(OLD VER.) When Mermen Run From Their Demons

I'm sorry

⚠️THIS PART CONTAINS SERIOUS TOPICS SUCH AS TORTURE AND MENTAL ABUSE. READ WITH CAUTION⚠️

Tape #15 - I'm sorry

     caleb...

Trevor

See I wanna have faith in Caleb. I really, really do. But maybe it's best for all of us if we never let him call the shots.

     Well, I take that back, he has redeemed himself lately. But at this point in the narrative, he was a bit of a dumbass. But I find it a bit endearing now. Now it's something that I love about him.

     In the morning, I scan every single news outlet I can find from Earth, but there's nothing. I'm temporarily relieved until I see that I have a missed call and voicemail from Caleb.

     This is gonna be good.

     I press play and his panicked voice fills the room.

     "Trevor. They have me and Sofi, I think they have us locked in the back of a truck." As if on cue, I hear the bouncing and rumbling of the wheels, "They knocked us out with...something. But we still have our tridents, and we are going to try to fight them off and save our father. Just please be ready, if anything goes wrong..."  Then there's the sound of the truck braking and the voicemail is cut off.

     It sounds like they can defend themselves, and that they actually have a chance. But still, I can't help but feel like something bad is going to happen. This voicemail was sent at around midnight, so a lot could have happened between then and now. I decide to call him again.

     It rings about four times and I'm getting nervous that he won't answer, and it's embarrassing how I exhaled such a deep breath when he picked up, I didn't realize how shallow they were before.

     "Hello? Zac? Is everything alright?" I'm surprised at how calm my voice sounds when I say it.

     "I apologize for the inconvenience, but he can't come to the phone right now." Says an older woman, with her voice shaking. Looking back, maybe it was because she wasn't expecting something that wasn't human to have such a normal thing, like a phone.

     I nearly threw my phone across the room, even now I can remember the strong impulse, with the satisfying crack when it would've hit the wall. But instead I lower my voice to make it sound as threatening as possible.

    "I'm coming for them, you bitch. And I will burn your entire world down when I'm done."

     I hang up, and I punch the bed as hard as I can because I know that we couldn't afford to pay for anything I damage in the motel. Try as I might, everything I touched left a scorch mark behind, and the smoke that radiated from the fire on my wings filled the room, making it look like a hotbox.

     His location.

     Did he send his location?

     I click on his contact and I see that— yes! He did. He wasn't a complete dumbass. I place and hand on my chest and run my hands through my hair in an effort to calm down.

     Until it disappears.

     They shut off his phone.

     And I didn't fucking take a screenshot or anything— How stupid am I?

     How would I find him now?

     I was gripping my hair and I had to force my hands to unlock because I didn't want to accidentally rip it out. The entire atmosphere of the room seemed to change. It was darker. Grim. Everything felt off and wrong.