Cleo sighs as she stares out towards the ocean from on top of the rocks at Lewis' secret fishing spot. Her wavy brown hair is flying all around her and even landing in her mouth sometimes, but she doesn't care. Cleo is too wrapped up in her internal whirlwind of worrying thoughts to even notice what her hair is doing.
Currently, the mermaid is sitting cross-legged on top of the rock, with her legs shaking up and down due to the growing anxiety that has formed a permanent place in her stomach. It has been four days since she was supposed to have that Mako Island date with Lewis, but he still hasn't shown up. The police have been searching Mako Island almost non-stop and Detective Jenkins even called Cleo back in for questioning again yesterday, making it all the more real to her that Lewis has in fact vanished from the Gold Coast. The mermaid is vaguely aware that she should be worried about Jenkins having asked to interview her again, possibly thinking that she is the reason behind Lewis' disappearance. However, the brunette cannot find it within herself to be upset about that possibility right now. Whatever Lewis is enduring, Cleo is almost certain that it is worse than what she is going through. Cleo is beyond terrified for her boyfriend and hates that her initial gut instinct about Lewis being in danger is turning out to be correct.
"Where are you, Lewis?" Cleo asks sadly while continuing to stare out at the ocean where the sun has already started to sink below the horizon; a small part of her hoping that Lewis' head will pop up above the swelling waves any second and start swimming over to her with an apologetic, but goofy grin on his face. The more logical side of Cleo knows that will never happen. The mermaid feels her eyes start to sting, her vision blurring slightly for a second, but she tries to fight the feeling back, refusing to let herself cry right now. She has certainly done her fair share of crying within the past few days. Plus, the teen knows that if she starts crying, she won't be able to stop.
Cleo closes her eyes and focuses on taking deep breaths, listening to the sounds of the waves rolling into the shore and pushing all other thoughts out of her mind in an attempt to calm herself down. Within moments, the breathing technique starts to work, but there still feels like there is a knife stabbing into the mermaid's heart. Unfortunately, Cleo doubts there will be any way to fix the aching feeling in her heart.
"Cleo!" Emma's voice rings out from somewhere behind the brunette, causing her to open her eyes and turn around in surprise. Cleo glances around quickly and spots Emma and Ash walking towards her.
"Oh… hi guys." Cleo greets her friends as they get closer, noticing that they both have worried frowns on their faces.
"We figured that we'd find you here…" Emma says, giving Cleo a soft smile as she climbs up onto the rock and sits next to her disheartened friend. Ash scrambles up onto the rocks and sits down on Cleo's other side only seconds later.
"It's calming out here. It helps me think," Cleo explains, turning to look back out towards the ocean again.
"It's a good spot," Ash agrees with a nod.
"Where are Rikki and Zane?" Cleo asks bitterly, still annoyed with the fiery blonde mermaid's comments and apparent lack of care towards Lewis the other day.
"I think they're going to the movies together tonight," Ash replies, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Of course they're acting like nothing is happening," Cleo scoffs, shaking her head in disappointment, but she can't say that she's too surprised by this news.
"Well, everyone has different ways of coping, Cleo. You gotta remember that. Plus, I think we all have to find a way to keep moving forwards somehow. We can't just put our lives on hold forever," Emma attempts to reason with her friend. Noticing Cleo's harsh glare, Emma continues explaining, "I'm not saying that we can pretend everything is okay because it's not. But Lewis wouldn't want you to be moping around constantly, now would he?"
"I guess not…" Cleo sighs, knowing that deep down that Emma is right. However, it doesn't make any of this easier; it's not like Lewis is just going to magically reappear when Cleo starts trying to participate in life as normal once again.
"Rikki does really care about finding Lewis, you know. And I think Zane does as well." Emma says as she wraps an arm around her friend and pulls her into a side hug, which Cleo gratefully accepts and leans her head against Emma's shoulder.
"Well, you could have fooled me otherwise," Cleo sighs while rolling her eyes.
"She does have a point, though. We can't let the police find out about us. That isn't going to help anyone." Emma says a little hesitantly, unsure of how Cleo will react.
"Oh, come on, Em! Not you, too! Of course I'm not going to tell the police the truth about Mako Island! Have a little bit of faith in me!" Cleo exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air exasperatedly.
"I do have faith in you! It was just… a reminder, I guess. Lewis wouldn't want you to end up as a science experiment in your efforts to try and find him." Emma tries again to reason with Cleo, and this time it seems to work better. Cleo's shoulders slump forwards as she sighs and looks out towards the sun sinking below the horizon.
"See, that's the thing I'm worried about… I'm starting to believe that Doctor Denman has Lewis…" Cleo admits quietly, her voice slowly trailing off as she tries to push the images of Denman somehow having captured Lewis out of her mind.
"Why? Didn't Denman leave the Gold Coast about two weeks ago?" Ash frowns.
"I mean, yeah, she did, but… why? She was still trying to figure out how we became mermaids and what Mako Island had to do with it. That woman has always been stupidly stubborn. She wouldn't have given up that easily. What if she somehow found out about Lewis being a merman?" Cleo explains her worries and fears that have been eating away at her for the last couple of days to the two of her closest friends, pulling up her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs to keep them from moving about.
"I guess that's possible…" Emma says, biting her lip anxiously.
"How could this marine biologist have found out about Lewis though? It's not like he would have just gone up and told her, right?" Ash points out, the cogs in his mind working overtime to try and figure out the answers to this mystery.
"Maybe he didn't have to tell her… Maybe Lewis wasn't even aware that Denman knew! What if Lewis got splashed and had to dive into the water, and Denman noticed?" Cleo gasps while horror and dread start forming in her stomach at the sudden realisation.
"Would there be any way to find where this Linda woman has gone?" Ask enquires hopefully, starting to feel that they may finally be starting to get a lead on what happened to their friend.
"I tried last week when she had supposedly left the Gold Coast. I couldn't find anything online," Emma answers with a sad shrug.
"I also tried to do some digging a few days ago. I thought someone at the marine park might have known where Denman was heading, but apparently not…" Cleo adds with a disappointed sigh. The trio continues sitting on the rocks for several more minutes in silence, listening to the crashing sounds of the ocean and watch as the very last rays of daylight slip away, stars beginning to appear up in the darkening sky.
"Well... we still don't really know for sure whether or not Denman has Lewis," Ash finally speaks up, trying to keep the group remaining positive.
"We are no closer to finding him, though… and if Denman really does have Lewis and knows that he's a merman, then the police definitely can't get too involved in all of this. That would create more enemies for us." Emma continues solemnly. Suddenly, Emma begins to feel Cleo's body starting to tremble and her breathing coming out shaky, as if she's holding back sobs.
"Cleo?" Emma asks tentatively, pulling her friend into a tighter hug while Ash places a hand on Cleo's shoulder comfortingly.
"I-I just… I wish that I could have some sort of sign that would let me know that wherever Lewis is right now, that he's okay," Cleo admits, her voice breaking a few times as she tries to speak. Cleo shuts her eyes tightly as more tears begin to fill up in her eyes, and she buries her face into her knees, barely choking back the sobs building up in her chest. How has her world started crashing down around her so fast? She had just started to think things were getting better again! Why was life so unfair?
"It's going to be okay, Cleo. I'm sure that Lewis will be fine. He's smart and will be able to look after himself." Ash says in an attempt to help the brunette feel better.
"And, if Doctor Denman does have him, Lewis will probably find a way to escape. In the entire time that I have known him, Lewis has never backed down from a challenge. Even if Lewis can't find a way to escape, we will find him, even though we don't know where to start looking yet. We will find something," Emma adds confidently.
"God, I hope so…" Cleo mumbles under her breath, relaxing further into her friends' arms more, trying to stop worrying about Lewis at least for a short while.
Lewis feels like he has only just closed his eyes when he hears a loud knock on the door, jolting him awake. The merman hurriedly sits up and looks around the dark room in confusion while trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. In the next moment, the cell door opens, letting bright artificial light flood into the room, immediately causing the teen to squint to try and prevent the jarring pain that he experienced from last time. Once his eyes have taken a couple of moments to adjust, Lewis opens his eyes again and sees Adrian Mitchell standing in the doorway.
"Come on. We need to get going. Linda, Troy and Frank are already down in the examination room." Adrian says, stepping to the side and gestures towards the hallway.
"Guess I don't have a choice," Lewis grumbles in annoyance as he pulls himself off the mattress and stumbles towards the door like a zombie, still feeling exhausted and swears that he is still half asleep. Once Lewis makes his way out of his prison cell, Adrian quickly closes the door behind them both, grabbing Lewis by the arm and pulls the teenager down the hallway in silence. The pair make their way through the corridors, making their way closer to the medical examination room, the sounds of their footsteps echoing off the walls.
The merman keeps his eyes trained on the floor as he walks and counts the cracks that he can see in the concrete; the ground looks just as tired as Lewis feels. He is dreading the fact that these constant experiments are going to be his entire life at least a few months. Once Linda has gotten all the answers that she needs from him, Lewis honestly has no idea what is going to happen to him. She did mention something about a man named Robert Wilson funding her research, so Lewis has to assume that he will meet the guy behind all of this at some point. Not that the merman would want to even be in the same room as the guy that's responsible for his kidnapping, never mind having a conversation with him. Lewis really doesn't want to end up as some rich guy's pet; he would rather die.
Eventually, the duo arrives at the medical exam room, forcing Lewis to focus on something other than his self-pitying thoughts. Adrian guides him into the room where it looks like Linda, Frank and Troy have their backs towards the new arrivals and are talking quietly to each other as they continue setting up rows of syringes and needles on a trolley in preparation for at least a dozen different blood tests, not giving Lewis a good feeling about how the rest of the day — or night? Lewis honestly has no idea anymore — is going to go. As Lewis and Adrian walk further into the room, the three people standing by the trolley of medical instruments quickly notice the presence of Lewis and his guard. Linda is the first to turn around and greets Lewis and Adrian with an eager, friendly smile.
"Ah, it's good to see that you could make it!" Linda says as she begins walking over towards the pair.
"Yeah, well, it's not like I have anywhere else to be," Lewis scoffs while rolling his eyes.
"Watch the attitude, kid." Frank calls out warningly, folding his arms across his chest, turning around to face the new arrivals also.
"Let's just get this over with. I would love to go back to sleep," Lewis sighs tiredly.
"Very well. Let's start with the MRI scans, shall we?" Linda says, gesturing over towards the room with the MRI machine inside. At the same time, Troy grabs something from a table behind him and walks a few meters towards Lewis before throwing the material in his hands towards the merman. Thankfully, Lewis manages to catch the material before it falls to the ground, but only barely. Upon closer examination, the teenager quickly recognises the blue material to be a cotton hospital gown.
Lewis glances around the group with a raised eyebrow, "I hope you're not expecting me to get changed in front of you guys?"
"We're not leaving you in here unsupervised," Troy answers firmly, narrowing his eyes at the boy.
"We will give you some privacy to get changed though," Adrian adds hurriedly.
"Subject A, I know this is a redundant question since we haven't allowed you to have metal in this facility this whole time anyway, but I have to ask: do you have any sort of metal on you at all? A watch or some keys perhaps? If so, please take them off now and leave them here before we go into the scan room." Linda asks, to which Lewis can only laugh dryly in response.
"Just let me get changed," Lewis says as his laughter dies down, not enjoying having his depressing situation being rubbed mockingly in his face, no matter whether it is intentional or not. The blond teenager begins to walk towards the farthest corner away from everyone else in the room. Thankfully, the scientists have the decency to turn around and give Lewis some sort of privacy as he strips out of his grey t-shirt and sweatpants that really should have been washed days ago, but alas, the teen does not have the luxury. Quickly tossing his clothes to the floor, Lewis hurriedly pulls on the light blue hospital gown. Once satisfied that the gown is on properly, the teenager makes his way back over to his captors and clears his throat to get their attention. The scientists all turn around towards Lewis in an instant.
"Okay. Are we ready to get started?" Linda asks eagerly.
"Sure," Lewis shrugs.
"Right this way, then." Frank says as he leads the way towards the MRI scan room. Linda, Adrian and Lewis all quickly follow suit. The merman looks around the room with curiosity. It's not huge; it has just enough to fit the MRI machine and space around the sides of the room for no more than five or six people to stand in. Lewis then takes a closer look at the MRI machine with interest, as he has never needed an MRI scan before but knows enough about them. The MRC machine consists of a table that slides into a large cylinder. Inside the cylinder is a magnet that, when operated, will create a powerful magnetic field to scan the soft tissues inside your body. From Lewis' prior research on the topic for a school project last year, soft tissue contains water molecules, and the magnetic field of the MRI machine will act upon the protons found in the water. Once magnetised, protons in the soft tissue send out an echo in response to the radio waves of the MRI scan. A computer then organises these echoes into images. The radiologist, or in this case, Doctor Denman and her team, can map cross-sectional images of the patient's body from almost any angle.
"Lie down on the table, please," Adrian instructs the merman, gesturing towards the machine, pulling Lewis out of his inner scientist's spiralling thoughts. Without saying a word, Lewis jumps up onto the table and lies down, folding his hands in front of him over his torso, knowing that this MRI process is going to take some time. The teenager glances to his right side as he watches Linda walk closer to the machine, looming right above Lewis.
"Now, I'm not sure if you've ever had an MRI before, but you must lie as still as possible because any movement will distort the pictures that we get from the machine. You will also hear a lot of noises once the machine starts, such as knocks, loud bangs or clicks. Unfortunately, we don't have any earplugs to block out the noise, but I'm sure you will be okay. The scan will take about an hour, approximately. Once this scan is completed, we will quickly move onto the next scan for your merman form. We have to wait outside this scanning room when the machine is turned on, but we can talk to you through the intercom in the MRI scanner. Do you have any questions about any of that?" Linda explains carefully.
"No, that pretty much covers all of it, I think," Lewis replies with a shrug. After Adrian adds a short and succinct explanation on what potential abnormalities they will be looking for in the scan, the four scientists exit the room and close the door behind them, leaving Lewis alone.
Only 30 seconds go by before the teenager hears a loud buzzing noise, which is quickly followed by the table that Lewis is lying on sliding into the cylinder machine. The buzzing stops once the table has finished moving while the merman gazes up at the top of the machine, trying to remain as still as possible. The silence in the room is overwhelming; Lewis feels like he is drowning in it. As the seconds continue to tick by, Lewis starts to wonder if he should call out to Linda and her team to ask what's the hold up. Before he gets the chance to even open his mouth, the machine seems to whir to life and the clanging that Linda was describing begins.
The first several minutes of the scan goes well without a hitch, with Lewis' mind occupied by the fascination of finally seeing an MRI in action. As the merman continues to lie there, listening to the knocks and bangs of the machine, he silently hopes that the group of scientists outside will let him see the results once the scan has finished. It's his body after all; he has a right to be able to see his own MRI scans. Well... he used to be able to be confident about that fact, anyway. Now though, Lewis isn't so sure that the scientific world will be super to acknowledge his rights or opinions about what is going to happen to him. Linda is certainly proving that she at least doesn't think that Lewis deserves the same amount of rights as humans, that's for sure.
Suddenly, the sound of the machine, which in the beginning was fascinating and almost comforting to Lewis, is now sounding like someone is banging a hammer against metal right next to the boy's ear, knocking a nail right into Lewis' skull and brain. This quickly leads to a throbbing headache beginning to form, making the teenager feel like that his head is about to explode. It doesn't help when his exhaustion from earlier kicks in and begins to hear some sort of hallucinated whispering amongst the bangs and clicks of the machine:
Clang. 'You're not human'. Bang. 'You're never leaving this place'. Knock. 'Your friends will be glad the liability is gone'. Twang. 'This is all your fault'.
Lewis closes his eyes tightly and tries to block out the awful sound of the machine's mixture of hammering and whispering, fighting back the pain they are causing him. Despite keeping his eyes closed, silent tears begin pouring down Lewis' face as the horrifying realisation of how hopeless his situation is starting to sink in. This is the rest of his life now; just continually having tests run on him and being treated as something less than human. Lewis can say goodbye to any sort of university dreams, becoming an actual legitimate scientist, or even just finishing up high school. He won't be there for any of his friends or brothers' weddings, along with any other big milestones in their lives. Any hope for a future with Cleo… gone.
'I just want all of this to be over…' Lewis thinks to himself in despair.