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He was just torturing himself at this point. And yet there was no other place he could stand being. The way the tide rose and fell, it calmed him, but he would never be truly at ease, he knew this. He hated this. He missed his home.Frank’s perch was a giant conch shell, the biggest that had ever been found. Above land, anyway. He had seen bigger. It was large enough that when he dangled his feet over the edge, they didn’t touch the ground. It was smooth and a very soft, pearly pink color, which was actually pretty rare, even within the ocean.Sighing, Frank tore his gaze from the tide to the horizon. The sun had only risen mere minutes ago and the sky almost looked as if it had been masterfully painted with watercolors. The peach and magenta artfully flowing together never really got old, that was true.Mikey would be there soon. Mikey always came, every morning. Or rather, her brother brought her there. He wasn’t sure exactly why, though, considering that her brother didn’t actually like him or trust him, apparently. That was fine, he certainly didn’t like Gerard either.Soon, he could see their outlines faintly appearing down the beach, and he smiled softly. When he had first been pinned with the task of looking after her, he had been annoyed. He liked having the time alone, even if it was mainly so he could sulk and mourn. Now, though, he had to admit that having the girl around had certainly improved him. Made the ache less prominent, took the edge off the homesickness.When Mikey got closer, she started to walk faster, but her brother took her wrist and slowed her down, whispering something harshly. Gerard was a very... protective older brother, to put it as nicely as possible. He was also ridiculously stuck in his ways and egotistical.Mikey, however, she was a strange one. Frank had been guilty of stereotyping girls into the “always bubbly, always emotional” category before, but Mikey broke all of the rules. She was the most logical, level headed person he knew, and she definitely wasn’t afraid to stand her own. Frank had grown quite fond of her.At first, he had been determined not to make friends, not to get attached. But at this point, he was resigned to his fate, he supposed.“Hi, Frank.” Mikey said, as she and her brother came to a halt. She made a face and shook her wrist out of her brothers grasp, and then tipped her head up and gave a little half smile in Frank’s direction.“Hey there, Mikey.” Frank said, hopping off his shell.“It’s Michaela.” Gerard muttered, glaring, but Frank just smiled back up at him, lifting an eyebrow. “Mikey is not ladylike.” He added, as if somehow the fact that they’d had this conversation before and no one cared had slipped his mind.“It doesn’t matter.” Mikey said, rolling her eyes at him.“We’ll talk about it later.” Gerard said, and then smiled back at Frank once again, annoyance in his eyes, nodding his head once and heading back down the beach.“He’s in a sour mood this morning, I though he’d finally given up on that.” Frank said when he was out of earshot, chuckling.“He’s just upset that he hasn’t been promoted to Head of the Royal Stables yet.” Mikey snickered. “But anyway, that doesn’t matter. I found some new shells to show you.” She says excitedly.When she first started coming here every day, Frank hadn’t wanted her around, and Mikey hadn’t even really wanted to be there. So he had told her to go find the most interesting shells she could and to bring them to him. No, he hadn’t exactly been doing his job of watching her, but she didn’t really need watched anyway. That was her brother’s delusion. She had wondered off, happy to be rebelling, and now she showed him all of her interesting finds when she came.Sometimes it was hard hiding what he was. Or rather, what he had been. He wanted to tell stories, talk about his life before, but if word got out that he was from the ocean... he would either be banned or executed. He’d been debating telling Mikey for a couple weeks, however. She had once said that whenever she had a secret, it was like it was locked in a steel cage that not even she had the key to.“Let’s see them.” Frank said, thinking all of this over.“Is something wrong?” Mikey asked.“Hm?”“Doesn’t seem like you’re entirely with me. Distracted.” She laughed.“Oh. Just thinking.” Frank said, smiling softly at her perceptiveness.“Okay. But look, this one is really cool, I’ve never seen one like it before.”She pulled a small black conch shell out of her pocket and held it out. It had small lavender speckles all over it.“Mikey, that’s beautiful. I haven’t seen one of those in years.”Her eyes twinkled with pride, and she took another one out and handed it to him. “Friendship shells?”He hesitated, but reached our and took it from her thin hands. “Friendship shells.” He confirmed.———————————That evening, as the sun began to set, Frank took a deep breath. He was going to tell her. He had made up his mind earlier that he would do it right before she would need to leave so he wouldn’t have to face the rest of the day with her knowing.“Mikey, I need to tell you something about me.” He said, keeping his eyes towards the sea. The both sat with their backs to the giant conch shell, and they both still held their ‘friendship shells’ in their hands.“Hm, what is it, Frank?”“You know... that I’m not from around here.” He began.“Yes.”“Well.. I’m not exactly. From land.” He whispered, not once tearing his eyes from the sea.Mikey was silent, staring at Frank’s profile as he spoke.“What are you talking about?” She asked quietly, afraid of spooking him out of telling her more. She wasn’t blind. She knew he had secrets and she knew he was terrible at talking about himself.“It was about three years ago.” he began. “I was swimming in the shallows of the coast of The Uselada. But I didn’t see the signs of the storm coming. The current was too strong for even me to swim against, and I hit my head on a rock, I guess. When I woke up, I was washed upon the land, with legs instead of a tail. I tried to go back to the water, but my tail wouldn’t appear. I went deeper and deeper, thinking it would come eventually. But I almost drowned.” He paused, and a tear slid down his face, shiny in the yellow light of the sunset.“The ocean almost killed me. I was almost killed by my own home, my place of birth. My tail will not return. I’ve had to make a life for myself here. But no one can know. The merpeople. We have an oath to stay out of human territory, and breaking the oath has a penalty of death.”“Frank...” Mikey began. “I won’t tell anyone.”“I know.” Frank said, finally turning his face from the sea and looking at her. “I trust you.”“And I trust you.”
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When Mikey left, it really hit him, what he had done. For the first time, he had let it all out. For the first time, someone knew. There was a strange mixture of dread and relief coursing its way through him, although which would turn out victiorious, it was hard to tell.He looked down at the “friendship shell” Mikey had given him, and smiled softly, rubbing his thumb over its smooth surface.“Friendship.” he whispered.He sat back against the shell. His house was not far off, and he supposed be should be getting back to it. Sleep was important, after all.It was a tiny, one room hut only a few minutes walk from the shore. As his position was more of a title than a job (though not a high ranking one), he could go back and forth during the day too, but he preferred to be in sight of the waves at all times. He usually packed food.He couldn’t help but expect someone to find him one day, though he knew it was impossible. He missed his parents, he missed his friends. When he looked out to the ocean, he could almost see his mother coming to greet him, her head gracefully rising from the water.Imagining it was painful. It was time to go.Frank stood and turned his back to the water and returned to his hut.• • •Gerard was in a better mood when he came back for Mikey. She could tell because of the faint smirk that he wore, and the way he was walking with his nose in the air like he was the royalty he was working for or something. Something had gone his way, but she wasn’t going to ask what it was. He would be sure to tell her either way.“So.” He began. “How was your day, Michaela?”Mikey rolled her eyes. Gerard always did this. He would ask a question simply so he could bait for a return question. He didn’t care about her day, he just wanted to talk about his.“It was good.” She answered shortly.“Great.”Mikey decided to humor him. “Well how was your day, Gee?”He stiffened, and Mikey waited for his response.“Michaela.” He whined. “You know you can’t call me that anymore, I’m a man now. We’re not kids. Or at least I’m not a kid.”“I’m not a kid.” Mikey retorted. “You’re just a condescending megalomaniac who thinks of others as inferior to make yourself feel better.”Gerard didn’t respond. When Mikey looked over at him, his smirk was gone and his face was stony, but he didn’t say anything.In fact, he didn’t say anything for the rest of the evening.Later, Mikey found him with a dictionary, looking up the word “megalomaniac” and muttering to himself, and it was her turn to smirk.• • •Later, on into the night, Mikey sat on her bed with her journal open in front of her.She hadn’t fully processed what Frank had told her. Somehow she wasn’t surprised, though. It wasn’t that she had expected it. She would have never guessed. Mikey was just hard to shock.Her pen was hovering above the paper, she didn’t even know where to begin. She could already imagine herself looking back on this day as monumentous, and she needed to write it down in her journal as accurately as she could. Everything she felt, everything he said.She would never forget this day, for better or for worse.
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In his dreams, Frank was swimming. It was cool, and dark, and peaceful. He was swimming through a forest of corals, the path he used to take to and from school. He was alone but he could hear something in the distance, it sounded almost like a raging storm. But as it became more clear, he could hear the screams and shouts. It was the sound of war.He tried to pick up speed, but he couldn’t. In fact, as much as he strained, he could only swim slower and slower, until he could hear an army right behind him, about to consume him.He looked behind him, and he saw men on horses, land men, racing towards him, their faces contorted in anger, mid-scream. Gerard led them, but Mikey was on his horse, hanging on, about to fall off. She looked terrified.Just as she fell, he woke up.His breaths came quick, he shot up in the darkness, his eyes opened wide.Frank would never get used to dreaming he was in the ocean, with a tail, and waking up with legs.He reached for the lantern he kept beside his rickety bed, and lit it, and then simply sat, gazing around his tiny hut. Things were cluttered. There were shells, both unique and common, most of them gifts from Mikey, just laying around.He sighed, and slowly swung his feet down to the ground. Then he stood, and he left the hut, heading back to the sea.It was still dark out, but the moon was full and it’s light gave everything a silvery glow. Frank loved the moon. It was a custom with his people to go to the surface to see it every month, and sing as a colony. The moon brought him comfort.Usually. Tonight he just felt lonely.He tried to start singing, his voice floating into night, harmonizing with the rushing of the current, but after a few notes, the words got stuck in his throat. It wasn’t the same alone. He didn’t like to hear his voice by itself.He had never cried above water before he was stranded.But he was used to it now.• • •Gerard couldn’t sleep. He laid in his bed, surrounded by pillows, and stared into the darkness, tense.“Megalomaniac.” He whispered to himself. Where did she even learn that word? He wasn’t a megalomaniac. He was just sensible, right? Surely he wasn’t a megalomaniac.He pushed the thought of it from his head.More and more lately, his mind had been wondering to The Watcher of the Sea. Something about him seemed off. A lot of those who he worked with at the palace seemed to think so too. The Sea Watcher had come into their society without much information about his past. He had earned himself a low ranking traditional title and never attempted to do better in life. He never attended social events. He barely even care to the market.Mikey seemed to like him. Mikey seemed to like him much more than she even liked her own brother. He tried not to let it hurt him.After all, why should he care? He was moving up in rank, he had been promoted to Head of the Royal Stables that very day. He even got to speak to Princess Lindsey, who congratulated him. He knew he was better than Frank.He couldn’t help but want to be liked, though. By his own sister.Taking a deep breath, he got out of bed and grabbed a lantern, before heading outside and towards the shore, which wasn’t far from where they lived. When he was younger, he used to do this. He had never been good at sleeping through the night, but walking along the oceans edge was calming.He used to dream of meeting a merperson and becoming forbidden friends with it, but that was just a childish romantic fantasy, and now he knew better. Merpeople we’re gone for a reason. Merpeople wreacked havoc and brought war wherever they went. If by chance he did meet one, he wouldn’t become forbidden friends with it, he’d report it.There was a breeze. I caressed Gerard’s cheek gently, and he closed his eyes as he walked. It was a beautiful night.Somehow, though, he still couldn’t let his shoulders relax. His shoulders, they were always, always tense, and he didn’t know why. Even when he had every reason to be content, to be calm, he was on edge.Gerard let out a frustrated sigh. He kept walking. He only stopped when he could see that giant shell in the distance, the one Frank the Watcher of the Sea would sit on every morning. And the only reason he stopped then was because he could see his sillhouette still sitting there, a little over.He was about to turn back, he really was. But instead, he walked up so that as he walked, he would go behind the shell and then kept on.As he got closer, he could see Frank wiping at his eyes. Crying? Why was he crying? Gerard squinted his to try to see better, but then, Frank stood and started walking towards the ocean.At first, Frank just paced back and forth, periodically wiping his eyes, but then hey stopped, back rigid, and started walking right into the water. He kept going until he was about waist deep, and then, he let out a strangled cry and slammed both of his fists into the sea.“What’s wrong with me?!” He yelled. “Why do you hate me, why can’t I just go home?!” He bent over, shoulders shaking and Gerard just watched, eyes wide.What did this mean? What could that possibly mean?Gerard headed home after that, before Frank could turn around and see him. His steps were quick, and by the time he got bsck, he was out of breath.And when he got back, he still couldn’t sleep
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Gerard had been awake for the rest of the night, thinking about what he had seen. It was obviously very personal, and he almost regretting seeing it at all. But then, maybe he should be glad... maybe this was a sign that the Watcher of the Sea wasn’t mentally stable, that he shouldn’t let Michaela stay with him during the day.After all, no one at the palace thought he was quite normal. He wouldn’t want them to look down on him for letting his sister be friends with a social outcast.“Michaela,” he began, over breakfast.“Gerard.” She said.“I’ve been thinking...”“Oh, careful, you’ll hurt yourself.” She interrupted casually, before taking a bite of food.Gerard scowled, but then carried on. “I’m being serious here, Michaela, please, honestly.”“It’s just humor.”“Well it isn’t funny.”Michaela didn’t say anything else, and waited for her brother to continue speaking. Her mind wasn’t quite there. She wanted to go back to the beach and talk to Frank again.She had been thinking about what he had told her and she had questions. Of course, she knew she’d have to be careful and not push too much. It was obviously a sensitive subject for Frank.“Listen, I know you’ve been staying with the Watcher of the Sea during the day for a little while now but, I don’t know, I’ve been having a bad feeling about him.”“About Frank? Why?”She sounded upset, and Gerard gulped. He really didn’t want her any more upset with him than she already tended to be on a daily basis.Gerard searched for the right words to start with and finally spoke. “Well... don’t you think he’s a bit... strange?”Mikey tensed and her nostrils flared, eyes flashing up at her brother. “There’s nothing wrong with being a little different, Gerard, you say that like it’s a bad thing.”“Being a little different is one thing, being a willful social outcast is another, and I don’t think his example is the best for you at your age.” Gerard continued, trying to not let his sisters harsh tone phase him.“At my age?! You do realize I’m perfectly capable of being around someone and not morphing into their replica, right? Unlike you with your snobbish Palace friends.”“They’re respected members of this society.”“They’re judgemental.”Gerard pursed his lips. This was not going well. “They’re my friends and you should respect that.”“Frank is mine and you should respect that.”“That’s different.”“How so?”Gerard opened his mouth to speak. His hand was now gripping his fork so tightly that his knuckles were white. He closed his mouth, and without another word, stood, and stormed towards his bedroom.Gerard turned and spoke, hand on his doorknob. “I think you should come to the Palace with me today. Perhaps we’ll even be able to find you a position there now that I’m well known and you’re older.”“Gerard, I don’t want to-““No, Michaela. You’re coming with me today.”Gerard went into his room and slammed the door shut, shouting out. “Be ready to leave in an hour!”Mikey pushed her plate of mostly uneaten food away and crossed her arms, fuming.Gerard had changed. He had changed so much since going to work at the palace, she swore that place must be a trap for any personality you have. You go in as yourself, you come out as a judgemental follower without the ability to think for yourself at any capacity.• • • • •Frank was worried.It was nearly midday and there was no sign of Mikey and her brother. Of course, it had happened before that they hadn’t come, and there had always been a reasonable explanation, such as illness, or an event he hadn’t known about.This time, however, in his gut, Frank felt like something was terribly wrong. That could have very well been pinned on paranoia and anxiety, but that’s a hard thing to ignore when you’re the one feeling it and knowing how real it feels.It was the day after he had told Mikey his secret, the one that could cost him his life. He had the right to be worried.Taking his friendship shell out of his pocket, he stared down at it, eyebrows furrowed pensively.Mikey had sounded so genuine the the evening before. Surely this didn’t change her view of him. He hasn’t had a true friend since being stranded and even before then he had been a bit of a loner. No one had really liked him all that much.Frank could feel his heart rate picking up. He could feel his skin tingling, and tears rimming his eyes.Mikey surely hadn’t lied to him? But then, why wouldn’t she? No one wanted him, not even the ocean wanted him, and that was where he belonged.He didn’t let the tears fall.Frank had the urge to throw the friendship shell into the ocean, let it be a part of what he could never have. But he knew that he was being irrational. It was probably a coincidence that Mikey hadn’t been able to come that day. That was what he tried to tell himself anyway.But he had a lot of trouble believing himself.• • • • •As Mikey and Gerard were walking back home later that evening, Mikey felt sick to her stomach just thinking about what that day had been. She never thought she’d especially like them, considering how they’d always affected her brother, but she didn’t think his friends would be quite as awful as they were.Not only did they gossip about Frank quite a lot, but they weren’t even that nice to Gerard.Gerard was a people pleaser, that much was obvious. He hasn’t always been, but sometime along the way, something had snapped in him. He used to actually be strong willed, and Mikey had looked up to him, but not anymore. Now he would bend to the will of the majority every time.That wasn’t how Mikey wanted to be. She would be a social outcast too, if that was what that meant.She was worried about Frank, though. She hoped she’d have time to visit him this evening, because she knew he was probably scared she hated him now.That was so far from the truth. She’d been anxious to go see him all day.“Gerard, I think I should like to go on a walk on the beach tonight.”Gerard’s mind immediately put up a red light. If Frank was having another breakdown and Mikey came across him... what if he was dangerous? He couldn’t let him hurt her. And there were other dangers... wild animals, foreigners, criminals.It was irrational, and in the back of his mind he knew that. He had been walking on the beach just the night before. And being emotional doesn’t make a person dangerous.But he couldn’t control his fears.“Michaela, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”“Of course you don’t.”“I just want you to be safe.”“It wouldn’t be unsafe.”Gerard wanted to cry out in frustration, and so did Mikey.“Mikey...”“Just, don’t. You treat me like a little kid, you know I’m not, right?” Mikey asked pleadingly.“Of course, but-““Then I’m taking a walk later. I know you’re worried, but nothing bad will happen. Really.”Gerard didn’t respond, but his stomach sank. Somehow the words “nothing bad will happen” always unsettled him.