Running From Lions

“What the fuck?” Colussy yelled as he examined the numerous scratches on the fishing net. “Jack, look!”

“What is…? “Jack asked, stumbling out onto the side of the boat, before he realised what Colussy is pointing at. “Oh.”

“This is going to cost us a lot.” Colussy sighed, dumping the now ruined net onto the floor. “What a bad start to this trip.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Jack said, patting his friend on the back. “We have smaller cast nets, you know.”

“The boss isn’t going to be too happy with us.”

“Well, we aren’t even supposed to be here using the fishing supplies.” Jack replied, giving Colussy the “I-told-you-so” face.

Colussy sighed again, before heading to sulk at the bow of the boat. Jack picked up the net, wrapping it up to be thrown away. He bit his lip, thinking what kind of animal would actually be able to cut through the mesh of the net. It didn’t look like any bite marks, nor a forceful struggle. Even if it is, the scratches on the net are really huge. They will have to make do with the smaller nets until evening when they return back to the bigger ship, Mary Grace before the captain finds out his sailors are off for a joy fishing trip.

It’s going to be a long day.

He stared into the water, pondering about what he should do next. Jack looked over to Colussy, still sulking, and decided, why not explore this waters, right?
Splash.
Colussy looked up from his position, and crawled over to the source of the sound. After the froth subsided, he sees a diver with a mop of black hair. The diver looked up and waved, before swimming away, leaving a trail of air bubbles and Colussy all alone on the boat.

“Jack, don’t leave me here!” Colussy yelled into the water, splashing his hands in the water, trying to attract Jack’s attention but to no avail.

Alex went to carry Cass all the way to an underwater cave. She was still breathing, fortunately, but she has to rest. Since after she wakes up, Alex wants to tell her of the time where he will bring down an entire ship while she was asleep.

“Don’t worry Cass, by the time you wake up…” Alex whispered into her ear as he laid her down onto a group of sea sponges. “Whoever is on that boat will go to sleep forever.”

The brunette mermaid knows that it is very risky to kill in broad daylight, but that stupid man nearly killed Cass in broad daylight, so is there a difference? Alex swam back very fast, almost at lightning speed. He wanted to get it over with, so he wouldn’t get caught by anybody, human or mermaid. He sees the bottom of the boat from afar, since he recognised the propeller.

Alex was about to zoom towards him, but was cut by somebody. He jerked back, causing him to crush the sea coral with his tail. A school of colourful small fish swarmed out from it, giving Alex a chance to hide behind the coral, his eyes trained onto the stranger. Slowly, as the fish swam away, it wasn’t a mermaid, making Alex sink even deeper behind the coral, letting his hair float slightly. The legs of the human was fully black, something Alex never seen before, with flippers at the bottom.
Is this human or a mutant?

The human mutant had a beautiful raven hair on his head, which flowed effortlessly underwater. Whatever it is, they had an odd tank on their back, which had so many tubes connecting it. The stranger turned around, and he looked even weirder than behind. He had these huge glasses and he looked like he had something stuck in his mouth, with a whole bunch of bubbles coming from it.
Wait, he looks fairly familiar…

Alex widened his eyes as he realised who the stranger was. He was slightly confused on why he didn’t look the same when the mermaid saw him on the pier. Is it normal for humans to be changing how they look? To be honest, Alex is really old, but he never seen humans like this.
The mermaid didn’t realise that the boy was suddenly staring straight at him, and started swimming towards the coral where Alex was hiding. When the mermaid realised, the boy was so close to him, that Alex could kiss him on the lips. Except Alex wasn’t sure where his lips were. He found himself staring into his eyes, Alex was enveloped into his warm brown eyes.

The brunette shut his eyes, as he felt the heat rising to his cheeks. Alex opened his eyes and found himself the pair of eyes gone. Instead, he was behind Alex, swimming along with a bale of turtles. He was exactly like the turtles in their movement, slow and careful but effortless in the water. He looked so amazing then, and Alex could tell that he was happy from the way his eyes were twinkling.
As he swam further away, Alex decided to follow him discreetly, hiding behind the nearest coral when he turns slightly. After all the centuries he lived through, Alex never felt his heart thumping so much, not even when he was viciously hunting down sailors. He noticed something fall from the person, a small item onto the ocean floor. Alex hurriedly swam towards it when he checked the person wasn’t looking.

Jack Bassam Barakat

18 June 1988

It was a white paper card. A lot of it got smudged, and even parts of it were tearing off. A peeling picture of Jack was on it, and it matched Alex’s new catch.

Crew of Mary Jane

“Mary Jane, huh?” Alex wondered loudly, before crushing the card, leaving the pieces on the floor.
He noticed that Jack was swimming back, and towards the white boat?

Is he supposed to be on the white boat?

Alex swam below Jack, hearing all the alarm bells ringing in his head. His fears came true when he rose out of the water, and boarded the boat. It zoomed away, leaving Alex alone and confused.

Am I supposed to like him or hate him?