I fell asleep on the floor. When I woke up, Delmar was sitting at the bottom of the tank by my side and staring at me. A look of sadness in his eyes.
When he saw me wake up, he swam up to the opening above the tank. My eyes followed his movements wearily. I became nervous for a split second before realising if he wanted to kill me, he would have done so already.
His fins separated into long legs as he climbed down the metal ladder.
He came to stand before me, offering me his hand to help me stand up.
I stared at his tall frame. Well over six feet, fuck, maybe even seven feet. His broad shoulders and lean, muscular form left no doubt that if he wanted to kill me, I would have no way of saving myself.
I didn't take the hand for the longest time, and he didn't retrieve it either. Just waited patiently for me to take it.
"Kash," he said my name in an unused, gravelly voice. Like he was using some unnatural muscles in his throat to produce that sound. It was raspy, deep, and unnatural-sounding. I wasn't sure if I had really heard him say my name or if my mind was playing tricks on me.
He pushed his hand closer, urging me to take it.
I raised my hand and held his surprisingly dry hand. He had a strong grip, molding my palm into his bigger one.
He pulled me up, then urged me to follow him towards the stairs, then to the exit out of the house. I felt unsure, nervous, but I let him take me wherever he wanted to take me.
We walked through the forest to the rocky side of the beach. I had no idea where we were going or why we were going there. My eyes did not leave the sculpted back of this mysterious creature whose intentions were unknown to me.
We climbed up a rocky mountain, jagged with coral reef and slippery in places. I almost slipped multiple times, but Delmar was right there, steadying me, holding me tight, those inquisitive eyes boring down on me with knowledge.
We came to a part where there was a big opening. At the bottom was ocean water sloshing along the walls. Maybe he had dumped Vicky's body here, who knew.
While my mind was spiraling with all the possibilities, Delmar started to climb down the hole, holding the jagged ends sticking out of the sides.
He maneuvered himself to a crevice at the side. I saw him squat and tried my best not to stare at his ass, forcing myself to focus on what he was doing instead.
He rummaged through a heap of vegetation that had grown there. He pulled out something.
It was a phone, my dad's phone, to be specific. I remembered the black casing clearly because I had helped him operate it when he first bought it. An older Nokia model.
Delmar climbed out of the hole while I couldn't stop postulating how he might have gotten the phone.
"How did you get that?" I snapped. "Did you kill him too?"
He frowned but kept quiet, not that he would know how to communicate with me. I tried to take the phone from his hand, but he moved it away. He glared.
There was an authority in him I hadn't seen before. Like he was forcing me to acknowledge he was helping me, that he was friend and not a danger.
In captivity, I almost felt sorry for his vulnerability, but out here in the wild, there was no doubt he was in charge.
The way he held my wrist, the way he looked at me, the way he stood, tall and proud, he made sure I understood he had the upper hand here.
I wondered why he chose to stay in captivity all this time.
"Give me the phone, please," I said, softly this time.
The gills along his throat opened and closed in quick succession. Either he was angry or he was smelling the air. I wasn't sure.
He raised his hand tentatively and gave me the phone.
I snatched it away before he could change his mind.
It was completely illogical of me to hold him accountable when he had saved me on two occasions.
Dad's death wasn't a heart attack, but I didn't think Delmar would have killed him. And if Vicky had killed him, I didn't know why he came back when he could have gotten what he wanted the first time.
"Let's walk back," I said, walking back to the house, checking the shore to see any sign of ships or rescue boats. There was none.
I put Dad's phone on Vicky's power bank and prayed for it to switch on. It had been almost three months since Dad died. Who knew if the phone battery had held up or not.
"Can you please put something on?" I asked Delmar, who sat across from me on the bed, not removing his eyes from me the whole way.
I didn't expect him to understand, so I took some of Vicky's clothes and shoved them toward him.
Thankfully, he took the clothes, wore a pair of track pants and a t-shirt that fit him so snugly it made me uncomfortable just looking at it.
In clothes, he looked even more handsome. If he were a human, people would have worshipped him for his looks. His hair had dried, now sitting on his head messy, silky strands poking in all directions.
I could tell he wasn't comfortable in the clothes by the way he squirmed, but he was making an effort. He stretched his head left and right. The tentacles from earlier appeared for a second before snapping back inside the back of his neck.
My mouth must have been wide open in shock because, in the next moment, Delmar removed his gaze, almost shyly.
We sat in silence for how long I couldn't comprehend. My body was pumped full of adrenaline as I waited for Dad's phone to switch on. I held the power button tightly, thumb aching from the pressure, as if sheer will could breathe life into the dead device. When the phone's logo finally flickered onto the screen, I exhaled in relief, a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding.
The home screen was a picture of me when I was ten, standing by the beach, grinning with two missing teeth, holding a plastic bucket filled with seashells.
A heavy, aching warmth spread through my chest. I blinked hard. I willed myself not to cry.
I scrolled through his messages, heart thudding with each swipe. Most of them were unsent, stuck in the drafts. Not unusual, the island barely had any signal. But the last one had gone through. It was sent to me. I remembered it clearly, like it was yesterday. I had known something was off then.
'I might not always be here but remember I love you.'
The screen blurred for a second. I closed my eyes and pressed the phone to my chest, fingers curled around it like it was the last piece of him I had left.
That's when I felt Delmar's hand on my knee, warm, steady, hesitant.
I hadn't even heard him move, but he was there now, seated beside me on the floor, his gaze soft, tilted with something close to empathy.
That simple touch... it grounded me. Made the sadness in my chest just a little less suffocating.
The message had gnawed at me. It read like a goodbye. Like he knew. And it was also one of the reasons I came. Because I wanted to know.
I pulled the phone back and searched again, diving into the other texts. That's when I found the one he had sent to Mom.
'Roma, I might be in danger. If you don't hear from me, check with Island City police office.'
A chill ran through me.
I flipped through the messages faster, desperate now, trying to connect threads that didn't make sense. Why hadn't she told me this? Why had no one done anything?
I opened the photo gallery, hoping for something, anything, that would make this feel less like a nightmare.
And then I froze.
My hand hovered over the screen, cold and trembling.
There, right in front of me, were photos, selfies, of Dad and Delmar.
Not blurry glimpses or accidental captures. These were clear, intentional. Dad smiling into the camera, Delmar beside him, hair wet, eyes curious, his expression softer than I had ever seen it. They looked... comfortable. Familiar.
I slowly turned to look at Delmar. He was staring at the phone too, his brow furrowed like he didn't understand what he was seeing, or maybe he did, and he didn't know how to explain.
I scrolled further, my fingers numb. Then I saw it, a folder titled 'For Kash'.
My throat closed.
I remembered that phone call a few months ago. Dad had said he had something special to show me. Something exciting. I had been excited but I didn't know dad would be dead.
And now...
Now he had left me this.
I tapped the first video. My thumb hesitated over the screen.
This was it.
This was the truth I had come all this way for.