Angels of the sea (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 16 : Mate pressure

Me and Joe walk into the Break Room while Ashley closes the door behind us, inside there are two round tables and two large rows of lockers alongside two walls. I sit down in one of the chairs at one of the tables, Joe sits down across from me, "So Zoe, what do you think of James? she asks, looking towards me, "He's great, you know, my mom always told me that, I had someone special out there waiting for me, and now that I've found him, it feels incredible" I say, as I get a smile on my face.

Joe chuckles slightly, "Not half as incredible as James feels about finding you, you don't know what he's been through to get to this point, and what he almost did to himself, when it got too much" Joe says, starting to sob, "What do you mean, what did he almost do?, and what got to much?" I ask, looking at her. "The, mate, pressure" She says, in between sobs, "Wait, what's mate pressure?" I ask.

Joe looks down at the table for a moment, then back up at me. "For most kinds of shapeshifters being without their mate is no big deal, but since Dolphins have pretty much the same emotions as people, they have to be with their mate, however, if they can't a pressure starts to build, and build, inside of them, if it gets too high, you'll start going crazy. and sometimes that can lead you to do some crazy things" Joe explains.

"Joe, you must tell me, what happened to James, I'm his mate" I say, as I put my hands on the table, to stop them from shaking. Joe then blinked her eyes and cleared her throat, "Well, when James was a year and a half, and he saw your pitcher for the first time, that's when his dolphin made you his mate. he spent two weeks looking for you, Everyday I'd take him to a different part of the Island, even tho I knew he wouldn't find you. Finally I had to tell him that you weren't on the Island, he got so mad, he got into the bathtub, and swam himself to exhaustion" Joe says.

"After that we taught James to control his temper, and for a while, he did so, but then on the night James turned Ten, his father thought he was old enough for a pocket knife, so John got him one. James took it, and then went on with the rest of the night, after night fall Kyle, who had forgotten to give James his gift earlier, decided to give it to James then. James said he was going to be in the Bunk Room, so that's where I sent Kyle. Kyle said, when he entered that room, something didn't feel right, he then looked over towards James's bunk, and saw blood everywhere" Joe says, trying to hold back the tears and the sobs, I then cover my mouth with my right hand in shock.

"James cut deep into his arm, up until that time, I had never heard of a ten year old cutting themselves till I saw it happen to my own son" Joe says, she tries to hide it, but I can see a tear running down her face, "Anyway, we called Ashley and she treated him and then stitched up the wound" Joe explains, "Did James ever tell you why he cut himself?" I ask, removing my hand from my mouth. "Yes, and it's something that I will never forget, he told me that' the physical pain is easier to deal with, then the emotional pain', hearing your ten year old say that was hard you know" Joe says, I nod my head in responds.

"Then not two months before you arrived, it happened again, I had just finished fixing lunch, and was going to get James, who said he was going to be out front, So I walked outside, and I saw James, in the shoreline, with a sharp rock, cutting into his arm again, he then looked up at me, then through his mind link he said, 'kill me, please'. I then started to run towards him, but as I was running towards him, through my mind link I heard the most beautiful words in the world, Joe tell James we're coming,', I got to James scooped his face up, and said to him, "James they're coming baby, their coming, just hold on'. Then I took him inside, and got him cleaned up" Joe says.