Chapter Two: Shattered
"Mommy! Mommy! What's that?" little Ariel bubbled, pushing up onto the tippy-tops of her fins, while anxiously pointing up at an object located on the highest shelf of the cove. Her mother smiled and was happy to answer to her daughter's demands. By this point, the pointing and intriguing questions the young girl posed to her had become quite a regular routine for the two of them.
But Ariel just couldn't help it; whenever she and her mother were in the cove, her curiosity peaked and her imagination soared. Here, only the surface was the limit.
It was almost like riding in the seashell her father used to get from place to place. Like any other little girl, she'd loved to feel the intense ups and downs that came with riding in it, but she could never tell which direction – up, down, left, right- was coming next. She couldn't always tell what was waiting for her at the bottom of the first dip, either, for that matter.
Queen Andromeda laughed warmly and twirled her over-zealous daughter around her in arms. At the same time, she swam upwards to the top of shelf of the cove in order to retrieve the object of fascination for Ariel.
"Ah," the older woman sighed, while fondly stroking the small object tenderly with her free hand. The gold and silver engravings sparkled in the beam of sunlight that streamed through the cove.
Queen Andromeda smiled and gently opened the box, holding it down so that Ariel could see. Suddenly, the hovel was flooded with a melody of beautiful music. As the notes weaved through the air, Ariel's eyes lightened and her mouth dropped in awe; she'd never heard music anything like this before!
And it was then that she recognized what it was.
It was a music box. A real, live, authentic human music box!
The melody, literally music to the younger child's ears, continued for a couple moments longer as the two human figurines perched within it danced around each other in perfect synchronization.
With a smile plastered on her face, Ariel's mother grabbed her daughter's arm and whirled her around just like the two humans in the music box.
Breathlessly, Ariel released herself from her mother's hold and swam back over to the box, enticed by the pure essence of it. She leaned her arms against the rock it sat upon and rested her head on her wrists, sighing in admiration.
She'd never seen anything so beautiful. And she just didn't see how a world that made such wonderful and beautiful things (like this music box!) could be so… bad.
"One day, I will take you to the surface to hear the music live," her mother whispered in her ear, while pressing her lips up against her daughter's temple. She wrapped her arms around her little girl, who was practically glowing in delight, and held on tight, never wanting to let go.
It was that one hug, that one simple gesture of sympathy, that had pierced Ariel's wall of self-defense. The foundation that she had worked so hard to build up around herself to protect her from this type of thing, this type of hurt and feeling, had faltered, now slowly crumbling from underneath her feet.
Moreover, she saw herself as a piece of delicate glass that had just been stricken by a hammer. But as she very well knew, shards of glass can have extremely sharp edges if handled the wrong way.
She stared blankly ahead, at last relaxing into the young merman's embrace. She racked her memory, trying to remember if there was any time in the past (if there had ever been one) that someone had wrapped their arms around her like this and really meant so much. Had anyone ever meant so much sympathy and care and compassion all at once within one hug?
With tears still streaming down her face, she laid her head gently upon his chest, closing her eyes in an attempt to clear her thoughts. She inhaled deeply and noticed the pleasing tinge of cologne in the air. It was his, of course. She found herself enjoying the smell of him and, even long after he was gone, she was sure that, if she breathed slowly and softly through her nose, she'd be able to recollect the scent.
Not that she was ever going to. Not that she even wanted to. Not that she'd ever admit that she'd just thought that thought. In fact, the absolute last thing she wanted in her life right now was some boy that was going to go and mess with her mind.
However, she couldn't help but wonder what had persuaded the young merman embracing her to take a newfound interest in her. After all, no one had ever made even the slightest attempt to speak to her, let alone follow her, before, so what was it that had made this instance so very different?
The boy then laid his head on the top of her own as she sat there, motionless, tears still fresh on her face. He stroked her hair, her back, even gave her a shoulder rub at one point. She began to wonder if she should care more about the fact that he was a complete stranger to her. However, as she mentally toyed with the idea and situation at hand, it seemed more like one lost soul helping another soul to carry some of the heavy burden it shouldered. After all, it seemed that no soul should ever have to carry more of a strain than it could bear, or at least in her opinion, anyway. It seemed more than enough to justify her, as well as his, actions, too.
But she was still very interested to know his motive in being so kind to her, rather than being merely satisfied with the assumptions she had made.
Just then, the bell rang, signaling that there was ten minutes left in class. After that, there'd be a lunch break, and, from there, she wasn't sure where she was going to go. As comforting as the idea of staying in the boy's arms for a few more hours sounded, she knew this wouldn't and couldn't last forever. She was flirting with the temptation to maybe skip out class later that afternoon – not that anyone would notice nor care – when Netis' voice broke through her train of thought.
"Ariel?" he spoke softly and quietly, so much so that Ariel could almost sense the almost musical fluidity to his voice. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and wiped the last of her tears as he untangled her from within his arms. She gratefully let him lift her up to her fins as she regained the last of her composure. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. And thanks, you know, for everything," she said. "But, um, can I just ask you something?"
"Sure," he shrugged. "Go for it."
"I just want to know... why did you even bother to follow me out here?"
"Well, why not?" he responded with a gentle smile.
"Touché," she grumbled, crossing her arms. She then turned on her flipper and stepped away, unable to acknowledge her own defeat.
"No, no, please, don't leave," he pleaded softly, catching her by her elbow. He drew her back again and began to explain himself. "I was just worried about you, okay? I heard about your mother's passing a while ago – I mean, sorry, everybody knows about it, of course - and I know from experience how hard this must be for you to go through…" he continued. "I didn't want you to feel anymore alone than you had to be -"
"Oh, so you're going to play the pity card, too?" she asked weakly, her voice quivering. She shook off the hand that he had yet to remove from her arm and turned away from his scrutinizing gaze, knowing that she was about to break again. She held her arms around her middle, trying to pull herself together, if only for the sake of not shattering in from of him again. She knew, after all, that he wouldn't always be there to pick up the pieces.
"You know, that seems to be what everyone says. 'I'm so sorry your mother died,' they say sadly, but the truth is that there are just some things that other people's apologies and sympathies can't fix."
He just looked at her for a moment. He stared at the back of fiery red curtain of hair, at the head that was tilted towards the ground, letting her words sink in. He swam up cautiously near to her, kneading his hands together nervously. He stared into her piercing blue eyes and looked at the beautiful face that was smeared with tears. Her eyes were bloodshot and red, her cheeks blotchy and flushed. She met his gaze, and he knew that she was seeing him without really noticing he was there.
He then remembered that one saying of how the eyes were the windows to a person's soul. As he had just discovered now, the eyes can also be the blinds concealing a person's soul, as well. You could pull back the curtains and expose the sunlight just as easily as you can yank them back closed.
"Why, though? Why do you care so much? You barely even know me," she whispered aloud, trying to push the topic further. Apparently, she was having a hard time understanding his intentions.
"Well, that may be true, but I can't walk away from someone who's in need. I mean, could you? It's doesn't seem right of me to turn a blind eye to someone who I might be able help," he stated with an air of determination.
"That is… that is really nice of you," she said quietly, clenching and un-clenching her fists out of nervous habit.
"Oh, you know, I haven't formally introduced myself yet. I'm Netis," he said, offering his hand out to shake hers.
"Ariel," she said, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. "But I'm sure you already knew that."
"Come on, Ariel, you know you can't shake my hand with a close fist," he remarked, staring down at her tightly clenched fingers. "Go on, I don't bite... a lot."
She smiled, the corners of her lips turning upwards ever so slightly for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.
She took her time in unfolding her arms and, in turn, extended her own petite hand, grasping it around his own warm one. She noticed that the crevices of his hands were very worn and calloused for a person of his age. Her mind flitted to the possibility that these callouses were the result of long days of writing or of sculpting. Maybe he was a painter in his spare time...
As her mind wandered, he dropped his hand. His eyes darted around the hallways anxiously, waiting for what she'd say next. They glanced from the peeling grey paint on the lockers to the stained glass doorways -
"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around," she uttered finally. She turned and slowly wandered in the other direction, not even bothering to wait for his farewell. He watched her shuffle down the corridor with her head bowed and into the cafeteria just as the bell sounded harshly.
Swarms of teenagers suddenly filed out of classrooms and the once-quite hallway was filled with the excited buzz of the students' chatter. Taking no notice to the end of the period, Netis remained where he was standing, completely and utterly lost in thought.
In the pit of his stomach, he had a feeling that there was something more to Ariel than met the eye. If only he could delve beneath her surface... if only she trusted him enough to allow him to. After all, she had been taken aback, astounded, by the mere thought of interaction with others. She didn't seem understand his want to care for her. It almost seemed foreign to her.
As if he had just collided in to a brick wall, it hit him.
She knew something. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so resistant to him. She was harboring a secret of some sort.
Or perhaps it was merely leftover grief from her mother's passing. It was rumored that Ariel was the favorite of Queen Andromeda and that the queen spent most of her time with her youngest daughter. If that was true, then he would understand her inability and unease to trust others. He wasn't going to walk out on her anytime soon, but maybe she'd be afraid of losing him, too.
And it was that very same intriguing thoughts and prospects that kept Netis wanting to come back for more. Whether Ariel liked it or not, he was a part of her life now, and he wasn't going to be disappearing from it anytime soon.
But she still was in on something he wasn't. And, sooner or later, he was going to figure out what it was.
Wow, I'm sorry. Honestly, I never intentionally had plans to go without updating this story for so long. Quite frankly, I had no inspiration for this story at all and it was killing me. But, thankfully, I just randomly had a few ideas pop into my head tonight, so I hope you enjoyed! I will be quicker on updating in the future. :)
-Dreaming Wide Awake