I awoke with a slight jolt, my eyes readjusting to the blackness of the room. I could hear the faint buzz of conversation through the floor, and around me. Yet the pain in my shoulder was more outstanding, it blinded my thought for a few seconds.
"Agh, mmf," I muffled as I attempted to sit up. It failed, so I rocked to my right side and managed to roll off the bed and stand. My legs were momentarily weak, but I quickly regained my usual strength.
I turned on a nearby lamp, the hue of golden yellow softened over my skin which was covered in cold bumps. My shoulder looked ghastly. The area around the sealed stabbing wound was purple and red, while the skin towards the centre was dark red to near black from the intense heat.
I tried not to pick at it, but my curiosity got the better of me and I nicked at a few scabs that were peeling from my skin, wincing, I opened it up. Fresh, red blood leaked down and lined my left peck strikingly.
Ariel. Where was she?
With her in mind, I ran out the door, only to slam into a cold, metal figure.
"Jimmy!" B.E.N stopped outside the door holding a towel and tray with steaming Plorp stew, the smell was nauseating. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I made my way to the bathroom Ariel was in earlier. It was cleaned out and empty, my stomach knotted. "Where is she, B.E.N?" I made my way up a set of stairs to my room.
"The mermaid?" He asked, the rattle of cutlery on the tray irritating my sense of hearing. Right now, everything was irritating. The whir of B.E.N's machinery, the lights along the hallways, the whispers of guests within their rooms, the stale smell of stew and aliens, I wanted to bite my nails down to the nub and grind my teeth.
"Yes, Ariel, where is she?" In my room, B.E.N set down the towel and tray. It wasn't messy, but not clean, either. I had metal parts scattered across the floor, clothes here and there and books stacks in corners.
B.E.N stood still for a second and thought to himself while I searched the floor for a clean shirt. I found a black shirt and loose black coat, pockets filled with sand and nuts and bolts. "Sarah asked for me to clean the bathroom, Jim, but I can't remember seeing the mermaid…" I was about the push past him to leave when his eyes wavered. "Wait,"
"What?" My voice was hopeful. Where had she gone? The rush of movement in my body made my shoulder ache, I could barely use my left arm properly, I didn't know whether to get it checked out professionally before I did anything else.
"There was a slime trail down the stairs, earlier. But your mother said it was just Dr Lionel-"
"Could it have been her?" I asked eagerly, my chest was tight with worry. "Did you clean the mess?"
"Yes-"
"Then can you scan her DNA or something through your computer to see if it were her?" I didn't know if she had DNA, surely in her human form region.
"There was no blood, Jimmy." Damn. This wasn't good at all, if she wasn't here, then where was she? My coat?
I looked around my room once more frantically, it wasn't here. The cleaning room, it had to be there. I dashed around B.E.N, telling him to follow quickly. Avoiding alien's looks and stares on my way through hallways was bothering. I knew they knew what happened downstairs with that mutt.
There in the cleaning room, was my coat in the pile about to get washed. It was steamed up with warm air that it was slightly difficult to breathe and see through it. Employers who did the laundry of guests were hard workers, a few of whom I only speak to.
I snatched my coat from the pile and spotted Gretta, an alien from the BellaRousse planet. The aliens there where pretty much human like, but had mutated complexions. Like their skin a tinge of green, purple, blue or red with the texture of goose bump skin. And the hair was rather outrageous.
Gretta had light red hair that swirled up into a bun, with light pink skin; her lips a vicious red and eyes a contrasting emerald green.
"Gretta!" I gushed, rushing over to her. She took a one look at me and flung her arms around me.
"Jim!" She scrutinized me, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "I heard you were attacked-stabbed! Are you okay?" She was slightly sweaty and ashen from the hard work, but her eyes were constantly alive.
"I'm fine," I shouldn't say that when a piercing pain probed behind the surface of charred skin under my shirt. "Have you seen mum?"
"Yeah, she just attended to a mess in the dining area-" I cut her off with a kiss on the forehead, Gretta was a small woman, and ran through double doors, B.E.N close behind, towards the dining area.
The time was nearly midnight, which meant it'd be closed for the night soon, but it was still somewhat busy, even some of the children were still up. Where I was stabbed, there was a different table and cleaned of my blood, but the bay window was still broken, funnily enough, no one was occupying it.
Mum was by a table with a family, dealing with a problem with the mother. They were angry at another customer who was discriminating against their breed, and I kept hearing my mother repeating herself officers were on their way.
I tramped through the dining room to her, my boots thudding with every step. She knew I was coming as she turned her head before I got to her.
"Can I talk to you, alone?" I whispered through gritted teeth. I remember her actions before I fell asleep, how her demeanour was towards Ariel. It wasn't kind nor welcoming, but more fearful and warding.
"Jim, as you can see, I'm-"B.E.N intervened in perfect time, attending to the upset mother and her partner with discounts and encouragement and reassuring words. I had her arm in my right hand and discreetly dragged her to the kitchen. "Jim, what are you doing? Let go!" She seethed but smiled respectfully to customers.
Through the steamy, smelling kitchen where the cooks chopped and blazed food with tantalizing smells and flavours, I knew we'd have no privacy here, so ushered her to the back entrance of the kitchen.
The night air was cool and appreciating. The slither of the moon, Montressor Space Port, glowed dutifully in the night as stairs and galaxies and planets shone elsewhere. It was quiet out back, but smelled stank of spoiled food and beverages.
"How dare you!" Sarah harshly whispered, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"Where is she?" I asked, this time, pleadingly. I just wanted to find her, who knows where she was. She could be in the sea for all I know, or lost somewhere in the town. I heard the crash of waves at the cliff below.
"Who, the mermaid?" She cocked an eyebrow and appeared genuinely puzzled. That was it, she didn't know where she was. I knew my mother well enough to know she was oblivious to certain circumstances, and this was one of them.
I racked my brain and dug my hands in my hair and sighed. "Yeah, she's gone, I don't know where she is."
"She's not in the Benbow?" She was worried for totally different purposes, not for Ariel's safety, but to not startle her loyal customers.
"No, I don't think." I just remembered I had my jacket from earlier, still soiled from sand, sea water and I'm positive, some sample of Ariel's blood. Just then, B.E.N emerged from the back door, gesturing towards Sarah.
"They need you, the officers have arrived!" He shrieked and Sarah nodded, looking back towards Jim.
"I do support you, Jim. Find her." And she was gone, B.E.N was about to follow until I held him back, his cold arm made me shiver.
"B.E.N, I need you to do something for me." I raised my jacket before he asked what. I over turned it to show the sand markings and dark areas where I hope was Ariel's dried blood. "Can you see if any of Ariel's blood is on the inside?" B.E.N nodded profusely and mutely scanned the coat, a shimmer of blue lined and ran down the entire inside of the jacket.
"I detect blood," He answered.
"Can you take some and do a DNA test, if you cleaned the halls and bathroom, you must have some of her other blood from before." Hopefully there'll be a match, and I'll have some clue to where she was last.
B.E.N scratched his tin can head. "I'll have a check through my data base. He stood still, though his blue eyes fizzled here and there. He then used a finger to scrape off some blood, placed it on his extended chest panel and placed it back within his body, his body made noises and clanks to show he was at work.
It took seconds for my heart to pound, knowing this was one of my leads and if it wasn't her, I'd have nowhere else to start.
There was a satisfying click to B.E.N and he looked at me with clear eyes and nodded, "This is her, Jim." It was her. Before I conked out, she had been at the bottom of the stairs, in direct line of the dining room and possibly where Delbert, my mother and Dr Lionel saw her last.
Note: I am back and running, after a year or less of not having Microsoft word, I've got it back and enthusiastically writing again! Please enjoy my new chapter and leave a quick review if you're loving/hating it!