Mick looks after the two kids pushing the boy in the wheelchair until they disappear from his line of sight. Why did that cripple boy look so familiar? He doesn't know any cripple college boys, doesn't think he's seen him before. Yet it picks at the back of his mind. It's there, but annoyingly unreachable.
"Dad," a girl's voice hisses impatiently. "Will you just listen?"
Mick's head turns toward the sound. Two boats down, a bikini clad teen follows a man, who's lifting cushions and checking cabinets, searching for something. They don't usually dock down here. She must have run out of gas again.
"Mandy, what you're saying is ridiculous." His voice is impatient.
"Don't you think I know that?" she demands. "There is no way I would tell you unless it were true!"
Mick was about to leave, but something in the conversation piqued his interest. He remains.
"Where did you put the keys, Mandy?"
"Dad. She was as close as you and me right now. I'm not stupid, I know what a face looks like. And she had hair. Fish don't have hair."
Mick's ears perk up.
The father stops, his arms folded across his chest. "You were in the sun. All day. Tanning. You'd have me believe that you saw a mermaid rather than assuming the heat cooked your brain? Where's the keys, Amanda?!" She jolts at the sound of his voice then crosses her arms stubbornly.
"Find them yourself. I'm walking home."
She steps off of the deck and onto the old graying dock. She struts forward with her flip-flops slapping against her heels angrily.
Mick is dumbfounded as he watches her approach.
Just as Mandy is about to brush past him, he grabs her arm, halting her. She jolts and looks up at him. He lets go.
"Mr. Kriss," she exhales, her hand over her heart. "You scared me."
"Sorry," breathes.
She looks at him for another moment and crosses her thin cover-up over her chest. "Did you need something?"
He blinks. "I heard what you said." She diverts her eyes and her face reddens. "I..." he starts. He has to tell her. She could tell him where she spotted it.... he could go back later.
Also, he needs her to not tell anyone else. "I saw them too."
Her eyes bounce to his face.
"I believe you." He smiles. "I believe you."
Not only that but now he remembers where he saw the "cripple" boy before.
YOU ARE READING
Beached
FantasyWhen a girl swims out to sea to rescue a figure in distress, she quickly realizes that the reason as to why he was in distress was quite different from the reason she had in mind. He wasn't drowning. Julia finds herself tethered to the mysterious st...
