Chapter 2 - A Living Hell

--Ines POV--

People don't realise the importance of something until it's too late. I was no exception to that fact, and now that I look back on my life, there are so many things I regret, so many things I yearn for, and so many unfulfilled wishes that I only hoped I hadn't pushed away.

I grew up with kindness instilled in my very bones, it was in my nature to love everyone and everything, but I learnt the hard way that kindness wasn't enough to live a happy life. My kindness led me to my demise, and now I'm chained to a land I wanted nothing to do with, surrounded by greedy people who only thought to use me.

But even now, after everything I've suffered through, my kindness hasn't faded; Old habits die hard they say, and I'm a living example of that. With every helping hand I've given to someone, a new rumour is born to my name. People hate me, and that's an unchanging fact.

There was once a time where I didn't know what dreaming was, and that didn't matter because I didn't need to dream for anything; I had everything I wanted, and my freedom was as easy as breathing, but my arrogance told me otherwise. One man, a human that I could so easily have destroyed if I had just a little less kindness in me, was able to ruin me, he taught me what dreaming was, to want something so far out of my grasp; To want to return to a home that I thought would always be mine.

But now all I can do is pray that one day they'll find me and save me from this Hell.

"Ines." He called, his voice sending a scared chill down my spine.

"Yes?" I meekly replied, looking up from my lap to where he was sat at his desk, eyes focused on his computer as he typed away on the keyboard.

"How's that upcoming song coming along?" I turned my gaze back down to my lap where I was sat on the couch, a few feet away from him and his looming presence that never meant good news. It didn't help that I was forced to always remain close to him, yet another reminder of how freedom is nothing but a pipe dream to me now.

"Lyrics are hard to come up with." Speaking is something new to me, I've never once had to speak as much as I am now; my kind were an advanced species that didn't need words to communicate, our voices were mostly used to draw prey in, but once again, I'm no longer the predator that I was born as.

"Well, unless you want to expose the fact that you're not a human to the world, then I suggest you try harder," I sighed, not surprised by his reply.

I'm a mermaid. One of the most advanced species of beings living on this planet, one with the power to completely destroy a human, but a series of unfortunate events led to me being chained to him through a curse.

To curse someone, a certain number of requirements need to be met, and in this case, the requirements were a few of my mermaid scales, a drop of my blood, and a confession of love, one that I stupidly gave to him, but that's a story for another time. 

To put it simply, since he was the holder of my confession, that led to him being the only one capable to curse me. But he was a human, so he couldn't curse me if he wanted to, that's where the witch came in.

In return for a few of my scales, the rarest material for a witch, she agreed to curse me, putting an invisible chain on me, forcing me to stay by his side; No matter how hard or how far I run, he easily finds me, and the pain of our separation can only be healed by him; Words cannot describe the hatred I have for this man, it makes me want to go back in time and murder my ignorant, younger self.

"Hey," I jumped at the sudden closeness of his presence, picking my head up to see him stood beside me, and before I could react, he sat himself down beside me, picking me up in his arms to sit sideways on his lap, going to rest his head on my shoulder as he breathed in my scent.

"You smell like the sea."

"That's because that's where I belong."  A dry laugh slipped through his lips as he picked his head up off my shoulder, his hazel eyes, a shade I used to love, glowing with desire, a look I've quickly grown familiar to in my time on land.

"Are you picking a fight with me?" I hated it. How the only part of my body that knew it was cursed was my brain, the rest of me still thought it loved him, and he was aware of this.

"No, I'm just stating a fact," I mumbled, looking away from him and to my lap. He said his favourite thing about me was my eyes, they were what gave away that I was a mermaid, and so, I hid my eyes from him as much as possible. I had to wear plain blue contacts whenever I had work, it was only when I was near him that I didn't have to wear any contacts; It was almost ironic, that the only time I had full freedom was inside this cage he built for me.

"It's not a fact if you're wrong," He mumbled, hands going to pick my head up by the chin as his eyes gazed down at my own, and at his words, my said eyes narrowed into a glare at what he was insinuating.

"Because if there's one place where you belong in this world, then it's by my side." 

And if there's one person that I want to kill in this world, it's this man.

"You're just a human, you got lucky. If not for this curse, then I would have ripped you to shreds by now," I spat, inadvertently revealing my true face and colours to him. 

Canines ripping out to bare my fangs, and face glowing with the reflection of my scales, an appearance that was both beautiful beyond words and terrifying beyond comprehension. But as intimidating as I may have looked, with no water near me, I was completely harmless; Like a fish out of water, I could do nothing but try to desperately return home.

But this man was used to it. He smiled, hand crawling up from my chin to rest on my cheek, thumb stroking the skin as if massaging the wildness of my true form away.

And he leaned forward, his lips resting on my forehead in a gentle manner, the action sending a pained spark right down to my chest, an action that was more than enough to calm me down back to my human form.

"...I know." He whispered.

"Why... Can't you just let me go home? I want to go home, Malachi." And suddenly, knowing that I was helpless in front of him, my scared self was back.

"You are home, Ines," My head fell to look at my lap once more, but his gaze was practically penetrating right through to my soul.

"My home is in the depths of the ocean. Where my sisters, brothers, and father are waiting for me. I want to go back to that home that's waiting for me, so desperately." His arms clenched around me, tightening his hold as if he thought this curse could break so easily... He knew so little about curses but was so quick to curse me, how obsessive can this man get?

"I'm your home. Not the ocean, and not any of them," He's only known me for a few years, that's nothing compared to the hundreds of years I spent with my family in the water. But as usual, I didn't say anything to anger him.

"You're not leaving me, Ines. Not now, not ever," He threatened... But he didn't need to because I already knew. That the only kind of freedom willing to take me at this point was death.

"And you should know by now that it's not Malachi. For you, It's Mal, always." That name, his very name was enough to have my blood boiling with hatred, but after years of being with him, I've grown good at acting.

The knock of someone at the door brought us both back to reality, and as I turned my head to see who it was, a familiar face stepped into view.

"This is the work you said you had to do. Flirting with our number 1 star, I see how it is." Maxwell, Malachi's younger brother by two years, another person on my list of people I hated, stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him as he did.

"I don't want to hear anything from you. At least I don't go around flirting with every living thing in my path," And it's not a surprise to know that they didn't get along well, both their personalities clashed like blades. Not that either of their personalities were the least bit likeable.

Maxwell simply laughed his reply, not refuting his brother's words since he knew, more than anyone, that it was the truth, and in his amused state, he came to sit beside us on the couch, closing the door behind him as he did.

"What do you want? If you've come here to annoy me then consider me annoyed and get out," Malachi scoffed, a glare marring his face, something that brought a little bit more joy to me than his smile could ever dream of doing.

"I came because Ines asked me to. I'm taking her around the city to get inspiration for her next album, I heard most of the songs are completed, but you're still struggling with the title track. Still no luck?" Maxwell spoke, diverting his attention from his brother onto me.

Malachi Kingston is the founder and CEO of Kingston Entertainment, earning more money than other record labels thanks to my voice. His younger brother, Maxwell Kingston, is a famous director that was usually in charge of creating my music videos since he's the only other person that knew of my mermaid secret. So, while they hated each other, they got along for work.

But unlike Malachi who I was undoubtedly fearful of for obvious reasons, the same couldn't be said about Maxwell. So, I ended up using him to get away from Malachi at times, now being one of those times.

"I'm struggling with the lyrics but going out and seeing the world is sure to help..."

"You sure you're not just doing this to get away from me?" No, that's exactly why I'm doing this. But, of course, I didn't say that aloud.

Maxwell scoffed from beside us, and having had enough, he decided to save the day. Leaning forward from behind me, he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me back away from Malachi and onto his own lap, a smirk on his lips, and despite the annoyance on his face, Malachi didn't say anything.

"Come on, big brother. You've already caged her in as much as you can. At the very least, you can let her go out to explore the world, it'll help her create a song that will sell well, and we all know how much you love money..."

"I'll be careful." I nodded, agreeing with Maxwell's scheming words.

If time has taught me anything, it's how to scheme. When I was first brought here, I had been so enraged that all I knew how to do was fight back with pure, unalerted hatred, but I was quickly hit with the realisation of how that was all proven to be useless. 

So, quickly, and desperately, I grew to think like a greedy human, using those around me to benefit myself. And that's what I've been doing for the past few years, it's all about observation, and then using the things you learn to your advantage.

"Alright. Be back before the sun sets." He spoke, standing up as he came to pick me up and out of Maxwell's arms, standing me up on my own.

"Ok," 

And so, an hour later, I was wandering around the city with Maxwell closely stood beside me, answering any questions that I had. It still baffles me how little I know about humans, but I tried educating myself as much as I could through books and movies, although coming out and seeing the world through my own eyes was still my favourite way to learn.

"That's a bike, people use it for transportation." He boredly answered.

"Why don't they use cars like the other humans? You said that was faster?" But I didn't care for his boredom. If he answered the questions correctly, it was fine.

"Because cars are expensive, and they're unhealthy for the planet. Many humans care for the planet so they use bikes to get to places," I hummed, not saying anything more as we continued to walk down the streets which were fast becoming empty as everyone started making their way home since the sun was going to be setting soon.

"How do mermaids travel?" He asked a question for the first time.

"We swim." I answered.

"But doesn't that get tiring? Isn't it like walking for humans?"

"Humans move slow on their feet, it's nothing compared to mermaids when they swim at full speed, we swim faster than those cars," I pointed out, holding back a proud grin when his jaw fell open in surprise.

"No way."

"I'd prove it to you, but that's not exactly possible since I'm cursed..." I used every opportunity I could to remind them of the curse, but they've both gotten used to it by now, and unlike Malachi who wasn't fazed by it, Maxwell always laughed.

"You're funny, Ines. I'm not that desperate to see," Grumbling under my breath, I moved to walk beside him, but came to a quick halt when something cold hit me from above. It was small, familiar, and wet... Rain?

Looking down at the ground, the splatters of rain hitting the concrete one drop at a time confirmed my thoughts, and as I shifted my gaze to my hands where my skin sparkled after every drop that hit me, a small smile crept onto my face. It was only spitting, and it didn't feel like it would change, but still, it was nice.

Rainwater isn't enough for me to transform into a mermaid, but the feeling of water against my skin reminded me of how much I missed everything.

I have to be submerged in a large body of salt water to turn into a mermaid, big enough for me to be able to freely move around. So, while I could take baths without transforming, the same can't be said about swimming pools, but even then, nothing was more comfortable for me than the Ocean itself, that was home, after all.

However, whenever water touched me, I'd sparkle a little bit with every droplet on my skin; It was my body testing the waters, hydrating itself while seeing if the environment was suitable enough for me to transform, which it wasn't in this case.

"Ines..." Maxwell called as I turned to look at his intrigued face. Moments like these reminded the brothers of how I'm truly not a human of the same world as theirs. And instead of growing fearful as I wished for them to be, they only grew more curious.

"Let's go home." With his words I was reminded of my current predicament, and I looked up to see the sun slowly beginning in its descent under the skyscrapers. And Malachi's intimidating voice echoed in my memories, telling me that I'll never be free of him.

I didn't want to go back.

"Alright," I whispered, going to take a step closer to him, but paused, the thoughts churning in my head until an idea popped into view.

We were stood in a quiet street, the streetlights flickering on one by one, and while I may not have been a fast runner, I think I'd be able to outrun him if I truly put my mind to it.

"Ines-"

"-Oh my gosh! Look!" I pointed behind him, but unlike in the movies I've seen where the person always looks behind them, giving the main character enough time to run away, it didn't work this time for some baffling reason.

"I've learnt by now not to fall for your old tricks, Ines... While you're an adult, you know very little about humans, it's almost like you have the brain of a child... As you've just proven to me." He chuckled, grabbing my forearm as he pulled me up to his chest, his breath hitting my cheeks.

"Let go!" I spat, trying to break free.

"Oh, dear Ines. You are so entertaining." He laughed.

"Hey! What's happening over there!?" Both Maxwell and I jumped at the sudden voice, turning to see a security guard approaching us with a suspicious look on his face, and while this isn't like what happens in the movies, I made sure to take advantage of it.

"Help me! This stranger's being a pest!" I shouted.

"A pest? What the- No, no I'm not. Ines, what the hell-"

"Help!"

"Release her at once!" The man shouted, and in his surprised state, Maxwell let go of me, raising his arms beside him in surrender, and taking my opportunity, I ran.

"Ines!" He shouted after me, but all I knew to do was to run, and I kept running without looking back even once, and eventually, when I thought I'd gotten to safety, I came to a stop.

"Where am I?" I tiredly panted out, glaring down at these human legs of mine. With a tail, I was able to swim through oceans without breaking a single sweat, but now I can't even run down a few blocks without having to take a break.

"Ines! Wait till Malachi hears of what you did!" How was he able to catch up to me so quickly? Was I truly that slow of a runner? Or was he just fast? But I didn't stop to think about him or Malachi, so all I did was continue to run.

Freedom is just a dream now, and dreams never come true. But still, I couldn't help but desperately dream to be free.

"Ouch!" I hissed, my body colliding with that of a bigger stranger, the impact causing me to almost fall back onto the ground if not for him grabbing my forearms to catch me.

That was how we first met.

Alaric Clemente was his name; He was a handsome actor that the world loved, and somehow, he grew to love me for all that I was. He, who saved me from my living Hell.

"...Are you alright?"

...