In Too Deep

~Chapter 6~

I glared down at my feet. They were riddled with bruises and scars from doing ballet and being in pointe shoes all the time. Why would anyone want to touch them?

I didn't give him an answer and he suddenly looked worried.

"I didn't meant to.."

I cut him off, "of course you can". He was stuck here after all and he must feel so exposed and weirded out by humans staring at him all of the time.

I leaned my foot over to him. He ran is fingers over my pointed foot. He then started touching the padding on the bottom.

I burst into a fit of laughter," Stop!! Stop".

He laughed back and looked at me quizzically, "Flo what on earth was that about?"

"You tickled my foot."

He looked at me in utter confusion. He slowly took hold of my ankle and tickled it again.

"Noah,Noah!!! Stop" I gasped and took a breath and laughed out again "Please stop!!"

After a long while, Noah stopped laughing and calmed down.

"That..." He inhaled deeply to stop him from laughing again,"...Was amazing"

He suddenly changed facial expressions back to his normal 'Im pretending to be fine' look. One thought still buzzed my mind. Why me. Why tell me he could talk and bring me up here. I could have been someone horrible. I finally plucked up enough courage to ask him why.

"Noah why did you tell me that you could talk?"

He thought about it. 

"I think the first time saw you, you were upset right?"

I remembered my panic attack and nodded my head.

"Well believe it or not but I was also upset"

I could not stop myself from asking, "Why were you upset?"

He let out a sad laugh and gestured to the water below.

"Its like no other mers get it. We are all in the same situation and they expect me to get them out. It was all to over whelming so I needed to get some private space, which is very hard since the public can see us from all areas."

He had no privacy. Everything he did was exposed. He had no freedom whatsoever.

"I swam behind this really large piece of coral"

I remember. When I first saw him I looked over and there was a vibrant yellow coral plant.

"I rested there for a bit and tried to stop crying because I knew that a human would pull out one of those box things up at me."

"Do you mean a phone" I nervously laughed.

"Whats a phone?"

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, my pastel pink nails over the cream white case, and handed it to him.

"Don't get it wet" I warned him.

"Yeah one of these things" He then threw it back at me,"I don't like these things very much", he said as he forced a smile.

I understood. That was all he saw. Phones, flashes of cameras, finger pointing, grubby hands banging on the glass. 

"You can carry on with your story" I said calmly as I placed my phone back in my pocket. 

"I was just about to go, but then I turned around and saw you. I knew you weren't ok and I wanted to make sure someone came for you. You then got up and turned around and saw me. You then let out a massive girl scream and I laughed. I guess thats it."

"Why were you crying anyway?",  He sighed.

"Do you know what a panic attack is ?" I sighed.

"Heck I do !! Saffy always used to get them and I always had to be there for her"

"Wait your sister gets them too ? But she's a mer"

"Duh. We have emotions. I thought you new that" He laughed and punched my arm lightly.

"So what do you humans do for fun apart from going on your phones ?" He asked.

"Well we all do different things but I love to dance"

"Whats dancing ?"

HE DID NOT KNOW WHAT DANCING WAS.

"Oh my god"I face palmed."Hold on I will get a video", I opened up my phone and scrolled back in my camera roll. I found a video of our last ballet rehearsal. "Im that one in the middle leaping in the air"

"What do you think ?" I asked excitedly.

"Its amazing. You're amazing"

I felt myself starting to go very red. I looked down and tried to change the topic.

"What do you do for fun ?"

"Well", He laughed, "Theres not much to do around here if I'm honest"

I glanced down at the time. "Noah I have to go"

"Ok but you have to promise me that you will be back, please come back"

Aw.

"Ok I promise you I will be back" I said.

With that I got up and walked towards the door, I turned around and waved, he waved back before plunging himself back into there water.

I walked down the stairs and background to where the public normally stand. I glanced back looking through the glass and into the water. Noah was surrounded by mers. He was obviously popular. One of the mers looked almost identical to Noah except that he was larger and had darker brown hair. He was obviously Cody, Noahs brother.

I walked out and ran home. I slipped in the door and put a movie on TV, my family wasn't even home yet. It was almost like I had never gone out in the first place..