Swim Away (Mermaid)

Chapter Seven

I put my arm up to my forehead to cover my eyes from the sun. I turned around and felt a soft bumpy surface. I put my hand in a fist. When I felt the sand, I opened my eyes. When I heard the sound of waves and seagulls, I quickly sat up. Not again!

Wait. This wasn't the same. I turned over, my eyes landing on the boy next to me. Noah's eyes were closed, and he seemed to be in a deep sleep. I dug through my bag and grabbed my phone. It was 8am. Ugh, wonderful.

I thought about waking Noah up, but he looked peaceful. I turned back to the ocean, the way it crashed on the shore, then sucking itself back in.

Suddenly, I remembered the messenger bottle and the journal. I put my hand back in the bag and couldn't find the bottle. I pulled out the journal, and there was a shattered piece of the bottle. I threw that back in the backpack. What happened to the whole bottle?

As I was about to open the book, I remembered something after I fell asleep. I had a dream that I opened this book. The pages were flipping in my mind, but I couldn't remember what they said. I tried to open the book again, but nothing happened. It was as if someone glued it shut.

I sighed putting it back inside my bag. I ran my fingers through my hair, then glanced at Noah, who slowly opened his eyes. I stayed in place, watching him slowly wake up. He didn't look at me as he sat up and mouthed 'it's time.' But I didn't question it, didn't say a thing. He didn't seem like himself until he finally turned to me.

"What time?" he asked.

"8:03," I replied, lighting up my phone. Maybe he tried to say what time instead of 'it's time.' Whatever.

"Hmm," he looked around, then shook his hair, trying to get sand out of it. I looked back at my backpack, I was silently panicking about the bottle's disappearance. I did a good job of not showing the shock that was running through my body. None of this was making any sense. I was debating whether to ask him or not.

"Do you know what happened to my messenger bottle?"

"Messenger bottle?" He narrowed his eyes in deep thought. Then he tilted his head toward the ocean, and I saw broken pieces of the bottle floating. I got up, some sand falling off me, and I walked right at the tip of the water.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Noah grabbed my arm pulling me back.

"So you know what happened to it?" I asked pulling my arm away.

"No, I don't, but it's broken. What are you going to do?" His blue eyes watching my face.

I turned back to the pieces, "but the message." I needed to know, I didn't know why, but I had to.

"It's probably long gone now."

"But, I don't get it. It was in my backpack, and now it's in the ocean?" I paused and turned to him. "You did this, didn't you? But I can't figure out why." I took a step back.

"I didn't do that. When you asked, I had no clue about it."

"Then how does that happen? How?" I pointed to the broken pieces. I put my hand to my forehead and turned away. He seemed so calm about it. But that could be because he didn't know much about it.

"Maybe it wasn't important," Noah said.

"Not important?! What if someones trapped somewhere? What if it's a piece of history? What if it was a cute love letter to someone? What if-"

"Lara, you're making a big deal about nothing. Maybe it was an empty piece of paper." I folded my arms then looked around, bringing my hands to my side. I sighed. "Come on."