A Merman's Tale

Margaret: Chapter Eleven

     “Whoa!” I shrieked as I caught Seirra’s heavy weight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared with the sudden load and my feet did a funny flip that caused me to lose my balance and fall backwards—with Seirra’s unconscious body falling right on top of mine. For a moment, my vision turned into plain black—pain rushing through my spine up to my head. Luckily, it wasn’t that far of a fall and although it was painful (at least as compared to being thrown towards a pile of metal crates), I didn’t hit the ground that hard.

     By the time my eyes started to register colors again, I tried to wake Seirra up but he didn’t seem to have recovered yet. I stiffened, afraid of the depressing thoughts that suddenly rushed to my head.

     “Seirra?” I asked in between breaths. I shook him once, twice. “Seirra, please. Please be alive.” Tears had started to form at the corners of my eyes and I ended up shaking him more violently. “Seirra!” I exclaimed brokenly.

     He still didn’t move and desperate fear began to envelop my heart. I slowly wrapped my arms around him and let go of my tears.

     My uncontrollable sobs went on for a few seconds before I felt that something was brushing my ear: his breath. A bolt of realization had completely stopped my tears and joy flooded my veins.

     He’s alive. Thank God, he’s alive, I thought as I hugged him tighter.

     In seconds, I was in motion—or at least in as much motion as our present positions could allow. That being the case, I decided that I could only rely on my strength to push him off me so I could get up and ask for help.

     I had to struggle to move him—I’ve always thought he was big but at this moment, I was sure he weighed three times more than I did. It took me three shoves before half of his body finally slid off. After taking a deep breath, I got up and started to drag his body towards the nearest wall.

     Once I got him settled in a sitting position, I began to check his injuries. I could still remember how one of his enemies had stabbed him in the gut. Blood covered his clothes and if not for his irregular breathing, I probably would have broken down all over again.

     I was up for a surprise however. Despite the torn and bloody clothes, his wounds had stopped bleeding.

     “It must be his healing abilities,” I sighed with a small smile.

     Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer of thanks.

     “You sure scared the hell out of me,” I whispered, stroking his right cheek.

     He looked like the battle-worn soldier he was and despite the filth covering his body, I still couldn’t help but admire his handsome features.

     Damn. This isn’t the time to fantasize over his hotness, Marge. You’ve got to ask for help.

     I gave my head a shake before I removed my hand from his cheek to reach for the cell phone in my back pocket. Much to my dismay, I lost whatever chance I had to contact Grampa. I may not have suffered any kind of injury aside from a short vision blackout but the fall practically killed my phone. The screen had been broken with some shards falling off and even though I had heard about stories of iPhones still turning on after the screen got broken, mine was apparently dead.

     So I came up with a plan B and decided that I could probably leave Seirra here for a few minutes while I look for a way to reach Grampa. I stared at the unconscious man in front of me. I couldn’t risk bringing him to a hospital and lie about Seirra’s identity. Besides, what would I tell them when they ask me how he got wounded? That mermen appeared and stabbed him with a sword?