Rikki and I followed the beaten path outside of the cabin, prepared for the long journey to civilization - the thirty minute walk from camp to town was a daunting trek. It was difficult to pass time since neither of us seemed very good at keeping a conversation. Either that or we were both just painfully disinterested in small talk.
"So," I began, "why are you at camp? With your accent, I doubt you're from the states."
"I'm from Australia," she replied, "Gold Coast. I have family in Oregon, and a few of my cousins went to this camp when they were younger. We're having financial issues at home, so I needed a job over the summer."
"Why not just get a job back home then?" I questioned.
"Well," Rikki started hesitantly, "it's just easier on the wallet. My aunt offered to pay for my travel and living expenses while I'm here, so it was actually cheaper for my Dad to ship me overseas."
"Wow," I said, "Aren't you worried about not knowing anyone?"
I totally didn't think. Why would I say that? I quickly tried damage control.
"I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that," I said, "I really don't know anyone here either. I just needed a few months away from it all and this is what I landed on."
I wasn't lying technically. I did need a few months away from home after what had happened. I keep trying to convince myself that he will forget, but thats just a coping mechanism. I don't want to think about how I'll face him after that and the added three months of being off the grid. I'm getting too worked up.
"No, I get it," Rikki assured, "I'm not really a people person, so not having friends isn't the biggest problem."
She didn't seem entirely genuine, but I wouldn't dare push any further.
"That's good..." I mumbled, trying to fill the awkward air. The remaining ten minutes of our walk were silent.
We made it to the restaurant and seated ourselves at a small black table near the entrance. It was a quaint little place, just on the edge of the downtown strip. It was a small town and this was one of the only restaurants, so it was decently populated. I would imagine it got busier in the evening - it wasn't exactly prime sushi-eating time when we arrived.
"Hm. #1 Sushi," I said, reading the front page of the sticky menu, "Do you think it's really the best in the world?"
Rikki gave a polite chuckle, "I seriously doubt it. Anyway, what are you getting?"
"I was trying to decide between the tuna roll and the-" I started to drone, but was interrupted by the waiter bringing us our complimentary waters.
"Oh, thank you" we said in unison.
He dropped off a couple of straws as well, which was a relief for me - the water had a lot of ice in it and would certainly attract condensation to the outside of the cup. Speaking from experience, it's certainly less suspicious to lean over and drink from a straw than it is to thoroughly wipe the side of the glass every time you pick it up. I carefully plopped it in my drink and resumed my thought.
"Anyway, I was thinking of getting either..." I continued absent-mindedly. We talked for a few minutes, and I must have cracked a stupid joke somewhere because Rikki, in the middle of sipping her drink through the bright blue straw, laughed and blew water all over the table. I scrambled to make sure I didn't have a drop on me. Thankfully, it seems that I wasn't in the splash zone. I looked back up to continue what I was saying, but it seemed like she wasn't really paying attention. I could feel that she was more tense than a few seconds ago. She surveyed the side of her left hand, eyes momentarily darting before abruptly locking contact with mine. She wasn't blinking.
Shit. I could swear that in my peripheral vision, she was curling her right fist into a ball, angling it slightly toward her left hand. A few seconds later, she stopped and her normal demeanor returned. It looked like she had just dried her hand.
No, I couldn't jump to conclusions. Besides, I couldn't even see for sure if her hand was wet. But then otherwise, why would she panic like that immediately after spilling her water. I know that panic. I experience it all the time.
The conversation continued, if not a bit tense for the first few minutes. Honestly, my mind was still wrapped up in what just happened. I finally decided that I would run a little experiment. When she started talking a bit more, I seized my opportunity. I inconspicuously slid my hand below the table and sight my metaphorical sights on her water. I slowly made a fist and waited for it to begin bubbling.
"Yeah, so I asked her if she even knew what-" Rikki paused her story suddenly, briefly looking at her water. The ice was melting fast and bubbles were forming. It was obvious to anyone that the drink was heating up rapidly. I considered saying something about the strange sight, but I feel like that would complicate things. It would be best to just stay quiet and pretend I hadn't seen anything. Looking up, I saw the same look of panic come over her face. As if buying time, Rikki fumbled to get words out of her mouth and carry on with the conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary
"If she knew what...um...the uh..." she stuttered, discreetly checking her pulse. Suddenly, she shot up, "I have to go to the bathroom."
When she was out of sight, I exhaled deeply, unaware at how long I had been holding my breath. Rikki definitely thought she was inadvertently heating up the water. That would mean that she was also a mermaid. Fuck. What do I do now?
I spent the next five minutes checking my own condition. I tried to lower my pulse, trained my breathing to be slow and steady, and fanned myself with the menu to alleviate some of the redness in my face. Finally, Rikki returned.
"Hey," she said, "I'm really not feeling too well. Could we start heading back?"
"Of course," I feigned sincerity, "will you be alright?"
"Yeah," she replied, "I just need to lay down I think."
I might have scared her. I know what it's like to have "malfunctions" with your powers. I couldn't imagine thinking that my powers were out of control at a time like this: thousands of miles from home and with no friends - let alone someone who knows my secret - to help me.
"Sure, let's pay the check." I said, trying to keep my breathing steady.
The walk back was even quieter than our journey to the restaurant. Is she wondering why I'm quiet? Or is she too wrapped up in her own thoughts to even realize that I haven't spoken a word since we left? I'm really hoping it's the latter - I don't know if I can muster the courage to act normally right now. If she asks, I'll probably just tell her that I'm feeling sick too. I could blame it on the food.
As much as I am sure it's a shock to find out that someone is a mermaid, it's got some added complexity when you're also one. What do I do? Do I tell her that I know her secret? Do I reveal to her that I'm also allergic to water? Do I just drop little hints about my condition and just wait, hoping that she makes the decision on what to do? I definitely don't think I should tell her that I'm a mermaid right now. I'm confident I have some pretty damning evidence that she shares my secret, but until I actually see her tail I'm just making assumptions. Still, I do think it could be beneficial to the both of us if we have someone in this hellhole that knows and can look out for us. Maybe I'll just start by building trust. At least then I have more time to figure out what I want to do about the situation.
We made it back to the cabin and found that, conveniently, none of the girls got back from the lake yet. I hate myself sometimes, because my need for closure makes me do some stupid shit. Right now feels like one of those times. I want to say something. I want to spill water on her and see how she reacts, or ask her if she knows anything about mermaids and watch her facial expression. No, I should just cool off. I'll go for a swim.
"Hey," I said, "I'm gonna go for a swim. Wanna join?" I just had to say something, didn't I? I guess this is better than what I wanted to do though, and it helps me get the need to instigate out of my system.
"No thanks, I'm just gonna listen to music." Rikki said to no surprise. She seemed a lot more soft-spoken than she was in the few hours I had talked to her, but I was thankful to hear a bit of a sarcastic undertone in her statement as if to say "That sounds boring. I would rather do anything else." At least it meant she was feeling better about earlier.
I stepped out of the cabin and ventured over to the other lake - the one without a ton of people partying. I only knew it existed because I got lost on the way to the bathrooms the first night and nearly walked off a cliff overlooking the body of water. This would be my first trip to the spot in the daytime when I could actually make out my surroundings, so I made sure to take careful note of the route I took. It took me a few wrong turns, but eventually I made it to the cliff I had seen that first night. I walked up to the edge and looked out to find a good way to get in and out of the lake without anyone seeing. It turns out that the shore was on the complete opposite side to where I was. I didn't want to walk all that way, so I took another look at the vertical distance to the water. It was pretty high, but the color of the water was a lot darker than it was over at the shore, so I knew that it would be deep enough to avoid injury. I took one final look around to make sure I was alone and jumped.
The water rushed against me, providing a cool sensation against my skin. In a few seconds I was greeted with my tail. As much as I despised the social aspects of being a mermaid and the whole secretive double life thing, I have to admit that swimming was a euphoric experience. I started off slow to get a feel for the area and keep my adrenaline down when I noticed an underwater opening on the wall of the cliff a lot further to the left than I had jumped in. By the looks of it, I would have just enough space to turn around if I reached a dead end. This fact gave me all the confidence I needed to give into my curiosity and enter. Roughly fifteen seconds later, the hole opened up to a larger, pond-sized area with light shining down on the pool. When I resurfaced, I found myself inside a cavern, beautiful stalactites lining the ceiling and a conic opening centered over the pool of water. This was incredible! I could definitely come here to relieve some stress. Or avoid people. Whatever the case, I made a mental note to return.
I stayed in the cavern for a bit before leaving and exploring the lake a little bit more. It was larger than I expected, so I'll have to go back another time to see the parts I wasn't able to get to. I pulled myself up onto the shore strategically behind a cluster of rocks and dried myself off. I was relieved to get back to the cabin right before sun fall.
Everyone was back from the lake now, so the room was annoyingly loud. They were all raving about how fun the day was. My initial jealousy subsided a bit as I was still excited about the cave I had found earlier. Swimming also just puts me in a good mood. I nearly forgot why I was stressed in the first place until my eyes caught Rikki, who was still in her bed with her headphones on and her eyes closed - she didn't even see me return. Immediately all the emotions from earlier came flooding back and I decided to call it an early night. Tomorrow was the first actual day of camp, so I needed a good night's rest anyway. I talked to Rena for a few minutes, got in my pajamas, pulled my covers over my head, and waited for sleep.