𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐋, 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞²

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 . . .

𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐥    ,    𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫
𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

"HOW LONG ARE you going to stay here?"

Paul was pulled out of his trance as Jared's voice sounded from behind him, but he did not pull his gaze away from the water. He was much too focused on scanning it over and over, trying to see everything down to the ocean floor, fearing that he might miss anything if he teared his eyes away for so much as a second.

Jared sighed heavily at his silence. "It was funny at first. You sitting here for hours everyday. Staring at the water like you were looking for your life's purpose. I laughed at first—but dude! It's been three days." he exclaimed. "You haven't shown up for any of your shifts. Sam is making us work overtime 'cause of you. Get your ass up and get out of this stupid slump!"

Regardless off the lecture being thrown his way, Paul did not react. As though there was nobody around him. Jared may as well have been taking to himself the way he was just speaking into thin air.

"This is getting ridiculous, man." he shook his head, frustration bubbling within him. "I told you already. You were hallucinating."

"I know what I saw." Paul finally let out in a low grumble. A dramatic groan came from Jared's lips, but Paul did not care. He was not going to change his mind about the matter. He could not fathom why it was that the rest of the pack was so adamant on attempting to convince him that what he had seen with his own eyes was nothing more but a delusion. It was not just some crazy fable he had made up for the hell of it. And he trusted himself enough to believe that the kiss they shared that day was one hundred percent certain. His mind would never play a trick on him like that.

And on the off chance that it did, it was incredibly cruel.

"Mermaids don't exist—"

"I know what I saw!" his voice boomed as he finally teared his attention away from the waves below. The expression on his face made his friend pause in his tracks.