Marker: 9,967 reads and 874 votes
(Published 2-19-2019)
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Present

Sleep over took me just as the gray light of day brushed the sky. I woke up with jolt, it felt later in the day than it normally did. Frantic, I grabbed at the clock that sat on the night stand. It read 8:45. Never in any of the days since I had come here had I slept so long in this purple tomb. Last night stresses must have really exhausted me.

I struggled into a long yellow and blue skirt and a yellow sweater, along with a green cardigan. I grabbed the keys to the shop and slipped them inside one pocket, before I opened my night stand and took out the mermaid scale from its hiding place. A wave of repulsion slithered its way down my spine at its touch and I quickly slipped it into my pocket.

I had no desire to bring that revolting thing anywhere with me, but for the sake of avoiding Tim's obsessive questioning, I would pretend I had it with me always.

I raced down the hall to the dim room with the fish tank. I took out the long pole  net propped up against the glass and quickly scooped out two fish from the tank. And devoured them so quickly, that I almost choked twice.

With that done I quickly slipped on my flip-flops, and raced out the door and past the Victorian homes, with their wrap around porches and dogs barking in their yards, till I was out of the neighborhoods, and on the splintery boards of the boardwalk.

The wind whipped my long black hair around me, while I frantically, hurried down past the large ice cream cone to the front of the shop.  I had to be at least an hour late, and there would certainly be some kind of punishment from Mr. Walters.

I took out the store's keys and fumbled with them to unlock the front door, but much to my surprise, when I put my hand on the door in preparation to push it open while I turned the key, the wooden door swung open under my touch and the bells above it jingled.

Had I forgotten to lock it in my haste yesterday?

Cautiously, I opened the door and stuck my head inside.  The lights were on and I could hear someone moving around in the back. Whoever or whatever they were, I could hear them whistling to themselves.

I felt that puffer fish expand in my stomach again. Who in the world could possibly be in here?

On my way back, I grabbed a particularly heavy  clock in the shape of a crab off the wall and proceeded to the back of the store. Blue and purple beads clacked softly around me, while I peered into the shelves lined with various knick-knacks.

To my surprise and relief, I found Tom, Mr.Walter's  handy man, who I had first encountered scooping dead fish out of the tank back in Mr.Walter's house. He appeared to be building something.  Whatever it was that he was making, had required him to move a couple of the large shelves away from the back door.

"Hello?" I said and he turned around to face me. His lazy brown eyes evaluated me in the dim lighting of the back room.

"How are you, Marina?" he asked in a gruff voice. His focus drifted to the decorated clock in my hand. I quickly placed it in one of the few empty spaces in the otherwise cluttered shelves.

"I'm fine. What are you setting back up here?" and I gestured to whatever he was fiddling with. "Mr. Walters didn't say anything about something needing done to the shop."

"That's odd. Mr. Walters told me that you were aware that I was coming in today to install your tank.  He stepped aside to reveal a glass square on a black stand filled with water.  It hummed slightly while a small current churned at its top.

He wanted to install it for you today. Although I don't know why one would need a fish tank in the back of a gift shop, but it's not really my place to question it in the end."

"I think you're right, it isn't your place to question it." I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm already late excuse me, I have to go and open up."

"Alright... you go do what you need to do, I'll be back here if you need anything," Tom said and turned his back to me.

With that, I backed  out of the back room and into the front of the store. I  hurried over to the counter and bent down  to the cabinet that was hidden below it. It was here where we kept the human money. I unlocked it and took out a metal box that held the currency.

I than stood up with the box in my hand,  and was greeted by a face of a boy with brown hair and brown eyes.  I let out a yell of surprise and accidentally dropped the metal  box containing all the money.  The box went clattering to the floor with a bang and I quickly adverted my eyes as too not look the boy directly in the eye. My brain registered that he  looked familiar, if I was not mistaken he was the same boy that had come in the other with his friends and whom I had also ran into on the beach again.

How had he gotten in without me hearing the bells? It must have been when I had been in the back room, but still I should have heard them.

"What's going on out there!" Tom shouted in alarm, while a flurry of small  pings filled my ears. Hundreds of blue and purple beads spilled onto the floor. Tom had managed to rip down the curtain of beads in the back room doorway in his haste to join me in the front of the store.

"I just wanted to buy this.. this um,"  the boy's face had turned red and he cleared his throat, "Jar of sand," he placed  a glass jar on that contained sand and shells from the beach onto the stained wooden boards.

"God dang it !" Tom grumbled while he ignored the boy, and surveyed the little glass beads scattered around the room. "Do you have a  broom?" he asked me.

"Yeah in the back," I answered in my high pitch voice which caused Tom to raise his eyebrows at me. No doubt he was wondering why more voice was four octaves higher. "But don't worry about it, I'll take care of it."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the boy bend down and begin to pick up so beads.

"I can do that," I called to the boy in my high pitch voice.

I moved to the back room to retrieve the broom, careful not to slip on the glass balls under my feet. I heard Tom's footsteps follow close behind me.  He passed me while I retrieved the broom.

"I'm almost done setting up this fish tank, Marina, Mr. Walters was pretty insisted I got this set up pronto.  The fish are in cooler in my truck and I need to start the process of transferring them to the tank,"  he said. "Good luck with dimwit out there....wanted to buy a jar of sand," Tom mumbled and shook his head.

And for the first time in a long time I laughed. "Thanks."

When I returned, the boy was still picking up glass beads off the floor. I learned the broom on the wall behind me.

"I said you don't have to do that," I told him and did not attempt to mask the annoyance in my voice, while I kept my high pitch tone.

The boy stood up and placed the glass beads onto the counter. "I keep making an ass out of myself, don't I?" He said and attempted to meet my gaze. But I shifted my eyes to a shelf of glass mermaids.

I pointed at the sand he had placed on the counter. "Do you still want that?" I asked

"Yeah...how much?"

I told him the price after I scanned it and  rang it up. I slipped the small glass jar into a blue plastic bag and handed it to him across the counter.

He accepted it and stood there without moving.

Deciding if I looked busy he would leave, I stepped out from behind the counter with the broom and began to sweep the beads into a neat pile.

"You're name is Marina right?"

"Right," I replied.

"Okay well I'm Bennet."

I didn't reply.

"Well I'm going to go..."

"Bye," I said and the bells jingled with his exit.

I finished clearing up the beads, just as the usual stream of tourist wandered inside.

Around four, I ducked back to grab another seashell soup dish, and saw Tom was gone, but he had left behind four sea bass in the tank. That number had dropped to three by the time I finished closing the store. I secured  the back door and slipped into the alley. My stomach was full, which meant that I no longer had to go back to that purple prison to eat.

I made my way quickly up the path carved into the sea cliffs, eager to check on Arthur, and climbed it till I reached the little white church at its top.

When I arrived, I found not only Arthur but Tim waiting for me there. They both sat in front of the opened green door. Arthur had his head tilted back, with a bag of frozen peas pressed to his face.

Tim was on his feet the second he saw me. He walked towards me. The corners of his mouth were turned down into a frown. I noted that he had a bruise running the length of the right side of his face.

I stopped walking towards him, "What happened to you?" I asked. Arthur had lowered his ice bag and I saw the skin around his eye was purple. "To both of you?"!I added. I felt the puffer fish expand in my stomach again. Had they been attacked, and if so by whom?

He turned his head and pointed at Arthur beside the church. At this Arthur sat up a little. "Who is he?" Tim asked point blank.

Good question, one I would like to know the answer to.  I didn't even know Arthur, not really. The only detail of his life I knew was he loved my sister and my sister loved him.

"A friend," I replied, although friend was a stretch, "He's in danger from the mermaids, so the best thing to do was to bring him here"

"Without telling me!? Tim shot Arthur another look over shoulder before turning back to me. "You could have at least tried coming to my house last night, that would have been cool. You know where I live. And in the future please re-frame from mentioning the church to anyone else. It's the only place in this town I feel safe in."

"You told me not to meet you at the church, so I assumed this would be the only place where I could bring him. And I thought it was alright, since you helped me and you didn't even really know me."

"But now I'm responsible for keeping him safe now too. How many people do you think I can protect? I don't know what the hell I am even doing!" he snapped

I blinked at him stunned. I couldn't remember a human male ever speaking to me like this before. But than again, most of the times that I had spoken to them in the past, they had been under my spell.

"I don't know what I am doing either. I barely know you and I'm sorry but this was the only safe place I could think of." I answered truthfully. "And you won't have to protect him for long, he just needs to stay here until I can find him somewhere else to go."

Tim spare another look at Arthur, "Wait with him,"  he said. " I need to go get some food for your friend, since you didn't bring him any and he ate all mine.

I turned and watched him climb down the steep path . I hadn't expected this reaction from him, not at all. But, I guess I hadn't had time to think about it. I didn't even really think about how much I trusted Tim. I really did not know what I was doing.

I watched till Tim was out of sight before I rushed over to where Arthur was sitting.

"What happened to you're eye?"I demanded.

"The bear found someone sleeping in his chair," Arthur brought the bag up to his eye.

"What, there was a bear? And who did he find?"

"Me, Goldilocks."

"But you're hair is brown."

"Never mind that analogy, forgot you didn't have a human childhood.  But anyways I hate to break it to you Marina, but we may have to off your friend."