Merhalle

Brand New Life

Camita's POV: 

    I don't want to get out of bed today. This was all too much. This was entirely too crazy. I couldn't be a mermaid, much less a princess. It was just the alcohol last night. That's it, I just drank too much and imagined the whole thing. That is the only logical explanation I can come up with. The whole idea was too insane. I mean, Mama and I didn't look alike, but I always figured I looked like my father, whoever he was. Mama always told me she made me all by herself, but I knew better than that. I continued to lay in bed. The soft cotton sheets welcoming me, begging me not to leave. I didn't feel well enough to get up anyways.

    I heard Mama rummaging in the kitchen, and I silently listened for her foot steps as they headed towards my room. I shut my eyes immediately, hoping she would just go away. Today was not a good day.

    **knock knock** 

    My door slowly opened, and Mama slowly crept in. I kept my eyes shut, fearing if she knew I was awake she would want to talk about the situation again. I couldn't handle it right now. I heard Mama set something on my dresser, and her footsteps grew louder as she walked towards me. Instead of waking me as I thought she would, she brushed the hair out of my face, and gently kissed my cheek. I heard her sniffle, and she swiftly turned to leave.  I listened for the front door to open and close before I felt it was safe to get out of bed. I opened my eyes to see Mama had laid me a tray of breakfast on the dresser. Today it was toast, Orange juice, sausage and strawberry jelly. This wasn't my typical birthday breakfast, but then again, this wasn't my typical birthday. I pulled the covers back, and walked to my dresser. I slowly ate my breakfast. Once I was done I carried the dirty dishes to the sink. As I entered the kitchen, I heard the door open. 

    I dropped the tray, and put my back against the hallway wall. Who was this? My heart pounded out of my chest, tears threatened to roll down my face. 

    "You okay this morning?" Thamo asked me. 

    "Oh you i***t! You scared the hell out of me!" I yelled. 

    Laughing Thamo replied, "I do this on a weekend basis. When have I ever knocked?" 

    "Well maybe you should start." I scowled. 

    "Nice pajamas." He laughed again. 

    I glared at him, my over sized t-shirt was just long enough to cover my panties, but still not long enough to cover all of my ass. 

    "I just woke up and ate, I haven't had time to get ready yet." I snapped. 

    "Woah there tiger," He said. "it's not that serious. Hurry up and get ready so we can go admire the new islanders arriving today." 

    s**t. I forgot that was today. I rushed to my room and gathered some clothes. A tee and some jean shorty shorts would be fine. Thamo and I loved to go sit on the beach and judge people as they wondered around our island. They were like lost puppies. There were all kinds of people coming from the mainlands. Some were Halle Islanders returning from their adventurers on the mainland. Most of them though, were mainlanders, coming to study us or maybe try to become us, even though we could never figure out why. Halle was  considered lower class compared to the main land. We didn't mind much. We had things they would never be able to take from us, and they could stand to learn. Halle islanders had a sense of loyalty, family, and over all love and respect for the island. 

    I jumped out of the shower and dried off as quick as I could. I threw my clothes on and brushed through my hair. I quickly put on some eyeliner and mascara and I was ready to go. Thamo was waiting for me in the living room, flipping through channels on the TV as if he lived here. 

    "Okay, you ready?" I asked. 

    "Whenever you are." He smiled.

    I left mama a note and we headed towards the beach. They should just about be here. We hurried to get a good spot. A lot of the local kids around our age came to watch the new arrivals. We found a spot semi-close to the water. I didn't want to get too close to the water. I didn't know how all of this worked, but I knew that if anyone were to find out about me, I'd be in danger. Mama said the humans wanted to destroy all of mer-kind. Not because they were bad, just because they were scared of what they didn't understand. Thamo plopped down beside me in the sand.     "So, you took Fanti home last night?" I smiled at him. 

    "Yes, and we kissed, a lot. I didn't wanna have to tell her she was going to be my first." He explained. 

    "Well, if she really likes you, then she'll respect that." I reassured him. 

    We both took a vow on our sixteenth birthday's that if we hadn't lost our v-cards by time we were twenty-one, we'd get really drunk and do it together. I'd be secretly hoping he'd lose it before then. I didn't see us being anything more than friends, and I sure didn't have any prospects of losing mine first. Fanti had a boyfriend a few years back, and they made it very clear they had s*x. She'd be good for Thamo, she could teach him new things. 

    The ship came into view, a huge ship, with so many people on it. They were all waving at everyone on the beach. Some Islanders waited for their returning loved ones and they waved back. The rest of us just watched them as the ship grew closer and closer. It slowly pulled beside the pier. People unloaded by the tons. They walked down the pier to the sand, everyone started to scatter, going in all different directions. Most of them looked lost, but some of them knew where they were going. Families reunited, and Thamo and I just observed. 

    "Oh look at that girl, she's cute." Thamo said pointing to a short dark haired girl, "I bet she's a b***h though. Most main land girls are." 

    "Yeah, but not all of them. Take a look at that guy, he looks like he doesn't get out much." I said pointed to a middle aged man, he was white as the sand. 

    "What's up with him?" Thamo nodded towards a man. He looked to be around our age. He was extremely tall. He had blonde hair. He was a bronze color. His biceps had to be the size of my head, and on his left arm, he had a huge tattoo. He seemed worried. He stood still, and stared at the island. He started to look around and his eyes met mine. I immediately look away. 

    "Wait, is he coming over here?" Thamo asked. 

    "I don't know, I'm too scared to look." I choked out. 

    "Well he's definitely coming this way." Thamo warned. 

    My heart was pounding. Why was he coming over here? Maybe he doesn't like to be looked at. He couldn't have seen me the whole time I was staring. I could hear his heavy foot steps growing closer. 

    "Excuse me." The mysterious man spoke. "Know where I can get a bite to eat around here?" He asked. 

    "Uh yeah, we could show you a couple good places." Thamo said. 

    I swiftly slapped Thamo on the arm, and gave him a dirty look. 

    "What?" He whispered. "No harm in showing the man around. So, what's up man, I'm Thamo, this is Camita. We're locals." Thamo stood up, wiping the sand off his bottom and his legs. He extended a hand to help me up. I hesitantly took it, and cleared the sand from myself. Finally allowing myself to look at the beautiful man in front of me. His eyes met mine. Chills went down my spine. His golden eyes seemed to stare right into my soul. I quickly looked away and cleared my throat. 

    "Ready?" I asked Thamo. 

    "Sure." he said looking at me weirdly. 

    "So, what did you say your name was?" I asked the man.    

    "My name is Tru." He answered.

 TRU'S THOUGHTS:

    "This was her, I could feel it in my bones. Her emerald green eyes, resembled her mothers. I couldn't believe I found her. It didn't take long either. It's like we were drawn to one another. I could've walked a different direction on the beach, but something told me to go right, and I did. I saw her sitting there in the sand, her beauty was radiating around her. When we locked eyes, I couldn't help but feel the burning desire to love and protect her, at whatever costs. " 

CAMITA'S POV:

    We walked through the town, Thamo was talking his head off. He explained who owned what shop and what shops to avoid. We were almost to the opposite side of town when we ran into Fanti. 

    "Hey Fanti," Thamo beamed, "what are you up to?" 

    "Not much." Fanti said, looking between the three of us. "I was about to go back to the house actually, I picked up a few things to cook, and I have the whole house to myself." She explained to Thamo.

    Thamo looked at me , almost as if he was asking for permission. I laughed. 

    "Go!" I playfully said to him. "I'll be fine." 

    He laughed and gave me a quick hug. 

    "I'll catch up with you later." He said as he walked away with Fanti under his arm. 

    "So," I said looking at Tru, "I guess it's just us. I can finish showing you the town if you'd like, but once the sun goes down I gotta go home or Mama will worry." I did want to spend more time with him. I wanted to get to know him. For some reason I wasn't scared of him. I felt safe, like I knew this stranger deep down. 

    "Sure." Tru said. "I wouldn't mind spending a little more time with you" He teased. His lips were perfect, and his smile melted me. 

    I could feel my cheeks grow slightly red. I turned away from him, and tried to gather my thoughts. "Okay, I know the perfect spot." I said. "My mama used to take me when I was a little girl, it's my favorite shop in all of Halle Island." 

    We walked to the end of the street and turned the corner to see Glassniques. It was owned by a women named Amika. She made all kinds of things out of glass. She was talented. She created beautiful things. We came to a stop at the front of the shop.

    "This is it." I said to Tru. 

    "And what exactly is it?" He questioned. 

    "It's art. It's a shop, where they turn something ordinary, into something amazing." I smiled. 

    We walked into the store. The sun shown in the store and everything in it glistened in the sun light. We walked through the store admiring all of the art. One particular piece caught my eye. A mermaid, and the way the light shown off the glass, her tail was a blue-green color. She was beautiful. Her face was calm. She seemed so at peace. I picked her up. 

    "She's beautiful isn't she?" Tru asked. 

    "Yeah she is. She seems so sure of herself, so at peace with her world." I explained. 

    "You believe?" He asked me. 

    "I believe anything is possible, the ocean is a huge mysterious place, and you never know what lives there." I said. 

    "Hm.. You know, they say that mer-kind used to live here, on Halle island, and that this island was named after a tribe of them. It's said that human's here respected the mer-kind, even loved them, until they betrayed the mer-kind, forcing them to the sea for the rest of their existence." His toned hardened. 

    "Not all humans are bad. Just I assume not all mer-kind are good. There are good and bad in both species. No one is to blame for what happened all them years ago, except the hunters. The humans who choose to hunt the mer-kind and suppress them for their own enjoyment." I reassured him. "That is, if all of that is actually true, but who knows." 

    I walked to the counter and paid for the glass mermaid, and we left. 

    "So, I asked. You believe in this stuff?"

    "I mean why not?" He stated. "I choose to believe that there is more to life than this." 

    As we were walking back towards the beach, a familiar face appeared. Mallie. 

    "Here lets go this way." I suggested, but it was too late. 

    "Hey freak. What you got there?" She snarked. 

    "It's none of your business Mallie." I held the bag close to my side. 

    "Who's this? Is she bothering you hot stuff?" Mallie said to Tru. 

    "No actually we were doing perfectly fine until you showed up." Tru snapped. 

    "Ooh, I see, someone's gotta crush." She stuck her bottom lip out towards me, and then turned her attention back to Tru. "You don't wanna hang out with her too much, her freak might rub off on you. You're too hot to go to waste hanging out with scum like this." 

    "Like I said, we were perfectly fine." Tru said, "I think she's stunning, and unlike you, her personality reflects that." 

    Mallie's mouth dropped open. "You can't seriously be attracted to this fugly beast." 

    "As opposed to what? Being attracted to you. Sorry, whats your name again? Doesn't matter, I'm not interested." He grabbed my hand and led me away from her. "She always such a b***h to you?" He asked.

    "Yeah she is. I don't know why, but she's never liked me, and her dad's the general, so I try to keep my head down in her presence. Trust me when I say, you don't want to get on his bad side." I explained. "So, let's change the subject. What brings you here to Halle? What's it like on the main land." 

    "It's very high-tech, which is why I came over here. I don't like technology. I'd like to live a simple life." He explained. 

    "Well, I'm starving." I said, "You want to come over for dinner?" I invited. 

    "Uh, sure." He said. 

 TRU'S THOUGHTS 

    "I didn't know if this was a good idea or not, but I didn't want to be away from her. We'd spent half the day together and I already felt like I knew her. I did have to be careful though. I don't know how much information she knows, and I don't want to spook her away. Does she even know that she's a mermaid? Does she know that she's a princess? This was vital information. I couldn't just spring it on her though. We had to work our way up to it. She needed to want to come back, I couldn't force her. And who was that girl Mallie? She looked so familiar. I wanted to find the general while I was here too. Maybe I could see what his plans were, see just how much they knew and what he's been up to all these years. But this would have to wait. Camita was my priority. Not that I minded.