Miylani’s Adventure

Chapter 17: Found Friends

While gazing at the best view ever in Sharkston, I was unexpectedly interrupted by a high-pitched voice.
“Excuse me, what are you doing?”
I looked to my right, behind me. There was some kind of small, black and white fish with a long, sharp nose floating next to me. “Shhhh, be quiet!” I said softly and turned back around.
The high-pitched voice spoke again, “Is she hiding, Sword? If so, I can still see her.”
“I don’t know, but it sure does look like it. And you’re talking too loud. She said, ‘Shhhh!’” a second voice replied in a deep and raspy tone.
Twisting again, I asked the strange-looking fish, “Whose voice is that? Who are you talking to?”
“I’m talking to Me,” the fish answered in a deep, raspy voice for a second time.
“Ohhhh, so, you talk to and answer yourself?” I said, confused. “Well, can you please do it quietly or somewhere else? I’m trying to hide here.”
I looked away from the weird, little fish so I could continue watching the beautiful scenery.
“Soooo, she is hiding. Let’s hide with her, Sword,” said the high-pitched voice.
“Okay, come on,” the raspy tone responded.
The little fish swam closer to me.
“Can you please stop doing that?!” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Doing what?” The raspy voice replied.
Then the raspy and high-pitched voice asked together, “Who are you hiding from?”
That made me look again! “How did you do that?!” I asked the fish.
“Do what?” the two voices said as one.
The water above my head started to shift. I looked up and saw a gigantic gray something. Petrified, I shouted, “Whoa, you are h-u-u-u-g-e!” Then I eased back a tad and stuttered, “W-W-What are you?! Who are you?!”
“I’m Me,” the huge thing answered.
“I know you’re you,” I replied. “But who are you?”
“I said… I’m Me.”
“Again, I know you’re you,” I clarified. “I mean, what’s your name?”
“Again, my name is Me,” the oversized thing repeated, irritably. “It’s short for Meachy. And this is my best friend, Sword,” she said and looked at the sharp-nosed fish.
“Okay, now I get it!” I chuckled.
Meachy and Sword gazed at each other, confused, as if something was wrong with me. I was still a little frightened, but my curiosity got the better of me. “Meachy, why are you so big, and what are you?”
“I’m a shark.”
“A shark?! You’re not a shark. You don’t look scary at all, just huge.”
“Of course I don’t look scary yet. That’s because I’m just a baby shark,” Meachy said. “And I’m not huge. Now, my father is huge. Right, Sword?”
Sword answered quickly, “Yes, he’s huge and sca-a-ry.”
Out of curiosity, I asked the little fish, “What are you?”
“A swordfish. I’m small, but I have a very sharp nose. It can cut through almost a-ny-thing,” he said and jerked his nose from left to right.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you both. My name is Miylani.”
“So Miylani, why are you hiding?” Meachy inquired.
“I’m hiding from you.”
Looking baffled, Meachy asked, “Why are you hiding from me?”
“So you can’t eat me!”
“Eat you!? Y-u-u-u-k, that’s gross! Sharks don’t eat mermians. Mermians are our friends. Aren’t they, Sword?”
“Yes, they sure are,” Sword answered. “Sharks and mermians have lived together in Sharkston for a long time.”
“Really?! That’s not what my Aunt Nevorah told me, and she knows a lot about sharks and Sharkston. She said, ‘Mermians live in Treemont and sharks live in Sharkston.’”
With surprised looks, Meachy and Sword said, “Treemont? What is Treemont?!”
“Treemont is where I and the rest of the mermians have lived for the past ten years. It’s the sea beneath Sharkston.”
Meachy said, “So, that’s where all the mermians vanished to a long time ago.” Then she looked at Sword. “I think that’s where the two mermen go when we can’t find them.”
“What two mermen?” I inquired.
“The two mermen who always go to the sea-hunters’ boats to steal their things,” she said. “They bring them behind these rocks. Sword and I always follow them, but they disappear.”
Sword glanced at Meachy, winked his right eye and said, “I don’t see another sea; all I see is a bunch of vines and flowers.”
“I can’t tell you where it is. It’s our secret home that protects us and keeps us safe from sea-hunters and sharks.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Miylani? We do not eat mermians!” Meachy strongly asserted.
Although I didn’t believe them, I was delighted to meet someone different and not from Treemont. At last, I could finally say that I’d seen and talked to someone other than mermians.