined the sea. Clouds besieged the sky in dark armies. The strong yanks swirling the current should have been a distinct signal to turn around, but his judgement was foggy and all he could think about was a release. Soon after plunging in the chilliness and struggling against the tide, he became overwhelmed by a giant wave, probably about seven metres high. Without giving him a chance to calculate the situation, it smashed atop him.
Water plundered his nostrils, tossing him around like a rag doll. He was at war with the current, clearly on the losing end. It vigorously threw his limbs around, thrashing his head around, pulling his lips open and gushing into his lungs. Tight chested, he could only evaluate his choices. Life was not all that great anyway. Perhaps it was for the best. At least he went out in a fashionable sense. A pathetic huff bubbled from his mouth before he went limp.
Warmth buzzed on his skin. Wasn't he dead? It seemed like he was a goner. Air briskly exchanged between his lips. He thickly inhaled, halting at the block of something lodged in his throat. Heaving his stomach, he coughed out, the walls of his throat stinging as warm fluids expelled. It took a couple efforts to finally get it out of his system. Twitching his eyes open, he familiarized himself with his surroundings. Moist sand, shattering waves — he was still at the beach. Scanning along the coast, his eyes grew wide at the sight to his right.
It was a girl, but not just any girl. Her hair drizzled down her back, and draped over her, um, chest lumps. It covered any… intimate areas… but he still made note to avoid it. However, that was not the worst of it. Legs were nowhere to be found, and in its place was a tail. A fish tail. He blinked. From the waist down, she was a marine animal. Carefully finding his voice, he murmured, "Is this… real life?"
"Mhmm…"
He jerked. A string of pain travelled down his chest, causing him to pant out. This had to be a joke. He must have banged his head against a rock while he went under; it made sense for his pounding temples. "Huh… Are you— am I seeing things?"
She tilted head slightly, squinting her dark blue eyes. "Um… Yeah? Did you think you were blind?"
It became significantly harder to draw breath through his lips. This whole situation was not helping the throb in his brain. She seemed so realistic, but his mind was definitely playing tricks. For something like this to happen… Ugh, it was impossible. Everyone knew these creatures were nothing but myths. All they were good for was folk stories and movies to entertain children. But no matter how many times he tried to drill it in his head, he could not get over how real she looked. "No, uh. You're… not real, are you? You couldn't be a—"
"Mermaid." She interrupted, propping herself up on her shoulders as if she was relaxing beside him. Her hair matched the shade of her eyes, glistening in the sunlight. "That's what I am. Why do you ask?"
"What. This is… This is so fucked up." His jaw slumped open before he quickly shook his head. She was practically claiming his delusion. All logic had been thrown out of the equation. Still, be couldn't bring himself to believe that the sight before his eyes was real.
Her small hands reached to brush the side of her tail. It shimmered with hundreds of little hexagons. The scales were painted in various hues of cyan. "Why would it be?" She furrowed her eyebrows slightly.
"You don't exist! Mermaids don't exist!" he exclaimed, frustration sketched on his face. Maybe blurting it out would destroy the charade. It felt almost sickening to be able to imagine this. He could not deny that she was beautiful either, but would not let himself fall into a spiral of disappointment the moment he snapped out of it. Empty promises were always horrible.
Her eyes shifted down, spirit dwindled from his sudden outburst. She pursed her lips, and softly said, "That's kinda harsh… I am right in front of you."
He could not get a grasp on what was going on. Even if the answers were hanging right between his eyes, he could not raise his fingers. Something in the pit of his stomach held him back — probably his sanity, but the lines were so thin that he was millimetres away from snapping. "I must be dreaming. God damnit, somebody pinch me." It should not have surprised him as much as it did. He flung back at the pang of two damp fingers squeezing the skin of his cheek, staring at her with moon-sized eyes and a hanging jaw. "Holy shit. I wasn— never mind that, you're fucking real!"
"Yeah… Is it that hard to believe?" Wrinkles grouped between her brows as she retracted her arm.
"Are you serious? You have a fucking tail." Why was she looking at him as if he was the one with a severe problem? God, the world was working against him. Telling anyone about this encounter would lead him to a visit at the closest mental asylum. It would not be hard to accept his madness; after all, he did spend a mass of his time at the ocean.
She glanced at her lower body before returning to him, an impassive glint in her eyes. "Your point is?"
"Ugh!" He smacked his forehead. Nothing made sense. Maybe he would have been better off lost at sea. Speaking of which, since he was going crazy anyway, he figured the weird fish-girl would have something to do with his whereabouts. His dignity was practically clawing at his skin for falling into the abyss of illusion. Hand slightly covering his face, as if it would shield his pride, he grumbled, "Can you just tell me what happened?"
Sending him a peculiar look, she released a breath of air. Turmoil slowly crept away from her expression. She leaned back, scattering her mind in the clouds as she explained, "Well… I saw you floating around, and I couldn't just leave you there."
Anticipating an answer, he fixed his eyes on her as she relaxed. Judging from her movements and visage, she really did replicate a human being, save for the nudity and tail. He almost froze on the spot. It sounded like… No, he had to be hearing things. Yet curiosity had a hold on him. "Floating around…?"
Maintaining her gaze on the sky, she continued, "Mm… You looked a bit blue, aside from the water. Had to pull some of my tears out. Ugh, and I was saving them too…" Her jaw tightened, making her look genuinely upset.
"What…" Everything was confusing. He tried to piece things together but it would not add up. This was all the more reason to simply run away and forget an explanation, but… ah, who knows? Maybe the hysteria had already caught up with him. "You were crying?"
"No… Why would I?" She narrowed her eyes.
This chick was probably as mental as him. Throwing statements here and there to end up denying them. It made him wonder why he even bothered with women. Continuing from then on seemed absurd, but what did it matter? "What else would you mean by tears?"
She raised a brow. "Tears. You know, little sparkly drops that grant breath?" Exhaling, she turned away and muttered, "Humans are so helpless…"
Calculating anything seemed useless at this point, but so was he, and delusion was beginning to make sense. Mermaid terminology wasn't well known with him. Even regular terminology struggled to add up. However, if he looked at the big picture — well, more like squinted at it, he could pick out a context. "Does that mean… you saved my life?"
She consciously stroked her chin, focusing on the grains of sand at her elbows. "Is that what it's called? Oh, yeah, I suppose." Looking up, she threw a wacky grin at him.
"O…kay… Wow." His eyes were lost in the calm swells of the ocean. At this stage, accepting her supposed reality felt like the reasonable choice. "W-Well… Thanks, I guess…"
Gazing at him thoughtfully, she asked, "Hmm… Do you have a name?"
He flinched, but only the slightest bit. For a second, he mistook her for an actual girl. "… Yeah, uh, it's Yoshiki." Her eyes on him delivered an uneasy feeling to his stomach that he could not quite distinguish.
"Oh. That's nice."
"Er…" He scratched the back of his neck, pulling himself away from her capturing watch. It was… slightly uncomforting. She was really making him nuts. "What's yours?"
"Don't have one. Pretty useless in the Atlantic world." Air withdrew from her lips as she closed her eyes, almost looking sullen.
"Huh? Then what do you call each other?" It was funny that he felt himself believe the whole situation. Mermaids, Atlantic worlds — he was actually considering it. He couldn't deny it, because she was talking evidence. She was right there. Right in front of him.
"Nothing." She paused, seemingly rushing through thoughts. "We don't talk like humans do."
He furrowed his eyebrows. That was the roadblock in his epiphany. "The hell… But how can you speak to me?"
"I'm not telling you…" Her tongue poked out between her lips. A glow of amusement ran through her eyes before falling, leaving nothing but dullness. "Besides, I have to leave. Maybe we'll meet again someday…"
"Wait, what?" She was moving too fast for him to process. Was she just going to flash into his life to flash out? Could he tell whether this was a dream or not in the future? A mixture of emotions stirred in his mind; anger, confusion, and some he could not pick out.
"Goodbye, Yoshiki…" she murmured, leaning down with her soft navy eyes.
As she dipped in, he regretted it. Completely. There was not even a plausible reason for it. He just did. He regretted how he shut his eyes, letting her plant a moist kiss on his glowing cheek. He regretted how he relished it, shakily drawing out breaths, getting a kick out of her soft lips.
He regretted how he pathetically split his eyes open, expecting her to still be in front of him, only to be met with the hushed crashes of ocean waves.
