Glass Prison

Prologue

I pressed my palm to the glass pane, that separated me and the boy who floated gently in the salt water. His eyes glittered green, sea green. They were filled with so much grief that it made my heart cry. He smiled softly at me, as if to comfort me when it should be me comforting him.

His hair swirled like black ink on the crown of his head. His tan skin gleamed under the cloudless sky. The most exotic trait were not his beauty, but his legs or rather, his lack of legs. Under his narrow waist was his tail.

His fish shaped tail.

The merman drew closer to the glass pane. His tail shimmered sapphire with jade as they flickered under him in slow hypnotic movement. I drew my eyes back to his curious eyes, blushing that I had been staring at his tail. Then again, that's why he is here.

Among with dozens of other mers, stuffed in the aquarium for us, the humans to gawk. They're displayed to show the world that the mers do exist and had exist among us for thousands of years.

I had won a free trip to the Aqua World for winning my school's art contest. Everybody around me gawked at the mers, there were so many; small, tall, thin, voluptuous, dark, fair, red hair to blue hair and of all ages. The mers, however, avoided us and paid us no attention.

Except for one.

A male mer before me was openly staring at me, just as I was. He raised his hand slowly and my eyes darted to the sudden movement. He rested his hand slowly on the glass pane that separated us. I tentatively raised my hand and moved to lay it over his hand.

I smiled sadly at him.

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