The Secret Lives of Fish – Ch. 3
The first, bright rays of sun woke Cody early and groggily. His night had been unrestful, cozy on the ocean floor in a rocky cave he had found. Unfortunately, the cave hadn't been very deep and fish had come in at all hours of the night to see what he was. He had quickly told them to leave, but more followed. He'd finally fallen into a deep sleep when the sun just started coming up. It made him ache for his cozy seaweed makeshift of a bed in the deep blue ocean where he belonged. And it made him only want to return to land more, missing his old human bed.
Once more his head broke through the surface, the cool morning air filling his damp lungs. It felt weird to breathe straight air. It was thick and made him light headed. Scanning the beach, he knew no one was there. If he was going to do this, he needed to go on shore now. He couldn't hesitate like he had the day before. If he waited much longer he risked people showing up. With a sigh into the seafoam he ducked back under the water and swam the rest of the distance to the shore. His silver and blue tail shone just below the gentle waves.
The rocks scraped his stomach first as he reached the shoreline. With his hands he pulled himself as fall forward as he could. Awkwardly he dug his tail into the rocky sand and wormed up farther. He was definitely bruised and scraped up as he finally felt himself completely on dry ground. The water was receding as the ocean went out with low tide. Five minutes – he would allow himself that long to catch his breath before he would try anything else.
He kept his stomach on the ground, his tail drying out behind him, and his face covered in his arms. The sun was so bright it made him drowsy. He couldn't fall asleep, but his eyes drooped. He'd barely slept during the night and the sand felt warm on his skin.
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He woke to the feeling of his skin burning. He winced and blinked over his right shoulder to stare at the sun, which was farther along across the sky. His tail felt heavy and when he blinked down he was shocked to see a tarp draped over it, hiding it from view. That was when he realized he wasn't alone. Whipping his head around he looked over his left shoulder, and smiled.
"Hey, Cody. Thought that was you I saw lying there."
Once more Cody opened his mouth to speak to Mr. Wheatly. Once more nothing came out. He opted again for his smile and nodded in the older man's direction.
Mr. Wheatly nodded back and rubbed his hands together. "It's been a while. Your mom called us up last night, saying you'd come back. Jess is completely excited. Nearly tripped over his contraption of a musical instrument three times." He gave a deep throated laugh. "Kid would have skipped school to see ya today if he hadn't had to go get you your homework."
School? Summer was over? All he could see from the cove was sand and rock. There was no way to tell what the weather was really like in his small ocean town. It didn't help that he had grown up on an island off the mainland. It had always been summer like there. Even in the winter time. Now he wished he could have seen fall leaves or winter snow, something to show him how long he had been gone. He would have asked Mr. Wheatly, but he knew that wasn't an option. Not at the moment at least.
Mr. Wheatly gave him an odd look as Cody still didn't respond.
"Well, I think we should get you to a better place. Somewhere more safe?"
That was probably best, now that Cody thought about it. As it was he was too tired to be of much use to even himself. He needed to be awake and strong if he was going to try and get his legs back. So, he nodded and rolled himself onto his back. His tail flopped uselessly along with him.
Pulling an old, scratched up flip-phone out of his pocket Mr. Wheatly called Cody's parents down to the cove. They sat there in companionable silence as the waves soaked the tarp around Cody's tail. He was surprised that there was still no one else to show up at the cove. It wasn't normal. Unless… it was winter? Could he really have been gone that long? He had left in late April. If it was winter, then he must have been gone… he did the mental math in his head. Eight months? Nine? The thought staggered him and he had to grip his webbed hands into the sand for support.
His parents showed up quicker than he would have thought they could have. They must have been home, waiting for him to come to them. His mom had expected him to have legs by now. He wondered what their reaction was going to be when they saw that he was still very much so a merman.
His Dad knelt down next to him and wrapped him in an embracing hug. "Cody, son."
Those simple words grounded Cody and brought him back home. His mom wrapped her arms around the both of them and Cody felt her sob again. He had his parents, and his best friend was excited to see him. Now he just had to figure out how to become human.
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They decided the best place to hide a merman was in the boat yard. To get Cody back to his house would mean touting him through a suburb street and then trying to get him up a couple flight of stairs. People would wonder as to the strange, tarp wrapped and wet humanoid shape that they carried. If they tried to take him back home, they risked exposing him to the world. So, instead the boat yard became the best option. The three adults chipped in to lift Cody's heavy form into John Wheatly's waiting boat. Once at the dock they covered him in tarp and net, making it look like a simple haul, and then took him inside.
The Wheatly residence was a modest one. Only one story and only three rooms. For many years it had only been John and his son Jess. Miss Wheatly, who had been the love of John's life, had died when Jess was only five. The boy had always been small and frail, but John raised him with love. He didn't exactly understand how to deal with the bookish and eccentric child, but he tried to raise him to be kind and to believe in the possibilities around him. When John had seen a mermaid, it had only served to make the small family even more strange.
The bathroom in their quaint home was small but clean. The tub was the old fashioned kind with scrolled feet and a deep belly. Both men of the household preferred to use the smaller shower in John's bedroom, so it lay unused. At least, until today.
Cody squirmed in his wrappings and itched against the rough materials. He was drying out and starting to feel sick. He was a creature of the sea, a being who needed water to live. Being this far inland and out of the water for so long was not good for him at all. It made him feel vulnerable and exposed to a world that shouldn't know that he existed. It took nearly an hour to get him discretely into the house and in the tub. The self-consciousness he felt, as the water began to fill up around him, settled deep in his gut. His scales smoothed themselves out as the water healed his itchy and dry skin. Even though he was cramped, he knew he was in his element, even if it was smaller than a puddle.
"Can we get you anything?" His mom held his scaled hand.
The young merman shook his head.
"If you need us, son, we'll be just outside in the living room." His dad gripped his shoulder, still waiting for a verbal response.
Giving his customary nod and smile, Cody watched his parents and Mr. Wheatly walk out of the bathroom and shut the door behind them.
Once alone he felt himself finally relax and he sunk down into the tub, letting his head sink below the water. He could have done with a little salt, but it was better than being wrapped in scratchy cloth. He wanted to sleep and pretend he was back with his mom. Maybe the idea of coming back had been a bad one. He'd been so sure of it just the day before, but now he felt out of place. He wasn't a human. And with the way things were going he was unsure if he'd be able to become one again.
He did need to figure it out. His mom had shown him how and he couldn't spend forever in a bathtub. He squirmed around in the tub until he could reach the plug. With a quick tug he pulled it out and listened to the sound of water draining. Cody wondered if the adults in the other room could hear it too.
The water drained slowly and then he had to wait for it dry up. That would take the longest. And it did. He kept expecting someone to walk in and check in on him, but they didn't. He guessed they didn't know what to do with him. They didn't know him as the merman he had become. All they knew was that he looked strange and couldn't talk to them. He could tell his parents still loved him, but he was now awkwardly otherworldly. He really couldn't blame them for how standoff they were being with him.
Finally, he felt dry enough to try to change to human. With a slight struggle he pushed himself to sit up as straight as he could. Looking to the door he strained to hear any noise from the other side. Nothing came. Nervous, he lifted his webbed arms and held his hands only an inch a part. Sparks flashed on his fingers and he gulped. He could feel the tingle in his scales and knew this was going to hurt.
Three, two, one, he activated his electric charge and threw it from one hand to the next. His own charge flew through him and he winced. The shock surged down his fingers, to his shoulders and then hit him square in the gut. When it passed into his tail he bit his lip to keep from screaming. His hands shook as he watched changes start to happen. The scales on his hands slipped off onto the porcelain around him. His arm fins lit up like fire and he wanted to scratch them off. He held his hands steady despite the urges and itchiness. Then his tail started feeling like it was being stabbed with a knife and cut straight down the middle.
He did scream then, the sound slipping through his teeth as he bit hard enough on his lip to draw blood. Unable to help it then his hands fell apart as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. It was nothing similar to the pain he'd felt when he'd become a merman; a hundred times more intense and uncontained to a single moment. The bathroom door flew open just as he collapsed down into the tub, passing out from the pain.
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Another short chapter, but things are moving forward. See ya on the flip side!
