Radical Origins: Mako

Break In

Draken arrived at the aquarium about an hour and a half later. He was tired and sore from sitting and waiting. He knew what he had to do, and he pulled his ePhone out of his pocket. His mom had called him three times, but he had no connection underground, so he called her back as soon as he got into the aquarium building.

"Hey mom, I'm in the aquarium," Draken muttered.

"Good, now make sure to come back as quickly as possible," his mother began telling his what he should do and what he shouldn't. He ignored her and just said yes, then hung up the phone. A shark was waiting for him only a few meters away. All he had to do was get past the entrance security. He knew it would be a challenge, but he tried to act normal. He knew lying and saying he was a midget wasn't an option, but then it hit him. A woman was standing in line to enter, and the woman looked almost just like him. Maybe she could pretend to be his mom, or somehow help him sneak in!

"Excuse me miss," he said as he approached her. "Could you help me?" She turned her head in confusion.

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?" she asked him.

"I want to go see a shark in there, but I don't have an adult to be my parent person," Draken tried to sound as responsible as he could, but he knew he failed.

"You want me to be your guardian?" Draken nodded and smiled.

"Pleas ma'am."

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow myself to do that. I can take you home though, do you want that?"

"No thanks," he mumbled, and truged back towards the doors. Then he remembered that his Chatlie Card might be able to let him in. He moved towards the security and slipped his Charlie Card into the slot. A big man looked at him and grunted. "Oh, it's for my mom, she's right there." He pointed at the woman denied letting him in. The big man nodded and went back to looking ahead. Draken stepped back a few feet, and waited till the man was facing directly away from him, and then he darted. He ran through the security laser before anyone could react. The man looked at him, but Draken was already at the stairs headed towards the shark tank.

A few minutes later Draken had made it to the shark tank. He searched up and down for the Mako shark, until he found a sick shark swimming around at the bottom. A part of his fin had been bitten off by another shark. Draken came to look over, but a loud buzzing interrupted him.

"If anyone can identify a young boy with green hair, please report him to the front desk!" Draken knew that the man had called him out. He sighed and slid down the steps of the shark tank. He didn't feel scared or frightened he was in trouble, but constantly looked back at the tank. He realized that the injured shark had bigger eyes than most of the others, and had a long, slender body with short fins. A mako shark! The man who had called him out over the intercom came up next to him and grabbed him by the arm. Draken wasn't surprised, he just looked up.

"What about that shark, it's fin is gone," Draken said calmly.

"Yeah, that happened this morning. We're gonna fix him in a few hours when this place is closed. You however, are coming with me. I'm going to call your parents to come pick you up."

"Wait," Draken said nervously. "Can I come back and watch you fix the mako?"

"Sure, but bring a parent next time!" the man said forcefully, then took Draken back to the front of the aquarium.

"How did you get here anyway?" the man asked as the two of them waited for Draken's mother.

"I took the train," Draken replied. "I live in Cambridge, so it took like an hour or two." The man nodded and smiled. Draken's mother pulled up outside the aquarium just then.

"Well I'm Mark, just to let you know. I specialize in marine biology. Come by my office if you want to know more about makos. It's upstairs." The man handed Draken a card and walked out with him. His mother rolled down the window to meet them.

"Hi, I'm so sorry Draken did this. He likes so sneak around a lot so I had a feeling this was coming."

"No problem, I enjoyed talking to him, we have a lot in common," the man laughed and opened the side door of the golden car. Draken shook his hand and climbed inside.

"Thanks," Draken said in a small voice. He knew his mother was mad, and that he would just have to wait for the punishment.

"I'm Mark, marine biologist. I'm going to be fixing a shark at around nine. Feel free to come by and watch."

"I'm sure we'll like it. See you then!" Draken's mother rolled up the window and drove onto the road. At first there was silence. Draken looked into the mirror to see if his mother had an angry look on her face. To his surprise, she was smiling.

"Aren't you mad?" Draken asked her. His mother looked into the mirror.

"If you don't do stupid things what's left to laugh about when your older. Just don't do it again." Draken laughed and rested his head on the seatbelt. He was about to see a shark get fixed. A shark get reborn.