The Mermaid and The Boy

Chapter Six

The dream or nightmare came back. My mom was not singing to me this time but I was walking underwater. I looked around me and realized I was in a dark cave. The smell there was sickening, dead fish, rotten eggs, you name it. I was walking on all sorts of weird bones and skeletons lined up the surroundings. I kept walking until I reached what must have been the most terrible place ever.

The whole place was weaved out of bones and strange beings were busy running around carrying clay pots. It seemed as if they couldn't see me not that I was complaining. One time I walked past a thing that was half snake and had the upper head of a dog. As if that wasn't weird enough a chicken or bird with the head of a lizard walked past me carrying what appeared to be a scroll.

"I see the boy is starting to open his eyes. I can feel part of him here," a cold voice said.

"Wh...where my Lord?" Another voice wheezed with fear.

"You know nothing Sizwe. I can feel him here but the merpeople are mistaken if they think their stupid plan is going to stop me from ever coming back."

"My-my Lord the inyanga that......"

"Shut up you imbecile. Haven't you been listening to me? The boy is here. I can feel him." Cold voice hissed and I shivered.

I don't know what was scarier, the voice or the fact that whatever was talking in the strange house of bones knew that I was there. My feet felt like jelly and I couldn't move an inch. I tried to find my voice but it was gone.

"You should go now Maxwell, next time we meet I won't be so kind to you. I have been waiting a long time for you." I woke with a start and realized I had dozed off on the couch. My shirt was drenched in sweat and I was shivering. I tried by all means to recollect my dream but it was like trying to remember someone I had never met.

"Max, you up man? How are you feeling now?" Wayne asked as he walked into the sitting room with a bowl of water and what appeared to be a towel.

"What do you mean? Was I sick?" I thought I had dozed off as I usually do.

"You don't remember? You were mumbling about bones and stuff plus you had a high temperature," Wayne said and I saw that he was strained. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was a mess on his head. What had happened? He touched my forehead and seemed to exhale a sigh of relief.

"How -how long have I been like this?" I tried to recollect but I had no memory of how I had even gotten home. The more I tried to think the more I got a headache.

"Six hours, I have been trying to get hold of your parents but they are not answering. My mom is the one who told me what to do," Wayne yawned. I looked at the window and noticed that it was nighttime.

"Wayne I'm scared man. I don't know what's happening to me," I said on the verge of tears. I wanted to just curl into a ball and cry. I know it sounds weird because I'm a guy and all but it was getting too much for me to handle. My parents were God knows where.

"It's ok Max, I'm here. When we came home from hanging out at the beach we watched a movie and you kinda fainted when you went to get water in the kitchen." I had no memory of that happening and why had I passed out.

I had a million questions that no one was willing to answer. A strange dude in my dream had promised to be mean to me if we ever met not that I wanted to get in touch anyways. What else had he said? There were chickens and what else? I couldn't put my finger on it but there was more.

"Thank you, bro, and I'm so sorry you had to watch over me like that. Have you eaten? Can I make you something?"

"Relax, Max and you would have done the same for me," Wayne yawned again.

"No, I wouldn't have, " I joked, "Now get some sleep kid."

"With pleasure," Wayne said and took the other couch. I went to my room and got us blankets. When I came back Wayne was sleeping peacefully. I covered him and tried to go back to sleep. I couldn't. That left me with the option of trying to remember my dreams again. I was sure there was a message there.

I lay on my couch staring at the ceiling. After some fruitless hours, I hear my parent's car pull up on our driveway. I pretend to be asleep when they enter the house and head to the sitting room.

"These two should be banned from watching too much T.V, " my mom says as she fixes our blankets.

"You know love I didn't expect our journey to be that long and to think that he passed away like that," He says.

"Yeah, to think that we drove to Victoria Falls for nothing. How can we be sure that he didn't train others or tell them about his past clients?" Mom continues to fuss over us and I pretend to be snoring.

"We can't and if what he said is true then, then does that mean that the legends are true?" I'm shocked to hear that his voice is laced with fear.

"I'm not certain but we used to think they don't exist too. Now I just think anything is possible in this town. If that monster is back that would explain why the merpeople are angry."

I wanted to come up with questions but I refrained. I never got answers anyway. My parents had gone to Victoria Falls. Something clicked in my brain. The song, the story. A couple had gone to a witch doctor (Inyanga). They had met kids and what happened? Suddenly I remembered everything. It came back to me in a clear picture, the whole fairytale. The question was, was it a fairytale or my life story. The headache came back and I must have fainted again.

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Uh- hie guys,
I'm not sure what I wrote here and hopefully, when I edit one day it will be better than this.
And you must be wondering who Arianna is, so the next chapter is in her POV.

#maskup