The Mermaid and The Boy

Chapter nine

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen"

"What do you do?"

"Oh, you mean me? I'm a student"

"Are you dating?"

"No, I'm married to a hundred-year-old mermaid."

This is how I imagined my imaginary interview would go. With me being kicked out of the office and sent to a mental asylum.

"You don't have to look so shocked Maxie," Ariana cooed but I could tell that she was enjoying this way too much.

"Why did you agree to this ridiculous arrangement?" I asked her.

"You think I agreed to marry a human?" She asked in disdain as if I was the most disgusting thing in the world.

"No, you didn't that's why we are stuck together." I snapped back.

"Did you actually get your intelligence back or you had none, to begin with. We are destined by a prophecy. We have no option in this thanks to that old miserable human git."

"You sure know your insults, honey. Is it a mermaid thing?" I said to annoy her and her look told me I had succeeded. I expected Wayne to budge into my room and wake me up screaming like he usually does. I wanted to laugh off this ridiculous dream but a pinch on my shoulder told me I wasn't dreaming. Arianna sat down on the warm sand and motioned for me to do the same. I did. That's what marriage is like right?

"We need to talk about Nyaminyami. He will kill..."

"Whoa! Hold up wifey. Nyami who? This keeps getting better and better." I scoffed. I thought Arianna and I just had to get married and boom the rain will come, crops saved, people rejoice and then we live happily never after. Was that too much to ask for?

"Have you ever read a book in your life?" She asked.

"Hmmm," I pretended to think and placed a finger on my head, " Not not really thanks to some supernatural beings who.."

"It's ok jeez no need to get all sarcastic on me honey pie. Anyways Nyaminyami is the legendary snake who believes that the whole of Kariba belongs to him."

This was hilarious. I was married to a mermaid ( sorry to keep repeating the same info but it still hasn't settled in my poor miserable brain). A psychopathic snake believed he owned my hometown. The lions believed their original hometown was Asia and not Africa and last but not least the aliens and vampires were gonna have a wrestling match. Ok,  fine I was exaggerating but who could blame me?

"That would be cool actually. Imagine ugly aliens versus hot vampire guys with crazy six-pack abs in a...." Arianna scowled when I raised my hand to stop her.

"Why do you keep reading my thoughts?" I asked annoyed.

"Because you are nervous and you keep blabbering useless things in your brains and I happen to be controlling all your anger right now." She snapped. Yep, she was controlling my anger all right.

"Can I also do that? I mean read your emotions and thoughts?"

Arianna took time to answer as if this might be the worst thing to do in the world. "Yes, especially when I'm in danger or if I think about you too much then you can hear my voice too. And you couldn't do that because before you turned sixteen your powers were limited but now you are a ticking time bomb. Can you just try raising your hand in that direction and pretend to throw a stone?" She asked pointing to the water before us.

I did. I raised my hand and as soon as I threw my imaginary stone the waves rose and almost sunk all the boats. I was a freak. Simple. Arianna smirked impressively. She looked cool when she did that.

"You see what I mean? Nyaminyami will do anything to prevent you from ever trying to rule the lake."

"But I don't wanna rule the lake," I whined in a baby voice. I just wanted the normal high school life where I would just worry about girls and homework. I didn't want to upset crazy snakes who had anger issues. I could tell Arianna's patience was running out.

"And you think I wanna be stuck with you as a husband? I don't. But that monster is back. What I showed you the other day at the fields is nothing. Things are about to get bad here and humans will die along with mermaids." She said.

Finally, it clicked to me that both of us had no choice. None of us wanted this but when I concentrated hard I could feel Arianna's pain too. Years and years of frustration. Right now she was keeping calm for the both of us but I realized that if one thing set her off Kariba would be destroyed before Nyaminyami even had the chance.

"I'm sorry. I just..." I couldn't even finish the sentence. All my life was already written down for me.

"It's ok I understand but can we just try and solve the matter at hand then we can think about how we will end our marriage later," Arianna answered and the weird thing is I felt sad when she said that but I wasn't sure whether it was me or her. Perks of having your emotions connected y'all.

We sat on the sand quietly for some time and watched the sunset together. Not in a romantic way no but just as a way to gather our thoughts and find peace. My parents had lied to protect me. I was still mad but I would have done the same thing if I were in their shoes. I had to go back home and assure them that everything would be ok but first I wanted answers.

"What does he want exactly, I mean Nyaminyami? Who is he?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"The most handsome human being who can turn into the most horrible snake the world has ever seen. He used to dwell in this place long before humans came to settle here. So when you guys came here and settled turning this lake into a source of livelihood, things went wrong. Nyaminyami was ousted by witch doctors for always causing floods and creating chaos. Finally, we made a deal with him and he promised to leave us alone that is until you were born." Arianna stopped.

"I get it now, the prophecy came along when I was born right?" It wasn't a question. "He wants to kill me so he can prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled"

Arianna laughed, "finally, but not only you Max. My brother-in-law is after me too."

Wait did she just say...no it couldn't be no ways.

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Sorry to just end it like that😂Im so sleepy but I have to type my assignment too. I hope you enjoy and please do let me know what you think so I can improve my writing.

Goodnight guys.