As Blue As The Ocean!

Chapter Nine

I rush into work as soon as I can get there!  Everyone in town had to be here for this big event. The news crews were here. I had to get them to stop. This was not a good idea. Not at all. I had to get Gary to stop this! It was madness.

There was no way in hell that merman was ready to be around millions of people. They would expose him. And someone was going to get hurt. I could already tell my workplace was going to end up getting a lawsuit after this huge event was over with.

I sighed deeply then ran inside. I clock in barley. Then I rush to the back. Managing to have Kandice stop be me before I made my way in there. I shake Kandice off me. I did not have time for her million and one questions.

Right now, my main concern was only Kavan. His well-being. And the well being of all these other people who were going to be in harms way. I rush to the back.

I see the men standing over by the large tank. Fussing over Kavan. I could not believe they were doing this. Kavan was human like us. They were treating him like an alien or something. He had feelings. I had to stop these men.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Gary have you fed him the merman today?" I ask Gary as I tug on his arm.

"I tried to get him to eat. But he would not eat" answer Gary.

I sigh. "He has not eaten. He is going to be show cased. And this is not a good idea Gary! Mark my word!" I warn him. "Something bad is going to happen" I try to say. "I know it"

"Why did he tell you something bad was going to happen?" asks Gary.

I groan. "No, he did not tell me something bad was going to happen today! Alright? I can just feel something bad is going to happen. Is that alright with you?" I snap at him. "Please let me have a few moments alone with the merman" I beg of him. "Please"

"We have no time. The event will begin soon" warns Gary.

"Please. Let me get him to eat" I beg of him.

Gary sighs as he places a pen in his pocket. "Fine, fine" he mutters.

He gets everyone out of the room. Allowing the merman to be unchained. I make my way to the top of the tank as I always did.

I hoped that Kavan would talk to the human today. He had to listen to me. I get his food out of my bag. I had it ready. I hoped he would at least eat something for me right now. He would feel a little better if he eat.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Kavan?" I call down to him. "I have brought you something to eat" I say. "please come join me. Eat" I beg of him. "you will feel better" I say to him. "Everyone needs three meals day" I add. "you must keep your strength up" I warn him.

"Human" he mutters once he swims up to the surface. He grabs the food and scarfs it down.

"Listen, Kavan something is going to happen today" I begin to say.

He goes to swim back under the water. I reach out and grab his wrist. Stopping him. My heart races fast. Was I crazy for trying to reach out to this untamable fish man? His wild eyes meet mine. My hand is shaky but rests firmly on his wrist. Stopping him. Getting his attention on me. I almost could not breath for a moment here.

"Kavan please can we talk a moment" I beg softly.

He sighs. "Fine talk human, if you must" he says as he always did. Human. Funny nick name for me.

"Alright, they are going to show that there are merfolk to the whole world. The news crew will be here. Then the government will know about you. And that is not good. But if you do as they ask and work with them then maybe they will not allow the government to come take you away from us" I worry. "the government does crazy things to figure out things. And they might harm you" I worry.

His eyes study mine. "You don't need to worry about me. I can handle myself" he speaks up. "I have always handled myself" he states.

"I am sure you do. But you do not know what you will be up against" I worry.

I feel his fingers grasp around my wrist now. Showing he was in control. "No worrying over what we can't control. There is no point in it" he points out. "Humans always worry" he tells me.

That word again. "You know what not all humans are bad" I snap in my defense.

"I never said they were" he tells me.

Our eyes study one another. Trying to understand each other.

"Please take care. I will be here as long as they allow me to be" I say softly. "please eat" I beg. "for me. Not for them" I say to him.

He glances at the bowl. I could sense he was famished. And weak. You could tell. His eyes looked sad. Darkened. He nods then grabs the bowl from me. He eats it finally.

I sigh feeling as though I did something good today. I get one more bowl out for him. Then they come rushing in. I stand up. Kavan scurries back down under the water. The men scared him. I could tell. He did not know what to expect from them.

My heart ached for this merman.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Did he eat?" asks Gary.

"Heartless. You could give me a little bit more time with Kavan" I mutter.

Gary looks confused. "Kavan?" he asks me.

"That is his name" I state.

"He has a name? That thing told you his name? Brilliant!" says Gary happily.

I shake my head. "He has feelings like you and me. He is human to Gary. Of course, he has a name" I snap. "you are so heartless" I mutter.

"Gary get him ready! Get her outta here" orders one of our bosses.

"Please let me stay! I can help him. I can help you!" I beg Gary. "you know I can!" I say. "Please you have to listen to me" I mutter.

"Get her out of here!" snaps the worker.

Gary shoos me out of there as I drag my heels. I try to stay in the room with Kavan. I glance back at the helpless merman. He looked so lost. So, defeated. Sad. My heart was breaking at how they were treating this helpless sea creature.

I hated this. I hated being a part of it. It was better off that I did not know about Kavan. Why did I have to stick my nose where it did not belong! I was dumb. Now I was knee deep in this mess.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"What is behind the doors Elissa? Even the news is here!" Kandice asks me once she spots me there in the front of the room.

"You will find out soon enough. Like all the others" I mutter.

"What is wrong?" she asks me.

"I hate how they are treating the sea creature. That thing is scared. Helpless. And they could care less. The creature would only eat for me. And listened to me. If they take me away from him then I am not sure what is going to happen. I feel so badly" I say softly.

"Hey, it is not your fault. It is on them. Do not blame yourself. You did what was right by trying to stick up for the sea creature. And that is all we can do" she says to me. I nod. Tears come to me. I felt so helpless. And so deeply connected to Kavan.

Kandice hugs me.

"Attention everyone. Please gather over here please. The aquarium will show what we have discovered shortly. Please be patient with all of us as we prepare the creature for you all" someone speaks up on the speaker overhead.

My heart sticks in my throat. They were really doing this! I could not believe them all.

We gather around where the curtain was. Kandice and I were allowed in the front row. Due to the fact that we were workers of the place. Kandice was super excited. So was everyone else in the crowd. Excited chatter was circulating through the air. My heart races. I could hear my heart racing and beating in my eardrum.

"This is so exciting!" Kandice tells me.

Soon all the reporters were beside us. Camera lights were flashing.

"All eyes over here please" they announce. "We would like to announce an new species. We discovered it on the shores of our beaches. This maybe the only one of it's kind. We are unsure" they announce.

The curtains is removed. I see a tank. You could hardly see Kavan. He was sunk so low in the bottom of the tank. All the way down. Now all I can see is his necklace glowing brightly. Lights now shine in the tank. All over. They were not there before. Blinding the merman in the tank.

I gasp. Everyone gasps and screams.

"What the hell?" someone in the crowd mutters.

"Is that thing for real?"

"What is that thing?"

"Some kind of fish!"

"That is not a fish!"

"Kavan" I breath out his name softly as I grasp onto Kandice for moral support.

"What the hell is that thing?" she whispers to me.

"That is a merman" I tell her.

"Behold. The merman" we hear someone speak overhead.

Excitement was in the air now. Kavan was chained to the tank. On display. His head hung down. My heart ached for him. I place my hand on the tank. I was close to it. Everyone was pressing us up to the tank. Trying to get a closer look at the merman on display. More cameras begin to flash. Now that got Kavan's attention.

His head whips up. He nearly growls at them all. Like a wild animal. They were upsetting him. Scaring him. I could see the fear in his eyes. I was feeling what he was feeling. Panic mode hits me. My heart is racing so fast right now. I could not stop it.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Please stop! Stop the flashes on the cameras you are scaring him!" I beg the reporters.

No one would listen to me.

They kept on. The merman thrashed about in his chained cell. I try to block them. Stepping in front. There were to many of them. They kept on. Flash after flash. Scaring the man. Then he breaks free from his chains. He was that strong. I gasp. He swims about in his tank. Thrashing his body to the side of the tank. Trying to free himself. Almost as if he was trying to break the tank apart. And walk out of there.

"Kavan" I speak up. "Kavan can you hear me?" I speak to him not caring what the crowd thought of me. He was not trying to connect with me.

"Kavan please" I say begging him.

Pressing my hands on the tank. He was wild. He was more merman than human at the moment.

"Kavan!" I cry.

"Kavan? Who is that?" asks Kandice.

"That is his name" I tell her. "I am trying to calm him. Trying to get him to see I am here" I sigh. "but he is to wild" I worry. "they are upsetting him"

"Kavan" says Kandice as she joins my quest.

"Kavan" we both say. "Kavan look over here" we speak up.

He swims over near us with wild eyes. Then he thrashes into the tank. Throwing the whole weight of his body on the tank. We scream as he nearly cracks the glass. He does it again to try to get to us. The crowd screams. Suba divers swim down to him. He is fighting them off. Throwing them. They keep coming back to him.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Kavan! No!" I scream in horror.

They grab him. Two men hold him back. And they take a long needle out. The crowd screams. Fear rushes through my own veins. Panic. It was like I could feel everything he was feeling right now. I could hardly move. My eyes focused on him.

They stab him with a needle. He soon stops fighting. He passes out. I feel a wave of dizziness washing over me. Kandice grabs onto me. He had to be alright. Soon they were announcing to the crowd the merman was not ready for people. They would try to show him off again. Then they closed off the tank so no one could see him.

"Kavan! What happened to Kavan?" I speak up. "I have to go be with him" I worry. "he needs me"

I go to leave. I feel dizzy again. I hear something.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Keep him drugged. He will be fine. He can handle another dose. Then when he wakes Mr. Merman will feel like a new being" laughs a worker.

"Are you sure? This might kill him. A double dose?" someone says.

I can hear his thoughts in mine. I was hearing what he was. Right now.

"Kavan are you hurting?" I say softly.

"Elissa are you nuts? My friend needs help here!" calls out Kandice.

"Give him another dose" I hear workers saying.

I free myself away from Kandice.

I rush to the back where they had Kavan.

"Stop! Stop this now!" I screech to the workers. "you will kill him off! Do not give him another dose!" I warn them. "Step back!" I yell. "get away from him! The cameras were only scaring him. And he normally would not act like that! I warned you! Gary please listen!"

"Fine listen to her she got him to eat" Gary points out. "do not give him a second dose" warns Gary.

"But the boss told us to" says another worker.

"Do it and I will get my own lawyer and sue you all" I hiss a warning at him. My veins were heated with anger. "Gary get me a wet suit. I want to check on him" I beg.

"But you can hardly swim Elissa" laughs Gary.

"Do it!" I demand.

Gary does as I ask. I get a wet suit on. Then I dive into the tank. I swim down to check on the merman. I could still breath under water. I was swimming better everyday.

I swim over to the merman's side. I gently reach out touching his cheek. He was so out of it. The poor thing. He was all drugged up. I could not stand to see him like this. His eyes flutter open to look at me as I touched his cheek. I was not scared of him right now.

• ❤︎ •• ❤︎ •

"Don't you fear I might hurt you human?" he asks me mentally.

"No" I say. "you are not a savage you were scared" I tell him. "I am not scared of you"

"You should be" he jokes. "everyone else is" he says as he winces in pain.

"Did they hurt you?" I ask softly.

"I will be fine human" he tells me.

He leans closer to me. Allowing me to touch him. My heart races faster. Our eyes locked in on each other. His lips fall to mine. I allow him to kiss me under the water. His lips caress over mine. Making my heart race like mad. After the kiss ends I glance in his eyes.

"I can take care of myself human. No worries" he demands to me.

"I can worry if I want to" I say. "I am human after all that is my god given right. I will be here tomorrow to check on you" I promise him. "I swear it!"

"I believe you. Elissa" he answers as his eyes flutter close at last.

He called me Elissa. Not human. He had to be trusting me more now!

Right?

"Kavan?" I say softly. I touch his cheek once more with my fingers. He was out cold. Sleeping. I swim back up to the top. "I want to be able to check on him daily. He needs me. And you need me for him" I tell Gary.

"Fine" Gary sighs. "you are in" he agrees. "I am not sure how you got this connection with the merman but be careful. He is not human" he warns me.

Gary hands me a towel so I can dry off. At least I made progress. I made a connection with Kavan. He knew he could trust me. And we connected. That made a big difference. I had get him freed. It would not be so easy to do. Now everyone knew he was here. They knew he was a merman.

There was no way he was going to be freed. This was crazy to free him right? Or was it?