"Shai!"
I hear my name echoed over and over in my head as he calls after me.
Shai Shai Shai Shai you're a child of the sea, Shai
Mud squishes between my bare toes, branches slapping against my burned face. Trees sway overhead, sharp rain hitting their leaves and making a harsh slapping sound. I tear through the greenery when suddenly my feet are on the sand again. I let out a cry as the spray of a wave settles over me. The ocean stretches far out till the horizon.
I spin on my heel, running in another direction. This time, there's mud and then rock, slippery and covered in sea plants. I groan, rushing uphill. The incline makes my throat hoarse, and I push harder up the slope. For the second time, there's rock underfoot, two boulders looming upwards. Suddenly...
nothing
A hand grabs my arm, roughly yanking me back as the water pounds against the rocks far below. I ran to the top of the cliff. Rei pulls me against his chest, and I struggle, slamming into one of the boulders. He takes hold of my shoulders, his black hair being blown in all different directions as he holds me against the rock. His forehead pressed against mine, his mouth too near as we lean on each other, breathing the same air as my chest heaves.
With a sob, I push him away until he backs into the opposite boulder.
"Stay away from me you inhuman, perverted monster!" I punch him hard in the chest. The only thing Rei does is hold up his forearms in front of his face, his back curving inwards as I hit him again and again. I clearly don't actually hurt him, the only one that might have done any damage was the first. All the rest were sloppy because I'm exhausted. So... tired. I slump down, curling my arms around my knees and hitting my head back against the stone. I saw it you know. The moment when you realized that you owed me your life and that the only reason you are here, is because of me. I clench my teeth together as Rei slides down the rock opposite me. So maybe you should be a bit afraid.
I tilt my head back down to look at him, rain slipping down my nose and cheeks. His elbows are on his knees, hands hanging down nonchalantly. For now. I shift my arms, feeling the bruises on my neck.
"You're strong, you know that?" My voice is croaky, like I've cried for a long time. He doesn't say anything, continuing to stare at me. "Rei?" He closes his eyes, squeezing them tightly shut before opening them. Their blue is cloudy and dull. I wait, whole body aching. "Can you hold me?" He drops his knees, opening his arms. I crawl over the stone to him, our bodies intertwining, one cold and one warm. He shudders, inhaling a sharp breath.
"Oh god, Shai." He buries his face in my hair, body shaking. "What did I do to you? Shai I'm so sorry-" he murmurs over and over, fingers curling into my arms as he rocks back and forth, clutching me tighter and tighter. I curl up on his chest, in between his legs with his arms wrapped around me. It's enough to dull the pain of hunger in my chest
but maybe not enough to quench the doubt.
*
I wake in the morning still curled in a tight ball.
Rei still has his arms around me, though the sky has cleared. His breathing is steady, but when I crane my head up at him, his ocean eyes are open. He smiles very slightly, the wind picking up his hair. I tilt my head back down, playing with a strand of my own red waves. I only stop when I feel his arms tighten. I frown, curiously looking up, but he only glances at my neck, standing up and walking a few paces away.
I watch as Rei rakes his hands through his hair, pacing.
"I don't know what happened, but it wasn't you," I say quietly. He doesn't respond, coming up to a boulder and staring at the stone ground. "I was wrong." I get up, not making any more moves towards him. "You're not just some sea creature like the monster we encountered. Rei? Look," I head over to him, turning him to face me. "I'm sorry."
Then
You're not a monster," I tell him, waiting until he meets my gaze.
"I said that you should be afraid, didn't I?" His voice was low and raspy as if he was hoarse from screaming, sending shivers down my spine. I open my mouth, then close it, trying to decide what to say.
"I ran because I was scared of the place. Of going down there to their city. Of possibly losing you, and to be honest, no one is really sane after almost getting eaten. Or just having everything they know vanish off the face of the visible earth." I drop my hands from his shoulders. He waits, then holds out his hand. I take it, and he begins to lead me back down the cliff.
The sun is high in the sky, our shadows miniature circles of darkness at our feet. Hot air surrounds the island, but once we get out over the flat rocks and tide pools, I can see the ocean again. I can't help it when I stumble, Rei catching me under my arms before setting me down in a pool.
"You need to eat." He looks around, half crouched. "Wait here." I make a sound of protest as he sets off towards the ocean, jogging over the sand. As Rei dives into the deep, I splash in the tidepool, then wait for it to become perfectly still. The water only comes up to my waist when I sit down, shallow enough for small creatures to live. A few minnows swim past, darting in and out of sight. I spot a lone crab skit slowly across the bottom, scuttling under a rock when I move my feet to sit cross-legged. There are a few small, orange starfish that are glued to different rocks. There seems to be a sea slug as well, along with some plants around the edges. Coral grows in niches along the small walls and underwater in intricate lace patterns.
I sigh, looking up at the mildly cloudy sky. Even in the paradise that is a few hundred feet wide, we couldn't possibly stay here.
Rei jogs back dripping wet a few minutes later carrying something in his hands. He plops down outside the pool, setting his feet in the water next to me. I'm given some dark green, leafy plants. I survey his face as he rubs a hand across it.
"Everything here is raw. That's the only edible plant that there is. Though Shai-"
Once he said edible, I took a bite, chewing through the rubbery, bitter substance and swallowing. Rei clamps his mouth shut. "Nevermind."
"That's awful," I say, coughing.
"Shai."
"What?"
"It's best to eat that in small amounts. Otherwise-"
"Could you have said that before?" I giggle.
"I did, just you were too hungry and went ahead and did it," he shoots back, biting his lip as we don't say anything. I stare back down at the raw, rubbery, seaweed-looking plant.
"You're just waiting for something to happen, aren't you?" Rei gives a small laugh.
"You could say that." I scoff at him, the scoffing turning to laughter. I double over, giggling. Rei smiles, raising his eyebrows. The starfish seems to wave back at me, the minnows glaring and swimming onward.
"Oh hello, pretty boy. What are you doing here?" Rei grins to himself, shaking his head. I scooch nearer to him, leaning my head back. "Do you want to be friends with me? We could be very good friends." I giggle to myself, crawling to the middle of the pool and leaning back on my hands. Something catches my eye. Two feet stick up from the water a few feet in front of me. I shriek. Rei jumps up, looking around. I point to the feet. "Look! What are those?" I can see Rei dragging a hand over his eyes as I continue to giggle hysterically, falling all the way back in the water. It laps around my ears, the noise echoing between two different worlds.
"I can hear the fish singing!" I shout loudly. Rei scuffs through the water over to me as I begin to sing, spouting out random words. "Fish boy took my socks and put them on his head-"
"Oh, skies." Rei crouches down, reaching out towards me. I scream, laughing.
"HEy hey hey there, don't touch me. Remember? We make the water move! We have POWER." My voice drops lower, not nearly as low as Rei's. The Mer scoops me up, and I squirm and shriek like a small child at the cold of his arms.
"I am so sorry about doing this, but I have to say, it is kind of hilarious at the same time."
I have no time to react before Rei carries me into the water and dunks me.
I come back up sputtering and coughing, pushing Rei away from me to stand up. When I look back at him, he's grinning.
"I'm going to remember those past minutes for the rest of my life," he laughs roughly. I tilt my head, confused. He runs a hand over his face, still grinning. Suddenly, Rei grabs my waist, pulling me into him, his skin freezing. I can feel as his mouth twists into a smirk by my ear. "To be honest," he whispers. "I never knew you could sing." I slap him as he laughs, my cheeks flaming red.
I'm never eating seaweed again in my life.