Mermaid in a Bottle

Chapter 17- School, Humans, and Everything in Between

I took another quick glance at the doll. Her purple dress floated up slightly as Asia kept moving her hands up and down with joy.

"We are all alive thanks to you," I heard Asia's mother exclaim before I floated off into my own little world.

Boris had mentioned a doll before I had left. Was this doll the same one or was I imagining things? I mean, she did say she found it here in one of these rooms. And now there was no way I could lead Boris through the tunnels. What if we ended up here? Then I would have to tell him everything! And Liz would be mad at me for eternity!

"MerLissa? Are you okay?" Liz was flailing her arms in front of my face, making me lose my train of thought.

"I was onto something Liz! You ruined it!" I yelled, anger seeping out of me for no reason.

"Sheesh! Calm down there Lissy!" The new nickname she gave me made me smile. I liked it. My mom used to always call me that. "So are you back? Because maybe you could, I don't know, tell us what you were thinking if that's not too much to ask."

I thought about it for a second before saying retardedly, "Never start a sentence with 'because'. It's bad grammar."

Liz rolled her eyes. "Wow. Nice. So are you going to tell or not?"

I sighed. "I guess." I pointed to the doll. "Hey Asia, may I see that doll for a second?"

She reluctantly handed it over. The purple dress was made of a very soft fabric, probably velvet. There was a small red bracelet wrapped around the doll's wrist about three times. I hadn't noticed it on her before, but it seemed pretty familiar. Now that I thought about it, I could remember one looking exactly like that with one of my closest friends.

I stared at it some more in confusion. "How did this get here?" I asked, showing the bracelet to everyone.

"Hmm. I don't know." Asia walked up and inspected it. "Oh! That was there before. It seemed to fit her so I left it alone."

"This looks exactly like... the bracelet my mom carries on her wrist. Look it even has my mothers initials!" I carefully unraveled the bracelet from her hand and put it right in front of my eyes so I could see everything written on it. On the other side of the bracelet were some numbers. 12.03.92 It was a date. And it's funny because that was the day my mom and dad got married.

"You seem deep in thought." Liz stated.

I laughed. That would have been something Otto would have said.

"What's so funny?!" she demanded.

"You just reminded me of an old friend."

Otto and Nemo. I wondered if they were looking for me. They probably wouldn't have gotten far, knowing how stupid those two were. But then again, they had Robby so they could possibly already be out of Merillia. I really missed my old friends. I have known them for my whole life and now they were gone. But I am sort of glad my father decided to kidnap me. Okay that sounded wrong. I am glad I am here. I have met a lot of new friends and even fallen in love. Boris was an awesome guy and I hoped I could stay with him forever. After all, once you have fallen in love, this person you have fallen for can never be replaced. Or at least that's what I have heard.

*****

(Nemo's P.O.V.)

"You just reminded me of an old friend."

To be able to hear her voice again... No! I am not straight! Gay, you idiots! I am gay! I was just excited about knowing my friend, my best friend, was alive. Otto was definately not my best friend. And I totally don't approve of him being worthy enough to be my lover either so don't get any ideas.

Speaking of Otto, he was all up in my fudge and it was starting to get annoying. We were both hiding in separate room, more of a closet, taking turns peeking through a small hole in the wall. We couldn't get that good of a view, especially for me because Otto's butt was like right there...in my face...scarring me for life. Nobody wants to see Otto's purple little behind unless something is wrong with them in the head.

"Hey MerLissa. It's time to go."

MerLissa nodded and followed a small little girl with a very black colored tail. It was so black, I couldn't even see her true color underneath.

"Otto! Otto!" I whispered in a very serious tone. "They're leaving! We have to find some way to folllow them!"

Otto nodded. "As soon as they are out, we will go through those holes in the ceiling. You see them?" He asked, pointing at nothing but darkness up ahead.

"But what about the humans?" For once I was actually being smart. I was so proud of myself!! "They're staying."

"Um..." he was deep in thought. Actually, I don't even think he could be deep in thought. He must have been a good actor or something... "We could...become friends with them! I'm sure they would understand!!"

Just then, the door opened. Otto had been stupid enough to yell that out loud. I looked up. A whole bunch of humans were crowded around me.

"MerLissa help me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and closed my eyes, cowering in fear.

"I'm sorry, but MerLissa just left with her friend Elizabeth," a young male stated. He had as little stubble on his cheek from not shaving in a couple of days and the muscles he had sort of ripped through his shirt.

"Oh dear God. Don't let this happen to me!" I think it was love a first sight! I just needed to know if he was gay or not...

"You know them?" A little girl came up holding a doll. The doll was a female and has on a pretty flowing dress and I instantly thought about Otto.

"Hey Otto! Look it's your mate!" I joked, pointing to their matching color.

"Ew! No the only one I will ever like is MerLi- I mean ahem nothing." Otto muttered the last part and covered his mouth after realizing what he had just revealed.

"Aw!!" I teased, making little kissy faces in the water. "You're in love with MerLissa! I knew it was bound to happen! You are finally revealing all your little secrets to me!"

"Be quiet Nemo," Otto grumbled. "So," he turned to the humans. "do you know how I could get to her? She is my best friend and she got trapped here in Evil Ville or whatever they call it."

The girl with the doll nodded. "Possibly through the tunnels. My dad has been up there a few times to make sure everything is secure. You will need a shovel to get through the dirt, though. It's packed in there pretty tight. And we don't know where the tunnels will lead you."

Otto nodded as if absorbing everything into his mind. "I know this may be hard to ask, but can we stay here? I am sort of afraid of the dark."

I slapped my forehead and shook my head. "We will take the offer is what he means," I said.

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So, done with this chapter!! Hope you all enjoyed and since I updated until chapter 20, you will be able to read more!!

Thanx for reading!

LIZZIE <3