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Alan loves the ocean. Well, more specifically, he loves the beach. He doesn't have any negative feelings towards the ocean itself, he’d just rather not make himself available to one of the many horrors living beneath the surface.
That being said, he rather enjoys sitting on the large rocks and listening to the waves crash against the shore. It’s relaxing, a nice escape from his everyday life full of stressing and anxiously biting his nails. It’s nice to get away from all of that, and Alan’s glad he decided to come stay near the ocean with his friend for a while.
He sighs, leaning back on his elbows and looking out over the water. The sun has just recently set and the moon’s reflection on the waves is incredibly soothing. Alan can’t explain why, but it just feels calming. He decides he might try being brave tonight and go into the water, just a little bit.
Alan gets up off of the rock he’s been sitting on and takes off his shoes, setting them on the rock next to his phone and towel. He rolls up his pants and braces himself before walking into the ocean just enough to where his ankles are submerged. He holds himself stiffly for a second, getting used to the cold water before he relaxes. It’s not as terrible as he was anticipating, and he can't help but laugh at himself when he’s startled by a bit of seaweed brushing against his foot.
He stops himself, though, when he sees something in the distance. He squints, not quite able to make it out. It almost looks like a person, but who in their right mind would be swimming at this time of night? He rubs his eyes, hoping that’ll help him see it better somehow, but when he goes to study it again, it’s gone. Alan wonders for a moment if he had been hallucinating- but no, there it is again, closer this time. He still can't make it out but it seems to be getting pushed to shore by the tide. He shrugs it off, figuring it’s just a piece of driftwood or something of the like.
He closes his eyes, breathing deeply as he takes in the feeling of the waves hitting his ankles and the breeze blowing through his hair. He almost feels like he could fall asleep standing here if he tried, but the feeling of seaweed against his ankle startles him out of his relaxation.
Alan jumps a bit and opens his eyes to throw the seaweed away from himself, but his blood runs cold when he sees that it’s not seaweed but, in fact, a hand. A webbed hand. He slowly turns his attention towards the thing the hand is connected to and is met with bright green eyes staring right at him.
All Alan is able to do is place a hand over his heart, willing it to stop racing, as he stands there in shock. That is, undeniably, a human’s face, but the longer Alan stares the more he notices. The webbed hands, the glistening of scales on its upper arms and cheeks, the tail. Oh god, it has a tail.
Alan is pulled out of his daze by his phone alarm going off. He yanks his leg away from the creature and stumbles back to the rock his belongings are on. He quickly dries his feet and puts his shoes back on, grabbing his phone and starting off in the direction of his friend’s house.
By the time he’s home he’s gasping for air and struggling to breathe. He quickly unlocks the front door and rushes inside to his room. He hurriedly pulls open his bedside drawer and grabs his rescue inhaler, taking it before letting himself collapse onto his bed.
His friend, Ronald, must have heard him, because he appears in Alan’s doorway a few moments later, “Christ, Al, are you alright? What happened?” He asks, concerned.
Alan takes a second to regain control of his breathing before grabbing a bottle of water off his bedside table and emptying one of the sections of his pill sorter into his hand. He takes the pills, taking a few gulps of water with them, and faces Ronald, “The water- I saw something in the water. It had a face and everything, but its hand- it grabbed my ankle and its hand was webbed.” He says frantically, mentally pleading Ronald to believe him.
Ronald is silent for a moment, then bursts out laughing, “You mean like a mermaid? Those aren't real, you know.”
“I’m serious!” Alan insists, “I really did see it! It had scales and a tail and it touched me.”
“Are you sure you weren't hallucinating? Could be a side effect of one of your meds.” Ronald says, gesturing towards the pill sorter that’s still in Alan’s lap.
Alan sighs, knowing Ronald is wrong but not willing to argue whether or not he actually saw a mythical creature, “I guess you could be right. I mean, what are the chances I actually saw a mermaid, right?”
“Right.” Ronald agrees, “You should try to calm down and get some sleep soon, it’s late.”
“Yeah, goodnight, Ronnie.” Alan says, setting his things aside and properly getting into bed, “Turn the light off on your way out, please.”
“Sure thing,” Ronald says, nodding as he turns around to leave, “Night, Alan.”
And then the room goes dark, leaving Alan to sit there in silence and go over what just happened again and again in his mind, eventually drifting off into sleep.
The next night, Alan finds himself at the beach again, despite his better judgement. This time, he vows to stay on his rock, far away from the water. I mean, sure, sitting on the rock isn't exactly the furthest away he could be, but surely nothing would be able to get him up here.
He opens a book on his phone and starts reading, the waves acting as background noise. Time passes, and he’s so absorbed in his book that he doesn't notice anything around him until he hears a voice coming from his side.
“Hey.”
Alan nearly jumps out of his skin, and barely manages to contain a scream before covering his mouth. He looks over and, sure enough, it’s the same face he saw last night. The creature is leaning on the rock, propped up on its elbows and halfway out of the water. Alan just stares for a few moments, much against his best conscience (and manners).
“Are you real?” Is the first thing that comes out of Alan’s mouth, without a trace of thought or common sense put in before, “I’m sorry, that was rude-”
He feels his cheeks getting warm- initially at his brash behaviour, and then at the utterly idiotic notion that deep sea dwellers care, or even have a concept of manners.
The... thing in front of him just laughs, “Last time I checked.” He just grins, his strange, glowing eyes smiling with him, “My name’s Eric.”
“Alan- oh, um...” He holds out his hand for Eric to shake- good manners are very important to him, after all. Eric looks a little confused for a moment, before obviously arriving at the conclusion that it’s some kind of human thing, and simply holding his own hand out stiffly.
“You shake it, like this-” Alan takes his hand, and immediately cringes: it’s wet. And... scaly.
He feels that horrible sickly feeling in his stomach again- there’s scales almost everywhere; cheekbones, arms, and right up until his waist, and fins where his ears should be, and gills on his neck...
“You alright?” Eric asks, “Sorry, it's just, I’ve never seen a human before, it’s weird...”
Alan gives a little frown, “Well, I’ve never seen a... well, someone like you, either-”
“A mermaid?”
Alan cringes again, “Yes, a, um- that.”
Eric frowns, “Come on, what’s wrong with you?”
Alan sighs, pulling his knees to his chest, “It’s all just a bit much, I suppose... See, my friend told me I was hallucinating, and just this once I sort of wish he was right... um, no offence.”
“Oh, right- well, I guess it must be scary. For you, at least.”
“Are you not scared?”
Eric shakes his head, “Nah, loads of my mates have seen humans before- and you look alright.” He adds, with a cheeky grin.
Alan gives a little huff, “And what’s that meant to mean?”
Eric laughs, “Look at you, you’ve got these skinny little arms!”
Alan flushes a little, “Well, we don’t all spend all day swimming- in fact, very few humans do.”
Eric grins again, “Still, I’m not scared of you.”
Alan smiles back, shy, “I suppose I’ll take that nicely.”
Eric readjusts himself on the rocks, “So, you’ve seriously never seen a mermaid before?”
Alan shakes his head, feeling a slight breeze in his hair, “Not ever- no one I know has. Well, I don’t think so, anyway. They never told me.”
Eric raises his eyebrows a little, “Weird, we see you guys all the time.”
“I suppose humans spend a lot of time near the water,” Alan muses, “You’d be bound to, really.”
There’s a couple of moments of comfortable silence where Eric turns his back to Alan to look at the stars, and Alan looks up himself- it must be strange to hardly ever be able to look at the sky like Eric.
“I’m sorry, just... you are sure you’re real?”
“Fairly certain,” Eric replies, back still turned, “Still worried about hallucinating?”
“Mm,” Alan replies simply, “I suppose if I was, there’s nothing to stop you from telling me that I’m not.”
“Good point,” Eric muses, resting his arms on the rock behind him, “You’ll just have to trust me.” Alan can practically hear his smirk.
“I suppose I will,” Alan sighs, his eyebrows flying upwards as he sees the sun start to bleed into the horizon, “Oh, Christ-”
“I guess that’s your cue to leave?”
“Yeah,” Alan replies, breathless, “Thank you for talking to me, it’s been lovely meeting you...”
Eric laughs a little, “You too,” He replies, “Don’t forget your bag.”
Alan grabs it, throwing it over his shoulder, “Thanks-“ He rushes, already on his way from the beach.
“Wait- when can I see you again?”
Alan stops dead, turning around, rising sunlight in his honey brown eyes, “Oh, I... I leave this afternoon, actually.”
“Oh, okay...” Eric falters, submerging himself a little more in the water, “I just hoped we could talk a little more, is all...”
“Me too... it’s been lovely to meet you.” He repeats, much more sincerely and less out of habit. “Tell you what,” He says, after a moments silence, “I’ll be here again this time next month. Wait here for me, I’ll come. Promise.”
Eric smirks again, “Sure thing. Now get home, you need some sleep.”
Alan nods, running down the path as the sun rises, his hair glinting in it, “Bye, Eric!”
Eric grins, waving a little.
God, next month can’t come fast enough.