Miserable, Lonely, and Depressed

The rest of the car ride was silent. Harmony was too busy looking through the rear window to talk to any of the Jonas’. Her eyes widened with fascination at all of the buildings along the side of the road and marveled over how many cars there were. But most of all she couldn’t get over all of the people. She saw more people during the ride back to the Jonas house than she had seen merfolk in all of Maritania.

Kevin Sr. pulled into the Jonas’ driveway and everyone climbed out of the car leaving Harmony and Joe. Slowly she undid the buckle Joe had strapped across her lap and stepped out of the car, looking up at the house. It was quite large. Larger than her home in Maritania but not quite as large as King Cayman and Queen Delia’s castle. Joe stood next to her and looked up at his home.

“What do you think? It’s not huge but we like it,” he said, turning to her, a smile on his face.

“It’s perfect,” she whispered. “It’s better than any picture I’ve ever seen of a hu…”

“Of what?” Joe asked as she bit on her lower lip.

“Nothing,” she whispered and he raised an eyebrow. She almost said a human house but caught herself in time. “Can we go inside?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, leading the way to the front door. He twisted his hand around the bronze knob and pushed the door open, letting Harmony follow him inside before closing it.

“Wow,” she breathed, spinning around slowly, glancing all around her at the high ceilings. “What are these,” she asked, walking up a few of the steps on the main staircase and pointing to the wall.

“Oh, those,” Joe said, letting out a slight laugh, “Those are just some family photos, some old ones, too. This one was taken when I was five.”

“Look at how little!” she exclaimed, smiling at the photograph and then at Joe.

“Haha, yeah. So… do you want a tour?” he asked, scratching the back of his head. From the living he could hear Frankie turn on the television and he noticed Harmony turned her head towards the sound.

“What’s that?”

“It’s just the television,” he said. “Frankie always has it up too loud.”

“Can I see it?” she asked, her eyes widening as she looked down at Joe.

“You want to see the television?” he asked and she nodded her head. “You’ve never seen one before?”

“No,” she said and he shook his head. He just couldn’t figure this out.

“Sure, come on,” he said, waving a hand as he descended the few steps and entered the living room. “Well, there it is.”

“It’s talking,” she said, walking closer. “And moving.”

“It’s just a T.V. show,” Frankie said, watching as Harmony walked right up to the screen and tapped it.

“Hello?” she called into the television. “Can you hear me?”

“No, they can’t, Harmony,” Joe said, walking over and placing his hands on her shoulders. Gently he steered her away from the television. “Like Frankie said, it’s just a show. Those are actors and this was recorded awhile ago. A lot of people watch it, for entertainment.”

“Entertainment? I thought that’s what music is for.”

“Well, yeah, music is entertainment too. But there are a lot of forms of entertainment,” Joe said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh,” she said slowly, her eyes drifting towards the television. “Okay, what else is on the tour?”

“Let’s go see the kitchen. I’ll bet there’s lots of stuff in there you’ve never seen,” he said, leading her into the kitchen where his parents were preparing dinner.

“Hi kids,” Kevin Sr. said, handing something to his wife.

“Hi,” Harmony said, walking over to the table they were prepping at. “What’s this?”

“That’s the chicken,” Denise said as she cut some potatoes.

“Good, I’m hungry,” Harmony said, reaching her hand towards the glass pan the raw chicken was sitting in.

“Harmony, no!” Joe said, reaching out, wrapping his fingers around her wrist. “You can’t eat it yet, it’s not cooked. You’ll get sick.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, her cheeks flushing from embarrassment. “Everything is just so… new.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, dear?” Denise asked, wiping her hands on a towel and walking over towards Harmony. “You didn’t hit your head on anything? You weren’t in some terrible accident?”

“No, I’m fine. We just… we don’t have a lot of this where I come from,” she said quietly. Kevin Sr. and Denise exchanged a look.

“We understand,” Denise said, putting her hand on Harmony’s arm. “Joseph, go ahead and finish your tour. Dinner will be ready in about an hour.”

Harmony waved as Joe walked out of the kitchen into the dining room. Harmony stood in front of the display case and marveled over all of the fancy dinnerware. Joe stood silently by her side, waiting for her to finish looking before moving into the next room.

“This is the den. It’s where Nick and Frankie do their homework.”

“Homework?” Harmony asked, walking around the perimeter of the room, gazing at the photographs on the walls.

“Yeah, for school.”

“Oh, lessons,” she said, nodding her head in recognition. “What about you and Kevin? Don’t you do your homework in here, too?”

“We used to. Kevin’s in college now, though. And come the end of August, so will I.”

“College?”

“It’s what comes after high school. Normally at the age of eighteen which is what I’ll be in August.”

“I’m eighteen,” she said, smiling brightly.

“Cool. When’s your birthday?”

“Today,” she said, picking up a stapler, holding it close to her face, trying to figure out what it was. Joe quickly grabbed it before she hurt herself and set it back on the desk.

“It’s your birthday… today?”

“Mhm,” she said, nodding her head.

“You’re sure? July 12 is your birthday?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she said, letting out a slight giggle.

“We should celebrate,” he said, smiling wide. He grabbed her hand and led her back into the kitchen. “Mom, do you think we could whip up a cake or something?”

“Why?” Denise asked as she separated uncooked rolls onto a baking sheet.

“Apparently it’s Harmony’s birthday.”

“Is it really?” she asked, turning her gaze to Harmony.

“Yes, I’m eighteen,” Harmony said, showing Denise her dazzling smile.

“Then, of course. I’ll start now.”

“Thank you,” Harmony said, wondering what exactly she was starting as Joe led her up the stairs. He stopped at a room right next to the top tapped his knuckles on the doorway.

“Hey, can we come in?”

“Yeah, sure,” Nick said. Harmony walked in behind Joe and looked around. Nick was sitting on his bed (which looked much more comfortable than her bed in Maritania) holding something in his hands.

“What are you holding?” she asked.

“My guitar,” he said, moving his hand over the strings creating a vibrating sound.

“Do that again!” she said. When he did she smiled. “It’s a music maker.”

“Don’t you have guitars where you come from?” Nick asked, absentmindedly strumming a few chords.

“No, but we have other music makers. My father plays one almost every night for my sisters and me.”

“Cool. I like to play in my spare time. Nothing special,” he muttered, looking back at his guitar.

“So, obviously this is Nick’s room,” Joe said. “I’ll be staying in here so you can stay in my room.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she said, standing up, waving to Nick as Joe brought her to another room.

“Sure, I do,” he said, opening another door. “This is my room.”

“I like it,” she said, stepping in. The first thing she saw was a photograph over the bed of the beach where they had met. “This is beautiful.”

“Thanks,” he said, standing with his hands in his pockets. “I took it.”

“How?”

“With my camera,” he said, picking it up from his desk. “Here, look at me and smile.”

Harmony stood next to the bed, the photograph of the beach behind her and smiled at Joe. She heard a click and saw a flash of light then Joe walked over to her. She blinked her eyes, trying to get rid of the spots she saw. Joe held the camera close to her face. Looking at it she saw a small photograph of herself, smiling at Joe.

“Wow,” she said, turning to look at Joe. “You’re very talented.”

“Thanks,” he said, letting out a laugh. “Do you want to sit in here and talk for a bit? Dinner won’t be ready for awhile.”

“That would be nice,” she said, sitting down on the bed. Her eyes widened at how soft it was and she scooted back further to get more comfortable.

“So,” Joe said, taking a seat next to her. “You said you have sisters. How many?”

“Two. Arianna is my older sister, she’s twenty-two. Ness is the youngest, she’s twelve.”

“And you mentioned your father. What’s he like?”

“He’s a good father. After my mother died, he had to take care of my sisters and me by himself. I was nine so Nessa was only three. It was hard for all of us. He’s very… protective of us and it irritates me most of the time but I still love him.”

“I’m sorry about your mother,” he said quietly, placing his hand on top of hers. “How did she die?”

“Um,” Harmony said, hesitating. Her mother had gotten tangled in a fishing net, therefore strangling to death. By the time her father freed her from the constraints it was too late. “She… um…”

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me,” he said, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into him. “It’s obviously still too hard for you to talk about. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s alright,” she said quietly, letting out a breath of relief. She decided she would have to figure out a story to tell him. She wanted to be as truthful as possible but she couldn’t tell him her biggest secret. Not yet.