Earthborne

4

   It was one of those typical work days on a blistering sunny morning, but it was no easy-breezy job. Nick's fingers flew across the cash register as his co-worker passed out thirst-quenching drinks to the eager customers. Couples and friends lounged around the rectangular counter as their drinks perspired on the freshly-cleaned wooden surface, "Nick!" a voice called out. 

    Nick lifted his head to find his mother's friend and waved a hand at her. He looked at his co-worker who just served water to a pair of friends, "I'm going to take the right side." and he left his spot to meet up with her, "How's it going, Julia?" 

   Julia sighed as she slipped her pink sunglasses of her face and planted it on the counter, "Stressful. Bring me a piña colada, dear."

   "Gotcha, ma'am." Nick replied as he set to work creating the coconutty concoction. Minutes later, he set the glass in front of her and placed a paper umbrella in the drink. Julia immediately started drinking the piña colada as if she hadn't a drink the whole day, "So, what bugged you today?" 

   "It's just that - oh, I'm not going to distract you today, am I?" Julia asked. 

   "You're good, Julia. Bar's not too busy right now, so you can tell me." Nick said. 

   "I see, well," Julia put the drink down. She had already finished half of the tropical drink, "it's so stressful. This week, I had discovered that my dog, Rosie, ran away three days ago. She's still not found, and I'm just really worried."

   "Aww, I'm really sorry, Julia. Sadly, I haven't seen her around lately." 

   Julia shook her head as she lowered her gaze, and wisps of gray hair framed her speckled face, "Even animal control hasn't found her yet."

   "I'm sure she hasn't gone that far, someone ought to find a dog around here sometime soon. There's lots of people crowding the streets in the daytime." Nick replied. He tried to rack up something good to say to save Julia from her dilemma, "have you thought of putting up signs?" 

   "No... but maybe I can try that." Julia muttered, raising her grey eyes up to meet his. 

   Nick nodded, "There you go, you're right on track," Suddenly, a mass of thirsty consumers caught his attention from the corner of his eye, "I'm sorry, Julia, but I got a group of hungry sharks to feed." 

   Julia gave a short chuckle, "It's alright, I'm just going to hang out and watch the waves. Thank you." Nick returned her gesture with a curt nod as he made haste towards the crowd. 

~~~

   The sun sank towards the horizon, making way for brilliant shades of scarlet and pink to color the beach landscape. Nick and his co-workers wrapped up the bar and left to go home. Nick spent about 15 minutes driving home, and when he went up to his house. As soon as he entered their house, he called out to his family, "Nina, Jason, I'm home!"

   In reponse, a sweet shout rang through the house. Jason came fumbling about as he ran towards his father and hugged his legs, "Ahaha, how are you doing?" 

   "Good. Mommy helped me with my homework so now I can watch more Regular Show." 

   Nick chuckled, "Alright, just remember to sleep before 10. Anyway, where's your mother?" When his son told him, Nick headed to their bedroom to meet Nina. The queen bed was made to perfection and there was not a dirty t-shirt nor sock in sight. He heard the sound of rushing sink water emanating from their bathroom. He knocked on the bathroom door and asked, "Can I come in?" 

   "Sure thing!" Nina called from inside, and when he walked in, the sight of a green-faced Nina caught his attention, "you know, this cucumber wash is the best thing I've ever used!" she praised the green cream as she masked around her eyes. 

   "Looks like it, but it doesn't even smell like cucumbers." Nick raised his eyebrow as he chuckled, "anyway, how was work?" 

   "Exhausting," Nina immediately spat out as she washed her hands, "I didn't know I would get tired from furiously making dessert for a picky customer!" 

   "I'm actually surprised, wow," Nick widened his eyes with disbelief, "did everything turn out well in the end?" 

   "Yes, it was worth it. I nearly cut my own fingers off from making a fondant blanket but all's well ends well! Anyway, how was your day?" Nina turned to face Nick. It was hard not to focus on her face plastered with cucumber cream and froth. 

   "Julia came in today talking about her missing dog. He disappeared recently, and I told her to put up some posters. I hope she finds him. I'd hate for anything to happen to Rosie." 

   Nina went solemn, "Aww, that's upsetting to hear. I hope Rosie is found soon. Jason would be really disappointed with her disappearance." 

   "I'm sure the dog will be found soon, don't worry," Nick yawned, "anyway, I'm gonna get out of this smelly shirt, be right back." and he walked passed his wife and into the closet. 

~~~

   Location: West side of the Pacific Ocean

   In contrast to the buzz of the human world was a watery underworld where sea creatures and merfolk alike thrived with one another. Like another universe, the organisms worked in ways that humans would have described them as "alien-like", and the merfolk found it quite funny when they heard this term from others who vacationed on land. 

   "Do you know that the people on land call us "aliens"?" A young Taiyo girl remarked at her older brother, "do you know what that means?" She and her sibling, Rik, were swimming back home from collecting seashells and fish for dinner. 

   "No, what does that - hey, were you too close to the surface again, Summer??" Her brother implored suspiciously. 

   "ANYWAY," she interjected quickly, "no, I wasn't, our cousin told me. And second of all, basically an alien meant a creature that was out of this world, something not human."

   "I see." Rik mused to himself. The two mers approached the front of the stone door and stopped. 

   "What?" Summer asked. 

   "It's curious. They think we're the aliens, but they're also aliens to us." Rik replied, and slung the floppy bag in the crook of this elbow and rolled the door to the side. They both swam in. 

   "Well, it's not like they know that we are real," Summer said, "some of them do, I don't know how many, but... we know they're real but it's not the same with us. It's kind of sad."

   Rik raised his eyebrows and scoffed, "Yeah, good riddance. Now let's eat now." 

   The 8-year-old girl sighed, "Okay." and began to search for their parents. 

~~~

   Yess, the 4th chapter is up! Thank you for reading up to this point, I appreciate it! :D In the meantime, if you have Episode and love all things fantasy, check out my story "An Angel's Betrayal" by Lucky Wishbone (that's me!). It's only 7 episodes (recently updated like two days ago), but I do put as much detail as I can in each chapter! I will also do R4R's if you have time :)

Mobile users: http://episodeinteractive.com/s/6251708731097088

   Again, thank you for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter~ P.S. I just can't wait for the summer ^o^