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Meursault entered his apartment, a small package in his hands. It was Saturday, and he had been standing guard at the reception specifically for this delivery. Creeping out the employee at the desk, he was perfectly punctual for the time when the courier arrived with his purchase. He quickly signed on the digital tablet as requested by the delivery person before finally being able to receive a cookie box sized brown box plastered with "LIVE ANIMAL" stickers on all sides.
Going back up to his floor using the elevator, he passes his thumbs over the the top of the box where the delivery stamp is attached. Going over the next steps to take inside his mind, he can't avoid but think back to the reason he had decided to start this kind of endeavor.
He had gotten into aquarium keeping by the suggestion of his coworkers, being the most boring salary man in existence in their words. They said he had the face of a man who kept cichlids. Blinking owlishly at not understanding nothing about that sentence, his coworkers proceeded to bury him in information and internet videos about the topic.
And that's how he found himself spending what little free money he had in an obscene list of equipment to keep fish and plants. He briefly considered doing a saltwater set up, but the upkeep was above of what he could invest his time into, so he went with freshwater species instead. He ended up snatching a deal on some small but colorful shrimp, for their small size combined perfectly with the aquascape he had painstakingly created in the past couple of months.
Meursault almost lost himself thinking about the huge amount of money he had spent on this package, when the ding of the elevator let him know he had arrived to the right floor.
His apartment was decently sized, a two bedroom and one bathroom model that he had gotten a mortgage on just the year before. It was quite spacious, giving Meursault trouble to find furniture big enough to fill it. In a way, getting a forty gallon tank that was longer than it was tall filled out the living room that was painfully empty before.
Carefully making his way towards the center of the room, he set the box on the coffee table before walking off to the kitchen and coming back later with a kit of tools and a container to start the acclimation process for the animals. Having practiced the steps to take the water parameters for weeks by now, he sets up the acclimation container with the air tube and clasps first before opening the mailed box and pulling out a heavily tied plastic bag full of water he proceeds to empty it inside the prepared container.
It goes almost perfect, but of course he splatters some water onto himself during the process. Sighing deeply in distaste he stands up with container in hand and walks towards the aquarium in lieu of bothering himself over the growing wet splotch on his shirt. Quickly setting the clasp on the main tank with one of the air tube's ends, he creates a siphon effect that gets the drop acclimation going in the small container where the invertebrates are freaking out.
Spending just a moment longer making sure everything is ok, Meursault is finally free to go change out from the wet clothes and settle for the two hour wait this process this is going to take. Stepping away from the tank, he rushes to the bedroom, taking care to not leaving water puddles behind him.
By the time he came back to the original task (two hours having passed) Meursault found the acclimation container almost full. Having doubled in volume and all the little critters settled on the bottom no longer spazzing around in panic. Coming closer, he set aside the laundry basket he was carrying, to do the final step for the creatures to finally settle in their new home.
Bending over to grab the container, he checked once again the water volume with critical eyes. Once confirming everything was in order, Meursault brought the container over the tank's top and tilting it slowly started pouring it inside. Little white and red colored creatures descended immediately like leaves carried by the wind, reaching the bottom of the tank and scampering away to hide into the rock's crannies and under the plants.
A slight pinch of distaste crossed his face, wondering if maybe getting ten shrimp may had been too little. He was no longer able to find any of them in the massive landscape, he had underestimated the contrast in size between the creatures and the final tank.
Even wirh the chosen style, a very minimalistic Iwagumi with a very well trimmed carpet plant, he could not find them. The empty foreground ended up giving the aquascape the illusion of being one of those very idyllic green mountains one would find in advertisements for a vacation in European countries.
Taking in the view, he realized something peculiar. A singular shrimp settled in the carpet plant was observing him. This one in specific had a different coloration, completely black with white strips at the end of the tail. Scrunching up his face in serious thinking, Meursault wondered if maybe this was a mix up with his order. After all, he had counted ten caridinas with red and white coloration, he would know if he had ordered any extra breeds. Maybe it was a courtesy gift by the breeder?
Scanning once more the little critter, Meursault recognized it was seemingly a expensive looking breed, for the coloration was so specifically positioned and symmetrical. Thinking it better, Meursault decided it was not worth sending a singular shrimp back and run into the risk of it dying in transit due stress. Thankfully caridinas were not the kind of breed that would loose their colors if they mixed with a different variety. The little shrimp could stay, Meursault didn't mind.
He wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
...
Meursault had been living a very common life in all his twenty seven years of life. Having an uneventful childhood, reaching the expected developmental milestones for his growing age and pouring all his attention over the academic goals instructed by his parents. He genuinely didn't put too much thought into his career, choosing something that was stable and of decent pay. So he ended finishing his studies in accounting and finance, taking a job in accounting right after.
Staying in his jobs an average of two to three years he would apply to a better position in a different company with an appropriate pay increase. That's how he found himself in a comfortable economical position, living at a median income apartment building and keeping a modest savings account. He had the ideal life in paper, but the fact was that he was experiencing a midlife crisis before his thirties' only showed the fact he was crumbling apart.
He had reviewed every element in his life, health, finances, and even his social circle trying to find the reason behind this empty feeling settling in his stomach. He didn't really have something going on for him. No family, no partner, no friends, he was practically on his own in the peak of his youth. That's why he was now trying whatever his coworkers suggested to him, to try and find meaning in this mess.
He was a tidy person, patient enough to take on any kind of endeavor that would normally be extremely tedious for others. Meursault would like to consider it a virtue, to have the ability to laser focus on something that was "boring" for other people. With enough preparation an effort, he had transformed the prepared soil and expensive rock features slowly into a contest worthy entry of an aquarium. He felt a sense of pride looking at a beautiful landscape of green contrasting against the cold gray color of the Seryu stones, his daily upkeep a ritual of trimming and adjusting the co2 levels so it would stay like that as long as possible.
Yet, when he arrived from work, the first thing he saw was all his work going down into the gutter.
Finding a massive puddle of water on the floor with the hardscape laying in clumps all over it, he felt his blood pressure immediately rising. Lifting his gaze from the floor, he found the reason behind this disaster.
There was a man... with a shrimp tail uncomfortably sitting inside his 40 gallon aquarium looking just as uncomfortable like him.
"Who are you?" Meursault didn't even know how to start this conversation. Not sure if he was experiencing a mental break.
"Sorry," says the half human... half shrimp?
"Where did you come from?" Meursault finally engages his brain, hearing the creature speak breaking him out of his stupor.
"I didn't intend to ruin your hard work, I apologize for it."
The shrimp hybrid proceeded to explain to him how his arrival to his tank came to be. It was the result of illicit fishing in protected habitats. The man had to keep in his shrimp from to not risk being crushed by the tiny enclosed spaces he would be set inside and moved from place to place. He even tried to communicate with Meursault (with no success). All of this until his time ran out and he had to transform into his human form, no longer able to hold it in.
"I tried to climb out, but it was impossible," Yi sang, what the taiwanese bee mermaid was called, apologized again after finishing his explanation on how keeping a small form felt cramped until it became painful.
Meursault just stared at him for a moment longer, before moving into action. Going up to the now cracked tank and scooping the mermaid shrimp out of it, moving both of them to the bathroom.
Settling the weird mermaid hybrid in the tub, Meursault opened the tap and started to fill it up. Getting out of the room and coming back with a small bottle. He proceeded to mix the dechlorinator into the pouring water as it started to fill up.
"You don't need to do that, I can tolerate the irritants you humans use in your water..." Yi sang commented outloud.
Meursault emptied out the rest of the bottle into the tub, pulling out his hands so he could fold back his sleeves and gets his whole arms inside to mix it.
"I insist." The man looked back at the bashful shrimp man, treating this whole debacle more seriously than what he had expected.
"If you could just send me back, I will figure out how to get back home." Yi sang insisted as well, growing more embarrassed as the man started helping him accomodate his tail better. After all, it was sensitive, exoskeleton and all.
"Considering your coloration, the supplier will probably try to resell you to a different person if I send you back." Meursault explained, shutting off the water tap and making sure everything was in order.
"If you became human again in a different location, I can't assure you will be safe." The man stood up, fetching the hand towel to dry off himself off.
"Is it really that odd of a thing?" Yi sang asked in a small voice, avoiding his gaze as he nervously rubbed his chin.
Meursault gave a pointed look at Yi sang's tail.
"Yes."
"I see," the mermaid shrimp hybrid looked more distressed about it, closing into himself.
"I believe the best of course of action would be to stay here."
"I wouldn't like to impose..." Yi sang apologized once more, looking quite collected about this whole situation, but Meursault noted the small tremors that ran accross his body.
The man decided to exit the bathroom, with no more words to share, leaving the shrimp human hybrid confused. Returning in a few more moments with a plastic bag he handed off to the later.
"I imagine you haven't had the chance to eat something of nutritional value," Meursault explained, ripping off the top part so the bag would open.
Inside, the expensive german food mix he had bought laid, brown colored pellets smaller than his pinky nail.
Yi sang analyzed the contents with genuine curiosity, until he realized they were supposed to be food for him. The moment he made that discovery, his swimmerets made a cute flurry of movement that ended splashing all the water over the whole bathroom floor.
"Ah, I'm sorry... again," Yi sang admits, ashamed of his excited outburst.
Meursault wiped off the water than landed on his face with a hand, letting the excess fall to the floor before addressing the mermaid man.
"I don't mind it," Meursault replies, no anger or distaste in his words.
"Thank you." The shrimp hybrid does a small bow, "I appreciate this kindness you have so gracefully extended to me."
"It's my duty," Meursault bowed back.
Giving one more look at the shrimp man, Meursault watched him scoope out some of the pellets and eat them as if they were chips. Glad he was comfortable now at least.
Stepping outside the bathroom and closing the door behind him Meursault immediately starts to search for a bigger tank on google.