The Mer Prince

Chapter 32

Charley Boy POV

I think I preferred the inside tank. Bill had convinced Dr. Asshole to allow me in a tank outside. It had dolphins in it, and I hated them. I could speak the language and hated each one of the dolphins with a passion.

I never imagined I would loathe dolphins, ever, in my life. I guess things change when I can understand their language and they can slap your ass.

The first day in the tank, I became acquainted with the three dolphins in here. Winner, Mac, and P.W., or 'Polly Wobbles'. They were all males, and Dr. Washington thought I would be fine with them or something, or even mate with them.

Who the heck does he think I am?! I will not do anything like that to a fish or mammal!

The second day in the tank, we got food. Fish showered onto the dolphins, and I was taking a soda and some fries. I wasn't too hungry and the salt they put on the fries seemed to level my stomach a little. I ate and then dove down, getting water in my lungs and going back up to continue my meal. I came up to find Mac slamming everything away and drowning it with water using his fluke, washing the soggy remains away from my reach, soda spilled over the concrete and gone.

"No! You...! Why did you do that?!" I yelled to him, and he just laughed, in his squeaky barking way, and swam off. Needless to say, this happened to a lot of my meals, despite what Bill would do to try and keep the food in place. It felt like Mac wanted me to die of starvation.

On the fourth day, all of the dolphins suddenly rammed me with their noses, shoving me out of the water near the edge where I usually stayed. I yelled and slapped and they tried to beach me! Did Dr. Washington believe this though? Not at all, he thought I was trying to escape via dolphins. He installed a net over the pool to make sure that never happened again.

I was getting more anxious the longer I stayed with the dolphins. When they moved close, I sped to the other side of our tank. One thing I had them beat with was speed now.

They were disgusting. Worse than any junkie on the streets who thought he could have his way with anyone. I was eating, and P.W. slapped my ass with a fin, a move he saw more than once with a lady outside the tank and her lover. He continued to try and prod me on more than one occasion around places I hadn't bothered to investigate myself. I think I scratched and slapped the dolphins more on the fifth day than any other.

On top of everything, I could understand dolphin. They spoke in incomplete sentences and sounded like text lingo, and all the dolphin noises I remember recorded were all actually cussing- the majority of the time. "Gal, wan ne? We can go. Bang bang bang, ye know?" They said, and sounded like morons.

One day, the doctors gave them pufferfish as some weird side experiment, which worsened their conditions. I had heard before that the dolphins used the fish as a drug to get high, and that was right. They chased me around with a sloth-slow swim, and were making horrendous lewd comments, higher than the clouds and pretty much assaulting my ears. I poked my head out of the water to look around through the net, in case the gate to the female dolphins' tank was open. It was thankfully- the janitor named Jamari had accidentally left the chain-link barrier to possible-safety open.

I had planned this ever since I was stuck in the male tank. I was going to launch out, and roll for my life for the lady dolphins, hoping they would be more friendly. If not, then I would try for the sea turtles, anywhere before Dr. Armpit Washington wised up.

I lifted the ill-made net from the side of the pool, popping off hooks with ease before diving down and breaking the mesh from the exhibit edge, before letting the pieces go. The dolphins swam closer and I moved to the bottom of the tank, aiming for the gap I made in the net and charging for it.

It was like a backwards dive. I launched out of the water better than any dolphin, whale, or fish could manage, holding my breath of water and surprised by my own distance. I was higher than anticipated, going not as far as I hoped, meaning my fall was going to hurt more too. Concrete passed under me and I angled my arm so I would land on it, closing my eyes and bracing for it.

I never felt the concrete thankfully. Unfortunately, I did feel myself slamming into a chest and knocking someone over. We hit the concrete and I flopped, rolling myself over quickly until I fell into the water and took a breath before checking out of the water to see who I hit. It wasn't a good idea, and I lowered myself down as none other than Dr. Washington got up.

He was not happy at all.

The man moved over threateningly and I sped to the other side of the tank I rolled into, stopping near the far edge. I was confused as I did not see any dolphins in my way, though I remembered dolphin noises this direction. A kelp patch was growing at the bottom and I quickly hid in it, stirring algae. It was time I noticed this had less salt. This distressed and stressed me, literally. My gills began to itch and I hurried up quickly. "S-Salt...." I mumbled, trying to be loud.

I didn't know if I was euryhaline or not, which means I could stand a large range of salinity, but at the moment I did not want to find out! Apparently Washington did want to find out though, as he crossed his arms and watched me, while I freaked out and became dizzy. Something pulled me back, and I stilled, watching the light reflect on the water above me, before passing out. The last thing I noticed was a tentacle passing over my eyes.