Merboy

What the world holds for a 10 year old that finds himself in a situation he'd never imagined.

It’s Monday, I absolutely hate Mondays. They are the end of a fun weekend and the start of a very boring week. I can’t wait for summer to start so I don’t have to care about Mondays anymore, I could go to the beach whenever I want without restrictions; that’s totally the best part of living near the sea. And the seagull sounds, of course.

 

I can already feel the nicely warm sunlight in my skin; I don’t want to open my eyes yet, it would mean the official start of the day. The seagull sounds are much louder today, like they’re right on top of me; maybe they’re in my window, sometimes a few of them like hanging out there. I usually can’t hear the wave sounds unless there’s a storm or something that makes the sea angry, but the sun seems to be too strong today for that, though I can still hear the waves loud and clear; is my hearing intensified or what?

 

As soon as I start rolling around my bed, I realize… this is definitely not my bed. I open my eyes in shock, only to close them abruptly in reaction to the direct sunlight. I put my hand over my eyes and open them again slowly, hoping I was just imagining it the first time, but no. I’m lying down in the sand outside my house near the sea. I bend myself over and look towards my home over my shoulder and there’s nothing but emptiness; there are lots of trees and rocks that seem to have a much brighter and richer color than usual, but no sight of the big red brick house where I live. I’m sure I’m just in front of where the house should be, though, because the rocks around it are all the same, everything seems brighter than ordinary, but I’m sure this is the spot. Or maybe I’m wrong and I’m actually lost. I don’t think my brain is working properly right now.

 

I try standing up and realize that my legs aren’t working; I look down to them and find that they are joined together like a long thick tail, blue with greenish scales. I’m a fish! I fail my tail around trying to get a hold of it, but I can’t seem to figure out how to stand up on it, what am I supposed to do? I don’t like the answer to that question… guess I’ll have to drag myself like a snake; though I’m sure I’d resemble a worm a lot more, because my body is still so small and doesn’t seem to be growing at all. My skin is also all different. It shines in the sunlight and for some reason the sand doesn’t stick to it, which is really cool because sand sticking to me is one of the things that annoy me the most, despite how much I love the beach.

 

There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, as usual. We rarely get any visitors in this area, it’s always so quiet and peaceful because it’s all hidden. Today, though, I’m not exactly happy about it. The sea seems as angry as I saw it last year with the strongest storm I’ve seen in my life, but the sun is out and there are barely any clouds. Dad taught me that the sea’s mood mostly depends on the weather, if the sun is out and there are no clouds, the sea should be calmed, unless there are strong winds, which is not the case.

 

After dragging myself around for about a minute, I finally spot a person sitting on a rock in the middle of the sea. The waves are too strong for me to go in, so I try waving my arms out and yelling “I need help!” from the top of my lungs and hope they hear me. The person drifted into the sea and disappeared for seconds that felt like hours, until she emerged from the edge of the sea. My jaw dropped when she stood up and started walking towards me; she has a tail too! But she can… walk… does that mean I can walk too?

 

It just hit my mind that I’m basically naked! My face turns red and I guess the girl can see my awkwardness, because she giggles at me like I’m making a joke, except the joke is me. I usually sleep in my boxers because it’s always so hot, but with this tail thing, I guess it must’ve slid off or something, cause I don’t have anything on; except… some weird type of fabric that seems to be attached to this tail.

 

“Hi, I’m Amy.” Says the girl, waving at me. She has a colorful tight tank top that almost looks like it’s part of her skin, or maybe that is actually her skin, I feel like I don’t know anything anymore. Her hair has a purplish tone that shines in the sun light, it’s wavy and goes down to below her waist. So pretty. Her skin is the same as mine, a little tan and it shines like it’s waterproof.

 

“Hi-Hello”, I struggle with my words, unsure of what to do or say. She just keeps staring at me with her almost abnormally big deep blue eyes, waiting for me to say something. “I think I’m lost. Do you know where I am, by any chance?”

 

She giggles again. Definitely not what I expected; I have never talked to girls before, and I’m definitely not funny, so I have no idea what’s going on here. “You’re not lost, don’t worry”. She smiles showing her perfectly aligned and bright white teeth.

 

“So then… where do you think my house is?” I point towards where the house should be, looking over again to make sure it didn’t magically reappear so that I look like an idiot, but it wasn’t there. “It should be right there. What happened to it?”.

 

“Nothing, your house is fine, you’re just in a different space now.”

 

I’m sure she’s trying to be helpful, or at least I hope so, but her answers really have no meaning to me. She sits down next to me, crossing her tail over to her side while she stares into the sea. “So, what exactly does that mean? Am I in a different town that has an awfully similar seaside to the one in my house?”

 

“No, your house is right there still”, she says pointing over to my house. I look over and, still, nothing there.

 

“Okay, but can you, like… be more specific?” I ask, getting a bit angry now. I try to get comfortable and bend my tail over to rest my arms and chin on it, but it only makes me angry because I can’t seem to be able to bend it or control it at all, so I end up just lying on the sand again. She seems to find that funny, because she giggled loudly.

 

“Don’t worry, you’ll learn how to use it soon”. She says, followed by an awkward silence. I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to be rude and ask the same question again, but she’s not giving me any information. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm myself down. “I was sent here to recruit you and help you get to where you belong”, she said and went into silence mode again; I wait patiently for a response until she finally says it, “ I’m sorry, but you’re not going back home. You have to move on now and stay where you belong”. She keeps her eyes on the sea, I can tell how sad and worried her face looks.

 

I overheard my parents talk about this once. They said that one day I’d be gone and would never be coming back, but I didn’t know what it meant. Doctors have always told them that my heart is too weak and they couldn’t get me a new one in time. But my parents always said I had the biggest and strongest heart of all. I guess things just happened sooner than expected.

 

“How old are you?” she asks.

 

“10”, I say out of honesty, knowing no one ever believes my age anyway, because I still look 6 or 7, but it doesn’t seem to surprise her. “So, how does this work? Where are we going?”.

 

“We’re going to the most beautiful city on the planet!” her face lights up as her words leave her mouth. She quickly stands up and extends her hand to me.

 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I can’t exactly walk with this” I point at my tail, not taking her hand, “Where and what is that place anyway?”

 

She lowers her hand in disappointment that I wasn’t as excited as her. “Our city is called Donigi. It’s a few miles from here, but the trip is really quick because our tails help a lot with speed underwater”. She stands with her hands on her waist, blocking the sun so that sun rays come from behind her, making her look like a heavenly creature.

 

“But, can I ever see my parents again?” My eyes start watering at the thought of what this all mean. I don’t usually cry, but last night I went to sleep like it was any other day; my parents read to me and kissed me good night and now I’m here and I can’t go back.

 

She sat back down in front of me with her eyebrows raised and pressed together; I don’t want her to take pity on me, but I can’t stop a few tears coming down my eyes. “I know you really want to see them again, but I assure you that things will be okay and you will be very happy where we’re going”. She tries to give me a half smile, but it just looks pitiful and makes me feel worse.

 

“But why can’t I see them? Why can’t I even see my house when it was right here yesterday? Do I have to go to that place? Don’t I have a say on this?” I can’t stop myself from asking so many questions. A whirlpool of emotions hit me altogether and I start softly sobbing. 

 

She sighs. I can’t tell what her expression is with all the tears in my eyes, everything looks likes like clouds. “Your house was never here, not on this side anyway,” - what does that even mean? - “We’re on the human-free side of the universe. I know you might think ‘but we’re humans’, but we’re actually souls that do no damage to the planet. Here, there are no houses, no cars, nothing that was man-built, that’s why everything is so much greener and fresher here.”

 

My eyes were starting to clear out now. She was trying to smile awkwardly. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, and I’m really sorry for this, but it is impossible for you to go back and see them again. Once here, you can’t leave. You can, if you want, choose to stay up here alone; you won’t get hungry, tired or thirsty because your body no longer has that type of needs. But you will get very lonely”. She stands up again and looks into the sea for a few seconds. “So, I have to leave now, it’s up to you whether to follow me or not”. She started walking into the sea and I see now how weird that tail looks trying to walk with it. It makes you walk very slowly and awkwardly, it looks so funny that my spirit lights up a little.

 

 “Wait!” I say, just before the water covered her whole body. “I don’t want to stay here alone” I manage to stand up, but can’t take even a small step without falling right back. She starts coming back and laughs at my attempt to control my new lower body.

 

“You made the right decision”, she said and put my hand on her shoulder so she could help me walk over to the sea. “Don’t worry, just let yourself go and you will see the meaning of your new body”. She submerges herself fully into the water, which is now calmed with barely any waves, and I follow. The water is warm and doesn’t shock my skin, but it was a weird feeling to breath water without having any feeling of suffocation at first; it doesn’t take long before I realize I don’t even need to breathe anymore. My body doesn’t float or sink, it just stays wherever I want it to be; it’s perfect.

 

“Just let yourself go and your body will guide you, trust and follow me.” I understand what she says, but there is no actual sound; it’s as if the waves created by her speech send signals to me; like I can understand the ocean itself.

 

I follow her advice and allow my body to guide me. As if in automatic mode, my tail started swimming at full speed, taking me wherever Amy went. I lost track of time, but it wasn’t that long before we reached our destination. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It looked ancient, but so well cared for. The plans in the city seem to light up the place. Every building has a different bright color and every person has a tail just like mine. Everything is organized, there are only a few people outside.

 

As we reach nearer and nearer, I realize that all people there are kids just like me. All of the sudden, I’m excited. I might not be able to go back, but who knows what’s waiting for me in this amazing place. And I will never have to worry about anything ever again.

Author's Note

I'm no sure what this is, but thought it was good enough to share. I'm glad to receive any feedback you may have. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!