Aquata Cove Ch. 93

"Wow, sounds awesome."

"Even before then, you had to talk you grandparents into letting me move in. They was both bitchin about be. I actually called them racist; not that I actually thought that, yo mom said I was sayin shit like that to git attention.

"I still feel a little confused... Aggghh, I just wish there was some video or movie you can show me that had what happened."

"It's cool, man. Least now, you can start over." Jamal says as they pull into a beachfront house. Adam looked, and saw the barrier of driftwood logs stacked in a fence around the house. This looks only slightly familiar -- Adam remembers it when he had that horrible migraine after the first time he was here.

"You feeling ok?" Jamal asked after he turns off the car.

"Hhh... Yeah... My head is a little heavy right now... But I think I'm good."

"Aight... Just let us know if it starts hurtin like hell, ok?"

"Ok... I'm ready." Adam nods. Jamal gets out, and then Adam. He walks around the car, looking at the extent of the log fence, and over to the front door. Adam takes a deep breath, before opening the door, and walking over the threshold.

His eyes look at the immediate living room, with a couch on his left that is put against the wall, with a glass coffee table in front of it, with a sofa chair on either side. In front is a large, flat-screen TV, with the same PS4 plugged into it, placed onto a low-level table-shelf, next to a shelf that occupies DVDs on the upper side, and video games on the lower side.

To the immediate right, there is a large, round table with four chairs, next to a tiled floor that leads to a medium-sized kitchen, where Jamal walks over and pets a leaping and energetic golden dog. Adam chuckles with a quirked smile as he walks onto the carpet.

He enters the opening of the hallway, to see the door open to a spacious bathroom, with a closed door next to it, and with a closed door at the end of the left side of the hall. Just as Adam turned to look at an ajar door at the end of the right side of the hall way, Jamal comes up behind him.

"That there's your room." He tells him. Adam looks at him, and then back to the room, before walking over to it. He enters it, and beams around in the neatly kept room with shelves of random trinkets and collectables and large, decorative books, as well as a few key-shaped swords made of plywood pinned to the wall above a computer desk, with a bed in the middle.

"Wow..." Adam says as he walks in. But still... "I... I still don't remember anything..." Adam said sadly. He turns to look at the drawers right next to the doors, and sees a large object above it, hanging from the ceiling. His eyes widen as he looks at a blue and silver and gold sea dragon kite.

"Hhh..." Adam looks at it for a solid few seconds, while distant carnival music lingers in the back of his head, as well as a few glimpses of lights, playful colors, and some excited people in some strange apparition, before he blinked and shook his head, and the kite just remained as it is.

"It's aight, man." Jamal says, "You git used to it." Jamal glances around, noting that there are a few things missing. Merrick's sea armor is gone, for one, as is his harpoon, and a lot of the unique seashells as well as a few aquatic artifacts are not to be seen. "Huh..."

"Huh?"

"Ah, nuthin..." Jamal says, 'I just saw Merrick a half hour ago. Did he go to the ocean? Where he put his stuff at?'

"Do you... Mind if I be alone in here for a minute?" Adam asked, "I kinda want a moment to be take it in..."

"Sure, man." Jamal backed up, and took the door knob, "Lemme know if ya need anything."

"Ok." Adam nodded before Jamal closed the door. He takes a deep breath, before slowing sitting down. "So... This is where I live...?"

~~~

Jamal walks into the living room, and sees the door opening for Merrick to walk in, taking off his white leather jacket, "Oh hey Jamal. Donna and Luther just got here too."

"Oh, aight. Adam's in his room."

"O-Oh, he is?" Merrick asked, feeling a spark bite inside his chest.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to be alone for a minute." Just then Luther walks in, looking very tired, a little pale, with his nose rose red.

"Uuullggh... ACHOO!" He suddenly sneezed into a white cloth.

"Whoa, Luther," Merrick looks to him as Donna walks in, "Are you ok?"

"Ugh, no..." He moaned.

"He's been overworking, and he's got the flu." Donna says, "I told him he should've stayed home, but he wanted to see Adam one more time."

"Oh I see." Merrick comes over, and puts a hand on Luther's forehead, "... Mmh, yeah, you're feeling a little hot there. How about I make you some soup, yeah? Yuri tells me that humans eat soup when they're ill."

"That would be lovely, thank you." Donna says.

"Sure, I guess... Not really hungry." Luther whined thickly.

"Alright, I'm on it." Merrick said with a smile as he goes to get his apron, "You wanna help me, Donna? I can use a head start with the noodles."

"Love to, sweetie." Donna says as she walks in too, while Luther retreats to one of the large, cushioned chair.

~~~

Adam sighs as he wonders around his own room, picking up random objects and fiddling with them or playing with them, otherwise inspecting. It's like he's trying to remember what these items might have represented in his past, but nothing's coming... It's almost depressing.

He walks over to the computer desk, and opens his familiar laptop. Groaning with a bit of cluelessness, he started to type.

---

Dear Diary,

---

Just before he started, he sniffs the air as he starts to pick up an appetizing smell. He gets up again, and exits his door. He walks in to see Luther blowing his nose while he sits on the chair in the living room, "Oh hi, Dad."

"Hey Adam..." Luther groans, looking exhausted.

"What's wrong, are you ok?"

"He's just getting a little sick, honey." Donna says from the kitchen. Adam smiles as he walks further in.

"Oh hi Dr- Uh, Mom." Adam grins, before his chest feels a complex pulse as he sees Merrick next to her.

"Hi Adam." He smiles.

"O-Oh, Merrick, I- Whoa!" Adam stumbles as he walks into the coffee table, hissing as his shin pangs with pain from the edge, "Ssshit! Dammit!"

"Are you ok??"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just, I walked into the damn, ttthhing." Adam he said as he rubs his leg, "Where's Jamal?"

"He and Nick had a date." Merrick answers, "So is Yuri, so it's just us." Merrick says as Adam walks into the kitchen, smelling the savory aroma. A very familiar smell...

And then, he blinks as he feels slightly light-headed. As he watches the kitchen, all he can see is Merrick wearing that apron... And nothing else. He blushes as he looks over Merrick's bare backside, the curve of his round bottom, before he sees a shifting image of himself... Adam, watching himself walk in close behind Merrick... Adam is in some lazy apparel, only wearing a worn T-shirt and some boxershorts, coming up behind Merrick, hugging him and laughing as he nuzzles his lips onto his neck, while Merrick giggles back from the tickling.

"Adam? Adam, are you ok??" Donna says as he shakes his shoulder.

"Ah, wait, what?" Adam shakes his head and blinked a few times, looking to see Merrick chopping a roasted chicken breast in the kitchen, fully dressed and focused on the food preparation.

"You were sort of in a daze. Is everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, everything's fine." Adam nods, the short vision fleeting from his immediate memory before he's seated, before his flu-ridden father comes to the table. "So uh, wha-what are we having right now... For lunch?"

"Chicken noodle soup, homemade." Donna smiles as she puts a small dish of chicken slices onto the table, "Your father is sick, and Merrick makes a very good broth."

"Soup...?" Adam wonders as Merrick brings in a white dish with a fancy ladle inside it. He stares as the aroma plays a weird melody of sensations that rifles through his brain. As he sits there, he sees something black and tribal peering from under Merrick's shirt when he turned around to get the bread rolls... Is it a tattoo? He remembers something like that when Merrick stripped at the psychiatric ward, but he didn't get a good look.

"It's nothing much, just picked up a few recipes on the Food Channel, and I add my own tweaks here and there. Cooking's kinda easy, if a little complex." Merrick says as he pours the soup into the crystalline bowl, as well as putting three slices of chicken into the golden basin of liquid.

"Oh please, you even make your own noodles." Donna says with a smile as she places a sweet roll for each table.

Adam just looks at the steaming bowl of broth and meat, with the white lines of noodles within, while Merrick and Donna sit down. Taking a spoon, Adam takes a small sample of soup into it, and bring it to his lips.

He sips the hot fluid, the delicious taste immediately filling in some sort of empty node inside his mind, remembering having this exact soup at some point in time. Something about this soup is making him think of sunlight, he almost wants to squint his eyes even though it's not bright in here. For some reason, he thinks of himself crying, while lying in a bed. Of course, this brings up what he might've been saying on that day, why was he upset? Who was with him, and what were THEY saying?

"This is really good." Adam remarks after a few more tastes of soup.

"Thanks." Merrick smiles at him. Adam stirs his spoon in the soup. This is extremely nostalgic, but he can't place just where he's remembering this from... Maybe something to do when he was blinded by sunlight at the hospital?

"Errgh, this stuff can grow back a limb." Luther says as he eats.

'The family's back together.' Donna thinks to herself as she glances around. Herself included, there's her husband, her son, and her future son-in-law.

A secret family reunion.

"So, Adam, I'm afraid I have some bad news..." Donna says, after a while of the four of them slurping and eating.

"Hm? What is it?" Adam asked.

"I'm afraid me and your father can't stay here anymore." Donna tells him.

"What??" Adam gaps as he looks at her, "But -- Wait, no, I just met you, Mom. I-I mean, I just found out you're my Mom, but, I-I, why are you leaving??"

"Keeping up with the expenses is getting difficult. And also we've been away from our own jobs in Washington for too long. Not to mention the sublets who have been living in our apartment can't stay there any longer. We only have just enough money for our plane tickets home."

"Wait, where do you live?"

"Washington. It's... Very far, Adam."

"B-But, why, no..." Adam says sadly, "I-I-I I still need you guys!"

"I'm sorry, Adam..." Luther says, "If we could stay, we would. Believe me, I'm scared you might get injured again if we leave. We don't have a choice." He sighs, shaking his head.

"But... What am I gonna do without my parents?? Mom, aren't you supposed to be my psychologist?? I don't know if I can get another one!"

"We can talk to each other on Skype anytime you need to, honey." Donna reaches her hand, and holds Adam's, "I don't care what time of day it is or what I might be doing, I'll talk to you whenever you need me."

"But... I don't want you to go..." Adam says as he looks at both of his parents, "I still hardly know anyone, what if my brain gets another migraine??"

"Yuri lives with you, and she is a doctor, mind you. She can take care of you, and Merrick can be your therapist."

"Wait, Merrick?" Adam looks to him.

"Donna, what are you talking about? I'm not a psychologist." Merrick said, confused.

"From what you've told me about YOUR father, he knows his way around people's way of thinking. I'm sure you're rather intuitive yourself if you talk it though enough."

"That's... different..." Merrick says. Now that he thinks about it, Kaiken did know what to say to get answers out of Merrick, and he's been able to talk through several situations in the past. But does Merrick have that kind capability? "Are you sure you guys have to go? Adam still needs you."

"Merrick... You too, Adam. I've been evaluating your progress since you were transferred to the ward. In a non-biased opinion, Adam..." Donna takes a deep breath, and sighs, "On technical terms, you were mentally sound and able to come back home a while ago. At least a week after you were transferred."

"What?"

"Your headaches have been coming less and less, your nightmares are getting less frequent and impactful... I just was afraid of letting you go again..."

"Are you sure there's no other way?" Adam asked, "I feel like I just met you guys, and now you have to leave?"

"Our time's up, son." Luther says with a heavy huff, "We have to go... But you can call us if you ever need anything, if you need to talk, or anything..." Luther can barely think straight, the pills and the flu making him very dizzy, "It's going to be alright." He says as he pats Adam's shoulder."

"Ok..." Adam looks down, before he sees Merrick beside him, against the sunlight from the afternoon sunset.

"It's ok, Adam... I'll be here for you, any way that I can." He said with a soft smile, holding his shoulders. Adam feels a light brush inside his forehead as he looks up to him, his mind swimming with vague images again... Seeing glimpses that are so familiar but so foreign at the same time.

"O-Ok..." Adam nodded, almost hypnotically. As he looks at Merrick, he imagines his shirt vanishing... Taken off...

"We have tomorrow to pack and spend some last-minute time with you," Donna says, "But after tomorrow, we have to go back home."

"Ok..." Adam holds both of their hands, "I'm gonna miss you guys..."

"We miss you everyday, honey." Donna says with a sad smile. Adam looks at her with estranged and wistful eyes... Why does he feel a little guilty now?

~~~

Adam huffs as he lies on his back on his bed, wearing some comfy boxershorts, his hands behind his head as he looks at the ceiling.

He's home now. This is his house. This is where he lives... The building itself doesn't feel remotely familiar to him... But these short visions are happened more frequently. They last for several seconds, and he's having trouble remember exactly what he saw. It's like he's dreaming, but awake.

Sighing, Adam turns around, and gets up to his desk, opening his laptop to illuminate the dark bedroom. Yawning, he clicks on the new diary entry he started earlier.

---

Dear Diary,

I'm home, literally. I've moved back into my own house before I was put in the hospital. It feels... I don't know, different. For all I know, my life has been all about the hospital and the psychiatric ward. In a couple of days, I guess I'm going to be introduced to my old jobs -- apparently, I have two of them. One of them, I guess I go fishing, or I think I deliver fish. The other job, I think someone told me I perform there? Like a singer? God, I hope not, I'm nervous just thinking about it.

Oh yeah, and weird thing: my psychologist was actually my own mom the whole time! I'm still having a hard time believing it, but once she told me, she started explaining things to me, and it just made sense. I feel guilty though. She said she and my dad can barely afford living here, let alone letting me live at the psychiatric ward. I wish she told me sooner... At least she's decided not to keep my life a secret anymore.

And I am officially DONE with Jessica. She tried to do something weird to me! She grabbed me on my dick, she just started touching me all over, especially when she started to bring some other people in while I was seeing mom, that's how I found out about mom. Whoever Jessica is, I don't want her anywhere near me. Just thinking about her makes me upset.

Anyway, then there's Merrick. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday, a couple of weeks after he took off his clothes. At the time, I thought he was out to get me, and it freaked me out when he was acting like that, like how Jessica was acting. He's actually a sweet guy, I think, he's not nearly as invasive as she is. If a little too... I don't know. He's still kissing me whenever he feels like it. I look like a total idiot every times he does. I just can't keep myself together around him.

But it's really weird. Both Merrick and Jessica just kiss me all the time, but it feels different. When Jessica kissed me, I don't like it and I kinda feel gross about it, like I just wipe my cheek or my mouth afterwards. But when Merrick kisses me, it's like... It's like I want to try again, like I'm the one who needs to kiss him to get it right. I just feel so weird and excited when Merrick kisses me, when he's even close to me. I want to ask him if we can kiss together, but I feel kinda scared to. What if he laughs at me? Or what if he says yes? I don't think I can handle it.

And also, I keep looking at him, and I keep thinking about when he took his clothes off. I feel really edgy when he's near me, like I'm waiting for something to happen, and I want to be the one who does it. I keep thinking about taking his shirt off... Is this normal? When he did it weeks ago, I was terrified, but now that I'm feeling better, I can't stop thinking about what he did, and what I might've done if I went along with it. I keep wanting to see him like that... Would he think I'm weird for wanting to see him walk around in his underwear? After the way I treated him the last time he tried that? I don't know what to do.

Anyway, I'm dead tired. I haven't written in a day, sorry about that. I'll write again tomorrow night. Thanks.

---

Adam saves and quits, before turning off his computer. He groans as he gets up, and slumps onto the bed. He digs his arms under the pillows and snuggles softly up to them. Something about this feels incomplete... This bed is so much better than the one at the ward, and he feels more inwardly welcome in this room. But it still feels like something's missing.

He closes his eyes as he lets himself drift off into sleep.

~~~

Merrick lies on his back on the shore, his body against the wet sand, and his tail undulating casual in the water. A wash of seawater rushes up onto him, as it does every minute or so, leaving his skin shiny and blue, while his chest and head remain humanoid.

With his clothing folded neatly onto a nearby high rock, he looks at the crescent moon above. Part of him feels lonely that he still can't completely tell Adam just who they are to each other. Donna has loosened the leash by a lot, but right now... Merrick's just afraid if he tells Adam too much, it will just scare him like when he tried that 'Sexual Healing' nonsense on him. He can't put him through that again, no.

It felt a little hurtful, when Merrick packed up his things out of Adam's room -- his sea equipment, his ocalen, the very unique seashells, his collection of exotic lingerie, his own clothing taken out of the drawers. All of it boxed away in the garage. This is all for Adam, he guesses... It'll be ok...

Merrick grunts as he curls around, and pulls himself along the sand, and crawls into the water, his beautiful tail flourishing and disappearing under the surface. He glides down upon the reef, and swims for a good 5 or 10 minutes. The only form of gear he has is his harpoon and a pouch that holds his cellphone in an air-tight plastic bag to keep track of the time.

He swims down into a small cavernous area he constructed right next to Savarna's Sea Spot -- she has conjured an array of elaborate crystalline ice towers around the area to keep larger predators at bay. Merrick curls his flexible fish-like body into a small area, planting his harpoon into the sand, and curls around himself. He closes his eyes and allowed slumber to slowly come to him, wishing he was instead under the warm covers next to Adam, rather than the pleasantly cold waters around his sister's mystic fort.