Beneath The Lies (bxb)

Let Me Tell You A Story

-Oliver-

Owwww

"Just give him to me. You have your mate, you don't need the human," a raspy voice said. There was a pause in which a snarl sounded, then a deeper voice took over.

"Mate? He is dead! Shark!"

The sound of someone sloshing through water sounded, then an annoyed hiss.

"So then what do you want with the human? It was his fault your mate was there to begin with!"

A deep hum reverberated through the air in response to that.

"And whose fault was it that the other humans were there, Hice?"

The sound of crashing waves took over for several long, tense minutes before the raspy voice, Hice, replied.

"I could lead them right to here, Ocar. You and Lyric escaped once, but you will not do so again if they find you."

The other mer, Ocar, replied the second Hice had finished speaking.

"Let them find me! I'd rather a bullet than to go back to that hell!"

My left eye blinked partially open, the bright sun making it hard to make out their blurry figures.

"Hmph. So be it! Expect to be like your lover soon, you thick-headed whale!"

A strong tickle started up in my throat as I watched Hice's blurry image disappear beneath the rough waves. I was definitely glad one dangerous object was gone as I began to cough gruffly, but now I had one left glaring down at me looking none too happy.

"Get up, human," Ocar ordered. It was almost humorous since I was coughing so badly that I had hardly heard him. A few mouthfuls of water came up, but thankfully my breakfast remained where it was.

"I told you to do something, human," the mer growled. Well, he could growl all he wanted, that didn't make my body able to move any faster. I slowly managed to get onto my hands and knees, but that's where my lost leg stopped helping me. I could barely stand on shifting sand with my prosthetic, but now that I didn't even have that?

"I ca-can't," I said, my voice cracking from the saltwater I'd swallowed.

I hated admitting the weakness, but I couldn't hide it, or even pretend to, now that I didn't have my metal leg. My right shoe was gone, too, which was probably a good thing if I honestly had to stand. I still couldn't figure out a way to do that, though. There were no big rocks nearby to help me get up, and I had a feeling Ocar wouldn't allow me to crawl over to the ones I could see about twenty yards away, farther up the beach.

My eyes went back to the sand as I tried to catch my breath, so I didn't know what he was doing. I didn't think it was important to know, anyway. If he wanted to kill me, he could do so easily, so there was no point in panicking.

"Just kill me. I know you're going to, so just do it, please."

My voice grew quiet as I spoke, the energy I had managed to muster in order to get on my hands and knees quickly leaving my body. A gentle nudge to my side brought me right back down to the sand on my right side, but I didn't complain. It was warm and comfortable... it always had been.

"Why did you bring Lyric to that dock, human?"

Don't wanna talk.

"Human..."

Hearing the warning in his voice, I took a deep breath and blinked my eyes open, having not realized they'd closed.

"To let him go."