High Tide (boyxboy)

Chapter 17: Back to the day

"Exposure will endanger us. Remember what happened to our cousins the merkind." 

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Kai sits up a little. "Stan, I know everything. I know why I couldn't remember, why you couldn't find me."

Stan sits back a little. He so desperately needed to know. "Please...tell me."...

Ten years previous 

...Thirteen year old Kai was rock hunting with his red haired friend Rusty like he usually was. He picked up another shiny stone from the sea bed. Even the crystalline colours of the rock, which fascinated him once upon a time, weren't enough anymore. He throws the rock back down, watching it slowly rest back on the seabed.
"Rus...don't you want to do something else?"

Rusty stops what he is doing and looks up confused. What's up Kai?"

Kai just shrugs, kicking his feather like feet in the water. "I don't know, it's just, isn't there more to see? More to do than collecting stupid rocks?" Kai looks down at the masses of stones beneath his feet.

"Don't even dare to think like that...you know the risks of wanting to explore." Rusty resumed his rock searching, picking one up and putting it in a netted bag on his shoulder.

"Yeah I know..." He could hear his mother's words ringing in his ears. "Exposure will endanger us. Remember what happened to our cousins the merkind." Kai remembered the stories his mother had told him about how humans had discovered their existence, caged them, dissected them, treated them like freaks. "We aqualines must never meet the same fate." Kai starts to look down at his blue hands, twiddling his thumbs around each other. Rusty looks back up. He can tell Kai is in thought.

"You are scheming. I know that look."

"It's just...there is somewhere I want to explore and...and I think if I go when the tide is high, there will be no humans. no one to see us." Kai looks up hopefully at Rusty. He wants him to agree so badly. Rusty lowers the bag off his shoulder. 

"Do you mean the caves?" Rusty had heard about the rock formation inside looking like the jaws of a shark. 

"Yes...please Rus. I promise it will be fine...no one will see us." Rusty reluctantly nods as he drops the netted bag onto the seabed, with them now both making their way to the cave. 

The tide is still reasonably low, so they both crouch behind a rock further out in the sea, watching and waiting. "How long do we have to wait?" Rusty asks, picking the limpets from the rock and popping them in his mouth while they wait, like they were candy. 

Kai holds up his hand, letting the breeze flow through his open fingers. "Around 5 minutes, according to the breeze," he replies. 

Another 5 minutes pass and the time is now. "Come on." Kai beckons Rusty forward and they dive just below the water's surface, moving at speed, cutting through the water like a pair of blades. Rusty is the first to pop his head above the water, carefully moving towards the shallow waters trying to stay low with Kai just behind. 

Suddenly Rusty freezes, causing Kai to crash into the back of him. "What's up?" 

"Humans." Rusty warns as he sees the back of a boy just inside the cave's entrance. They hold back a moment, waiting for the boy to move, but he stays there, it looks like he is pacing on the spot. 

"Why isn't the human moving?" Kai asks while watching with intrigue. 

"I don't know?" Rusty replies. "We'll have to come back another time. Rusty turns and starts to wade back into the depths of the sea. 

"Wait." Kai suddenly says. "I think there's something wrong."

Rusty turns again to face Kai. "What do you mean?" 

"They are talking to someone." Kai replies, edging a little closer to get a better view. 

"Wait. You're getting too close." Rusty warns, but Kai pays no attention. He watches as the boy seems to be talking to someone in the cave. Someone who by looking at the rise in the tide, should be clear of the place by now.

"Rus I think they need help." 

Rusty now backs away further into the water. "Are you crazy? We can't help them...we can't."

Kai continues to look. Something in him doesn't make him pull away. He hated the thought of seeing someone in distress. Then he sees an opportunity. 

The boy suddenly begins to turn and run away along the beach. This was Kai's chance to act. If he was going to help it had to be now. He slowly gets down on his hands and knees, his belly inches from the shallow sandy bed as he crawls like a lizard from the sea. "Kai..what are you doing.. .come back". Rusty calls from further out but Kai ignores his calls. 

Now on the sandy shore, Kai curls himself into a tight ball and rolls himself forward towards the cave. A silvery grey sphere now heading to the entrance, water spilling in from the sea at a fast rate. At first he sees no one, but then he hears a noise. A gasp for air and then a hand surfacing from a deep pool just within the entrance. Kai knew enough about humankind to know that they needed air to breathe, not being blessed with lungs and gills like the aqualine. This boy would drown if Kai didn't act. 

He wastes no more time and enters the cave waters, heading straight for the boy who was now completely submerged. He sees his body go limp as he gets closer then notices the leg of his jeans which are caught on the rock. Kai heads straight to the caught garment and quickly manages to untwist then unhook the jeans, letting the boy's body float freely in the water. Kai wraps an arm around his middle and swims whilst pulling him to his side. 

Eventually they are out in the open air and Kai rests the boy on his back. He wastes no time in giving the boy air, placing his mouth over his and blowing gently. The boy coughs a little and slowly opens his eyes....