Waterline

Souls Unanimously

"Explain to me, why were you all on the boat?" Crimson asked them. The group stared at the strange looking man. Trying not to look intimidated by his scar. "We were looking for Nelson," Ashley finally spoke up. Crimson wrote it down on his notebook before looking up. "He was already found," Crimson commented.
"Earlier that night he went out of the beach and didn't return. We all got worried for him so we threw together a search party," Ashley explained.

Crimson started writing what she said on his notebook. He was still suspicious about the story. "Where did you find him?" He asked her. "There was a rocky platform close by," Ashley answered. The others were surprised by how good she was with the story. She had a plan for everything.

The interrogation went on for half an hour. Crimson was not buying her story but he went along with it. Since no one is telling the truth, then he will find it some other way. Crimson dismissed them and allowed them to go find there other three friends. It was a hard find, they were in the room next door.

"Thank god, you are all safe," Pj got up from his seat. All of them were bored while sitting in the room. He walked up and hugged Penelope. Toby did the same with Ashley but also giving her a peck on the cheek. Libby just hugged every person she sees. She accidentally hugged PJ but they didn't care too much. "Wait, where is Conor, Mae, and Allen?" Darrel asked.
"Conor and Allen are in the hospital," Toby explained.
"What about Mae? Is she safe?" Penelope asked.
"Yeah, she is somewhere in the police station," Libby told her. Penelope felt relief to hear that. She still worried about Allen and Conor. It was strange that Mae didn't get hurt, something must be protecting her.

The door opened to the room minutes later. A man with a buzzed haircut walked in. "You all can go home now. We will be doing more investigation over this crime," the man explained. "What about Mae?" Penelope quickly asked. She wasn't going to abandon her friend in a strange place.
"She left with one of our officers," the man said.
"What?!" Pj quickly jumped up.
"It's nothing scandalous, he's taking her to the hospital," the man didn't realize how wrong that sounded. He knew that Officer William was a good man with good morals.
"Anyways, do you need a lift? Our officers can take you home," he told them.

The ride to the hospital was mostly quiet. Mae was allowed to sit in the front seat but it brought up her anxiety. What did Officer William do to her? Was he the reason she was a siren? Mae knew better than to jump to conclusions but she was curious. This made it harder for her to bite her tongue. Mae would look bad if she exposed that she was spying on Officer William.

Officer William drove up to the entrance of the hospital. "Do you want me to take you home, too?" He asked her. Mae shook her head before opening the door. "Thank you, I hope you have a good night," Mae turned around before she closes the door.
"Thanks, I was going to take a stroll around the countryside. Y'know, a nightly drive," William said. Mae nods and told him to stay safe. She closed the door. Then watched as the police car drove away.

Mae walked into the hospital and was greeted by the woman at the front desk. She explained how she wants to see Conor Brown and her relationship with him. Mae got lucky and was escorted to Conor's room. Upon opening the door to the room, she started to get a bad sense. It was irrelevant to what is going on. Still, there is something happening that she won't know about.

Mae found Conor sitting up on his bed. He was wide awake, it almost looks like he was waiting for her. "I had a feeling you would come and see me," Conor smiled at her. Mae smiled back as she sat on the couch that was next to the bed. "It'll be ungrateful if I didn't, you did save my life," Mae told him.
"It's no big deal, that's my job. I have to protect you from everything. You did the same for me," Conor explained to Mae.
"When?" She asked.
"That time you defended me from Molly,"
"More like I humiliated myself,"
"You still stood up for me and I have to return the favor," Conor said, he was thankful that she did what she did.

There was a long silence between them as they sat staring into the distance. It wasn't awkward in any way, it was just a quiet moment together. "Have you heard from Allen?" Mae spoke up. It was strange for her to start the conversation but she didn't feel like biting her tongue. "I overheard that he did get bruises on his arm," Conor told her. It wasn't much information but enough for Mae to know that he was alright. "It would be a big surprise if he didn't get hurt," Mae said.

Conor smiles and looks at her. He felt he should get real with her. So much has happened and he's been learning so much. "Do you ever think about what happened to you before you were a siren?" Conor asked Mae.
"All the time, but I don't know if I want to know," Mae explained.
Conor turned to his side to face Mae. "Why would you say that?" he questioned her.
"I don't to get hurt by it again," Mae told him.

She then started to think about William. It was a bad idea to eavesdrop on his conversation. There's a punishment for her snooping. Mae is always going to look at William different. Still, she shouldn't be judged so soon. All he did was he dated a girl that looks exactly like her. How long could that have been? He may not be the last person she dated before was a siren.

"Mae, what's wrong?" Conor asked her. She looked up with a confused complexion. "You look deep in thought after that question," he explained.
"I was just thinking about what could've happened," she responded.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you bad thoughts," Conor apologizes.
"It's not bad, just curious thoughts," Mae clarifies.
"I didn't want to make you sad," Conor explained himself.
"Don't worry about it."

The silence was brought back again. Mae looked at the clock, realizing it is almost 4 in the morning. She should get some sleep before the sun rises. "I'm going to sleep," Mae told Conor.
"Will you be alright on the couch?" He questioned her.
"Yea, it's no big deal," Mae assures him. Conor still felt guilty for letting his girlfriend sleep on the couch while he was on a bed. To be fair, it wasn't that comfy and there was hardly room for him to move around. The couple exchanged passionate, "goodnights," before going into slumber. Sadly, Mae was never informed about the loss of a really close friend.