Under the Ocean Waves

The ocean, possibly his favorite place to go and just exist for a little while on the California coast. He loved to listen to the waves crashing against the rocks where he sat. They reminded him that everything was going to be okay when things got tough at home or in life or at work or really anything, really. And now he was sitting here listening to the sea with the sun warming his skin like no other source of warmth had been able to do before, although he was still shivering in the Summer weather. That was the thing with Vic - when he got upset, he was always cold regardless of what he was doing.

Or maybe upset wasn’t really the right word to use in this situation because really, Vic was running from yet another heart break. It sounds cliche and stupid, yes, but it was the honest truth. Every time Vic started to get close to someone, thinking that maybe it was okay to let this one in, they would leave again or give him a reason to never trust them ever again. It had been that way since he was in high school and since then he’d been a lot more careful about who he gave his trust to. A sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes, telling himself that he shouldn’t have been surprised because this always happened to him. Not to make him sound like someone that had tons of partners, because that wasn’t the case at all! No, there was tons of space between each one - maybe six or seven in all since high school, and that was counting the one girl he’d actually gone and gave his heart to and lost his virginity to. And now a few years later, he still liked to be a sensitive little baby sitting by himself with no one to comfort him but his own loneliness where no one around could see him. A little tear rolled down his cheek that he quickly wiped away even though there was no one to hide it from.

The truth was, Vic was sad and kind of sick of the same old life. That’s probably why he liked the beach so much - it was just the right balance of changes and constants. The water was always there, washing against the shore. But it changed the shape of the beach and the rocks every so often. The shells were always different, the sand dollars were always different, even the boats that passed were different enough for Vic. But it was always the beautiful ocean where he could go and forget about everything else that was going on in his life. “Some day I’ll swim out as far as I can go and I’ll never come back,” he whispered, his words catching on the wind as it blew past, making his hair gently fly around his face. He took another deep breath, staring at the horizon where he couldn’t see the waves forming anymore, just a blue blur that mixed with the sky.

He had no way of knowing that a pair of eyes watched him, but not from the beach, but from below those waves. They appeared glazed over, yet at the same time they were unnaturally bright for being underwater. They belonged to a pale faced boy that looked as if he’d never been in direct sunlight, with long locks of dark hair floating around his face. His body was lithe and skinny, although, the shock value on him was the fact that he had no legs, but a tail. It shimmered in the water, long and scaly and almost as stand-out as his eyes. His pale lips parted as he observed the boy sitting atop one of the rocks that was near the cliffs that humans sometimes foolishly climbed. Honestly though, this particular boy that would come to the waters edge every now and again and just stare always managed to captivate his interest. He was by far the most beautiful creature Kellin had ever seen. The only thing that ever bothered him, though was the fact that always, without fail, the boy always looked so sad, sitting up there alone. Whenever he came he appeared to be distraught and Kellin would give anything to crawl up next to him and ask him what was wrong.

Today, however, that was actually possible. With a speed faster than some speed boats he swam to the shore, practically beaching himself behind some rocks out of sight of the boy. With a blink of the eyes, suddenly the sparkling tail was gone. In its place was a pair of legs. And you’d think that maybe Kellin would be naked, but no - it seemed his type had that part covered when this certain privilege was granted to them, as a pair of navy-blue shorts was also on his now sand-covered body. He cupped his hand with water to splash upon his new thighs and chest to wash some of it away, then with a calming deep breath, he stood. Almost immediately he stumbled and grabbed on to a nearby rock for support, scraping his knee in the process. “Ow,” he whispered, rubbing the spot with a shaking hand. Standing was so weird and foreign to him. After a moment though he took a tentative step on wobbly legs and managed to stagger around some of the rocks.

Finally Vic looked up and caught sight of the strange pale boy that looked like he could hardly walk stumbling towards him. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, his voice filled with concern. Kellin bit his lip and nodded stoutly, placing a hand on the rocks he was walking in between for balance. Vic cocked an eyebrow; the boy looked like a toddler just learning to take his first steps. “What happened?” he asked, hopping off the rock to lend him a helping hand.

“Rough water?” said Kellin, his high - pitched voice cracking, not used to speaking above sea level. “Well actually, I was gonna ask you that.”

Vic stared at the boy, his curiosity instantly peaked. “Ask me what?” he inquired of the boy as he started pull himself on to the rock that Vic had previously been sitting on. Together they got up, shifting in to sitting positions. It may have been weird, sitting with a downright stranger, but something about him seemed so fascinating.

“What happened,” Kellin said, not as a question but as a statement. “You look so sad. Isn’t it nice to talk to someone you don’t know sometimes?”

Vic bit his lip as thoughts of why he was there flooded back in to his mind. “Well, its kind of a long story,” he admitted, looking back towards the waves. “Who even are you?” Vic stared at the boy, noting how bright his eyes seemed although it had to be the sunlight glinting off of them.

“My name is Kellin,” he answered in a smooth voice. It was pretty, and soothing. “I’m from around here. What’s your name?”

“Vic,” said the Mexican boy. “I’m from San Diego.”

Kellin frowned but nodded, trying to make it seem like he knew what he was talking about when truthfully he had no idea what a ‘San Diego’ was. He figured it was a human thing that he wasn’t a part of, and searched his mind for something to keep the conversation going. “Why do you look so troubled when you come here?”

Now it was Vic’s turn to frown at Kellin. That wasn’t a question you expect to get from someone you just met. “Have you been… watching me whenever I come to his beach or something?” he said. Kellin bit his tongue; the thought of possibly creeping out the human figure sitting in front of him hadn’t really occurred to him.

“Uh, no. Well, sort of. I just always happen to see you?” he said awkwardly. But it was the kind of awkward that you can’t help but find adorable, and against his better judgement, Vic chuckled a little at his dismay. “I don’t mean to sound creepy,” said Kellin, collecting himself. “You just always look so sad so… so I decided to say something,” he explained.

Vic nodded, measuring him up as he spoke. Everything about this boy screamed strange, but for some reason he felt like he could trust him. “I see,” he said.

“So, what’s wrong?” Kellin urged him.

“I don’t think we really have time for me to sit here and explain things, you know? Besides, I come here to forget all that. So you live around here?” said Vic, looking off towards the water again.

Kellin followed his gaze with his eyes, looking back at his home. It felt a little strange, looking at it from the other side. “Yeah,” he said wistfully, already missing the water surrounding his body. The air felt weird, brushing against his skin and the sunlight hitting against him, warming his usually cold body. For a moment, they sat together, not really saying anything, but looking at the waves hitting against the sand. “And you live in San Diego? How far from here, though?” asked Kellin.

“Like half an hour on foot,” Vic explained. Kellin nodded and let his eyes slip from the beach to Vic, staring like he had been from the sea. He tried to do it inconspicuously, but subtlety wasn’t his strong point. Vic just demanded his attention and he didn’t even know why. “How come you wanted to talk to me so bad?” he asked after a while, aware of Kellin’s eyes on him, but not pointing it out. Truthfully he kind of liked the feeling of his attention.

“Well, you just looked like… like you needed a friend or something, does that make sense?” asked Kellin, finally looking away.

Vic nodded at his words. “Yeah, that’s actually… kind of nice of you, now that I think about it,” he admitted. Kellin smiled at that. “I guess you’re right though. I am kind of lonely but… but I get used to being alone after a while. Sometimes its better that way.”

“No one can hurt you when you’re alone,” Kellin murmured. Vic met his eyes with a sad look of understanding and before he could even help it, he felt himself starting to get attached to this this strange new boy.

“That’s my logic,” Vic whispered, dropping his gaze, although Kellin kept looking at him. Tentatively, he placed a gentle but cold hand on the tan boy’s shoulder, raising goosebumps along his arm. There was a lot in that touch though - mainly, understanding.

“I don’t know why, but I feel like I wanna help you. Is that weird? Sorry, I’m weird. I just wanna make you smile and I can’t really place my finger on why.” The pale boy looked at Vic, his blue eyes still shining almost unnaturally at him. He’d wanted to tack on something about humans being strange with their social norms to end of his sentence, but he knew that might come off as just a little bit insane. Well, if it didn’t come off that way already.

Honestly to Vic though, he really didn’t. He just came off as fascinating. “That’s not… weird, I guess, no. Well, you’re different, that’s for sure,” he said, and a little smirk crept on to his face. Kellin returned to smile gratefully.

“So… friends?” he said, sticking out his hand for Vic to shake.

“Duh,” answered the Mexican lightheartedly. They both smiled at that. It was evident to Vic that this boy was a lot more like him than he originally supposed, only maybe a little more socially awkward. They were both quiet but it was nice. He liked that about the boy. “So I take it you like to swim?” asked Vic after a few minutes.

“More than you know,” Kellin answered, his voice trailing off a little bit. Vic was about to ask something else, but a great rustling over head cut him off. One of the rock formations that was high enough to maybe be considered a cliff suddenly erupted in a flurry of movement as a flock of sea gulls took flight, moving towards the sea. “Feeding time!” Kellin shouted at them, knowing exactly where they were going. Not to the ocean, where a school of fish would be - but to the beach, where some of the beach goers had laid out towels and such that the bird would attack as they scavenged about for something to eat.

“I used to chase those when I was a little kid,” said Vic, grinning at the flock.

“Wanna do it again?” Kellin asked, turning his face to Vic. And suddenly, before he had even started to answer, Kellin leaped off the rock - with a wobbly landing - and started to run, kicking up sand as he went. And without even thinking, Vic took off after him, laughing against his own will because honestly it was fun running amidst a flock of sea gulls next to this boy that he’d come to know as a new friend. He’d known him for what, twenty minutes? But he already felt as if he could trust him and that there was some sort of special bond between them. “Try and catch one!” Kellin yelled, a few feet ahead of him. Vic shook his head and laughed (a little awkwardly considering he was running pretty fast), but still jumped in to the air and feeling feathers brush his finger tips.

When the flock finally flew too high above the beach, they stopped, toppling in to the sand next to each other, laughing so hard they could barely breathe. As they lay there panting and trying to catch their breath Kellin’s eyes once again fell upon Vic. Rather than lonely and desolate and sad, he appeared happy and lively - unlike Kellin had seen him before during his trips to the beach. In an instant he decided he liked this look a lot better. “You’re smiling,” he commented with a grin of his own etching across his face.

“I’m laughing my ass off, genius,” Vic replied as he sat up. “The sand is so warm…”

“I hate dry sad,” said Kellin, looking down at his own sand covered body.

“You wanna go in the water?” Vic asked; he’d been thinking about actually going for a swim on the way there, although he hadn’t let himself because he knew of the possibility that he would never come back. Now that he was with Kellin though, swimming was more in the realm of possibility. But Kellin’s face fell a little bit when Vic brought that up.

“No,” he said distantly. “No, I can’t.”

Vic cocked an eyebrow at him. The boy had been sopping wet when Vic first saw him, although he was dry now. “What do you mean you can’t?” he asked. Kellin shrugged and stared down at the sand. “Well, alright.”

“I almost caught one of the birds,” said Kellin, picking his head up to face Vic again, laughter flickering in his eyes once more. The Hispanic boy chuckled at the childish air that surrounded this strange boy with the bright eyes and pale skin.The two of them sat on the sad, talking like they had been earlier, except about different things - what they did when they were kids, old traditions and things they missed about being younger. Every so often Vic would grab a handful of sand and watch it pour out of his hand and Kellin would observe with great interest because although Vic was completely unaware, it was a strange sight for a boy of the see to look upon. As they spoke Kellin had to dress up his ‘memories’ to make them seem less unfamiliar to Vic. While he danced around his actual origins, Vic was just enjoying the fact that he’d made a friend that he felt like he could relate to, because above all the childhood memories and teenage years, the one thing that they both undoubtedly shared was a constant feeling of loneliness.

And as they talked, they both began to feel themselves growing a bit closer. It seemed that Loneliness didn’t have to be so bad if you had someone to suffer with…