🎈Oscar and Mer 🍆🪼🔮🐌🤕💻💞 🔨

XII

Mer opened his eyes and felt around beside him but didn't feel Oscar there. He panicked and sat up, looking around to try and find his friend. He rolled over to the edge of the bed and tried to stand, but was still very weak and ended up crumbling to the floor. Mer cursed and grabbed the top of the side table to try and help himself get back on his feet. He heard footsteps and looked up, hoping to find Oscar, but instead was met with Oscar's dad.

"Are you alright?" Isaiah asked, going over and helping Mer get back up.

Mer sat down on the bed and nodded, looking at Isaiah for a moment.

Where is Oscar?

"Oz had to go to the aquarium to make sure things were set up with the job he has there. He'll only be gone for a few hours. I volunteered to look after you until he gets back."

How long will he be gone? he asked quizzically.

"A few hours. Five at the most?" Mer's eyes got wide. "I wish I could give you a more definite answer..."

Mer looked away, chewing on his thumbnail a little in anxiety. Isaiah touched his hand softly and Mer looked over at him.

"I don't know everything, but I know that things have been a little hard for the both of you, right?" Mer nodded a little. "I'm here to help, as I always have. Oscar will be back soon and trusted me to make sure you were okay. You've known me as long as you've known Oz; have I ever done anything to hurt you?" Mer shook his head. "Then what makes you think I'd start now?"

Mer smiled and leaned his head onto Isaiah's shoulder. Isaiah smiled and put his arm around the merman.

"I'll make sure to do as much as I can to help. First thing's first though, please brush your teeth."

******************

Oscar drove up to the aquarium and looked at the large wall with the sea mural on it. Oscar's mother specifically chose this place for the ocean view but she also chose it because they had one of the largest aquariums around. The walls were huge and the giant picture of a blue whale on the side was almost representative by the things inside. A whale of that proportion was way too big to contain, but they did house much larger animals than usual like killer whales, whale sharks, and a giant octopus. They also had an interesting "indoor" diving experience that allowed people to go into the depths of the ocean and see some interesting creatures that were not in captivity but were definitely hard to see otherwise.

Overall, it drove tourism to the area and was one of the largest job availabilities around. Almost everyone who lived there worked or has worked at the aquarium in one department or another. Everything else was a thirty minute to an hour drive away. Ironically, even though Oscar visited the place every year, he had never been to the aquarium. Probably because he was always with Mer and had just as much fun with him.

He walked to the front doors of the building and pushed it open. He walked to the counter where a young woman was on the phone looking very bored at whoever was talking. She chewed her gum as she listened to someone ramble on the other end of the receiver and gave a half-hearted 'uh huh' every few minutes. Eventually the person on the other end seemed to stop.

"I understand the frustration, but like I told you before, it doesn't matter if you were the owner of a private island, there are certain types of sea creature that can't be housed in a normal setting and a giant squid is one of them. There isn't a tank big enough or deep enough for them. They are deep sea creatures, which is why we haven't seen them since just recently. If you really want to give your friends a display, get you a large aquarium and fill it up with firefly squid and other fish that use bioluminescence. I'd come see that. Mmhmm. No, we don't sell them. We're an aquarium not a pet store. Okay... Okay. Great. Bye." She rolled her eyes and looked at Oscar. "Can I help you?"