Fantasy Tales Series: Rise of The Merfolk

Chapter Nine~ Edited

I was feeling pretty crappy the next day. Tensions in the house were high. Nobody was really talking and a thick black cloud of anger loomed over the household. Last nights argument hadn't been forgiven yet, and when Naomi had gotten back from dropping off Kalum, she continued to pester everyone about how great a guy he was. I had never seen her so obsessively happy. It was bordering on weird and I wanted to say something to her but I also figured this was just her crush phase- it would die down in about another week perhaps. They were angry at her for not even attempting to read the room and try to sympathise, after all the argument was about Kalum. Instead  she made the rest of the night all about herself.

At least they had that to bond over.

It also didn't help that I'd had no sleep the night before. I tossed and turned, haunted by the same dream of a purple haired Mermaid out to get me. This time she was threatening to expose me in front of my friends if I didn't give in to her demands- who the hell was she? Was she just some random person my imagination cooked up or was she...real? I scoffed at myself, it was just a dream. She couldn't be real. 

The tension in the house was making Lila grow more and more anxious and I knew I would say something nasty to all of them if I didn't get out for a walk so we had decided to go out along the beach together. I had to get out before my temper decided to make an appearance. I might not have been as rash of a person as Cece or as stubborn in her opinions as Sophia was but out of all of us I was known as the one with a nasty temper when it flared up. Apparently my bitch face was scary. 

The walk was nice- just what we needed. I felt refreshed as I allowed the cool breeze to surround myself and the sounds of the waves to make me feel more positive. Lila also seemed to perk up and deal better. We walked along the bike path stepping out of the way of bikers when they rang their little bike bells. After about an hour we decided we were starving and stopped at the local beach café for lunch. My mouth was watering as the prospect of food. It was a large place on the beach, two stories with plenty of deck chairs and tables to accommodate all the customers. It had a pretty blue, yellow and green colour scheme paint job on the outside and a giant great white shark illustration above the name of the café – Eternal Flame. The name was painted in bold purple letters with a cluster of fruits at the corner of the sign. From the looks of it, the café appeared to be pretty popular as people milled around annoyingly. I saw plenty of signs stuck to the walls advertising the menu and their latest competition, "Put your name in the bowl to win free burgers for three months!" It was a pretty good marketing ploy.

'Love the café- hate the public.' I muttered under my breath. Lila heard me and giggled in agreement. I could smell the ripe stench of body odour lingering from the crowds of people and scrunched up my nose. It wouldn't kill the owners to buy a few air fresheners. It was repulsive but the pretty interior design of the place made up for it. Once again repeating the vibrant colours on the outside of greens, blues and yellows. There was a bar open in the evenings for adults and glittering chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. We shoved our way through people with our elbows (upsetting quite a few people) and made it to the register. Lila muttering apologies to the angry cries of those we shoved aside. There was a line of a few people but we were both starving so we were willing to wait.

'You don't have to say sorry.' I reminded her. 'They saw us moving int heir direction and deliberately didn't bother moving aside.' 

Lila sighed. 'I know but it's always good to leave people with a good impression.'

'Since when do you care about that stuff?'

She shrugged awkwardly and didn't answer my question. I chose to let it go although it left me with a bunch of questions swimming around in my mind. 'Should we eat here?' Lila glanced around. Most of the tables seemed to be occupied and those that weren't were filled with rubbish and used plates, I saw empty glasses and papers strewn about.