The Little Merman: Book One

Chapter 8

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

I practice the phrase in my mind over and over again until it just comes out as babbling nonsense in my brain. Jacob rests beside me, the doctors gone and just the two of us in bed together. His chest rises and falls as he breathes out baby snores, tossing and turning in the spot beside me.

His eyelids flutter for a minute before he blinks them open, smiling at me for just a moment then rolling his head to the side. "Morning." He croaks, his voice clogged with sleep.

"Good morning." My nerves have affected my voice, the phrase coming out two octaves higher.

Jacob only laughs though, closing his eyes again but still smiling at me.

"Jacob?" This is it.

His brow raises."Mhm?"

"I-" My voice stops as if someone is choking me and the word's physically can't come up. I pause, holding my throat for a bit and trying again but the words still won't come out. "I-" I try again only to be stopped by the invisible restraints on my neck.

"Hmm?" He says without opening his mouth.

"Iloveyou." I rush, not expecting the words to come out. "I love you." I repeat slower this time around.

"What?" His eyes are wide open now, staring through me with pure shock.

"I love you." My voice is going shaky like it always does when I'm about to burst into tears.

"Aries...Rebecca." He says, placing his hand on my jaw line. "I'm dating Rebecca."

"We kissed." The tears are coming now and stronger than ever, my body beginning to shake with disappointment.

"I know." He seems as confused and hurt as I am but he quickly pushes the emotion away. "It's just...Aries..we...no I...just don't cry." He pleads.

I snatch his hand off of my face, anger taking over hurt and my face flushing red from embarrassment. I want to scream at him, scream until my voice is numb, scream that I'll die without him but nothing comes out but broken sobs.

"Aries." He says again but I only jerk away from him, hiding my face behind my wrapped hands. "I'm so sorry."

I've only been here a few weeks but I've picked up on quite a bit of human slang. "Fuck off." I growl through my hands.

He wraps his bare arms around me and the blankets, holding my curled self against his naked chest. "No. Look Aries, just because I don't love you that doesn't mean it's the end of the world."

Yes it does. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah...Okay."

"Let's just not talk about this for a while." He whispers, resting his cheek on the top of my head.

><>•<><

"Aries, cheer up." Caspian shakes me by the arm as he sits at the foot of the mattress, trying his hardest to get me out of bed.

"No."

"C'mon." He pulls the blankets away from my tear-stained face, climbing in beside me and kissing my forehead and nose. "I'm sorry that this happened to you."

"I don't want to die." I whisper after a moment. "I don't want to leave you alone."

"You aren't going to die."