Behind the Glass (A Mermaid's Story)

Chapter Nine

I awake to the sound of a door screeching shut and peer around myself for a few moments. Much too many thoughts are running through my head; fear after my battle with the shark, sadness at the prospect of how far away I am from my family...and something largely confusing. For some reason, when I'm with Leo, everything just feels so much safer. Like even though I'm miles from my family, and even though today is as unpredictable as the ending of a magnificent story, I just know that everything will be alright. And it's unusual but comforting to know that someone's helping me, that I'm not alone.
Ripping myself away from my thoughts, I swim up to the surface and over to the bars, leaning on the ring of concrete they stand on. The door closing had been Leo, and I smile widely as he walks over. When he reaches me, he sits down and crosses his legs. "What's up?" he asks, smiling back.
"Um, not much. It's so boring here..." My words trail off. I can't figure out why, but suddenly my mouth feels constricted, like if I open it I'll talk gibberish.
Leo makes a sympathetic face. "Yeah, I don't know how you're able to stay here all day and night." Shaking his head, he reaches into a small bag and pulls out a 3D square made up of smaller squares. "It's a Rubix cube," he explains. He proceeds to demonstrate how to use it, showing me how the squares can move. "The goal is to make each side only one color. I thought you might like it, y'know, to distract you and all." Suddenly, he looks extremely embarrassed, his cheeks turning a bright pink.
Reaching out and taking the cube from his outstretched hand, I begin to stare down at it, fumbling with all the small squares. "Thanks. That was really thoughtful," I say quietly. A weird tickly feeling is exploding in my stomach and my face feels like it's burning.
"I'm...I'm really sorry, Andrea. Some people are just awful..." Leo's face looks extremely sad, and he looks into my eyes while waiting for my response.
"Leo, why say sorry when you have nothing to be sorry for? It's not your fault I'm stuck here. It's my own." A small tear rolls down my cheek as I say that. If I had listened to my parents, I wouldn't be stuck in this mess. If I had listened to my parents, no one would be stuck in this mess. Suddenly, a panic begins to fill my brain. I'm wasting everyone's time with my stupidity. I'm wasting Leo's time, he shouldn't even want to help me, and my parents, they must be so worried. It all builds up in me and finally explodes. "I'm sorry, Leo, I'm sorry! I'm wasting your time, you shouldn't even want to help me. You could be out doing things. And my parents, they're probably so worried, and, and..." I can feel myself swimming away, shaking my head in guilt as Leo reaches through the bars for my arm. Before I know it, I'm back underwater, sobbing.