THE WATERS :: ZAYN

boulders

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Zayn woke up with a start, a sheen of sweat on his face and beads forming around his hairline. He sat up in the bed, his hand raking through his long hair as he looked ahead at the blank wall.

He heard whining and scratching at his door. Any other time, Rhino would somehow be able to open his door, but this time it sounded like he was super stressed out. Zayn got up, opening the door. Rhino ran in the room, sitting on the bed and barking at Zayn.

"Ugh," he looked at the clock and saw it was four in the morning, "what do you want, man?"

Rhino whined, his tail wagging low. He jumped off the bed, circling around Zayn.

Zayn sighed. "Hold on, mate. We're going for a walk." he grabbed his jacket and slipped on sweatpants and shoes. Rhino was already to the door when Zayn was walking downstairs, a yawn escaping his lips. His dog was still going crazy, whimpering and growling at the outside air. Zayn opened the door and Rhino bolted down the shoreline near the rocks and boulders.

"Shit," Zayn ran after him, wondering why he didn't take the leash with him this time. He found Rhino by a large boulder, barking and perking his ears up at whatever sound he could hear and Zayn couldn't. "Okay, shut up for a second, yeah?"

Zayn turned the corner and gasped at the body lying on the rocks. It was dark but he could tell she was naked and partially conscious, every once in a while letting out a muffled sound of distress. She didn't really move, the shallow breaths she was letting out told him she'd been out for here for a long time.

He carefully stepped over rocks to reach the girl who's eyes were already open and looking at him. They glowed in the night just like his dog's did and she didn't dare blink.

"Can you speak?" Zayn asked quietly, touching her ice cold hand. The girl flinched, gulping and lolling her head to the side and away from him. "I'm gonna pick you up, okay?"

She didn't answer, instead closing her eyes and taking a large breath. Zayn took that as an okay, putting one arm under her knees and the other around her back. He heard her groan and whimper, something similar to what Zayn heard before he fell asleep last night. He frowned, wondering exactly how long she was out here naked and alone.

They made their way back to Zayn's home and towards his office which also served as an examination room. One could say he was a doctor of some sort, the kid was smart, so it wasn't surprising.

Under the fluorescent light, Zayn could see the girl clearer. Her skin was a deep mocha brown, looking smooth and with no sort of flaw he could see. She had chubby cheeks and dark freckles peppered on her face and lips. Her eyebrows were thick and hair was dense and fluffy, falling in frizzy curls around the table and in her big eyes. Eyes that, had long lashes around the lids and somehow glowed in the dark.

He wondered what color they were.

Anyway, Zayn Malik grabbed his clipboard and wrote down the observations he made while she slept. He assumed she was, she was snoring, which coincidently sounded like a soft whistle and some sort of tune. He took a white blanket and covered her body.

He frowned as he looked at her legs, which had lacerations on the inside, going all the way up to her thighs. They looked fresh, maybe a few hours old. The girl's feet seemed the most injured out of everything, looking like she had been stepping on a thousand needles, no blood came out, but it looked like scarring. Zayn covered them back up, moving to her arms.

Her wrists were adorned in small thin jewelry such as authentic aquamarine gemstones and seashells, almost as if it was embedded in her skin. He took her bracelets off and set them on the counter, making sure there were no inflictions on her wrists.

Zayn was confused, for one. This seemed out of the ordinary. He was the only person he knew about on this island, he knew, because he scoped the place out before moving unless this girl traveled by water and ended up stranded.

Rhino sat at the door anxiously, he whimpered occasionally. Whoever this was was seriously affecting his dog and he didn't like it.

Zayn bit his lip, wondering who this woman was and what was she doing here. He pulled the blanket back again to take a look at the scars on her ribs.

Three slits, all right beside each other. And moving with each breath she took.

And Zayn was suddenly lightheaded.

He ran to the bookshelf across the study, looking at the alphabetically ordered books and landing on the M's.

"Manta Ray, Marlin fish, Mermaid," he grabbed the books about mermaids and pulled them out, setting them on the counter. He opened the first one, sitting down on the stool and flipping through the pages to find characteristics.

"Aquamarine tears?" Zayn whispered, "fish tail. Ability to walk on land...gills." Zayn gulped.

He just possibly found something more far fetched and evasive than the giant squid.

His brain racked with all sorts of possibilities. Maybe he was dreaming, maybe this girl was just super weird and got some sort of reconstructive surgery to seem like a fish. People did drastic things these days.

"God," he was going crazy with this information, backing up at the figure on the table. He had a mermaid in his house and no one was here to witness it. They were definitely gonna think he was delusional.

Zayn looked up when he heard a small groan. The girl's head was turning side to side and her legs moved as one when she tried to move but was too weak.

She was awake.

And Zayn was kind of excited.

???

promise next chapter will be more interesting

and thank you guys, so nice and shit already I love tou😁😁😁💖