Don't Leave Me Behind

Fifteen

By the End of the week, Bobby knew his mother and siblings were starting to realize something wasn’t quite right with him. They’d thought it a bit odd when they’d noticed how much he seemed to like seafood so more than he’d liked it in the Past, but they’d brushed it off as a side effect of living so close to the Coast for the last few Years. After all, he’d grown up in the Orlando area and seemed to hate it as a child, but he almost never touched it once they moved to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area when he was about fifteen.

        It was when he woke up on the sixth Morn after their arrival to clawing at his arm in his sleep to the point of drawing blood that he knew things were getting bad. Even Rina woke up clawing at her leg with a whimper, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was wrong with them. That rash was starting to act up ’cuz they hadn’t been swimming all week, and they were drying out.

        Hoping that not even his mother was up yet, the bassist tossed the covers off himself and his legs over the edge of the bed. Just like he’d suspected, there were welts and bloody claw marks all over his lower half, and he didn’t have a clue how the itching and scratching hadn’t woken him up sooner. That just meant it was all the more imperative that they manage to get past his family without a ton of questions, ’cuz no doubt his lady Love was in the same state.

        “Morn–oh, my God!”

        Wincing as he resisted the urge to claw his other arm, Bobby groaned at seeing his mother and both siblings already up. “Damn it–the one thing I didn't wanna deal with this Morn.”

        The Mermaid whimpered again as she followed him outta their bedroom, unable to help clawing at her upper chest.

        “What the hell’s going on, little brother?” Patty demanded with a horrified look.

        “Either we explain it later, or ya just follow us–I’m leaving it up to Rina,” he grumbled, giving in to that urge. “I’m in no mood or shape to even try explaining it right now.”

        “After a swim, love,” Rina begged.

        “Then c’mon, darlin’, before I start trying to claw my nuts off,” the bassist agreed.

        Without another word, he took her hand and headed out the front door, not the least bit surprised to hear his family following them. They’d never seen him break out like this for obvious reasons, and no doubt they thought it strange his lady Love was broken out the same way. That, or they were thinking she’d given him some venereal disease that neither of them were gonna get rid of.

        Down at the edge of the Cove, Bobby let out a whistle he knew Sirene’d hear from wherever she happened to be hiding. They’d agreed on that being the signal to Glamour the Cove so he and the Mermaid could swim in Peace rather than being chased by humans Intent on capturing them. A split second later, he saw the slight shimmer to the Air that he’d been waiting for and heaved a sigh of relief as he turned back toward his family. He warned them not to utter a word about not wanting to see nudity, ’cuz this wasn’t exactly something they could help, and quickly dropped the towel that’d been around his waist.

        Rina immediately followed suit as she dropped the towel that’d been wrapped around her torso, and if the Water’d been deep enough, he’d no doubt she’d have dove straight in. Since it was so shallow, he wasn’t surprised she sat down on the edge of the pavement and scooted into the Water on her ass like he did. And neither could help the almost instant sighs of relief they let out, nor the pained groans of their tails appearing snapping their legs together.

        Ignoring the shocked gasps of Lynda, Butch, and Patty behind them, both rolled onto their fronts and started dragging themselves into deeper Water. The bassist only paused long enough to warn his mother and siblings not to wade out any further than their knees, ’cuz he really didn’t want them getting hurt. The Mermaid had once told him that her kind got pretty vicious toward anyone who encroached on their territory, and he’d never forgive himself for hurting his family, or allowing her to do so. With that, he lowered his head to keep dragging himself, not the slightest bit worried about drowning as he finally reached a point that he could give a flick of his tail.