2024 Story Collection

The Merman in the Mountain Pond III

Anna wakes the next morning beside Theo. They lay side by side in the net-bed of his. She snuggles into the warm blankets and smiles.

She glances over to see him staring at her with a warm smile. "Good morning."

"The blankets smell like you," she says, her voice muffled by said blankets.

"Is that a good thing?" He asks her with a raised brow.

"You smell good," she tells him. Taking a deep breath, head still partially covered by the sheets.

"Thank you?" he replies, seemingly unsure how to answer that. She giggles, uncovering the rest of her face.

"Most men smell like cologne," she scrunches her nose up in disgust. "I hate that stuff, always have. Perfume too."

"I agree." He turns to lay on his back. "It makes my head hurt."

"You too?" She gives him all her attention. "It makes me nauseous."

"That's why I don't wear any."

"Me neither." He looks over at her and she grins. He laughs.

"What a strange conversation?" He says between laughs, she joins him at just how absurd it is.

"I'm blaming it completely on having just woken up." She says, and he nods. They laugh for too long about something so silly. She loves it. She loves him.

Her eyes widen and she suddenly stops laughing, a seriousness falling over her at her realization. She watches him. He lays there, his muscular chest on display, his shirt likely discarded during the night. His eyes closed as he continues to laugh. His laugh. It was bright, despite his unusually deep voice. She feels her heart pound in her chest as she looks at him. Her eyes begin to water.

"Theo," she says voice full of emotion.

"Yes," he says, still trying to calm his laughter. Still oblivious to the girls emotional state beside him.

"I think I might love you." She says. Her heart beats impossibly faster and harder. She can't stand it.

He immediately stops and turns to her. His eyes are wide.

"What?" He's so serious that it catches her off guard. She gulps.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," she says, a tear running down her cheek.

"Don't joke around like that," he says. "Its not funny." She can see his heart pounding in his chest. His breathing is more rapid, mirroring her own.

"I'm not joking," she says. "I'm serious, and it scares me." Her voice cracks.

His face softens, and he reaches for her hand, taking it in his.

"It scares me so much because spending this time with you makes me want to live. It makes me want a life with you. Suddenly, I'm not okay with dying anymore."

She's crying now. She tries to calm herself but only gets more anxious.

He sits up and leans over her. He gently caresses her cheek. "You really mean that?" He asks, staring at her lips.

"Yes," she nods.

"I can give you that," he says while moving stray hair from her face. "I can save you, heal you. But you'd be forced to spend the rest of your life with me."

"That doesn't sound to bad," she says a wide smile on her face.

"You'd become like me," he says. "You would become a monster."

"But you're not a monster." She reaches up and caresses his cheek.

"If I kiss you, we will be mates for life. We will be tied together for eternity. Our lives will be intertwined. If one of us is killed, the other will die too."

"I wouldn't want to live without you anyway," she smiles at him.

He looks at her with such a warm, loving expression. It all sounds wonderful, but there is a question that lingers in her mind.

"Do you love me?" She asks, searching his eyes for an answer. For the answer.

"I care for you deeply," he says, and she feels her heart break. Her face falls.

She looks into his eyes that are swirling with emotions, as if searching for the answer himself. It fills her with a bit of hope so she asks again.

"But do you love me?"

Silence. He stares at her. She looks at him, pleading for an answer for something. She wants him, she wants his love. Was fate so cruel to give him to her for a moment, just long enough to hurt when then they would take her away?

She is about to give up all hope when, finally; he nods.

"Say it."

"I can't," he stutters and looks away embarrassed. His face is so red it looks almost painful.

"Then how will I know?"

He stays there for a moment thinking; she waits. When he speaks his voice cracks.

"Did you not feel it? In all the things I've done for you? In the way I look at you? The way I embrace you now?" He rubs a finger over her lips and she shivers. "I've told you a thousand times tonight, just listen and you'll hear," and she does, she has.

She closes her eyes and thinks of it all. It was a short time they've known each other, but it was filled with love.

"I feel it."

He leans down and kisses her. She doesn't know what to do at first, this was her first kiss. What if I embarrass myself? She realizes that this is probably his first kiss, too. That gives her the confidence to kiss him back.

As she does, she gasps. A warmth spreads through her. She feels herself change into something else. She can't quite describe it, but something changed in that moment.

She deepens the kiss, and he moans. He breaks the kiss and hides his face in her shoulder. She chuckles, wrapping her long arms around him.

"I like that sound, lets see if I can get you to make more." She pulls his face back to hers. It's hot to the touch, much like her own.

He kisses her, this time harder and more desperately. It wasn't as awkward as the first. It was long and filled with unspoken emotion.

Eventually they break apart, panting.

"Does this mean we're married now?" She jokes.

He laughs. "Is this a proposal?"

"Yes," she says and laughs in delight at this situation.

"Then, yes. I will marry you mysterious woman I met in the pond."

They laugh in each other's arms, rolling around the bed with wide grins.

"I love you." She says, and he nods before placing a kiss on her forehead.

The End.

January 6, 2024