The Merman (L.S)

2

I groaned tiredly as I slowly opened my eyes. I remembered having the strangest dream last night. I dreamt I saw a merman.

It was strange though, it felt almost real. I shook my head at how crazy that sounded.

I looked over and saw that Zayn was still sleeping. I decided to wake him up because I didn't want to get bored, and also wanted to go home.

"What the-? Huh? " He cluelessly asked, blinking rapidly as he tried to get used to the brightness of the morning light.

"Wake up, mate! I gotta head home. " I reminded him.

"What time is it?" He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

I checked my phone, which thankfully didn't die, and saw that it had passed 9.

"9:15. Let's get ourselves freshened up before we go. "

"Yeah, I would, but unfortunately I don't have any clothes to change into." He replied,
standing up and stretching.

I looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"The fish stole my clothes, remember?"

"Fish?"

"Him." He replied, pointing his finger at something. I looked in the direction he was pointing, and couldn't believe what I saw.

It was the same merman who I thought was just part of a dream. He was laying down on the ground sleeping. He was, in fact, wearing Zayn's clothes.

"I-I-... wha-what?" I stuttered in disbelief.

There was no way I was actually seeing this. There was no way my dream had been real. Mermaids aren't real, not even Mermen.

"I have nothing to change into, so I guess I'll have to shower at home." He said. He walked over to the-what was meant to be-fictional creature-and shook him awake.

The creature immediately sat up as he woke up, and crawled backwards in fear.

"Hey, hey! It's okay! We met, remember? It's alright, you're safe. " He reassured him, softly. He reached out his hand to help the merman up, but he froze and stared at his hand for a moment. He hesitated but took Zayn's hand, and he helped him up.

"Are you okay? are you hungry? we could get you something to eat if you'd like." Zayn asked.

"Hungry?"  The merman asked, confusion in his tone. By his accent, I knew he was definitely from here. However, as he said that, he immediately placed his hand over his mouth with confused eyes. I figured he probably had never heard his voice before.

"It's the need to eat something. We'll get you something when we get back home. " Zayn replied.

I was still standing there in shock and disbelief. I couldn't believe it all. Are mermaids really real? are mermen real? If they're real, then what else is real?

"You can ride in the boat with us. After seeing what you went through last night, I would assume it's the same as when you got back into the water. " He said with concern.

• • •

After we got home to our flat, Zayn led the merman to the bathroom so he could take a bath. The screaming of pain was heard again. I felt bad for him. Imagine hurting every time you touch water.

Zayn plopped down next to me on the sofa, a bottle of beer in his hand. "Let me guess; you thought it was a dream?"

I nodded slowly. "Yep."

"Well, this isn't a dream mate." He said, taking a drink of his beer.

I shook my head before saying, "It just doesn't seem real. You're telling me that these things really exist?"

He chuckled and said, "Even I couldn't believe it. I even pinched him when he was sleeping. They're pretty real to me, unfortunately."

"Shit... okay, but we can not tell anybody about this. We have to keep this between us."

"I can't disagree with you there mate. This is something we definitely have to keep secret." He agreed.

I nodded. "He's been in there for quite some time. Should we check on him?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, he's been in there for some time. You can check up on him, and I'll make us something to eat. If I even knew what fish like him are." he said, getting up.

"He's actually a mammal, not a fish." I corrected him.

"He's both a mammal and a fish. I looked it up." He said, and took another drink of his beer, before placing it on the table.

He walked into the kitchen, whilst I stayed on the couch for a moment, still processing. I finally stood up and made my way upstairs. I walked toward the door of the bathroom and knocked.

"Hello? Is everything okay in there? " I got no answer.

I decided to go to my room to find some of my clothes he could wear. I just picked anything random and laid it out on the bed.

I turned around and jumped up startled, seeing the merman right in front of me. Thankfully, I guess Zayn showed him the towel and told him he had to use it.

"Uhhh, hi! I picked some clothes for you to wear. I don't know if you can understand me, but uhhh, yeah." I said to him.

He moved his eyes away from me and looked at the clothes that were laid out. It was just a random pair of pants and a t-shirt.

"Clothing?" he asked, picking up the t-shirt and examining it.

"Yes, it's something you put on to cover your body." I answered. He didn't say anything after that and dropped the clothes, and walked over to my draw.

He picked up one of my bottles of cologne and looked at it. He examined it for a while, and I let him, as he obviously didn't know what anything in here was.

Before leaving, I made sure to show him how to put on the clothes, just in case he didn't know how.

I left the room and went back downstairs. I inhaled a sweet, tasteful smell as I walked down. "Ooh, that smells nice! What are you cooking? "

"Eggs and sausage!" Zayn answered from the kitchen.

"Oh, my favorite." I replied back. I made my way into the kitchen and watched as Zayn made breakfast.

"He seems to know how to speak, but I'm not really sure how much. Do you think we should still teach him? We don't really know how much English he knows." I said.

Well, there was this show I watched where the mermaids communicated under water without words, and also used their hands as a form of sign language. If that was the case for him, maybe he could still do it, but it might be difficult because he could be heard. I don't really know. We can try though and see how much he understands." He said.

I nodded. "I guess."

"Remember when your sisters used to make those 'potions' to turn themselves into mermaids?" Zayn suddenly mentioned it as he continued to cook the sausages.

I laughed as I remembered the memory. "Yep, that was something for sure. I remember them constantly doing it every day and crying when nothing happened."

"They cried too? Oh wow." He chuckled. He finished cooking the sausages and placed each of them on separate plates.

"Mmhm, and didn't give up until they finally accepted that mermaids aren't real. Well, until now. For us at least."  I said.

The merman came downstairs after Zayn set the table, and we began to eat.


I hope you guys like this chapter!.xX.