Kelp

While I didn't care for shoes walking down the street was proving to be problematic. The ground was hard and hot and there had been a few unfriendly pets in yards that had decided to chase the strange girl. Running away from them was hard though, I fell a few times and scrapped my knees. The day was not faring well for me. There were sores starting to form on my feet. I had been walking for what seemed like hours. With my bare feet, the hot ground was taking it's tole.

Arms crossed, I continued my walk till I came to a larger street. Vehicles whizzed by like there was nothing to stop for. As much as I wanted to cross it, I couldn't. The cars were too fast and I was to slow. If I was home this wouldn't be a problem. Instead I'd be alone in my room dreaming of being on land. My life was beginning to feel like an impossible choice. Everything felt wrong for me. The water was lonely and the land was unwelcoming. It seemed I didn't belong anywhere.

Perhaps I could be turned into a bird. Would being in the air be as hostile as land or wouldn't it be full of solitude like the ocean? The internal struggle wasn't an unfamiliar one and it made me think of a solution that I had often pondered. What if I just gave up? I was an adult. I had a right to make that choice. My life wasn't full of achievements or anything that was special that needed to be finished. At the same time it felt like I was too young to consider ending it all. There could be so much more out there that I had in front of me and I wouldn't get to experience it.

Too tired to carry on the argument with myself and too hot to keep walking, I took a seat on a bench by a stop sign. The sun was beating down especially hard as I sat there, planning my next move. I could feel my poor skin turning a bright pink from backing in the sun. I was about to move to find a shady spot when I heard my name.

~::~::~::~

The first ten minutes that Zak looked for Viola he thought he'd find her right around the corner. After twenty minutes he had gone back for his car, as did Aaron and Nick. Scenes from CSI or Law and Order or worse, Criminal Minds raced through his head. He was expectiong to see her body on the side of the road where she'd been hit or not even find her. Walking down the street didn't seem so dangerous, but with a barefoot girl that didn't seem to understand a lot about humans. . . He just hoped that her general distrust of humans kept her safe.

Zak sped along, breaking the speed limit easily. His eyes were peeled for any sign of the pale girl with sea weed hair. Nick and Aaron texted that they still hadn't found her. The cops were becoming an option, even if there would be a lot of questions. Drumming his fingers nervously, a flash of pal skin and a white shirt made Zak do a double take. It was Viola! Cutting off an old lady in a porche, Zak whipped into a parking lot for a grocery store. Parked in just a few second, he bolted from the sports car and sprinted down the street.

~::~::~::~

“Viola!” Turning, I saw Zak -in all black- running towards me. “Wait up!” It wasn't like I was going anywhere as I stood there waiting for him. Granted I had to keep shifting my feet because of the sores and hot ground. Zak ran over, breathing hard as he came to a stop. His face and arms were tinged pink from running in the heat. “I've been looking everywhere for you.”

“You. . . Looked for me?” I asked, staring at him.

“Yeah,” he nodded, standing up straight with his hands on his hips. “I promised to get you home, so I will.”

“Even though you don't really want to?” I said. It wasn't hard to figure out that I wasn't the most welcome guest in his home.

“Look, Viola. . . Let's go back to the house and talk about this, okay? It's hot, you are going to look like a lobster in the next ten minutes, and you can't even stand on your feet,” Zak pointed out. He was right. I didn't have any where else to go and soon I'd be a friend fish.

“Alright,” I said with a nod. We slowly started our way back to Zak's house. He called Aaron to say he found me while I was careful about my blisters. Zak put his phone away and looked at me again.

“Your knees look pretty banged up,” he said with a wince. “Here, hop on my back and I'll carry you back to my car. It's going to be more painful and a longer walk if you keep this up.” Zak stopped and stooped down so I could jump on. It took a few tries, but I finally was able to cling to his back like a baby Koala. Zak was right, it was a lot faster. We got to his car in just a few minutes. It took me a moment to realize I had walked far enough away that Zak had to drive to find me. I guess they really did want to help me.

The car ride was quiet, though I mostly looked out the window. A headache had sprung up during my walk, but the cool air inside Zak's car helped a bit.

“You didn't sleep much, did you?” Zak asked as we turned into another street. I shook my head. After I calmed down and wasn't at an intersection in Midday Vegas, I felt very tired. “We probably won't leave till tomorrow, so you'll have time to rest before we leave in the morning.”

“Okay,” I nodded. We went quiet again as Zak sped back to his house. There wasn't anything to talk about. The strain of the situation emphasized how different we were as well as how much we were strangers to each other. We weren't even the same species! The lost feeling crept up on me again as we pulled into the drive way.

“Wait a second before getting out so I can help you in,” Zak said, climbing out of his car. I sat and waited till Zak came back around to help me out. The electric spark that had been there the night of the party. When Zak touched my legs to hold me while I wrapped my arms around his neck, there was nothing. No soft, floaty, happy feeling that would suggest that we could have something; something being a kiss, a hug, a love. Not that I was hoping for it. Maybe. Maybe it was the sun. Yeah, that's the cause for all of this. No wonder I didn't surface much. The sun made you think weird stuff.