Chapter 29: Grace

Nora was fighting with all of her might, trying to free herself from the hands that held her ankles. She kicked but felt nothing but water. She looked down and didn’t see anything. However, she felt something, and this something was not something she could fight against.

Nora turned her thoughts to finding the mouthpiece to her oxygen tank. Her body might not survive the depths of the water because of the pressure, but at least if she had oxygen, she had a chance of surviving. She waved her arms around behind her, trying to find the mouthpiece, but she had little success. Just then, Nora looked up and saw Tristan swimming down towards her at lightning pace.

“Tristan!” she said happily. However, all that came out was bubbles, and Nora quickly realized that that had just used up a lot of the oxygen left in her lungs. She reached over her shoulders again, feeling around for the mouthpiece as Tristan came closer. She finally found it and stuck it in her mouth as fast as she could, sucking in a deep breath of air. She inhaled some of the water that had collected in her mouthpiece and choked a little. She kicked her legs some more, trying to make contact with whatever it was that had her.

Nora stared down into the water beneath her, trying to see what was holding onto her leg. All she saw was a hand…a webbed hand… The arm led down into a swirling mass of bubbles that Nora couldn’t see through. She inhaled deeply, trying to stay calm, but the mounting pressure on her chest and abdomen was making her worry.

Nora glanced up again and saw that Tristan was directly over top of her, reaching his hands down to grab her. She raised her hands up to him and reached his fingertips. Tristan sped up slightly and the two clasped their hands together tightly. As soon as Tristan had Nora’s hands, he stopped swimming downward. He turned his body around and began swimming up, pulling at Nora’s hands. Nora felt the speed in their decent decrease, but they continued going downward. Nora kicked as hard as she could with both of her legs, trying to free herself and help Tristan at the same time. She felt the grip on her ankle tighten.

Just then, Nora realized it was getting harder and harder to take in a full breath. She could literally feel the water pressing in on her body, her chest and head especially. She knew that if she wanted to survive, she had to fight harder.

A scowl came over Nora’s face as she tightened her grip on Tristan’s hands.
Suddenly, she pulled her knees up to her chest at a surprising speed. She then kicked her free leg out, hoping to kick whatever it was that was holding on to her other leg. Much to her amazement, her foot actually hit something hard. She felt the grip around her right ankle loosen. She pulled her knees up again then kicked her left leg down and, once again, she made contact. She pulled her knees up one last time and felt the hand around her ankle release. She shot upwards, Tristan right behind her.

Unfortunately, the thing that had grabbed her was right behind them as well. A brief memory of what Ron had told them about going up through the water too fast crossed into Nora’s mind, but she decided that she would have a higher chance of surviving by swimming quickly. She pushed onward, making sure that Tristan was still at her side. She glanced up again and saw the light shining down through the water. She saw Ron, floating near the boat. She started to smile, but the world started getting darker… Nora was puzzled by the sudden change in lighting. She then started to feel woozy, and she felt warm water in her mask…

Nora felt her legs slowing down. She willed for her body to keep going, but her body had decided to stop. Just when Nora thought she was going to start sinking down again, Tristan shot past her and grabbed her under the arms, pulling her up to the surface. She felt the air surround her and she heard Tristan’s voice calling to Ron, but she still felt like she was under the water, listening to them speak above the surface. After a moment, she felt two more arms lift her onto the boat, gently laying her down on the floor. Through bleary eyes, she saw Ron gently remove her mask. She felt the warm water that had been captured inside of it trickle down her face.

“Nora! Nora, are you all right?” Tristan asked, crawling into the boat. Nora moaned.

“Just take a few deep breaths, you’ll be all right…” Ron said softly, looking around for something. He pulled out a small metal box and began looking through it. He took a few tissues from the box and held them underneath Nora’s nose.

“Wha’ ‘appened…?” Nora asked, trying not to pass out.

“Your body couldn’t hold up to the pressure. It’s just a bloody nose. You’ll be fine.” Ron replied gently. Nora turned her head to look at her mask and saw that there was still some blood pooled in the bottom of it. Nora then realized that what she had thought was warm water was really her own blood. The thought made her gag.

“Is she going to be okay?” Tristan asked frantically as he knelt down next to Nora. Ron nodded, still dabbing at Nora’s bloody nose.

“She’ll be fine, but we should probably go back to shore and look her over there.” Ron replied. He glanced up at Tristan, looking for a response. Tristan glanced up, startled.

“Oh, yeah, definitely.” Tristan nodded his head furiously before he looked back down at Nora. Nora stared up at him, still fighting the urge to pass out.

“Okay, you look after her and make sure that she does not fall asleep. That is very important. She might have inhaled some water and we wouldn’t want any dry drowning going on…” Ron said as he stood up and walked over to start the boat. Tristan sighed.

“Did you hear that, Nora? Don’t fall asleep.” He repeated, a little more softly. Nora nodded slowly and reached for the tissue. She held it to her nose again. Ron started the boat and began steering it towards the shore.

“You didn’t happen to see what grabbed her, did you?” Ron asked Tristan.

“No, I didn’t.” Tristan replied. He glanced back at the water and only saw the waves.

“Well, I guess we’re going to need to send out a search party or something… Whoever or whatever it was is going to be very bad for business.” Ron said seriously. Tristan looked down at Nora again. He opened his mouth to ask her if she had seen what had grabbed her, but before he could speak, she shook her head.

“I didn’ see a thing…” she said softly. Tristan nodded.

“That’s okay. I’m just glad you’re safe.” He replied. The two of them sat quietly for a moment, Nora dabbing at her bloody nose and Tristan just staring down at her with a worried look on his face.

“Tristan?” Nora said after a moment.

“Yeah?” Tristan replied.

“I don’t think I wanna go diving for a while…” Nora mumbled. Tristan smiled pitifully.

“I completely understand.” He said quietly. Nora managed to smile, but not because she was feeling better. She just wanted Tristan to get a happy look in his eyes again.

She wondered if he realized that this was the second time he had saved her life.

Chapter 21: Exhaustion

I suddenly realized that I was still in the middle of a fight. The creature squeezed tighter on my arms, waking me from the stupor I had fallen into. I fought briefly with the beast, twisting this way and that, trying to get it to release my arms. My plan didn’t work, and I realized that twisting underwater was incredibly tiring. I was no longer concerned about using up my oxygen tank, since I apparently didn’t need it, but I was worried about how tired I was getting. I hadn’t slept in at least twenty hours, and my body wasn’t built for strenuous activity when I was tired.

Just then, I came up with another plan. The creature, for whatever reason, was trying to kill me. So, if I died, it should leave me alone…in theory. However, I did not plan on dying. Hopefully, if I just pretended, it would be enough to fool the monster.

I wound down my fighting, slowing down my movements, and I held my breath. Maybe it hadn’t noticed that I could breathe underwater yet… Soon, I was floating, completely limp and only suspended by the creature’s hands. I tilted my head down towards my chest and closed my eyes. I opened my mouth, letting air out and creating bubbles in the process. The creature held me there for a moment, moving its legs only slightly to keep itself in place. Just then, I felt its hands release my arms. I tried not to move from the surprise as I floated towards the coral reef beneath us. Once I reached the coral, I layed there quietly, trying hard not to move or breathe deeply. I kept my eyes closed, but I felt the water moving around me, which led me to believe that the monster was coming to inspect its prey.

I felt large hands rolling me over, and I quickly stopped breathing. I could practically feel the creature looking me over. It was as if its eyes were burning a hole through me, making sure that I was dead.

I had a slight moment of panic as I wondered if the creature really could burn things with its eyes, but then I remembered that I was underwater, and it was fairly difficult to start a fire down here.

Just then, I felt the water move around me once more. I waited for a moment then opened my eyes a sliver and saw the creature swimming away. I watched it go before I sighed heavily and sat up. I quickly grabbed my oxygen tank and re-entered my lair, keeping a sharp eye out for the creature. Once I was inside and had changed out of my diving gear, I flopped onto the chair in front of the window. I stared out at the dark water for a moment before I reached over and pushed a small button, closing the window. I had had enough excitement for today, and I most certainly didn’t need that creature coming back and peering through my window. I still had no idea what that thing was… It was either a strange mutant that had escaped from an illegal testing facility, a new species of sea monster, or a human that…really, really hated me… I pondered these things for a while, trying to decide which answer was the most likely. I finally decided on the last possibility, because most mutants don’t survive very long and I had only ever seen sea monsters like that in old horror movies. However, even though that shed some light on one question, it left many, many more to be asked. Why would another human attack me? Who knows me and hates me enough to try to kill me? Why would someone dress up like a sea monster? Where was their oxygen tank located? Was it a man or a woman? I thought and thought but couldn’t come up with an answer to any of these questions, either.

Finally, I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands. I was exhausted, and I needed rest. I stood up and walked to another part of my cavern then pulled a bed out from the wall. I flopped onto it, resting one arm against my forehead. I glanced over at my tank of angelfish and smiled. “Good night, my sweets…” I whispered with a small smile. The angelfish all came to one side of the tank and stared at me, sleepy smiles in their eyes. I turned away from them and closed my eyes, hoping I would be able to sleep tonight…

Chapter 20: Clues

I was sitting in front of the computer screen, staring at it intensely. I scrolled past a plethora of pictures but didn’t find what I was looking for. I sighed and leaned back, wiping my forehead with my hand. It was well over eighty degrees Fahrenheit in this cavern, and I had no idea why. I had been looking up instructions on how to fix thermostats, but nothing seemed to be what I was looking for. Through the course of my research, my mind had drifted to the strange creature I had seen the last time I was out in the water. I had begun looking for pictures of the creature online, but I had found nothing that even vaguely resembled it.

It was then that an idea hit me. I’d go out once more to see if the monster would appear again. I quickly donned my diving gear and made my way to the metal tunnel, waving goodbye to my angelfish as I went. I was outside my cavern in a matter of minutes, drifting quietly in the water.

I swam around for a few minutes, keeping my eyes peeled for the strange beast. A bit of coral caught my eye and I peered down at it, thinking it was damaged. It looked as though someone had broken part of it off…

Just then, a shadow loomed over me. I spun around in the water, just to see the creature’s large eyes staring down at me. I opened my mouth in shock and blew out bubbles. We stayed there for a moment, staring at each other, before the creature darted past me, floating a few feet away. I swam upwards a bit and stared at it, a little afraid of what it would do next. I swallowed hard and waved.

Hello, I said softly. The creature stared at me, not blinking. I…I don’t want to hurt you. I continued, trying to make myself sound fearless. Again, the monster just stared. I sighed as much as one can sigh while breathing through an oxygen tank, wishing it would communicate with me.

Suddenly, the creature darted towards me, ramming me in the stomach with its hard head. I shot backwards with it, letting out a bubbled “oof” as I went. I managed to swim up above the beast and I looked down at it. I could see no expression in its eyes or on its face, but it was obviously mad. The creature shot upwards at me and I narrowly escaped a collision with it. I didn’t want to fight this thing, but it looked like I wasn’t going to have a choice. So, I took a fighting stance and got ready to dodge or punch anything that came near me.

The monster flashed forward, swimming faster than most things I had seen in the water. I shot up towards the surface of the water and the creature missed me again. We carried on like this for a few minutes and I realized I was growing more and more tired, while the beast didn’t seem to loose any energy at all. I was sure that with all of the heavy breathing I was doing my oxygen tank would run out at any minute…

Just then, I got an idea. All I had to do was get back into my lair and the creature would go away. I glanced down towards the entrance of the cavern and realized it was directly beneath the creature. Apparently my plan was more easily said than done… I had to try, though. I didn’t know how much oxygen was left in my tank, and once it was gone, I was gone, too.

I scowled at the creature and shot forward through the water, angling myself downwards a little. I swam as fast as I could, but the monster was faster. He bolted downwards and grabbed my shoulders just as I went past him. I kicked and chopped with my arms, but the creature didn’t let go. Just then, I felt a weight lift off of my back. The mouthpiece to my oxygen tank slipped out of my mouth. My eyes went wide as I glanced down and saw the tank floating to the bottom of the sea. It wasn’t far down; I could still get to it. But the creature was holding me tightly, refusing to let go. I held my breath, but I didn’t even have a lungful of air in my body. I had become very good at holding my breath for extended periods of time, but that meant, at most, two minutes with a deep breath of air. I didn’t have a deep breath; I didn’t have two minutes.

I kicked, but with my flippers it didn’t do much. I tried to punch, or just move my arms, but the creature was holding them tight to my sides. It was as if this thing wanted me to die… But why? What was it and why was it after me? Was it just a nighttime predator? Was it just its instinct to kill?

I pondered these questions and so many more as my vision began to go black. I saw spots and knew that as soon as I opened my mouth I would swallow water and die. However, even with this knowledge, I could not fight against what my body wanted. I opened my mouth and sucked in water, wishing it was air. I felt the water rush through my body, and I gulped in more. I knew that in a matter of moments my life would be gone… There was so much I had yet to do, so many things I had wanted to accomplish! I gasped when I realized that I would never be able to get the blanket octopus out of that zoo… I would never see her in her natural habitat again…

Just then, I realized I wasn’t dead. I looked around and found that I was, indeed, still under the water. My brow creased in confusion. I realized at that moment that I had gasped just a few seconds before. How had that not killed me? Humans can’t inhale water…

Suddenly, a light bulb went on in my head. I took a deep breath through my nose and was stung by the salt water, but I felt like I had just taken a deep breath of air. I began taking in water through my mouth and realized that it, too, felt like deep breaths of air. I smiled as I realized the most amazing thing I had ever discovered.

I could breathe under water.

Chapter 18: Disillusionment

Nora and Tristan walked back to the employee’s lounge at the same pace. Tristan refused to be left behind, even though Nora didn’t seem to want to associate with him at the moment. He had a few questions on his mind, and he had to ask them now, or he would lose his courage and never ask about them again.

“So, you really like that Nathaniel guy, huh?” Tristan asked casually, not looking at Nora. She glanced over at him quickly, a surprised expression on his face.

“What are you talking about?” Nora asked sharply, looking away from Tristan.

“It just seemed like you like him.” Tristan replied with a shrug. Nora shot him a glare.

“He’s just a good friend.” she said, trying not to sound too defensive. Tristan scoffed.

“Yeah, a friend you make googly eyes at…” he muttered, putting his hands in his pockets. Nora sighed heavily while rolling her eyes.

“Look, he’s just a good friend. I like him, he likes me. No big deal.” she said, hoping to brush the matter aside.

“No big deal? I thought for a minute that you were going to kiss him right then and there.” Tristan grumbled. Nora glared at him again.

“Well, it’s not like I have any better choices.” she shot back quickly.

“Oh, ouch, that really hurt.” Tristan said dryly. On the inside, though, he did feel a pang of…something… Some emotion he couldn’t place… Nora sighed once more.

“You know, I really wish life was like the movies. In the movies, the girl goes wandering off and runs into a handsome boy, then the two of them fall in love and live happily ever after. In real life, the girl goes wandering off and runs into a big-mouthed boy who becomes her worst enemy and makes her life miserable.” Nora growled, glaring up at Tristan as she finished speaking. Tristan looked straight ahead. He wasn’t showing any emotion. In fact, Nora wasn’t sure if he had even heard her.

“Ugh! You’re so aggravating!” Nora exclaimed, stomping ahead of Tristan. Tristan slowed to a stop, watching her leave. Her fists were clenching and unclenching at her sides as she stormed away. He sighed then turned to the nearest bench and sat down. He placed his face in his hands and rested his elbows on his knees.

“What am I going to do?” he mumbled to himself. He was finding it harder and harder to be angry at her, even when she was furious at him. Instead, he was feeling…sorry for her…sorry that he had made her so angry…

“Girl problems?” a voice suddenly caught Tristan’s attention. He looked up and saw a young boy, probably no older than twelve, standing near him. Tristan stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond.

“Um…kind of…” he said slowly. The boy nodded understandingly. He sat down next to Tristan and looked at him with the kind of emotion only a child can have towards a perfect stranger.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” the kid asked softly. Tristan stared at him, confused.

“Do I know you?” Tristan finally asked. The boy thought for a minute.

“I don’t think so.” he said quickly. Tristan recoiled in shock. The boy stuck his hand out to Tristan. “I’m David.” the boy said, waiting for Tristan to shake his hand. Tristan slowly reached out and shook the boys hand.

“I’m Tristan.” he replied, still a little puzzled as to why the boy was acting so friendly.

“Well, Tristan, it’s nice to meet you.” David said politely. “Now, would you like to talk to me about your girl problems? I’ve got all the time in the world. Mom walked into the gift shop, and she’s been known to stay there for hours.” David explained. He leaned a little closer to Tristan and whispered. “It makes for a pretty lousy vacation sometimes.” Tristan cracked a grin as David sat up straight again. Tristan took a deep breath and decided that there was no harm in telling this boy about what was bothering him. Besides, it might to him a bit of good to get his feelings off of his chest.

So, Tristan told David of his first encounter with Nora, about the attempted robbery, and about how Nora was being nice to him then suddenly got very angry with him. “No wonder she got angry! You’re totally dissing her favorite place in the world!” David exclaimed before Tristan had even finished his story. “She obviously has a back story that would be worth hearing. I’m sure it would shed some light on this situation. But we don’t have a back story, so we kind of have to do some guess work. I’m going to guess that family life isn’t so great and that she doesn’t have a lot of friends, she’s a bit of a loner, but she’s got a good heart…” David went on and on with his analysis of Nora. Tristan sat and listened, amazed by the young boy. Finally, Tristan was allowed to finish his story. Once Tristan had finished, David clicked his tongue and shook his head in disapproval.

“Tristan, Tristan, Tristan…” David said slowly. He sighed then looked up at Tristan again. “You, my friend, have been bit…by the love bug.” Tristan stared at David, shocked by what the boy had said. However, he thought about it a little longer and realized that he shouldn’t have been surprised at all. He had known for a while that he liked Nora, he had just refused to admit it to himself.

Tristan marveled at how right Nora was; life wasn’t like the movies. What character in a movie needs a twelve year old boy to tell him that he’s fallen head over heels for a girl who hates him?

Chapter 7: Surprises

Tristan stared at the gun and gasped. Nora stood there, frozen. Tristan saw her gulp as her eyes traveled up to look at the man holding the gun. He was a large man dressed completely in black, including the ski mask he wore over his face.

The man walked forward, shoving his gun ahead of him. Nora fell backwards. “Everybody on the floor!” the man yelled, looking around the room. The customers slowly began to get down on the ground, exchanging confused glances. The man stepped over Nora, who was laying on her back, and two other men followed after him. The two other men also had guns, and they were much larger than any gun Tristan had seen before.

Tristan stared at the scene in shock. He looked at the customers on the floor and saw little children hiding with their parents. He glanced up at the cash register and noticed that the employee behind the counter was already handing the gunman money. He looked down at Nora and saw fear in her eyes.

“Hey!” Tristan’s head snapped to the side and he saw another one of the gunman pointing his gun at him. “He said everybody on the floor! That includes you, buster!” the man yelled. Tristan stared at him for a minute then looked down at his gun. Slowly, Tristan lowered himself to the floor next to Nora.

“Nora…” Tristan whispered in a voice that he hoped the gunmen wouldn’t hear. “How often does this happen?” he asked. Nora swallowed hard before answering.

“I don’t know. This is the first time it’s happened while I’ve been here.” Nora replied softly.

“You two, on the floor! I don’t wanna hear any chatter!” the third gunman yelled at them. Nora and Tristan flinched, both of them expecting the worst. Tristan was the first to find the courage to look up. He made sure none of the gunmen were looking at him, then he slowly reached towards his pocket. Two of the gunmen were near the door, their backs facing the crowd. The last gunman was still by the cash register. Tristan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and quickly placed it directly under his face. He tipped his head over it, trying to shield it with his hair as much as he could. He quickly dialed 911.

“We’re being robbed.” Tristan whispered into the phone after the operator answered.

“Can you tell me your location, sir?” the operator asked. Tristan shushed her.
“Yeah, it’s--”

“HEY! He’s got a phone out!” Before Tristan knew what was happening, one of the gunmen had grabbed his shirt collar and hoisted him into the air. Nora grabbed his cell phone and screamed the park’s name into the phone before another one of the gunmen wrestled it away from her. The phone fell to the floor and smashed into a multitude of pieces.

“No, no, no!” Nora yelled, fighting against the gunman. He had her arms pinned tightly behind her back. The other gunman dragged Tristan over to Nora as the third one approached them. He had a sack of money in one hand and his gun in the other. He eyed the two of them maliciously before he let out a cruel laugh.

“You know, we were gonna come in and try to get out without hurting anyone, but it looks like that’s not going to be an option now.” he said, wagging his gun around. Nora glared at him with a hatred that Tristan thought she had reserved for him.

“We’re not gonna…ya know…kill ‘em, are we?” the gunman holding Tristan asked hesitantly.

“Not yet. But since they called the police, we’re gonna need a little…leverage…” the man with the money replied.

“Are we gonna grab a kid?” the man holding Nora asked. There was a collective gasp from all of the parents in the room.

“No, kids are a pain.” the man with the money answered. There was a pause. “We’ll take her.” he finally said, pointing to Nora with his gun. Tristan’s jaw dropped open, but Nora didn’t look surprised. She just looked like she was going to kill someone.

Tristan’s mind spun. Even though he didn’t really like Nora, he couldn’t let these guys take her. He didn’t know if the police would get here in time, though, and even if they did, that might put Nora in even more danger. These guys had weapons that could wipe out small neighborhoods; what could Tristan do to fight against that?

Just then, Tristan heard an “oof” come from his right. He looked over and noticed that the man who had been holding Nora was now on the ground, holding his stomach. Without even thinking, Tristan shot his elbow backwards and made a direct impact with the chest of the man holding him. The man’s grip loosened and Tristan spun around. He grabbed the man’s gun and hit him over the head with it. The man fell to the floor, unconscious.

Tristan turned around to see Nora give the third gunman a punch to the face. The man’s head snapped to the right and he stumbled to the side. He regained his balance and dropped the bag of money, clutching his gun with both hands. He aimed the gun at Nora and Tristan ran at him, raising the other gun over his head. He hit the gunman over the head and the gunman fell to the floor, moaning. The three gunmen lay on the floor in varying stages of consciousness.

Nora and Tristan stood in the middle of the three men, panting hard. Slowly, the tourists began to stand up. Nora looked up at Tristan, a look of fear still lingering in her eyes. Tristan smiled at her, pleased with what they had just done.

“You just saved my life.” Nora said softly. Tristan shrugged, a large grin still on his face.

“Well, you started the whole process.” he replied.

“Yeah…I’m really not sure what came over me…” Nora whispered. Just then, someone started clapping. Nora and Tristan looked up and saw that there was more than one person clapping. Soon, the entire store was applauding their bravery.

Nora laughed a little and Tristan looked down at her, bubbling with joy. The two of them exchanged delighted smiles. They heard police sirens nearby and their smiles widened. The applause died down as police officers rushed into the store. The officers almost tripped over the bodies of the men on the floor.

“I think we’re going to have some explaining to do…” Tristan whispered, leaning over to Nora. Nora laughed.

“Yeah, I think so.” she replied with a smile. Then, she did something that Tristan didn’t think would ever happen.

Nora leaned over and gave him a hug.

Chapter 3: Tristan

Tristan leaned lazily backwards, staring up at the sky. It was a perfect blue day, a day that tourists loved. A day where all of your plans came together flawlessly, just because the weather cooperated.

Tristan was about to ruin this day.

He sat up just in time to see an employee walking out from the zoo’s gift shop. She looked to be in her early twenties. She had brown hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, and from the distance Tristan was at, she looked fairly average. He watched her, waiting for her to notice him. She was bound to notice him… He was in a fairly odd place, after all.

Just then, the woman looked up at him, looked away, then looked back quickly. Tristan smirked as she walked towards him briskly. When she came to the base of the wall he was on, she stared up at him.

“Excuse me, sir,” she began politely. She had to yell a bit to make sure that he heard her. “But, we usually ask our guests to stay on the ground.”

“I am the exception to everything you’ve ever learned.” Tristan replied. She stared at him quizzically.

“Sir, please get down. We really don’t want any children thinking that it’s all right for them to crawl up on the walls. While you understand the risks involved with being up on that wall, children might not, and we wouldn’t want them crawling up there and then falling down.” the girl explained very politely. Tristan saw her point, but even the emotional appeal of children’s safety would not deter him.

“Sorry, but I can’t come down.” Tristan said, not sounding sorry at all.

“Why not?” the employee asked, still managing to sound patient. Tristan smiled as he began his tirade.

“I am protesting the very existence of this amusement park. I mean, the words ‘amusement park’ are worth protesting in and of themselves. People are coming to this place and gawking at poor animals that have been taken from their natural habitat and forced to live in confined spaces. Not only that, but the animals have been trained to do idiotic tricks for a couple of little fish! All while people clap and cheer and pay hundreds of dollars just to spend two to three days here.” Tristan paused, waiting for the woman to reply. She stared at him for a moment before speaking.

“Sir, I do not want to yell at you when I try to refute your argument, so I would greatly appreciate it if you came down to my level so that we could continue this conversation.” the woman said, still sounding very calm and patient. Tristan was not expecting this response. He wanted some emotion, some screaming, some yelling. Something that would make this woman look bad and create bad publicity. He sighed and realized he would have to get off of the wall and talk to her face to face in order to get any more of a reaction…

Tristan stood up and, very carefully, walked over to the overhanging tree branch that he had used to crawl up onto the wall in the first place. He grabbed the tree branch and swung himself over it, straddling it like a horse. He inched his way to the trunk of the tree then climbed down to the ground. He made fast work of climbing down; it was the balancing part that made him go slowly.

“Okay, I’m down on the ground now. Anything you’d like to say to me?” Tristan asked, purposely sounding more annoyed than he was.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked.

“Tristan.” he replied shortly.

“I’m Nora,” the girl introduced herself. She did not, however, extend her hand in a show of friendship. “Now, you have every right to protest and think whatever you want, but we would really appreciate it if you would do it outside, okay?”

“We? What, is there a mouse in your back pocket? Or is someone listening in through that headset of yours?” Tristan asked, motioning to Nora’s headset. Nora stared at him, trying not to look annoyed, but frustration showed in her eyes.

“When I said ‘we,’ I meant me, my manager, and the owners of the park.” Nora replied. Her voice sounded patient, even if she didn’t look patient.

“It’s public property. I can protest wherever I want.” Tristan said, leaning towards Nora. He found that invading a person’s personal space always worked to further annoy them.

“Check your information, sir; this is a privately owned park.” Nora said. “You might want to do a bit more research before you begin bombarding an organization with false statements.”

“Oh, so it’s not true that the animals are confined to tiny spaces? It’s not true that they’re trained to do stupid tricks? It’s not true that people pay obscene amounts of money just to watch those stupid tricks?” Tristan asked, his voice rising with every question. Once Tristan had finished his rant, his nose was only inches from Nora’s nose.

Nora stood there, staring up at Tristan with a soft glare on her face. She had hardly flinched through his outburst, and he wondered how long it would take for him to break past her apathy until he reached real emotion…

“No, it is not true that the animals are confined to small spaces. They are trained to do tricks, but ‘stupid’ is a relative word that most people would not use to describe them. People do pay a lot of money to come to the park, but we are a business and we can’t just let people in for free.” Nora said. She now had an annoyed undertone in her voice, even though she seemed to remain calm.

“This is an organization that takes advantage of animals and the tiny brains of human beings.” Tristan snarled.

“This is an organization that helps animals and brings joy to thousands of people each year.” Nora retorted.

“This is a place that sucks intelligence out of anyone who enters!”

“This is a place where children learn about fish and other aquatic animals!”

“This is a park that puts insanely high prices on cheap trinkets just so people can remember their time here!”

“This is a park that provides people good memories that they’ll have for a lifetime!” Nora yelled, now completely furious with Tristan. The two of them stood there for a moment, fuming at one another, before either of them realized that people were staring. Nora sighed. Tristan smirked.

“I’m sorry, everyone!” Nora said, turning to the group of people that had stopped to watch. “My boyfriend and I were just having a fight about my job. He’s just insecure and needs attention, so he wants me to spend more time with him.” Nora said convincingly. The people seemed to believe her story and began walking away slowly. Nora sighed then turned to look at Tristan, a glare back on her face.

“Boyfriend?” he asked incredulously.

“Look, if you want to protest because you think the park is a bad place, fine! Just do me a favor and learn more about it first, okay? Before you get all judgmental about our organization, figure out what we’re all about. Take some time to know us before you start talking trash.” Nora said in a soft but angry voice.

“Well, are there any jobs open?” Tristan asked, returning her tone.

“There are always jobs open in the summer.” Nora replied quickly. Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized what she had said. Tristan smiled.

“Well, then, hook me up with the boss and we’ll see what I learn by being totally immersed in this place.” he said, crossing his arms over his chest in a satisfied way. Nora stared at him for a moment, and Tristan was almost certain that he could see the anger rolling off of her shoulders.

“Ugh!” Nora exclaimed before she turned around and stormed off, clenching her fists at her sides. Tristan threw his head back and laughed.

“Ah, sweet victory…” he mused. He glanced down at his watch. It wasn’t even ten o’clock.

He was going to get a summer job. And he was going to make this place a living nightmare.