Chapter 2
Craig woke up to the sound of waves clashing into the sand that sat under him and to the sounds of seagulls squawking above him, soaring high up in the clouds. What happened.. he thought he died.
“Agh.. my head..” He groaned as he he sat up, feeling a sharp stabbing pain in his head as immediately started coughing due to the lack of air that was in his lungs ever since he hit water. He gasped for air as he looked up at the calm ocean in front of him, the sand under him still a bit damp due to the storm that occurred uh.. how long ago..? There’s no way to tell.
Well he’s fucked. In all honesty, he’d rather drown than be stuck on this island in the middle of who knows where with no way to tell his crew mates where he is, unless still had his locator device, but he’ll look for it once his horrible migraine goes away. He looked around, seeing nothing but ocean and beach, seeming to go on forever. The one thing he noticed was that he felt as if he wasn’t alone, maybe even being watched if you do, but saw nothing. Nothing but a vast wasteland of sand and water. Well isn’t that creepy at all.. totally.. It seemed to be early morning, as it was still a bit chilly out and there was still a small layer of fog over the ocean’s surface. He next found out that he lost both of his shoes, socks, and even his frilly button up shirt he wore almost ever day for who knows how long now somewhere in the ocean, but luckily still had his pants.. that seemed to be damaged due to the ocean with a huge hole above his knee and on his thigh. He also had multiple cuts along his chest, arms, and legs, most likely due to hitting submerged in rocks on his way there.
Suddenly, he heard a splash coming from the ocean, a splash that sounded like something a living creature would make. His head shot up, looking out into the ocean again to see nothing but small waves. He’s officially going insane now and it’s only been a small amount of time before he woke up from his unconsciousness.
Craig sighs, standing up and wiping off his pants, which didn’t seem to work as the small grains of sand stuck to his wet pants, patting his pocket and realizing his location device wasn’t there anymore. It was the device their crew used to locate other crew mates, just incase they somehow got lost. He must’ve lost it in the ocean. Well shit, now for sure no one’s gonna find him.There was a small forest stood behind him, so he decided to do what any man would do when he’s stranded on a random island with no way of getting help any time soon, is to look for resources, getting the most out of the land around him.
His head shot around again as he heard another splash, looking out into the ocean again but this time seeing a small head poke out from behind a big rock which was stuck under the sand in the water, looking straight at him with his beautiful, ocean blue eyes. When the creature noticed that Craig had spotted it looking at him, it hid again.
“Hey, wait!” He yelled, running into the blue mass surrounded him, almost tripping as a small wave crashed into his legs when he entered the cold, salty water. He saw another splash in the water, seeing a colorful scaly tale emerge from the surface before it disappeared into the mass around them.
“Fuck!” He sobs, falling to his knees in the water. That creature might’ve been his only way to escape, maybe even get back onto the ship but now it’s gone, swimming off into the cold ocean. He didn’t even question the colorful scaly tail it had, or the luscious, wet blonde locks it had on it’s head. He’d never say it, but he honestly misses being on that damned ship with his annoying crew mates who were always yellin’ and screamin’ about something.
…
It’s been hours since then and Craig, with the resources he had, built a small shelter for himself out of branches from trees, leaves, and vines to hold it together. He also had found himself some bananas growing off of a random tree there, the fruit seemed to be native to the island he was staying on.
There was that noise again, the splashing noise. Craig turned his head, seeing the creature again, who was looking directly at him with it’s alluring blue eyes. This time, when the creature noticed Craig staring it him, it didn’t swim away. Craig didn’t approach, but watched as the creature slowly moved closer to the shore, but not coming out fully. His eyes shot to land on the colorful, green and blue scaled tail that the creature had up in their air, hanging over over it’s head. It was a mermaid, or a merman if you do. What Craig was looking for all these years were right in front of his eyes at that exact moment. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know what to do.
After staring at it for what seems to be a couple minutes now, Craig slowly stood up again as he began to approach the creature with caution in order to not scare it.
The creature watched him slowly approach with curious eyes. Craig stopped when the bottom of his feet were barely in the water.
“What are you..” He murmured, admiring it’s unreal features. He noticed that the creature had a certain twitch that caused it to involuntarily shake his head. It had short, golden blonde locks on it’s head, pointed ears with a hint of blue at the ends of them, sharp teeth as it kept it’s mouth agape, light blue scales scattered around it’s body, and finally, his beautiful blue eyes, seemingly having a hit of panic to them. But nonetheless, it’s eyes were gorgeous. Craig could stare into them for ages.
“A-Are you okay..? You almost *tic* drowned o-out there..” It stuttered, messing up it’s words a bit.
Craig stared dumbfounded, he couldn’t believe that he was talking to a merman. This has to a dream.. he shouldn’t believe all this mythological shit, he’s an adult now. He was broken out of his train of thought when he felt the cold saltwater from the ocean hit his face, noticing that it was the mermaid who splashed him, looking even more worried than before.
“O-Oh i’m fine.” He said as he straightened his posture, “Where am I?” He asked as he watched the merman shrug.
“Out at seas.” It smiled as if it provided a good answer. He knows it isn’t human but does it really think he doesn’t know.. what a dumbass.
“Well.. I knew that.” He says in an annoyed tone, “Ya act like i’m blind.” After he said that he noticed a pout on the creature’s face, looking straight at Craig with it’s arms crossed, laying flat on it’s stomach in the shallow area of the ocean, close to shore with it’s tail up in the air, hanging above it’s head.
Craig sighs, “Sorry.. Got caught in a storm on my ship and now i’m here, lost. Just wanna to get back to my ship.” He rolls his eyes, seeing if that did anything to remove the pout off of the merman’s face, but seemed to do nothing. Great, now the creature who could possibly help him get back to the ship is mad at him, what else can go wrong that day.
The merman didn’t budge, nothing from his expression changing. Craig sighed, “Please forgive me.. I just need help.” The merman looks at him again with a sigh.
“If you w-want help.. I’m gonna *tic* need something i-in return.” He pouts.
“Well, what do you want?”
“Get me fish.. maybe s-some shiny things too.” The creature smiles, Craig’s expression turning into annoyance again.
“That’s it, seriously?” Craig sighs again, rubbing his temple with his thumbs. His throbbing headache cannot deal with this bullcrap right now, but sadly he has to.. at least in order to get help. He’s starting to question if he even should’ve asked the creature for help in the first place, maybe he’d have an easier time doing it by himself.
The merman nodded happily, his tail flapping behind him as if it was a dog’s tail.
“Okay.. easy enough. I need you to find my location device, lost it when I got washed up here. You can do that for me, right?” He asked as the merman looked at him with a confused expression.
Craig sighs, “Small, black box with a antenna and a name tag on it that says ‘Craig’.” He motioned his hands to make a small box shape with his fingers in the air. “Got it?” He asked again, watching the creature process it before it gave him a quick nod with a smile.
“Don’t f-forget my part of the *tic* deal!” Craig nodded in a response as he watched the merman dive back under the ocean’s surface, slowly disappearing from Craig’s vision as it was engulfed in the darkness of the sea. Great, now he has to figure out how to catch a fish with no equipment, not forgetting he also has to somehow find a shiny object for the merman to please his needs. This is going to be a hassle.