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Mark Lee admitted to himself, he was tired if the same ancient walls drowned by the sea. He was born and raised in the same tides and he wanted something new, and the only thing new is the shore.
Whenever Mark thought about the shore, his heart started to beat faster. All the stories, whether it was the legends or myths, they were equally terrifying for him. However, Mark wanted something else. Life was too short to not try risks, he reasoned. His life would be cut short if he tried risks, he added.
Mark saw the light reflecting on the sea, it was just right above him, his dainty fingers reaching to break the barrier. He gasped to himself once he stuck his hand out of the water, it was freezing, yet somehow he felt the warmth. He slowly rose up from the water, he was far enough from the shore not to be caught, but near enough to see.
“This was a bad place to try,” he told himself. His eyes wandered around the fishing boats with their nets dipped in the sea. He hid behind a conveniently placed rock as he watched the busy crowd and vendors on the shore, Mark retreated to find a better place.
His heart skipped a beat as he turned around to dive back in. A fisherman, eyes wide as his from shock, hands gripping the fishing net, stance balancing the boat.
“I’m dead meat,” Mark said to himself, laughing nervously as he backed away. The tall man was still frozen. His heart skipped a beat once more as he felt a hard slippery surface behind him, he couldn’t go further than the rock or else the people would notice him.
The man unfroze and gently placed the net back inside his boat as he kneeled down, hand reaching for Mark’s. Marveled by his blue tinted skin, a couple of scales reflecting the light casted upon them, and his small webbed ears sticking out of his disheveled blond hair.
His hand emerged from the sea once more, slowly reaching to the stranger’s. He didn’t seem to freak out, Mark noticed. He was more fascinated than scared.
Warm, was all Mark could say as he touched his hand. It was rough and bigger than his, but it felt safe. It was one of the things he could think about after swimming back, the other one was how they were interrupted when someone called the man, Xuxi.
---
Mark waited until sundown to emerge from the waters again. He hid behind the rock as he searched for him, and there he was. Underneath the moon with a couple of people, the man with the maroon hair shone. He swam closer, not minding the other fishermen surrounding Xuxi. They seemed like they were friends, and his friends must be as kind as him, right?
He stopped as he felt the floor touch his tail. He slowly rose up to reveal himself up to his shoulders, eyes focusing on Xuxi.
He was too caught up in trance that he didn’t notice the whispers.
“Hendery,” one spoke. “Do you see that thing in the sea?”
“You’re just drunk, Kun,” Hendery replied. “This shit happens every goddamn night.”
“No, it’s real, this time,” Kun reasoned. “Just look over there, near that big damned rock. Something blue, something human?”
Hendery gave in and looked to where Kun was pointing, and there it was, a creature similar to a human but with a pair of small webbed ears and a glistening blue tinted skin.
“It’s a merfolk,” Hendery said rather loudly, alerting Xuxi and Mark.
Mark saw a light different from the Moon, it was daring and scary. He figured out that it must be a torch, the one he learned through the stories where humans burned merfolk alive. He took a glance at Xuxi and he saw that he was frozen in his spot. Mark tried to figure out if he was shocked or worried, but it didn’t matter, since the sole thing he needed to focus on was to swim away.
-
Mark was never the best at following rules, he was naturally curious with things, unfortunately. Most of the things he’d done caused consequences that should’ve thought him a lesson, like swimming away from their clan and ending up in the deep sea where the sirens resided. Mark should’ve learned that anyone and anything could hurt him, but he still gave his heart to everything.
He swam along the ancient debris, that acted like a border between the colonies, to find Doyoung. What he needed was his craft, he was the one that mixes potions after all.
He found Doyoung surrounded by shells and other species he couldn’t tell apart.
“What do you need?” Doyoung asked, Mark was a frequent visitor.
“I want to be a human-”
Doyoung’s roaring laughter disturbed the waves. “I make potions, Mark. I can’t change your DNA.”
“Well,” he pondered for a while. “Can you make me a potion that changes my tail to legs?”
“Here.”
“That was fast-”
“Trust me, you’re not the only one who wanted that.”
“Is it safe?” Mark asked, eyeing the sparkling liquid with a purple hue inside a crafted shell.
“You’re a goddamn merman that wants to go on land, do you really care about safety?” Doyoung asked to which Mark shook his head.
As he was about to open the vial, Doyoung snatched it away.
“You can’t get something for nothing, you know,” Doyoung said.
“Oh, I don’t have much on me. I could go back-”
“It has to be from you. Something you could never replace.”
“I don’t get you. What do you need?”
Doyoung observed Mark for a moment, eyebrows furrowed and tentacles examining him, until it landed in one place. On the middle of Mark’s neck.
“I’ll be taking this,” Doyoung said and Mark immediately felt pain on his neck, something was piercing through it and after a second, it was gone. The pain, and his voice.
He was bewildered as to why no sound was coming out, until Doyoung spoke.
“I took your voice box,” he said. “I think that’s a great deal for legs.”
Mark slowly nodded. Love costs, and it’s not cheap.
“If you ever want to come back, you have to get what I took. Not from me, but from whoever you’re there for. An eye for an eye, a voice box for a voice box, even if it makes the world silent,” he said as he gave the vial back.
Mark took it and toyed with it for a while. It must be worth it, but the only way to know is to try.
“Drink that as you arrive on the shore. Goodluck, Mark.”
He nodded to give thanks and he swam away. He admitted, this was nerve wracking since he was acting too fast on things. He hasn’t even held a conversation with Xuxi, and now he doesn’t have a chance to. Yet, instead of turning back, Mark decided to swim once more.
As he was nearing the shallow part, he opened the vial and drank the liquid. He felt a pain in his head, the scent was too strong. He emerged from the water and he felt a tingling sensation on his tail, they were being separated in half and fading away. Mark felt foreign to the feeling of growing legs. He felt the rocks underneath him and the slope of the land. Mark suffered from a headache as he tried to walk up, but he tripped and landed on something soft and rough at the same time, and his vision turned black.
---
Mark felt tiny rocks crumbling beneath him and loud whispers, maybe even normal conversations around him. They were different from merfolks, they had a certain accent and diction that Mark only heard when merfolk made fun of humans. Humans. Mark panicked and opened his eyes, only to be stung by the sand, once he realized he was surrounded by humans.
He rose up quickly and looked up to the people surrounding him, they were getting closer by the second. Mark jolted as he felt something heavy on his tail- legs, he suddenly remembered. He had legs now, but that didn’t stop him from being embarrassed and scared that people perceived him.
Their voices grew louder and Mark tried to cover his ears.
“Excuse me! Make way!”
Mark suddenly felt something foreign envelope him, it was the color of the shells but the texture of moss. Also, aside from the dirty-white towel that covered him, there were a strong pair of hands hugging him, shushing the people and making them go away. He looked to the side to see someone familiar.
“Xuxi,” he tried to say, but his throat still hurts.
The other shifted his view on him. “Come on, let’s take you home.”
---
Human houses were different from the caves where Mark resided. They were structured in a way that was unnecessary from merfolk. He found the bane of his existence, stairs. For Mark, they were very human.
Xuxi might’ve noticed how slowly and clumsily Mark walked so he carried him until they reached the house.
“Wait here,” Xuxi said, placing Mark down on something soft like a sponge.
He stared at Xuxi’s legs as he walked away. He was a fast learner, he thought to himself. In no time, he can probably go on a walk with him.
The only problem was his voice. Mark wanted to speak and talk to Xuxi so bad but he couldn’t find a way to. He wanted to ask him every question he could think of, but now he just has to wait until Xuxi tells him anything.
Mark heard footsteps approaching and he saw a new face, causing him to tighten his grip on the towel.
He was shorter than Xuxi, his hair was jet black, and his eyes were widened.
“Who are you?” the words rolled off his tongue effortlessly. His eyes narrowed as his eyebrows furrowed.
Before Mark could try to speak, the guy spoke over him. “Xuxi!” he called.
After a second, Xuxi popped in the room.
“Oh, you’ve met him,” Xuxi said.
“Was I not supposed to?”
“I was going to introduce you to him later,” Xuxi said. “This is Hendery,” he introduced to which Mark nodded.
“Not much of a talker,” Hendery commented. He focused his gaze on Xuxi. “You better not be cheating on me.”
“Of course not,” Xuxi said, expressions changing to which Mark can only compare to a lost seal.
Xuxi leaned in for a kiss on Hendery’s cheek but the latter tilted his head further away.
“Dinner is almost ready.”
Xuxi shifted his focus to Mark, offering an apologetic smile.
“Sorry about that,” he said. He placed the clothes he was holding down the bed and helped Mark wear them.
He was a peculiar human, Mark kept thinking.
“You’ve changed the last time I saw you,” Xuxi said, fixing Mark’s hair like before. He held Mark’s arm, inspecting where his fins were. He further examined Mark, twisting and turning, until his hand landed on Mark’s collarbone where he noticed a small slit on his neck.
“You’re healing up quickly,” Xuxi said, causing Mark to furrow his eyebrows. He chuckled at his expression. “See, I was like you.”
It felt weird for Mark, a thorn was removed from his heart, but the splinters remain. He could’ve met Xuxi earlier, he could’ve prevented the pain they are in right now.
“You gave up your voice?” Xuxi asked, which Mark nodded.
“I gave up my heart, figuratively. I wasn’t able to feel any emotions nor love after I swam to the shore. It wasn’t a problem at first, since all I wanted was to explore, but it was hard, learning how to walk by yourself. Hendery helped me a lot, he was patient and wasn’t as cranky as he is now. I guess unknowingly, he gave his heart to me.”
Mark watched as Hendery set the table. He was emotionless as Xuxi said. Among all the questions in his mind, Mark would probably ask Xuxi if he was still happy.
As if the latter heard it, he spoke once more. “Sometimes I wonder if he still loves me, that he just fails to show it,” he said.
Mark watched as Xuxi looked at him fondly, the corner of his lips slightly raised. Xuxi was drowning in his own sea.
“I’m scared of the day I’m wrong,” he continued.
Mark reached out for Xuxi’s hand which pulled the latter’s attention back to him.
“How about you?” he asked. “What are you here for?”
His heart skipped a beat and he shook his head. Xuxi doesn’t have to know.
Mark had one task to himself and that was to set Xuxi free. For him, Xuxi was never happy with him, he just thought he was since Hendery was the first human to be kind to him. It may be from Mark’s jealousy but he was sure that getting rid of Hendery was the solution to everyone’s problem.
---
After dinner, Xuxi decided to walk with Mark on the shore.
“Sorry for shouting earlier,” Xuxi started. “I hope you realize that what you did wasn’t right either.”
Mark nodded as he pulled Xuxi down to sit on the sand.
He pointed at Xuxi’s chest and pointed at the sea afterwards.
“Do I ever want to go back?” Xuxi guessed and Mark nodded enthusiastically. “Of course not. Hendery is here.”
Mark pointed to himself then the sea. ‘I will be there for you.’
Xuxi shook his head. “I’m staying here. I love him.”
A lost cause, that’s what he is to Mark. He shook his head. ‘You don’t,’ he tried to say, but what does Mark even know about relationships? He has been alone ever since, and it seems like that’s how things would end.
He was tired of convincing Xuxi and he just wanted to go home. He waited until it was the two of them alone on the shore. The sun was long gone and so was his hope.
Mark held Xuxi’s nape as he leaned closer.
“What are you doing-” Xuxi couldn’t finish what he was saying as he felt something sharp pierce his throat.
It was the best way to end things, Mark thought to himself as he pulled away from Xuxi. He held his larynx in between his teeth and he swam away before thinking about regretting everything.
Xuxi wanted to call for help but he felt himself fall against the sand, with a gape on his neck, and the last thing he saw was Mark with large fangs and a bloody face, wafting away. He heard the rapid splashes of water and something surprising. Hendery, screaming for his name in pure agony.