Captured

Waterworks

•E/C: Eye Color
•Y/N: Your Name
•F/N: Father's Name

Your POV: Many Years Later

A light sniffle escapes me as my hand wipes away the tears from my reddened, E/C eyes. I can't say exactly how long I've been crying, but it's been for awhile now. I set my car in park upon reaching a familiar house near the beach and stare up at the structure in sadness. I unbuckle my seatbelt and step out before walking towards the front door. My hands tremble as I take the ring of keys out of my purse to unlock it and step inside.

I turn the lock once the door is shut behind me and set my bag on the couch. I look around the place and let out a depressed sigh upon seeing the mess of papers on my father's desk. I was almost ready to break down again, but I try to keep my head up as I make my way to the basement door. I have bad news for the creature that dwells inside the cave, and I fear what his reaction might be. Earlier today, my father died of a heart attack, leaving Neil solely in my care.

I'm the only other person who knows of his existence, so that was to be expected after hearing of his passing. I know this will be hard on him, since the two have been together for a long time. I'm having a rough time dealing with this myself, so, hopefully, he'll find comfort in my presence. I unlock the bottom door and turn on the lights, the familiar scent of fish and seawater invading my nostrils. I give a small whistle to announce my presence to the creature, and, in an instant, his head pops out of the water. Excitedly, Neil swims towards the edge of the pool and greets me with the click of his tongue, like usual, with a smile on his lips. The corners of my lips twitch upwards as I approach, but the smile fades soon after.

"How've you been, bud?" I ask, causing him to roll his tongue, making a sound similar to a cat's purr, in response. With the time my father and I spent with the merman, he managed to pick up on the language a bit. He can't speak it, obviously, but he understands a portion of what I say. We also picked up on what some of his sounds mean as well. I step over to the supply cabinet and pull out a fishnet from inside.

"Hungry?" I ask, and, in turn, he nods his head frantically before swimming in circles. I laugh lightly at his actions, almost forgetting about the tragedy for a moment. "All right, all right. I got ya."

With the net in hand, I walk up to the small pool beside Neil's, where live fish swim around. Dad made it to where it's out of the male's reach, so he couldn't sneak a snack, and, though it's not that big around, it certainly is deep. Upon spotting a tuna swimming close towards the top, I strike and scoop it up with the net. While it wiggles in attempts to escape, I toss it into Neil's pool, where it then takes off to explore the larger environment. It isn't safe for long, though, for the fish-man immediately chases after it. We found this to be the... safest method of feeding him after an incident that happened during the old way.

I shudder upon recalling that horrible event.

~Flashback~

I watch as my father enters the cold water in Neil's pool. That day, he figured the creature was friendly enough to swim with considering the merman has been with the two for a few months now and has done nothing to harm them. A smile comes to my face as Neil swims around his body, playfully splashing him at random times. It looked like a lot of fun, but I sadly wasn't allowed to join them, since I can't swim in deep waters yet. I giggle when the man's tail splashed the waters surface to completely soak my dad. He laughs as well while running his fingers through his hair to get the wet strands out of his face.