I left the inn shortly afterwards. Edvin offered to handle setting my equipments up for me and I gratefully accepted. I couldn't be bothered with any more hard labor today. I was tired enough as it was.
I walked past the bustling evening streets, nodding at a few faces that I recognized from previous introductions but as some of them waved me over, I ignored them completely. Socializing was never my forte to begin with.
I was only taking this path back home because of the stalker incident from last time and I figured staying in crowded places was a much safer bet than trekking through the woods alone.
The wind was moist and cold as it brushed past me. I looked up and saw dark clouds gathering in the sky.
Rain was coming.
My boots clicked on the cobblestones as I walked hurriedly, wanting desperately to be away from people, to be tucked safely in my room with no prying eyes to look at me.
I pulled my scarf up to my nose and bowed my head down till all I could see were my own feet walking towards home one step at a time. I eventually grew more and more distant from the noise of the bustling evening. I stopped and lifted my head up, standing under the light of a street lamp.
Alone, finally. I let out my breath that came out misty. I could finally breathe now.
There was an odd comfort in being alone. I could think with clarity in the silence of my solitude. Even though I knew it was dangerous. I knew that I wasn't safe but at that moment, I couldn't care less. I just stood there for a moment, staring into the darkness of the night then closed my eyes.
.... I want to see him.
The thought sparked through me without a moment's notice and I felt a bad omen raise goosebumps on my skin. Why was it that every time I chose to see him, it was on a whim? But then, despite my bad feeling, I would still go meet Oeric. Or more like I couldn't stop myself from wanting to.
Was I bewitched? Is this what people call falling in love...?
No.
To me, it just felt like there was something I had to do that was left undone. And the feeling of leaving something unfinished was frustrating. For that reason alone, I had to go see him. To figure out what it was about him exactly that called to me.
Was it my passion for art speaking? Or was it the look in his eyes? Odd though it was, I hadn't even met him for more than two times since I got to know him, but it felt like I had known him from long before.
*Cough! *Cough!
The sound of someone coughing violently in the distance brought me back to my senses and I whipped my head around in the direction of the sound.
"Mister ... Petrosi?" I asked, unsurely when I saw his slouched body in the distance. "Is that you?"
In between wheezes, he looked up as he half crouched besides a bench and gave me a pained look. His eyes were red from the strain of coughing too much or from something else, I couldn't tell.
I hurried over to him and helped him sit upright on the bench again. That's when the smell of cigarettes hit me. He had been smoking and by the looks of that mass of cigerette butts gathered around his feet, he had been smoking for a while.
"Mr. Petrosi, how long have you been out here?" I rubbed his back as he continued to cough his insides out. I waited for him to catch his breath to speak but as soon as he tried, the bouts of cough recommenced.
"This won't do," I said, pulling his arm over my shoulder and tugging him off the bench. "You point the way and I'll take you home."
Oeric will have to wait.
I grabbed his walking stick resting by the bench along the way and started in the direction towards where he pointed. He was wheezing with just the effort from trying to walk, so he barely spoke a word while I took him to his place. It wasn't much far, so we were able to get there without any trouble.
"Thank you," he finally managed to say in between short breaths. "I appreciate you going out your way to help me out. Why don't you come inside, child?" He offered.
"Oh no, it's already late and," I said, looking up at the darkening sky and shook my head. "I couldn't possibly burden," —Before I could finish my sentence, Mr. Petrosi was already inside, setting fire to the hearth in his living room— "....you?"
"I don't have much but would some tea suffice?" he asked, standing next to the cozy fire he managed to kindle. "Well, what are you waiting for, child? Close the door! You're letting the cold in."
With no time to answer, I just stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The corners of his mouth moved up to form a wrinkly smile. "Chloe Campbell, right? You're that distant relative of the Rosamunds that's living with them for a while."
Distant relative? I'm her niece. I didn't correct him and just nodded.
Now that he mentioned it, we had never had the chance to have a proper conversation before today, much less an introduction.
"It seems like you already know who I am, so I don't have to introduce myself. Why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back," he said and headed for the kitchen.
I started, "Wait, I'll lend you a hand-"
He just waved his hand at me dismissively and left me standing in the corridor to his living room. With nothing better to do, I found a spot near the fire on the couch and settled in. Then for the first time I noticed his walking stick, still clutched in my hand tightly.
There was a unique emblem on top of it. It had a shield containing two triangles; one inverted within the erect and in the center, opened an eye. Black as the night and eerily haunting. And finally this entire structure was encircled by a tailed fin.
The emblem looked like something out of a witch's grimoire for all I knew. But there was something about it and the more I tried to make sense of it, the more confusing it became.
I looked at the emblem with a frown fixed between my brows when Mr. Petrosi returned, holding a tray with the tea and cookies. A warm inviting steam carrying its bergamot scent came from the cups. Earl grey. My favorite.
Just the fragrance alone soothed my frown and I extended my hand to grab myself a cup.
He chuckled— well, half chuckled and half croaked thanks to the obviously bad condition of his lungs— and said, "Looks like I made the right choice with this one. You like your tea?"
I nodded, taking a sip. "It's soothing."
"It is," he said, smiling, clearly satisfied with my answer. Then his gaze fell on his walking stick still held firmly in my hand. "I see you've been looking at it for a while. Don't tell me you want it for yourself? I should tell ya, I need that thing to walk around as much as it peeves me."
"Oh! Sorry about that." I quickly returned the cane back to him. "It's just, the emblem was peculiar so I got curious," I said looking pointedly at the symbol engraved at its top.
"This old thing?" He asked following my gaze. "It's a thing from long ago back when I was still in the navy. That symbol used to be our unit's emblem."
The expression on his face hinted to a history he rarely recalled. "They gave this to me when I had retired. 23rd November, 1985." His eyes looked distant as he remembered and suddenly the room fell into silence. "It was a long night."
The silence was stifling and that compelled me to break it. Unfortunately, the question I chose to break the ice with, didn't go through a filter.
"So about your family.... " I began but quickly sucked my breath in and shut my mouth as I realized my error. I mentally slapped myself numerous times for my insensitivity.
It must have shown on my face because for some reason he laughed out loud at my discomfort.
"My child, you must be wondering about my family," he spoke, lightly. "Anyone would, for that matter. A dying old man living in a cottage in the suburbs all by his lonesome. I must be cooking a recipe for my own demise?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that, " I added, meekly.
"Why not?" he continued. "It's true, isn't it. But I can't help it, I'm afraid." His eye looked somewhere behind me and I followed his gaze to a frame holding a picture of him, his wife and his daughter on an end table. They looked so happy.
"I don't have a family, child," he sighed, suddenly as though the exhaustion from all those years now wore him out. Normally, he was an old man with a stern and refined look about him but now he was just old and miserable. "So does that answer your question?"
I didn't answer, I just wallowed in my own misery for bringing something like that up in the first place. I knew his family had died long ago. I just didn't knew how and for some reason I had this insane belief that asking him that right off the bat would be a good idea.
Who was I kidding. This stupid mouth that knows no filter will be the death of me one day.
"I'm sorry," I finally said not knowing what else to say.
"Don't feel guilty, it's not something you need to apologize for," he said simply and raised his cup to his mouth to take a sip. I thought that was the end of this discussion but to my surprise he continued.
"We were quite happy back then. It was when we were having the time of our lives together as a family that I got recruited into the navy and the days I had with them became numbered," he said looking at the photo of his family. The way he spoke about them made me feel like I was getting a glimpse of something personal.
It wasn't something I asked for but he looked like he needed to get this out of his system so I let him.
"Everything went downhill from there. War, blood, tears. Those were tremulous times. We had our hands full with the war at sea and we didn't even realize the fight had invaded our lands. But before we could deploy our forces to their defense, it was already too late. Women and children.... just bodies over dead bodies reminding us of our failure." He shook his head and squeezed the moisture out of his eyes as he blinked.
"Most of us were left scarred. Whether it was physically or emotionally. We had lost more than just the battle."
I let my face fall, not knowing what to say.
His chest rumbled as he laughed lowly, "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this but it was nice. Talking about the past," He smiled to himself, "makes me remember the good times too."
I was glad my insensitive question didn't cause an entirely unpleasant effect.
I felt relieved at his recovery. It gave me a sense of accomplishment. If I helped him move on even just a little bit, that meant that there was still some hope, right? That counts for something.
~~~
I finished my tea and quickly excused myself. On my way out, Mr. Petrosi called out saying I was welcomed if it was me who had something to say the next time we met.
I just nodded, not really considering the offer and just paced in the opposite direction of his house. It was already dark and my curfew was a little more than an hour away. The sky rumbled above me and the wind picked up.
Damn it.
I was still going to meet Oeric despite the little time I had left and despite the bad weather. I just hope he was still there.
Why did I even want to meet him so much? I could just go some other time but no, I had to go now.
It was like an otherworldly force that moved my legs on the path to him. And I let it. Before I knew it, I was already surrounded by the honeysuckle scent from the clearing that lead to the lake. Although today, it was much fainter than the previous times I had smelled it.
The wind was stronger now and I was greeted by a light drizzle that had begun.
I breezed through the clearing, going straight for the pond that was hidden behind the woods and as my gaze fell upon it, it was exactly the same as the last time I saw it. As though time itself had stopped in place for it. Frozen in its beauty.
Today, however, I felt rushed. I didn't admire the scene before me, I only looked for one thing: Oeric.
I searched for him in the darkness of trees and the rustle of bushes, my eyes darting towards even the slightest of movements in the shadows. I looked frantically for him as the rain grew harsher and a flash of lightening slashed through the sky.
"Oeric!" I screamed but my voice was drowned out by the storm raging around me. I looked for him everywhere, soaking wet and irrationally desperate.
There was no logic to my actions. It was just an impulse that brought me here in this crazy weather. I could just leave. Come back another day when mother nature wasn't trying to hurl me. Then why wasn't I? Why was I turning around in circles trying to look for a crazy man who was always naked?
I had no answer.
In my search, I ended up standing at the edge of the water, looking down at it, scrutinizing my warped reflection and it was just stellar. I looked like a mad woman caught in headlights. Letting out a frustrated breath, I finally decided to turn around and leave.
But before I could, someone suddenly snaked his arm over my waist and the other over my mouth. I went cold with fright at the unforeseen assault, my heart beat rapid. He pressed me to him and whispered something in my ears before shoving me into the dark unwelcoming lake.
Paralyzed with terror, I could only plummet deeper into the water, repeating what he had said over and over in my head.
"Time to meet your fate."
I blinked, feeling my breath running out with each passing second and suddenly the gravity of my situation had my body pumping with adrenaline. I realized if I didn't take action soon, I would drown to death. When that revelation dawned on me, I willed my body into motion and flung my arms above me, pushing myself up with all the strength I could conjure.
As I almost reached the surface, I could see a receding figure in the storm above. I wanted to see his face, put a name to him but I was frightened out of my wits with the current turn of events.
Right now, all I could think about was survival and to be as far away from him as I can get. So as soon as he was out of sight, I lunged for the surface.
I could almost feel the air that would rush through my lungs when I did but something was wrong.
I couldn't break through the surface.
Something was very very wrong.
It was like the entire surface was laced with elastic. The more I tried to reach out the more it stretched without breaking. I was trapped and running low on oxygen. I flailed my arms above me in a panicky attempt to save myself. If I didn't do anything soon, I was going to die.
Die.
At that moment, my entire life flashed before my eyes. Every memory I could recall from long ago till this very moment came rushing to me, knocking the last bits of breath out of me. I gasped and a fistful of water invaded my lungs, choking me. I made one last attempt at the surface in my anguish but to no avail.
I'm going to die.
Something blurred past my hazy vision. I was loosing consciousness. My eyes lost their light as I let myself fall under the weight of the water. I vaguely sensed someones arms firmly wind around me.
Out of nowhere, there was an explosion of foreign sensations bursting within me. The water that was choking me suddenly felt like a breath of fresh air. I blinked, eyes wide. My body suddenly jerked with life.
And then with horror.
I was locked in an embrace with someone's mouth on mine.
Oeric.
He wasn't just giving me CPR. He was outright kissing me. First gently but with every brush of his lips against mine, his kiss grew deeper. Longer. And I felt lightheaded.
The water pooling in my lungs no longer bothered me. Instead it felt refreshing. I felt like I could finally breathe even though all that I inhaled was water.
His hands moved from my waist to the back of my neck, pulling me closer.
I didn't think it was possible for my eyes to grow any wider but when he showed no signs of letting me go and suddenly pulled the tongue action on me, they did.
With my newfound strength, I pushed him away from me as hard as I could. He didn't even budge. Still glued to him against my will, I pounded on his chest and scratched anywhere I could land my nails on until he finally conceded and gave me enough space to speak.
"What do you think you're doing? Are you f^^king insane?!" I snapped.
I was going to slap the shit out of him if something more pressing hadn't distracted me. I turned my head to survey where I was and felt it wobble.
I was still underwater. I was speaking. I was f^^king breathing. Underwater! I must be dead...
"W-What's going on? How am I....?"
"Vitality. That's what I just gave you." He said, still uncomfortably close and strangely composed. But his proximity didn't bother me as much as the fact that he could also voice his words underwater. "For the second time now," he said, smiling.
He brushed the hair from my forehead to a side and stared at it as though something there made him ebullient.
"I have been waiting for you, Chloe Campbell. I have been waiting for you to come back for a long time. And now you're finally here."
I was too distracted and barely paid attention to what he was saying while I looked at his lips move and tried to figure out the mechanics of speaking with all this water around us. Something slick brushed past my legs. I recoiled at the sensation and shuddered away to see what nasty thing had suddenly touched me.
And what I saw was a little too much than I could handle.
Shimmery black scales, glowed softly in the cold moonlight seeping in through the surface. It glided gently in the clear water and my eyes widened as I stared at it, dumbfounded. I followed it up to his torso and saw the scales reach up his back and front in an intricate pattern.
I finally looked up at his face, my lips quivering with the sudden revelation.
"You— you're— " I bit my tongue and clasped my mouth shut with my hand over it, still looking into his emerald eyes. This time in a new light.
He was a myth. A fantasy turned reality.
He was a merman.
*************