Eva’s teeth chattered as she was led out of the enclosure, dripping water despite the towel wrapped tightly around her. How the hell had she utterly fucked up so much?
She could hear Phillip yelling at someone about the harness that had almost killed her. Her neck stung with rope burn but Eva felt overwhelmingly cold.
Humiliation burned within her veins. She was never going to live this down. The last two trainers had been attacked, she had fucked up so badly that the mermaid had actually had to save her.
Her brain had just kinda short-circuited when she had come face to face with the mermaid. So much so she had dumbly waved before falling on her face.
To make matters worse, the mermaid had laughed at her. A strange clicking laugh but a laugh nonetheless. It was easy enough to recognize.
She didn’t know how intelligent the mermaid was but she certainly wasn’t stupid. She had quickly figured out how to release the harness. Though if she was so intelligent that meant she had intentionally murdered the last trainer.
Eva in her panic had grabbed onto the mermaid as soon as she was released. Yet the mermaid had wiggled out of her grip and plopped her onto land without fuss. If the mermaid had wanted to hurt her Eva could not have made it easier.
The cage unlocked and Phillip rushed to her side holding a first aid kit. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“Come, let’s get your neck checked out,” he decided, leading her towards the elevator.
“I can’t believe I almost strangled myself with the stupid harness,” Eva laughed weakly. The situation was so ridiculous she could do nothing else.
“Yes, and Abby has been thoroughly chastised.”
“It’s not her fault, I was the one that slipped.”
He shook his head. “You were the one out in danger. Abby has a tendency to go… a little overboard with her projects.”
“She rescued me you know,” Eva said after a lingering pause as she rubbed at her neck. “The mermaid,” she clarified at his confused look.
“The specimen hasn’t attacked anyone on their first encounter… but I admit that’s strange. We’ll go over the footage, and see what exactly happened.”
Eva nodded.
“Look, take the rest of the day off. Go hang out with your friends or whatever. I’ll sort this out.”
“Who will feed her dinner?”
“I can do it,” he replied.
“Phillip, seriously! I’m fine.”
“You could have died. It’s my job to ensure my employees are safe. So go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Eva huffed as they stepped out of the elevator, rubbing her burned throat.
“On second thought, after you get checked out by medical,” Phillip added. Grabbing her before she could leave.
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“So let me get this straight,” Felisha cackled as they gasped for air. “Your first day on the job and you trip and fall into the water with the orca that mauled the last trainer.”
“I don’t see what’s funny about that,” Mike countered though he was chuckling.
Eva huffed and leaned back in her chair. She was still in a shitty mood from the morning. Felisha had insisted they meet up so they could ask a million questions about her new job and Mike had decided to tag along.
“Well the part where I fall and tangle myself in the harness’ cable almost choking myself to death isn't funny,” Eva snapped as she pulled down her collar to show the red marks.
“Oh shit,” Felisha said, their laughter immediately stopping.
“The doctor said I was very lucky,” Eva added flatly, using finger quotations around the word doctor.
“Please tell me you’re quitting or suing,” Mike winced.
“I was the one that slipped, it's not as if I didn't know it was wet. And no I’m not quitting… I think I actually managed to make a connection with the orca.”
“But…”
“Don't bother Mikey, she's had her heart set on orcas for years,” Felisha elbowed him.
Eva had thoroughly read over the NDA and had found a few loopholes. The NDA had to be specific to be viable in court but that meant as long as she gave no specifics she could talk about most things. She was forbidden from discussing the specimen with anyone outside of the research facility however there was nothing stopping her from simply saying orca and leaving it at that. Effectively she just needed to be careful with what she said.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Ok maybe she was stretching the rules but she could have died today, she had earned a cheat day.
“Are they at least paying you better?” Felisha asked.
“A little,” Eva sighed.
“Eva, Eva, Eva,” they tisked with disappointment.
“I’m working with an orca, Felisha.” It was the closest she could reveal to the truth and she would’ve probably taken a pay cut just to work with a normal orca but this was so impossible that she cared little about the money.
“I still can’t believe all they have in there is an orca,” Mike said, glaring over Eva’s shoulder to where the research facility sat in the distance.
“Well I’ve only seen part of it,” Eva shrugged. She had debated telling them that she was under an NDA but figured that would make them far more curious. “So far it’s not as crazy as we imagined.” It’s far, far more.
Not telling her friends about the mermaid was a challenge, not that they would likely believe her. But it was such an incredible thing that it felt wrong to keep it a secret. Then again maybe it was for the best that humanity as a whole didn't know about mermaids or they would surely be hunted in mass… just like her mermaid.
“Well if you do find anything you will tell us, right? I just know they have something crazy in there,” Mike pleaded.
“I'll do my best,” Eva said. She didn't miss the suspicious quirk of Falisha’s eyebrow. They had always had a knack for reading Eva, unfortunately, there was a zero percent chance of Felisha being able to keep the existence of a mermaid a secret. Maybe that was harsh but Eva wasn't about to risk it.
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Eva gasped awake, her hand clutching at her throat. She took a few calming breaths before checking the time and groaned. She had woken up at that awkward time where she had too much time to simply lie there but not enough to go back to sleep.
She fell back into her pillows, adrenaline still coursing through her. She almost never dreamed but of course, she would start having nightmares now. I guess almost dying can warrant that.
The chase sequence of a flesh-eating mermaid chasing her through a scooby-doo-like maze was terrifying to experience and ridiculous to look back on. The suffocating to death part… just terrifying.
Feeling sweaty and gross she forced herself out of bed, heading for the bathroom to start her day. She tiptoed through the house, her mother most likely asleep on the couch. Eva turned on the shower and grabbed a towel. The water always took too long to warm up.
She looked at herself in the mirror. The red marks on her skin had darkened into large bruises, they really did look terrible. A hickey but stretching around her whole neck and without any of the fun.
Eva hopped in the shower and continued her morning routine. She took her time eating her cereal after getting dressed and brushing her hair. By the time she finally got on her bike, she was leaving at the normal time.
After yesterday she was far less intimidated by the guards as she walked across the bridge. It was quite stupid she had to leave her bike locked up on the other side. She changed into her wetsuit and headed to the control room.
“What the hell happened?” she gasped when she saw Phillip. His eye was swollen and purple on top of his dishevelled look. He sat in a chair with his feet up, nursing a cup of coffee.
“The uh… specimen threw a fish at me. It seemed very agitated when I came in to feed it.”
“That's… quite the throw,” Eva snorted at Phillip’s embarrassment.
He just shook his head with a sigh, “coffee?”
“Please.” It seemed strange that the mermaid would lash out at Phillip, especially after she had been so nice to her. Her confidence for this morning's feeding was now diminished. Maybe she hadn't formed any kind of understanding, maybe the mermaid simply hadn't felt like drowning someone yesterday.
“So we looked at the footage,” Phillip began as he poured her a cup of coffee from the machine. “The specimen did indeed rescue you when you… fell in.”
Eva glared at him as he stifled a look of amusement. “That's what I told you.”
“Yes, it's still strange that the specimen reacted so positively towards you. Can you walk me through what happened?”
Eva shrugged, “I-I don’t know, you saw the footage. I walked in and walked to the edge. I just kinda froze when I saw her watching me cus… mermaid. I said hi, I didn't want to freak her out or anything but I also wanted to acknowledge that I knew she was there so she didn't get any ideas. She didn't move so I put the bucket down. Then she whistled which scared the shit out of me and I slipped and well...”
Phillip nodded with a thoughtful expression. “Perhaps the specimen preferred you for another reason then. You’re not a middle aged man after all. Perhaps the specimen saw some kind of kinship since it seems female.”
Eva frowned at him.
“I’m just speculating,” he quickly added.
“Maybe she just thinks I’m cute,” she snorted with a shake of her head.
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Eva was just as nervous walking into the enclosure the second time and this time she didn't have the safety of a harness. She would take the potentially dangerous mermaid over her ability to not trip over herself. She had also forgone shoes this time, her bare feet giving her more grip than the underwater shoes she had previously worn. Now all she had to defend herself was a bucket and a radio.
As she lugged the bucket of fish once again to the edge she kept an alert eye out for the mermaid. A piercing whistle made her jolt through the time she managed to keep her footing. At least until the mermaid jumped out of the water and landed on the platform beside her, at which point she fell on her rear.
The mermaid was looking at her with open excitement. Despite her orca colouring and her inhuman features, it was impossible to not recognize her expressions. The mermaid whistled at her, the high-pitched vocalization less surprising this time. “Ee-ee-ee!”
“Uh, hi. I brought fish,” Eva said motioning to the bucket as she tentatively climbed to her feet and took a step back.
The mermaid looked at the bucket with distaste, “click-click-click.”
Eva looked around nervously. “C-can you understand me?”
The mermaid glanced at her before pulling herself forward. Eva scurried back as the mermaid pulled herself to the bucket and pulled out a fish. She looked at Eva and tossed it onto the platform away from her.
Eva frowned, that wasn't any kind of answer, not that she could see. “Do you have a name?” she tried again.
The mermaid just blinked at her.
Eva laughed to herself and got to her feet feeling ridiculous. She had talked herself into thinking the mermaid could speak English. Of course, she couldn't, she spoke orca. Orca were extremely intelligent, second only to humans, as far as they knew at least. That didn't mean the mermaid was smart enough to speak languages of other species, not that there would be any reason to.
She shrieked as she looked up to see the mermaid right in front of her. The mermaid rolled off the platform with the kick and slipped back into the water with a splash. Eva clutched at her chest, her heart thudding audibly.
She immediately felt bad, she had just been surprised. She hadn't even known she could make that sound. Eva knew she wasn't supposed to stick around but maybe that was exactly the problem. The mermaid had to be bored and it was technically her job to befriend her. Plus she also really wanted to be liked.
After thinking it over for a minute she forced herself to sit at the edge of the platform. She could see the mermaid below watching her at a distance.
“What are you doing?” Phillip asked, the walkie-talkie on her belt crackling to life.
“Making nice,” she replied before turning the volume down. She didn't want the mermaid getting freaked out by the sound.
“Eva, that is absol—”
“I’ll be fine, over and out.” Reattaching the radio to her belt she grabbed the bucket and let her feet slip into the water. She was making herself entirely vulnerable, hopefully, the mermaid would take it as a sign she wasn't a threat.
“Click-click-click-click-click.” The mermaid approached curiously but slowly enough to not be threatening. Unless mermaids hunted by stalking and ambushing prey, then it was very threatening. Eva forced herself to remain calm as she held out a fish as an offering.
The mermaid drifted to the surface. Horizontally floating there but still out of reach. After a moment the mermaid reached up and grabbed the ledge, pulling herself out of the water with powerful arms and coming to sit near Eva with her long tail in the water. Her spine bending in a way whales shouldn't as if to further prove her uniqueness.
This was the first clear look Eva had really gotten of the mermaid. She was a giant. At least twice the size of Eva, probably more, her hand seemed as wide as Eva’s upper arm. She was very big… and Eva couldn't help but notice, very naked.
From her small breasts, instead of nipples though there were slits, a strange mix of human and whale anatomy, down to her belly button… and the slit between her pelvic fins. Get a hold of yourself, do not ogle the mermaid!
“Uh, hey,” she finally said, her face uncomfortably hot. Dear god if Felisha ever found out about this she would never hear the end of this. God, she was too horny for her own good, she really needed to get laid.
The mermaid clicked curiously in response.