Aye! I am back. Dr. Markus Stonewater. Marine biologist apart of the Monterey Bay Marine Life Institute. Am I really a scientist? No. But I dream to be one when I'm older. I love to study fish and marine life. Like on my last adventure, I saved two jellyfish that got caught in an old fishing net. Was it hard? Of course! Did I get stung? Err... almost. But it was no match for a fifteen year old.
Today, I'm back out at sea with Uncle Jake and Aunt Candace. Both who are marine biologists. Did I mention that before? Or did I mention that Elliott's not with me? Well, now you know. But that's not all. I also brought one of my friends. Brian Summer. He and his family are visiting Cali all the way from Vermont.
Brian's a good guy. He's very smart, intelligent, calm, and patient. And kind hearted too. I know you wouldn't believe me if I said he's a deer. But he is. Well not really, more like a crossbreed. Kind of like Bambi sorta speak. Light brown fur, brown hair and eyes.
As I already mentioned, I am back out at sea with Uncle Jake and Aunt Candace. Back out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Me and Brian were leaning over the railing on the boat, staring into the horizon while talking. I mentioned different things and times where I encountered different sea creatures. And even the time where I encountered a mermaid that saved me from a shark attack.
Hearing this made Brian wild eyed for a second while panning back and fourth from the ocean and back to me. "What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Did-did-did-did you say a mermaid saved?" He stuttered. I looked at him as if he didn't believe me. "Yeah," I said. "She was very beautiful. She had long smooth brown hair, beautiful ocean blue eyes, and this cute smile. And a long, beautiful lime green tail." I still had the photographic memory of what she looked like. I could even draw her with perfect detail. It would be unimaginable.
But Brian continued to get shivers. I watched as his deer ears pointed down, sweat slowly running down like raindrops. Whoops! I forgot to mention. Brian doesn't really like mermaids, and only finds them to be "fantasy creatures for girls." And plus, his sister Lexi likes to read mermaid romance stories whenever she's in his room. Why? Who knows.
"Brian, yes, mermaids are fantasy creatures, but they're real!" I tried to explain to him. Brian turned his eyes to me and snickered. "I'll believe it, when I see it," he said, walking off. I watched him go downstairs to the cabins. Leaving me up on deck alone.
I knew what I had to do to prove that they existed. It was gonna be hard, but I had a feeling that it might just work. I walked down to the kitchen where Brian was eating some strawberries, while my aunt was doing a little bit of cleaning.
"Hey, Markus. Did you want a little snack?" She asked me. I shook my head. "Not right now. Do you know where my snorkeling gear is, I was gonna go undersea exploring."
My aunt nodded and said. "They're in my closet." I went to get them, and suited up. I walked back out to the kitchen and asked Brian if he wanted to come. He said sure, and walked to my room where his bag was. He grabbed everything and quickly suited up, then we both headed back on deck, where we found Uncle Jake.
He was walking around the boat checking things. Making sure nothing was wrong. Or if something needed to be fixed.
"Hey, Uncle Jake," I said. He looked up from his clipboard he was holding and smiled. "Hey, you too. What's up? Going diving? I nodded. "Yeah. We're just gonna be doing some exploring. Maybe even find some fish to research."
Uncle Jake let out a chuckle. "Alright. You boys have fun." Me and Brian both walked to the side of the boat where the ladder was. I then pinched my nose and dove in. Once I surfaced, Brian did the same. After, we both dove underwater and swam around. We watched as minnows and cods swam down below us. I peered into the distance to see if I could spot any tall seaweed plants. Just barley.
I knew we were getting close to the sweet zone. I was gonna prove that mermaids exist. Once we came close to the border of the sweet zone, I peered in and looked around for any sharks. Nope! Brian swam ahead of me, and in past the seaweed plants where he surfaced for a moment before coming back down.
At this point, I swam in looking around for any signs of the mermaid, and quickly surfaced for a few minutes. Brian did the same. "What are we looking for?" He asked. I didn't wanna tell him the truth, so I came up with a little lie.
"Fish!"
Brian glared at me for a second as if he knew that I wasn't telling the truth. It was silent for a couple of seconds. He shrugged and went back under. I let out a sigh of relief and followed. Still in the sweet zone we were, with no sign of marine life. No sharks. A couple of fishes. And no mermaid.
I was starting to get board and turned around to swim off. But that's when I heard something. A little hum. Brian froze. "What was that?" The humming suddenly sounded closer. I knew it was the mermaid. I swam out to where it was coming from. I couldn't see anything. Nothing but ocean blue. But I could hear the hums.
As I was about to lose hope I saw her. I saw her silhouette swimming this way, and as she came closer, I could see her brown hair floating up. I gasped. I swam back up to get Brian. "Brian! Brian! Come down here, quick!" I instructed him. We both dove back under. There she was. The same mermaid that saved me from the shark attack. She swam up to me with a happy chitter. I can't believe she remembers me.
I turned to Brian who was wild eyed. He quickly surfaced and began to swim back to the boat. The mermaid smiled and whistled at me, as she grabbed my arm, then turned to see what I was looking at and noticed Brian. That's when she decided to swim after him. This made me panic, and so I followed after her.
"Too cute! It's making me sick!" I heard Brian say. "She's too cute. She's making me sick. She's too cute. She's making me sick." I surfaced as I continued to swim until I caught up to him. Eventually he stopped near the boat. I placed my hands on his shoulders to try and calm him down.
"Brian, clam down!" I told him. He took some deep breaths as he stopped panting. "Okay, now that I seen her. I believe you," he said, with a small panic voice. That's when the mermaid popped her head up beside me. She had a small frown as she cooed sadly. She peered up at Brian and swam up to him, cooing.
"Be gentle," he said. The mermaid crossed a smile and giggled before ducking back down underwater. That's when he said he felt something rubbing his chest. Something ice cold, calmly and gently rubbing his chest. It was the mermaid.
After a couple of minutes she appeared next to me. I looked at Brian who was now calm. He didn't seem to be suffering from anxiety. A smile crossed his face as he said. "Wow, I-I-I don't know what to say. I don't feel anymore anxiety or fear."
"What?" I asked in confusion. "What did she do?"
"I don't know. But it's like she did something to my heart." The mermaid chittered with happiness. But that would all change. While we were talking, we both heard a hum. The mermaid ducked back down as we heard her scream "EEE!" If that wasn't already bad enough, I felt something grab my leg. Something long and slimy as it pulled me under. I tried and struggled to fight it off, but it was no use.
I turned around to see what had me and gasped. Not you again! The loch ness monster was back. I saw it's green dragon like body as it sat down on the ocean floor. Other mermaids were trying to fight it and push it off the ledge. The monster roared as it used it's other tentacle to grab ahold of Brian and pull him under. We both struggled and watched the mermaid look back and fourth at us, and back to her friends.
That's when a face of seriousness crossed her face. She first swam to us and tried to pry the tentacle off, she struggled, but she did it. We were both free. The mermaid then swam down to her friends to help fight off the monster. She swam up to the creatures head and used her tail to smack it.
The creature shrieked as it's head fell forward. The mermaid then swam down to the creatures chest and started to help her friends push it off the cliff/drop-off.
I couldn't believe she saved me again, and even my friend. I turned over to him, but he wasn't there. He was knocked out. His body floated to the top of the water like a soggy cookie.
In the midst of helping her friends, the mermaid looked up and noticed Brian and quickly swam up to him. She grabbed him by the the legs as I wrapped my arm around his chest and pulled him back to the boat. I made my way up the ladder and hoisted myself up and then Brian.
"Uncle Jake!" I called. He ran over quick. "Brian!" he said. "Brian, can you hear me!" He leaned his head down on his chest. "He's still breathing." I slipped my fingers through his blue collar so I was touching his throat. "He has a pulse."
Uncle Jake reached in his pocket and pulled out a pen. Blueberry scented. He held it underneath Brian's nose. He coughed as he opened his eyes. He let out a groan. "What happened? Is he gone?"
"I think so!" I said, helping him up.
"Who's gone? What happened?" Uncle Jake demanded an answer. Did I want to say what happened? Would he believe me? No! That's when Brian answered. "A dolphin accidentally smacked me. Got to close to the thing."
Silence. Would Uncle Jake buy it? "Ah! I see! Well you gotta be careful. I'm glad your okay!" He said before walking off. I and Brian walked back over to the edge of the boat and jumped back in.
"Do you think the mermaid and her friends fought off that monster yet?" Brian asked.
"I don't know." I replied, with a shrug. We dove underneath and swam around looking for her. We surfaced for a moment and heard her cry. Or at least Brian did. "Come on!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me under. We both swam around and eventually found her.
She and her friends were struggling to fight off the creature as it roared and tried to fight back.
Of course it looked hard for them. So me and Brian swam down to help them, and with all of our strength, we pushed the monster and watched it fall off the cliff and down into the deep dark abyss.
Me and Brian quickly surfaced, with the mermaid following. When we did, the mermaid appeared next to Brian while clicking and cooing with happiness. She ducked back down and swam around, before coming back up. And just like the last time, she leaned in and gave me and Brian a thank you kiss.
Then other mermaids that I've seen before began to emerge. Some blonde haired and some brown. They all chittered and whistled with joy. The main mermaid, our friend, came up and chittered. (Possible translation; "Thanks for helping us take out that monster. We've been dealing with him for a couple of years."). Some of the other mermaids nodded.
Brian swam up and said. "It was no problem. That's what friends are for."
He turned to the main mermaid. "And thanks again for rescuing me." The mermaid smiled and wrapped her tail around Brian, then pulled herself close for another big thank you kiss. To which Brian gave right back.
"Markus, Brian!" Aunt Candace yelled. We both started back to the boat. The mermaid's smile turned into a frown as she cooed while following us. When we arrived back to the boat, and hoisted ourselves back on board. We quickly dried off. And in the midst of doing so we heard the mermaid. She was down at the ladder cooing sadly.
"I'm sorry. But we have to go. But don't worry! As long as we remain best friends. Will see each other every summer. Me and Brian both," I said to her, as I crossed my heart. Brian walked up and agreed. "Yup! And will be sure to have good times. Will help you if you need it."
This made her happy. We both once again waved as the mermaid swam off into the distance. "Will never forget you! And maybe when we meet again, you can introduce us to your family!"
Later in the evening, me and Brian sat down in my room playing a good game of Monopoly. "What a crazy day, right," I said, with a little chuckle. Brian nodded in agreement. "Yeah. One of the most craziest days of my life. I'll be sure to keep this between you and me."
