by Tracy Kiser
Gillian placed her hand on Merric’s left shoulder and gently squeezed it in reassurance. “We’re almost there, honey.”
* *
Lana woke with the sun. It shone through all of the bare windows, kissing her good morning. Good wake time, Lana thought, mentally correcting herself as if she had always called it that. The image of Merric smiling beside her immediately popped into her head and she found herself smiling for what seemed like the first time in a long time. Lana shifted, rolling over slightly, but remained in bed. Today was a day full of possibilities. She was determined to start accepting what happened. Instead of wishing it had been different. What she had realized the night before wasn’t easy to accept, but it was true.
Her face felt tight from all of the tears. Lana rubbed her cheeks. No more tears, she silently promised herself. The phone beside her beeped to life. She punched a button and a text from her mother opened, asking where she was.
Lana quickly replied with, “At the house, be over soon with boxes. Love you.” Rolling toward the edge of the bed, Lana prepared herself for the day.
One final trip with her tightly packed Toyota and she would officially live with her mom and Uncle Danny. She wondered if it would be weird if she still called him that.
Chapter 35
Lana backed out of the front door, holding the last box she needed to pack into her car. Trying to keep the overstuffed backpack she was wearing on one shoulder from falling, she leaned to the left and stuck the key in the door, turning it until it clicked. She looked up at the windows surrounding the doorway. This would be the last time she left this house. The last time she used her key. With a sigh she turned and saw Merric standing at the end of the cement walkway.
Lana looked down at the porch and walked forward. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. She repeated internally. I am not hallucinating. Not hallucinating. He isn’t there. Oh my God, I’m going crazy. I’ve gone off the deep end. This cannot be happening!
Taking nice, easy steps towards the stairs, Lana refused to look up. She knew that she had been kind of depressed the last few months but had she gone totally insane? Lana stopped after the bottom step, feeling the concrete beneath her thin moccasins. She closed her eyes.
Lana, you are not crazy. There is no one in front of you. This is not happening. Lana shook her head from side to side, emphasizing the point to herself. Merric is not standing in front of you. He doesn’t have legs. He has fins. There is no way that he is standing in front of you. Just breathe.
Lana inhaled deeply, her eyes still closed. When she exhaled, her eyelids fluttered open and Merric was still there. Standing in front of her. With legs.
Nice legs.
The gentle breeze was stirring his bright red hair up around him, similar to the halo the water current created. His eyes. His cheek bones. Clothes. That was a nice accessory for him. She watched the hallucination in front of her turn towards a car parked on the street and wave it on. The car immediately pulled away from the curb and drove down the street.
“Lana?” Merric’s voice rushed to her ears and it hit her.
He was really standing in front of her. This was no hallucination. This was no dream. It was real. He was real and he was right there at the end of the pathway.
Lana gasped and the box she was holding fell, the picture frames inside of it cracking. Her hands came up to her face covering her mouth and nose in a prayer. Tears sprung from her eyes and slowly rolled down her cheeks. And I just promised myself no more tears.
Merric slowly walked toward Lana and she watched every step he took. She felt his hands gently wrap around her wrists, and move her hands away from her face. Her arms dropped to her sides and the backpack slid off of her shoulder, plopping to the ground.
Merric raised his hands and put his palms on her cheeks. With a gentleness that Lana had never known, Merric met his lips with hers. Her eyes were still closed when he pulled back to look at her. When her eyelids fluttered open, they both smiled.
“You came for me?” Lana whispered, the hot tears of happiness sliding down her warm cheeks.
“Of course I did. I love you, Lana.” Merric kissed her forehead and pulled her close to him. She melted into his chest and his arms wrapped around her tightly. “I couldn’t be without you any longer and as soon as grandma gave the okay I was on my way.”
Lana smiled into Merric’s shirt. “Atargatis told you that you could come here?” Lana asked with disbelief. “How did you even get here? When did you turn?”
“When the Goddess realized how deeply I felt about you, she sent me off herself.” Merric moved away from Lana slightly so that he could look down into her eyes. It felt a bit odd to him that he was taller than Lana. Under the water it was hard to know who had the greatest height. “My Aunt Gillian brought me, the one that lives as a human. I only turned a few days ago.” Merric paused and let his eyes linger over how Lana looked as a human. Then the words he had practiced in his head during the drive came hurling out. “Lana, I never stopped thinking about you. My feelings for you never changed or faltered.” He paused, unsure how she felt exactly. Lana had returned his kiss, but would she still have the love for him she did before? The rest of his speech was lost to his memory.
Though, his worries were immediately subdued. “Merric I missed you so much. There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t thought about you and hoped that you were feeling the same way.” Lana clasped her hands behind Merric’s back and looked up into those gorgeous green eyes. “I love you, Merric. Even if we are from two completely different worlds. I don’t want to be without you, but… are you sure you feel the same way?” She paused, remembering the day she was turned back into a human. “You didn’t even stick around to say goodbye to me before I turned back into a human. I thought… I thought that you hadn’t really cared…” The old pain stabbed sharply. She shouldn’t have mentioned that. It was in the past, but she needed to know why he had left before saying goodbye.
“Lana, of course I cared. I just couldn’t watch you go. I know I should have stayed and said a proper goodbye, but it was killing me to let you go. I wanted to stop you but I knew I couldn’t ask you to stay. I wanted it to be your choice.” The words tumbled from Merric’s mouth, his voice growing quiet as he went on.
Lana nodded in understanding. “You know if you would have asked, then I would have stayed no matter what the Goddess or anyone else thought.”
“I know, but I couldn’t force that decision on you. I knew I was in love with you, but I didn’t know if you felt the same and when I saw that human waiting to kiss you above, I felt so lost and confused. I figured you would never care about me as much… as much as I cared about you.” Merric shifted, keeping his arms wrapped around Lana. Now that he was with her, he didn’t want to let her go yet. “But I had to try Lana. I had to.” He squeezed his eyes tight, remembering the day as if it had just happened.
Lana stared into Merric’s eyes and listened to every word he said. Her heart swelled with more happiness at each syllable. She almost couldn’t believe that this was really happening.
“I couldn’t stop loving you and I didn’t want to,” Merric whispered, kissing her tear stained cheek.
“Merric, I think I fell in love with you as soon as I woke up from turning that first day, even though… you were laughing at my mermaid abilities.” Lana’s face spread with a smile. “Ever since that moment, no matter what I felt, it hasn’t been stronger than how much I love you.”
Lana watched as the tears formed in the corners of Merric’s eyes making the green even bolder in the North Carolina sunshine. “Second time I’ve cried in six days as being a human,” Merric muttered, his eyes glancing to the pavement where they stood.
“What happened the first time?” Lana asked, turning her head slightly to the side in confusion.
“I fell down a flight of stairs,” Merric sheepishly admitted.
Lana glanced down and saw the sling riding up one of his arms that was wrapped aro
und her. “You fell down the stairs?”
“I wasn’t used to walking yet. It was my first five minutes of being human, whatever minutes are, and we don’t have stairs beneath the sea…” Merric rambled, defending himself.
Lana just smiled and raised a finger to his lips to stop him. “I love you, Merric.”
“I love you too, Lana.” Merric leaned down and once again placed his lips against Lana’s. He felt the happiness well inside of him and the darkness they had both fought against in the past few months had finally disappeared. Merric felt his heart warm with joy. He had done it. He had found his Lana, his true love, and he was never letting her go.
81