Jötnar was not sure of anything anymore. He stared at the mermaid
like a sniper does from the viewfinder of the rifle at the target. He was a
squid. He was a weird squid. These thoughts circled in his mind. A squid could
not think of phrases and even if he did, would not at the least be oxymoronic.
Yet at that moment Jötnar accidentally on purpose could not think of anything
and thought of nothing. He found his thoughts missing as he looked at her,
under the spotlight.
Suddenly the water felt cold around him as he couldn’t stare at
anything else, the scornful eyes of the rest had caught his line of vision. He
was under fear. Few seconds ago he could not think due to him staring at the
mermaid whose eyes had lit up with grief as she glanced at the spectators, the
devotees, just the rest. This inability enhanced his indecisiveness and he
bowed. He bowed to the mermaid. It felt heavy. He thought that gravity now
tugged at him with more force, for he had looked at her.
___
As more time passed Clear had come to know more and more
about the sea and its inhabitants. For the first few days after she had
‘appeared’ they did not let her roam much. Somehow it bothered her that they
were not surprised of her being there as much as she was. Even she did not know
why she felt out of place. It was a headache in the beginning and she was
confused. She was finally relieved after the Elder of the Underwater society,
who was actually a Koi fish which she realized later after knowledge about
stuff just came to her, told her “You could look at this two ways, call it
either a blessing or a curse that is up to you. What I can tell you is this
that the life on the bed of this planet depends on you being content; if not
there would be calamities on the bed. For now you need to know that much.” That
had left her even more confused. She adapted soon to the way of living there as
if it was natural and she wondered why that was so. She wondered why when she
looked at her blue scaled fin beyond her torso did not feel that it was there
some time ago. It added to annoyance she already felt towards others when they
treated her like an outcast. So it was very clear to her whether she thought of
this as a curse or a blessing. Definitely a curse she thought.
It has been 480 moons she reminded herself as she was being
the centre of attention, again. She had been tired of all the attention. It
only looked to her as an obstacle to her freedom. The elder had prohibited her
from floating up on the water during daylight and building up rapport with
anybody. There were other prohibitions too and she felt burdened like Atlas,
the titan who held the sky but only that the burden had started to make her
numb. She didn’t bother about anyone and no one bothered about her. Still she
craved for some company, which wouldn’t make her feel anymore as an outlander.
She just wanted to float up on the water, back to the bed and looking up at the
sky as the sun rose and the shades of blue morphed in to shades of orange and
slowly heated up the way to yellow. She wanted to observe all this with someone
beside her, someone who could share the space with her.
The elder made her way to the mermaid through the sea crowd
gathered around her. “I know where you are planning to go but I must say that
is not what you should do at all” the 159 year old Koi fish said. “Letting the
humans know about your existence and they exploiting you for power under water
is not on the society’s agenda.”
Jötnar
tried to make out what was being conversed between the elder and the mermaid.
The elder had approached the mermaid, said something to her which he could not
make out and he saw her about to answer back but she did not. She struggled
with the words and the sentences and also herself as she wondered what was that
she exactly wanted to say. Knowing only that she wanted to make a stand for
herself was getting her nowhere. Irritated and instantly angered she looked
down at the bed and then at the sky through the water. She found herself
breathless and left the place. He saw her sad face and felt immediately guilty.
The guilt was so huge he figured he couldn’t even gulp it down to his stomach.
So he bowed his head obediently feeling like he had lost the war yet not
knowing whom he was fighting against.
___
Unless it happened he wouldn’t have found the courage to talk to
her. Jötnar was sure he wouldn’t have, he was sure that he never would
have went close to the mermaid and looked at her in the eye. He would never
forget that moment, that moment as she stopped on her way back from where the
crowd was gathered, her back to them, her face like a scribbled map due to
anger and the weakness it brought to her. Suddenly the sand on the bed rose as
if a slow wave made its way but there was no wave. He felt the water around him
get hot and it was getting warmer. Is this just me? He thought. He suspected
that his hearts was playing tricks on him again, only that was not true. The
water was getting hot and as he lifted his head up he saw that everyone felt
the same. Could it be that their heart or hearts in the case of some is playing
tricks on them too? He thought.
The water at the bed had started to boil and the bed was shaking.
The crowd did not understand what was causing it and were already panicking. As
the crowd was going hither thither, Jötnar caught a glance of the mermaid
as she was screaming in grief yet in anger. The voice of her scream was
diminished by the surrounding or it was she who was screaming mute, he did not
know. The pressure was increasing from the bed and the water had started to
gain speed with her at the centre. The current increased, yet he was so
engrossed in looking at her he did not notice that he was getting closer to her
as he revolved due to the currents. He did not even feel it, the pressure or
the fear; to him it looked like he had stepped on a carpet that circled around
her.
Eventually Jötnar had got so close he was at the centre of
pressure and closer to her. Her hair was standing up as she screamed on mute.
Through the silent screams he noticed her face and was mesmerized by the
beauty.
“Beautiful, so beautiful” he uttered as he found himself
completely distracted from the surroundings as he stared at her. The words
echoed around and travelled through the currents, everywhere. As she heard it
she just stopped screaming and opened her eyes to see an ugly squid in front of
her.
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