Banished Mermaid (Mako mermaids Fanfic)

Chapter 6: Haunting Thoughts

Kyla's POV:

"Hey, Rita! I'm going over to Zac's for the day!" I called into the house as I grabbed my messenger bag and slung it over my shoulder. Without waiting for a reply, I swung open the front door and stepped into the refreshing summer air. After everything that’s happened, I guess I just needed to relax a bit since the other three would probably be getting on my nerves for a while. With a small smile on my lips, I started to make my way towards Zac's place, a small spring in my step.

~¤~

"Hey, Cam," I greeted when I saw Cam exiting Zac's apartment, coming from the opposite direction from where I was going. He only sent me a quick smile and continued to walk past me, seeming a little bit irritated. I raised my eyebrow as I watched him walk away but didn’t say anything about it as I continued up the few steps that led to the door. I knocked lightly on the door with mt knuckles and when I heard a muffled 'Come In' from the other side of the door, I pushed it open. "Hey, Zac," I greeted as I closed the door behind me. "Hey. Aren't you suppose to be at work?" Zac asked from where he sat on his couch, his laptop in front of him on the coffee table. "Yeah but I took the day off," I explained and plopped myself down next to him, looking at his laptop. "So, researching mermen, are we?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I have to know what I am, don't I?" He joked but I could here something else behind his voice. I turned my gaze away from the laptop to look at him but he wouldn't look at me as he continued to type on his laptop. "What's wrong?" I asked him, concern laced in my voice. "What are you talking about? Everything's fine," he stated but still wouldn't meet my gaze. "Zac..." I reached over and pushed the down the laptop screen. "You can tell me." He let out a sigh, letting his head fall down into his hands. "It's just…I know I have you and Cam behind me but I feel like nobody could understand. I feel like I'm all alone in this." That was it. I wanted to tell him that I understood. I wanted him to know that I was a mermaid and that I could help him. I wanted to tell him everything. "Zac, I need to tell you something," I said before I could stop myself but at that moment, I didn't really care if he knew. I just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone. He finally met my gaze, his hazel eyes locking with my blue ones. "I-I'm a-" before I could finish, a dog started to bark loudly from outside the building. My head snapped to the window, breaking eye contact with Zac. Something in my gut told me that it wasn't just a squirrel that the dog was barking at. "Buster!" Zac yelled to quiet down the dog to no avail. "Let's go see what he's barking at," I said and stood up from the couch. As I began to walk towards the door, I felt Zac grab my wrist, causing a jolt to go up my arm. "Wait, what were you going to say?" Zac asked me. I turned around and looked him in the eye once more but when I opened my mouth to speak, I found that I couldn't bring myself to say those four simple words. I realized that I would basically be telling him that I've been lying to him for the past year, even after I scolded him for not telling me that he was a merman. I couldn't risk losing him, not after I had lost so much in my life. If I were to lose him…I don't think I'll be able to live with myself. "Don't worry. It's nothing," I told him and forced a smile onto my lips. He didn't look convinced and I couldn't blame him. I wouldn't even believe my own lie. "Let's go," I said quickly, before he could say anything that would change my mind about telling him. Even though I said those words, neither of us made a move towards the door. Even though my head told my legs to move, they wouldn't while I stared into Zac's eyes. Only he could manage to do this to me and I hated it because I knew that he could never know what he was doing to me. And it wasn't as if he would ever feel the same way because I would always only be his best friend and nothing more. I had to stop this. It took everything inside of me to rip my gaze away and turn to walk out the door but I had managed it somehow. I pulled the door open and breathed in the fresh air, feeling as if it had been ages. Zac soon followed me outside and called out for the dog that was still barking, which I hadn't even noticed until now. "Buster!" Zac called and walked down the stairs, looking around for the dog. I followed and turned my gaze towards the water, only for my eyes to widen. "Um…Zac," I called to Zac to get his attention. He looked over to me and then towards where I was looking. Buster was inside a small, white boat in the middle of the lake, still barking. "Buster, how'd you get in there?!" Zac called and ran over to the docks, with me closely following. "Zac, don't!" I called out just as Zac made a move to dive into the water. He stopped at the edge of the dock and looked out to the boat that held the dog. "What am I suppose to do?" He asked me as he motioned to the boat. "Manipulate the water," I suggested. He looked down at his hand and then stretched it out in front of him, concentrating on the water around the boat. Soon, the boat slowly drifted closer to the docks, causing a wide grin to spread across both Zac's and my face. Once the boat was close enough, Zac pulled it close to the docks and held it steady as I quickly climbed in and helped Buster out of the boat, before climbing back onto the docks. "You're a little troublemaker, aren't you?" I joked as I scratched Buster behind his ears, even though I knew that one of those three were to blame for this. "Let's get you home," Zac said to Buster, taking him by his collar and leading him away from the docks.