Aquata Cove Ch. 83

"They didn't want the world?"

"Hurt... Sorrow... Hatred... Anger... Pain... Hopeless..." She continued, "Dey let them existance vanish... Dey turn them hearts into a setting sun, dat will never rise again."

"This is awful..." Syrinx says as she covers her mouth gently.

"Is there no way to bring them back?" Belinda asked, "Merrick can still... Will he ever find his light back?"

Atarah closes her eyes for a moment, trying to think back in her long, long, long life, trying to remember those few and hollow, those who have the eyes of apathy, those who have given up...

"Atarah?" Syrinx asked.

The Forbidden Ancient opens her eyes, still gazing down into the powder in the shell, "I do not know how and why merfolk lose dere light... And I do not know how dey can ever come back..."

"There... Has to be something."

"Atarah, you are the wisest being in this world," Belinda said, "Do you truly not know what will happen to Merrick? What can be done?"

"Dough I open my arms to all who come to me and dere words... I do not know all of what has become of your kinds... But..."

"Dose who forsake dis world... Also forsake deir soul..." Her eyes look up to the two young mermaids before her, "And become a shell of who dey were supposed to be."

~~~

Yuri smiles softly as she watches Jamal and Adam, both of them laughing as they watch a DVD on Adam's laptop. Despite everything that's happened, it's indescribable to feel how good it is to see Jamal being his goofy self, even deeply grateful that he brought those filthy pornographic magazines. He just has to be that stupid, sex-crazed idiot... Yuri has no idea just how much she missed that sort of behavior...

And Adam... Finally able to laugh out loud, at a movie he's supposedly never seen before. Jamal even brought some Oreos for them to snack on -- in Adam's condition, it's ill-advised to have much of anything to eat, but just this once, he can enjoy himself, he can forget that he's blaming himself for no reason, or that he's missing something, even while still unable to retain his memories for more than a couple hours...

Yuri's smile faded... Soon, maybe in about half an hour or so... Adam's memory will fail, and...

She sighs, before her pager rings out, prompting her to leave her post as Jamal's chaperone.

~~~

"Hahahahaha, man." Jamal said, the end credits of Bad Grandpa rolling along.

"Ghghghghgh," Adam snickers for a moment, "Ah- Oh, fffff... Ow..." Adam feels his head as it feels a deep throb from within.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Adam says, "My head is always hurting..."

"You aight, man." Jamal padded his arm.

"Hey um... Something else has been hurting too..." Adam said.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I've told Dr Yuri about it -- I uh... Wouldn't know if I did, right?" He said with a weak scoff, "Can you keep it between us?"

"Sure, man," Jamal adjusted in his seat. "What up?"

"Well... Aside from my head, and my arms and legs still kinda hurting... I feel a kind of... Weird feeling in my chest..."

"Yo chest?"

"Like... In the middle," Adam said as he pressed between his gown-covered pecs, "My head is always aching, and Dr Yuri says it's just headaches from my brain healing, and my limbs are pretty much the same. But uh..." Adam idly rubs his fingers on his chest, "I keep feeling like... Something's going inside my chest, but it's never coming out."

"Something goin in?" Jamal asked with a quirked brow.

"It's... Kinda hard to describe, like," Adam tries to gestures his hands as if he's shaping some kind of cloud in the air, "Like, some hole inside my chest that keeps getting bigger and wider and deeper. The more it goes on... The more depressed I feel."

"Ah think I get ya." Jamal nodded, "Ya feel like something's missing, and you don't know what it is."

"Yeah, it's... Honestly, it's the only other thing I can remember -- it's always there... Ever since I remember waking up meeting Dr Yuri. I..." He shakes his head and shrugs, "I just feel alone... I keep feeling like I keep losing things..."

"Aight, look Adam." Jamal said, "Lookit me, man." He said as he lightly hits the back of his knuckles on Adam's cheek, until he turns to him, "The last thing that you are is alone, aight?"

"I guess..."

"I mean it, dude." Jamal said, "Yeah, not like ev'rbody knows what you goin through, but lemme put it this way." He leaned forward a little, "You can't remember anyone, but we all rememba you."

"Hm..."

"Hey!" Jamal reaches over, and gives a careful slap to the back of Adam's head.

"O-Ow!" Adam holds his head, "Ssssss!"

"Sorry, had to do that. Now you listenin?"

"Yes! I'm listening."

"Aight. Now..." Jamal gives Adam serious look, "Now, you got no idea how lucky you got it, understand? You ain't got no memory an all that, and you got no clue bout yo own life. But you are not alone by a long shot, aight? You got a Mom and Dad livin a few blocks from here, you got a Doctor whose known ya fo years workin on ya, and all yo friends are around you. Some people, who wake up from a coma wit no memories to go on? Some of them got no one."

"I see..." Adam nods, "It's still... I don't know, I still feel scared, Jamal... And I don't even know why."

"Well here," Jamal then leaned in, and traced his finger on the mouse pad of the laptop, and double clicked on a blue W icon. The W jumps up and down several times, before a blank white page appears, "Yo Mom said she wanted you to keep a diary. S'why I brought your laptop here."

"Wait, this is mine?" Adam asked.

"Yep. Tha's right..." Jamal said. Donna had Yuri make a second User Account in the laptop in order to keep Adam's files separate from himself. While there's a chance that seeing all of his previous information MIGHT be helpful, having to forget it all shortly after is not exactly promising for mental recovery.

"My uh... Mom said that, my Mother?" Adam asked, his face fading with somber, "Why didn't she give this to me herself..."

"She busy with her day job. She gonna visit you later today... Like she always does, ya dig?"

"Ah, oh, ok." Adam nods.

~~~

Chibaku watches on the glass bottom of his boat, his notes and various instruments placed neatly around his knees as he looks into the amazing tropical sea life. Though, his aged eyes are far more intrigued by the distant creature sloping and folding gracefully nearby.

His core is still greatly shaken as he watches the merman loom in the water, holding only his weapon as he guides a large, long fish along with him. Chibaku can only guess just how Merrick is actually having his current study subject, practically bringing the specimen on a silver platter!

Or that... Merrick is even this... This FISH thing at all!

The Piscien swims in a slow circle around the glass bottom, his signal keeping the fish within a short distance right in Chibaku's view, allowing him to note the physical attributes of the fish. The fish itself does not even know it is being studied, or that a merman is bidding it to stay, as it probably would've left in the wake of the human-made boat in an instant.

Merrick undulates slowly up and down as he keeps the fish there, until he hears a tapping from the glass. His eyes look to see Chibaku gesturing for him to come up, before his legs shift around.

Merrick then stops signaling the fish, and allows it to casually idle away, as he looms up to the side of the boat, to where he can see the metal latter.

Chibaku quickly hurries from the glass bottom boat, out of the cabin, and over to the ledge of the boat, with the energy and excitement of a schoolboy at an aquarium.

A head of spikey fins breaks the surface in front of the boat's steps. Chibaku coos lowly with awe as he can see Merrick's strong, beautiful tail wavering from underneath, as his white and blue scaled arms and webbed hands fiddle with a necklace. Chibaku blinked, and suddenly Merrick transformed into his former blonde self, soaking wet, climbing up the attached latter as a naked man.

Merrick takes the towel placed on the edge to wrap it around his waist, as a courtesy to Chibaku, and looked as Yuri's mid-aged father comes to him.

"Hahahaha, it has been a couple of hour, but I still cannot be beliebe it when you go in the water. When Yuri told me you were a regular fish-man, tis is not what I was expecting." He said.

"Yeah..." Merrick nodded, "She probably wasn't expecting me to just let you see me as I am." They walk to one of the benches of the boat, "I'm sure it goes without saying, Mr Umiyama, but I need you to keep me secret."

"Hah hah hah," Chibaku chuckled, "Ob course, Merrick-san." Merrick sits down, and takes one of the provided bottles of Japanese-brand flavored waters, "But I also habe so many questions, you see, after seeing you."

"You're a marine biologist, right? I understand..." Merrick said dully, "If you want to ask me a few questions about your research, that's fine. I'll tell you what I knoe"

"Ooh, very good-" Chibaku smiled cheerfully.

"BUT." Merrick turned to him, "I will not answer any questions that have anything do to my people. You understand that, right?"

"Aaaahhahaha," Chibaku gives a knowing chuckle, "I hear you, Merrick-san. I understand."

Merrick gives a long inhale before uncapping one of the water bottles, "So what else do we need to find...?"

"Ahhh, I think we can call it a day." He said, "The rental time is about finished, on this boat."

"Right..." Merrick nods. Chibaku looks at Merrick, eyes looking beyond tired, as if wrinkles of decades should be there, on such a young face.

"Yuri tol me of what happened wis your fiancé..." Chibaku said, "Are you going to be ok?"

"I can hold up our end of the bargain, if that's what you mean." Merrick said.

"No, that is not important. She tell me you habe been habing trouble..."

"..." Without much listening to what Mr Umiyama is saying, Merrick looks down into the bottle with the katakana and kanji print, along with a few fruit pictures on them. This water is supposed to be flavored, but he can't taste any difference.

"I know it is hard rdight now, but we are here for yu."

"I can't cope though..." Merrick said, "I don't think you do understand, Mr Umiyama... No one does. Adam may be alive, but the man I know is gone."

"No, sat is not true." Chibaku said, "He may not remembrr who you are, but he remembrrs you in here," He pushes his fingers at Merrick's chest, "He know you, you see." He gives a smile. Merrick can't return whatever sentiment this man is trying to pose.

The more he thinks about being on the land, surrounded by kind, naïve people, the more repulsed Merrick honestly feels. These people... Every human he knows... Well-meaning fools who find their own solutions...

Merrick jerks as Chibaku claps his knee, before getting up.

"Mr Umiyama." Merrick said.

"Hm?"

"I need to get back home right now." Merrick says as he gets up, and turns to him, "Can you do me one more favor before I go?"

~~~

Adam sits there, in the dimly lit room, his arms connected to his machines as usually, his magnet toys put away and placed beside his bed, with a note on them. On his lap, is supposedly the Mac laptop that belongs to him. He reads the title of the document:

ADAM'S DIARY

[Please Write]

Adam takes a breath, before putting his hands forward onto the keypad.

---

Dear Diary,

I don't really know what to put here. Someone gave this laptop to me, and I guess I'm supposed to put my thoughts and feelings into it. But I don't really know who it was who gave it to me.

---

Adam takes another deep breath. He feels very uneasy.

---

Well, I guess.

I feel lonely, right now. Dr Yuri is out for the night, I think, I haven't seen her for a while. I kinda feel a little safer when she's around though.

In general, I just don't feel right. I feel

---

Adam pauses. His insides squirm a little as he tries to decide what he's feeling right now. It's hard to put into words.

---

some kind of pain in my chest. I'm pretty sure I talked about it before. I feel like something is sinking down inside me. I really should tell Dr Yuri about it, but I don't want to make her worried if it's something she doesn't know how to fix. I don't think it's a medical problem.

I guess I also feel empty. Dr Yuri always tells me when I've had a visitor, but she's the only person I can really remember.

Actually, that's not true. I think I remember someone else. Someone with yellow hair, and blue eyes, and maybe they were red? I can't... Yeah, I can't remember.

---

Adam sniffs as he brings a hand up, and wipe his eyes, before continuing.

---

I also feel sad. I'm sad all the time. I know I can't remember just how long I've been in this hospital, but I feel like I'm sad almost all the time. I just can't feel happy, at all. I don't even know what happy is supposed to feel like, right? I just feel like... I don't want to be here. I don't know anyone, and I don't know anything, I just want to

---

Adam stops he finds it harder to breathe as he sits here. His breath shudders as he can feel his eyes start to water, "What the hell..." He croaked. He closes his laptop, and huffs as he puts his fingers to his eyelids, and look at the droplets on his fingertips.

"Why am I crying?" He asked, his energy growing more intense as he starts to wallow in despair, "Why am I so upset? Aghuuhh... Ghhh!" Adam can only feel overwhelming pulses inside him that made him cry louder. The back of his head pushes into his pillow as tries not to burst out in more tears.

"Remem... Dammit..." His chest jumps up and down, as he pushes the color yellow into his head. His hand starts to hold the left side of his gown as his heart starts to throb, "He was there... He was here!" Adam's whole body begins to tense as Adam's brain overdrives on the color, as the mental images begin to shape some sort of face. A pair of very blue eyes emerge out with the abstract thoughts.

"Ga-ahh!" He cries as his other hand grips the side of the bed as he stops, huffing and groaning. He stops trying to think about the blurry figure, allowing himself to calm down, panting, before he just keeps sobbing.

Adam lies there, letting himself weep, the painkillers practically numbing his body in this brief, emotional dive. "Whoisshe..." He whines, his lip trembling, "I wanim back..." He cried, "Whereissheee..." He sobbed as his chest's sinking sensation worsens.

"What's going on in here?!" Dennis says as he comes in, looking and seeing Adam in a crying fit, "O-Oh my gosh! D-D-Doctor!" He rushes off.

"Whoisshe..." Adam groans, "Whoissit..." Moments later, a doctor comes, tending to Adam, his talking becoming too weak in the head to really understand, "Givim back... I wan him back tuh me..."

A sharp point is all Adam can feel in his sudden episode, his heart still aching horribly, in so many more ways than one. As Adam's vision becomes faint and dark, the last few things in his mind's eyes shows of a whimpering blonde male, with twin sapphires looking painstakingly at him, before fading away into sleep...

~~~

Yuri turns the flames down on the stovetop to ease the water's boil, before checking on the cheddar-bay butter mixture. She can hear the changling of Sally's leash as she and Jamal come in through the front door.

"Hey gurl." Jamal said as he came in, "Good to see you back home."

"I know, right? Thank you for looking after Skyler and Roxas while I've been at work."

"No kidding. The cats been missing you something fierce." He sniffs the air as he hangs up his dog's collar and walk towards the kitchen, "What's cookin?"

"Lobster and cheddar-bay biscuits." Yuri answered, "I thought I'd cook Merrick's favorite to try and help, you know..."

"Ah I see. He hadn't been eating much."

"I can tell... Ever since the whole ordeal happened, he's been looking so thin. I hope he'll eat tonight at least."

"It's coo. You force feed'im, I'll tie him to the chair."

"Pfff, yeah." Yuri scoffed, "God knows you've got enough leather straps and gags to force him to do anything."

"You know it, bitch-cakes." Jamal smirks as he gets the plates and goes to the table.

Just then, Yuri's cellphone starts to ring out from her pocket. She takes it out, and looks, "Oh it's my Dad, could you stir that for me please?"

"Kay," Jamal comes over, and turns the wood spoon in one of the pots as she answers the call.

"Moshi moshi, Papa..." She listened, "Ā, kare wa yoi herupādeshita ka? ... Oh? Nani desuka? ... Kare wa shita? Matte." She said before striding into the hallway. Jamal looks curiously after her as he stirs the pot -- he really wishes she wouldn't do that, she knows none of them can understand Japanese.

Moments later, Yuri comes in, letting out a sigh, "Sōdesu ka. Kare wa modotte kuru tsumorida to itta nodesu ka? ... Sōdesu... Oshiete kurete arigatō... Hai, Mama ni watashi ni `kon'nichiwa' to itta... Oyasumi." She hangs up, and pauses, casting her eyes down.

"Yuri?" Jamal asked, taking a step aside from the kitchen, "What up?"

"Merrick's not coming to dinner." She says thumping her iPhone on her hand.

"What?"

"That was um... That was my Dad on the phone. Merrick told him to tell me that he's not coming home."

"Wait, what?"

"I just checked Adam and his room, Merrick's sea equipment is gone, along with his harpoon. His cellphone has been turned off and left on the bed."

"Where's he gonna go?"

"To the ocean, apparently." Yuri strode into the kitchen, and turned off the oven notches.

"Shit, Yuri..." Jamal hesitated as he looked about, "Yuri, we don't need waste this. Wha- hey-"

"Sorry, Jamal, I..." Yuri sighed as she goes to the table, elbows on the top, and put her hands onto her head, "I just lost what appetite I had left."

Jamal exhales deeply as he shrugs, before coming over to the table, sitting at one of the sides, "Is he goin to the Kenovani?"

"He didn't say." She answered.

"He comin back anytime soon?"

"He didn't say."

"He uh... He say why we was takin off?"

"He didn't say, Jamal." Yuri answered again, "But I can take a pretty good guess."

"Aight..." Jamal murmured, "He needs some time away. Guy's gotta think, right?"

"Yeah..." Yuri covers her eyes, "Look, Jamal... If you want to leave now, you can go ahead, I can look after the pets."

"Wha-"

"I just remember, last time," Her voice quivered, "Last time Adam and Merrick were gone, you lashed out and shut down, and I'm telling you now that that'll be fine," She blinks her eyes several times constantly as her voice gets thicker, "I am just sick, and tired of being the mature one all the time, and so you can go ahead and just leave right now if you want, because I don't want you to see me do this, ok? S-So just go ahead and go to Nick or something-"

"Hey, hey, Yuri, c'mon gurl." Jamal says as he scooted next to her as she starts to shake and her breath starts to sputter, "Hey, it's gonna be ok, aight?"

"Please, just go." She waves a hand about before covering her brow again.

"Aight, you c'mere now." Jamal gets up and walks around her, and behind her.

"Oh don't start this now..." Yuri says as she sniffs. "Get away from me, you stupid ass..."

"Come here, sista needs a hug." Jamal said as he bends over, and puts his big arms around her.

"Stoooop..." She sniffs as she sighs. The one thing she could've possibly done right for Merrick, and he decides to go away. She understands that he's struggling with himself, but now her effort to try and help is just out the window. "I just wanted to make his favorite dinnerrrr..." She whined.

"I know gurl... I know... You wanna hit me in the face?" Jamal asked, making Yuri scoff at him, "Would dat make you feel betta?"

"Shut up, dumbass." She whimpered while shaking her head.