Thank goodness I was not a shopaholic, otherwise, I wouldn't have afford my fourth trip to the aquarium. But after this, I need to search for a summer job. I hurried to the mer section just as I had yesterday, but I came a little early today. My watch read 7:36 a.m.
Insane, I know.
I entered the mer globe. The room was completely vacant of humans and mers. Except for one, a merman. Tristen was dozing on our spot, resting against a mass of rocks.
In sitting position, his long sapphire tail gleamed before him, resting. His bronze torso leaned against the rocks. Did I mentioned how ripped he was? He had a good solid six-pack and his arms were not sinewy at all. But his face had my utmost attention. He looked utterly peaceful. He shifted, leaning down more to doze more. I wondered what he is dreaming about...
My fingers twitched.
I slowly took of my backpack and took out my sketchpad. I sat on the bench and begun drawing Tristen. I captured the planes of his cheekbones, his broad forehead, and his strong jawline. I shaded his inky hair on and followed the contour of his plump lips. I dragged my pencil down for his straight roman nose. Finally, drew his sleeping eyes, it's sinfully long lashes that formed a pair of dark crescent on his cheeks.
I analyzed my complete portrait of Tristen. The drawings looked different from my usual work. I even managed to capture his arua, the serenity and the mysticity. Something I'd never managed to before. Did I finally find my missing ingredient in my drawings? I shook my head in disbelief. I guess you can say I found a muse.
My muse was now stirring, slowly awakening.
I hurriedly stuffed my tools and sketchpad in my backpack. I don't know how he'll react if he found out that I drew him while he was sleeping like a complete stalker. When his eyes fluttered open, I was standing with my backpack over my shoulder, as if I just arrived. I weakly waved at him.
He speedily swam up to the glass to my eye level and he was smiling in greeting. I nearly grunted from the sudden jerk my heart did. He laid his palm on the glass pane and he mouthed, "Hey."
I rested my palm on the glass, smiling. "Hey."
Tristen's lips moved, but it was too fast for me to understand. My brows knitted. "What?"
He leaned closer and mouthed slowly. "How are you?"
I shrugged and lipped, "I'm good." I pointed to in question. "How are you?"
He shrugged as well and smiled in response, "I'm well."
"You're early." He said with a smile.
"I wanted more time."
Then his lips moved. I tried to read his lips carefully but I couldn't understand. "What?"
Tristen ran his hand through his hair in frustration, then he stopped and turned to me. His eyes traveled over me - goosebumps puckered across my skin - with his lips pursed, thinking. Finally, Tristen's thinking face were replaced by a devious grin.
Unnerved, I mouthed cautiously, "What?"
He nervously swam closer and I took step back. He pointed at the small wall beside us that held the artifacts and info that I read yesterday. He mouthed slowly, "There's a door."
I raised my brows in surprise. Where was this going?... I walked over the wall, searching for the nonexistent door. I looked over at Tristen and shook my head in confusion while giving a shrug. I don't see any door.
He pointed glass display that rested on a thick floating wooden shelf. The display held jewelries that mers wore under a glass display. After many attempt of lip-reading and charades, Tristen managed to tell me that the floating shelf had a secret compartment on the side of it's wood panel. The side panel crevice for me to pull and swing out. The wooden shelf was like a hollow shoebox and there was indeed a doorknob that rested on the wall.
I reached in and twisted the knob.
I stopped. This door is on the globe. That contains mers.
And tons of water.
What if this is a trap? No... The humans wouldn't be so careless and have a door that'll pour the globe contents out so easily opened.
I resumed and pulled the knob.
The door swung out soundlessly from the wall, revealing a dark - waterless - abyss.
I sighed in relief but my stomach churn at the new possibility.
Where did this door lead?
I looked at Tristen questioningly. Tristen waved me in. "Go in." He mouthed.
I bit my lips. This was surreal. How did I get here? A merman, urging me to go through a mysterious door in a mer globe. I braved up and walked in.
I fumbled for a light switch and flicked it up once I found it. Light flickered on, casting the room in a yellow hue from the single bulb that swung from a cable. It was a small storage room. It contained many empty, plastic buckets. There were bags stacked on bags that contained some sort of kibbles or fish food of sort. That must be the mer's food. There were also diving suits and other unknown equipments. There were many other things that I didn't have time to account.
There was another door on my right. I went up to the metal door to twist the knob.
Locked.
I searched around the storage for some sort of key or a way to open it at least. A hook attached to the wall next to the door hung a key.
Well, that was easy.
I snatched the key and inserted into the knob.
Click.
Before I continued. I closed the other door that I went through, covering my tracks. I wasn't stupid to leave it open. I took out my phone as I turned the light off and used it to guide me back to the other door. Finally, I pulled the door open.
A white, concrete stairwell was revealed. It was wedged between the curved of the mer globe and the straight wall of the building. The stairs snaked around the mer globe, spiraling up and out of my visions. I begun to ascend. There were no walls or any sort of barrier between the glass of the aquarium. I could see the spot where Tristen and I meet.
Tristen was gone.
I looked around the globe as I continued up. There was still no mers in sight.
I diverted my attention as to where the stairs would lead me. The stairs continued up, to the top of the mer globe.
Finally, a archway gave away to a large bright room.
My breath hitched.
The opening to the mer globe.
Could it be?...
My eyes squinted from the bright light from the sky light that dominated the circular room. I stopped. Only half the room contained floorings. The other crescent shaped flooring was an opening to the water of the globe. The curved skylight bled the sunlight into the water, sparkling with promises.
Splash.
I turned my head to the source of the water being disturbed.
A dark head emerged.
My heart stopped.
My ability to breath failed.
The head moved towards the edge of the flooring. He slowly rose, two pair of golden hands reached for the edge of the floor and he hoisted himself. A merman now sat before, grinning at me.
His appearance slammed into me like a wrecking ball, leaving me motionless. His dark, green eyes gleamed at me with mischief. His golden skin glowed, it almost rivaled with his tail that was shining like jewels under the sun. He brushed his wet, jet-black hair back.
He was even more gorgeous without the glass and water between us.
"Tristen?" I breathed.
He nodded and waved me over.
I take small hesitant steps closer and went on my knees until I was a two feet away, closer I have ever been to him.
He stared at my face with wonder just I was staring at him.
"You're beautiful."
I stumbled back as my stomach flipped.
I gasped. "You can talk?"
"Yeah, we can talk." He smirked. "Where would the fun be if humans knew?"
My eyes bulged once more as he talked again. "H-how... What?" I stuttered. This changes everything. The scientist were indeed wrong. Imagine the stories and answers that mers could tell us. They could change the course of history â
"Come here. I want to see you closer." Tristen said, interrupting my thoughts.
I struggled to wake my body up as I slid myself closer till I was a foot away from him. I felt so different seeing him without the glass between us, as if he was unreal before, like I was watching a TV show that starred him only.
Now... he was larger than life.
And he can talk.
He was gazing at me with such intent that it turned my insides into lava. His eyes traveled slowly over my face. I fidgeted under his intense scrutiny. I never been stared this intently before nor felt so exposed. I stilled. This is what he feels when he spends everyday and every minute in a glass prison, being stared. No privacy. No freedom. I watched him as I let him stare at me. It was only fair after all.
Plus, I didn't mind staring back.
"You're even more beautiful without the glass." He said with wonder, almost as if he was speaking to himself.
My face burned. Whoa there...
I bit my lips to hold back my nervous giggles. Who talks like? He would cause havoc on women around him with his looks and a mayhem when he speaks like that.
"You looked different too." I said back. Wait, I'm getting distracted! I need to know why we didn't know that mers can talk.
He shook his head and leaned back, giving me a much needed space for me to breathe again. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to say it out loud. It's just I never met a human up close muchless talked to them." He chuckled. "You still look like you're in shock."
I chortled. "Of course I am!" I sat criss-crossed. "It's not an everyday occurence that a mer tells me that he can talk."
He laughed.
Holy. Mother. Of. God.
He rubbed the back of his neck, "That's understandable.
His laugh was rich and deep. I cleared my throat, prayed that my voice would come out hoarse. "Is there a reason for keeping your communication ability a secret?"
"Well, for starters, it wouldn't change our situation for the better, but rather for the worse. We have things that are better left unsaid."
I wasn't surprise that mers have secrets to protect. I wouldn't push to ask what were they. Like he said, there are things better left unsaid.
I casted eyes down, thinking. I frowned, "They would make you tell them were the others are... - the capturors I mean." I swallowed at a dreadful realization. "And possibly resort to torture."
He sighed. "Yes. It is what I fear most."
I thought about the little blond mergirl with the pink tail I saw a while back. She had the most sorrowful eyes that pained me to see on a young child. I can't imagine the humans torturing her to give up the location of her home. Unfortunately, I know very well of the horrors humans are capable of. After all, human history was built on violence.
The things that humans-" I stopped and painfully corrected myself, "that we do because of greed..." I looked down in shame.
Tristen pulled back as if I shouted. There was a moment of pause before he leaned forward, trying to catch my eyes. "Not you it seems." I raised my eyes. He smiled, "One doesn't know when they're being greedy and that's what makes it deadly, but not you. You seem to see more. You're different."
I wanted to scoffed out of spite towards my species. I'm human and nothing can change that. It's in my nature. To turn this somber moment away, I smirked. "You can tell from just five minutes of speaking with me?"
He chuckled. "I'm just observant." He leans back on his hands, his tail swishing in the water. I jerked in startlement. I nearly forgotten about his tail. Well, with a face like his, it's hard to look away.
I lowered my shield. Playfully, I stated. "Guys are usually not observant."
He have an airy ha. "I'm not like most guys you know." He slightly raised his tail to drag it across the surface as it to prove a point.
I laughed, "That is true. You're definitely not like the guys I know." I continued, "I almost forgot you were mer."
He gave me a quizzical smile, "Did you now?" He chuckled and shook his head as if in disbelief. "You just keep proving me that you are not what I thought humans were like."
My chest swelled with that compliment but anxiety quickly squashed it. What if I say something wrong and he hate humans even further? I just realize that I somewhat took up a role as an ambassador for humanity - I am now representing humans to the mers. Like no pressure at all, Meredith.
Nervous, I said. "I hope all is positive."
He leaned forward and smirked. "I can guarantee all my thoughts of you are positive." His eyes twinkled with mischief. "For starters, I think you are amazing."
Do all mers take a class call How to be Suave 101? I chortled, "Said the guy who can breathe under the water." I paused. "Wait, how are you breathing right now?"
"Through my nose?" He answered with a questioning smile.
Unsure, "Oh?"
He chuckled. "Look right here." He lifted his chin up and pointed at his neck, then he took a deep breath. "I inhale the water here," Three thin lines appeared on the side of his neck, widening as he breathed deeply. "Do you see it?" He trailed his finger down his strong chest and my heart raced â does he know what he's doing to me?
Tristen continued, oblivious of my emotions. "The water travels down my torso, my lungs extracts the the oxygen from the ocean, Then..." Tristen then lifted his arm and I also saw four thin lines on the sides of his rib cage there as well. "I exhaled the water." He shrugged like it was no big deal. "I don't use my gills out of water and carbon dioxide. I can use my nose like you just fine. My lungs is similar to yours, able to breathe in oxygen and and exhale in carbon dioxide out of water as well. Only mine has more... features." He grinned almost smugly.
I nodded as I stared in awe. "Fascinating."
He chortled, "It's just breathing."
"Right, through your gills. Totally normal for us humans." I said sarcastically.
He laughed. My legs began to tingle under my weight. I scooched back to make rooms to stretch my legs. I sat in front of him and settled my bare legs next to him.
He stared at my legs. "They're beautiful."
"What?" My legs were riddled with scars and dents.
"Your legs."
I have a airy ha. "They're just legs."
"Right. Totally normal for us mers."
I leaned back, smirking. "Touche." The sarcasm is strong in this one. "But yours is so much more shiny." I gestured towards his tail.
He laughed then shrugged like he couldn't help it. "That is true."
I rolled my eyes but smiled. And modest.
"May I touch your legs?"
I paused. Did I hear that right? I scrunched my brows. "What?"
"Your legs, may I touch it?"
I blinked.
His eyes were serious, "If that's ok with you."
"You want to touch my legs?"
"May I?"
An idea occurred. "Hmm... Okay. Only if I get to touch your tail."
He stiffened than gave a airy ha. "No."
"Why not?" I frowned but more curious as to why not.
He frowned. "Well... because - I..." He tripped over his words. He shook his head to shake his loss. "It's different."
"I don't see how it's any different from you touching my legs." I countered. He opened his mouth but seem to think better of it and closed it. I stretched out my hand to him. "Is it a deal then?" Tristen's gaze slide to my outstretched hand. An odd realization crossed my mind.
This will the first time I touch a mer. First time I touch him.
Tristen raised his hand. "It's a deal. He wrapped his hand around mine.
The heat and sparks seem to have rushed from his hand into mine. My breath stopped. The butterflies in my stomach went in a frenzy.
He met my eyes.
The butterflies crashed.
His fingers tightened around mine.
The butterflies erupted in flames.
He pulled away.
The butterflies receded embers.
I finally breathed in steadily when I wanted to yell out what was that? But I didn't. Instead, I just watched Tristen's face. He was still - watching me with a silent expression. Did he feel it too? I swallowed and straightened myself, choosing to ignore my temporary moment of insanity. I plastered a fake smile. "Alright, I'm ready." I moved my straight legs closer and hope that my awkwardness wouldn't appear.
Tristen straightened himself up in preparation and lifted his right hand.
I held my breath once more and his hand rose to move slowly toward my legs. His fingertips touched my left shin.
âââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââ
The perks of working as a graphic designer :3
P.S. No butterflies were harm :P
Wanna see more like this, follow Glass Prison's insta: andie_s.e and tumbler: yourandielexxis
Don't forget to vote, show your love!
<3