A/N: everyone go check out my new story "Ghost" please, and tell me what you think about it when you do! #shameless #self #promo

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Calum stayed away from the ocean for a few days. He spends most of the time sitting on his couch and frustratingly staring at the television, which broadcasts a series of depressing news segments that Calum hardly listens to. He racks his mind on how he can help get the nets out without blowing his cover, but he hasn't been able to come up with anything. Michael is a bit concerned about him, considering normally he's cracking jokes and being all sarcastic and annoying, but he's not. Michael almost wishes he would be angry or mad. At least then he would be showing emotion.

Calum's skin has become a bit more pallor than usual, and his movements have slackened. Not anything that should worry anyone too much, or even be remotely noticeable, but Michael knows Calum like he knows his himself. He knows being away from the water isn't good for him. Calum doesn't seem to care. He just sits and stares blankly at the television and thinks. Calum can feel himself grow a little weaker, but he can't bring himself to care. It's as though the moon itself has washed its ghostly glare across Calum's body, weighing him down with the weight  of the sky.

The effacement of Calum's apparent strength worries Michael enough to start making him nag Calum about it, urging him to go back underwater, at least for a few hours. Calum doesn't want to. He wants to stay right where he is and suffer silently. He doesn't want to go back to all the others without situation, especially considering he's the one at blame.

It's not until about a week later that Calum finally gets aggravated by Michael's constant arguing, and he tells Michael that he'll go back under. It makes him sick to his stomach already, the idea of going back when he has no idea how to get rid of the nets and boats. But he has to, so that Michael will stop worrying, and because Calum can feel him returning to the state he was before he found out what he was.

Getting up and walking across the house exhibited major effort, and Calum felt excruciatingly similar to how he felt when he was on his deathbed, hardly moving, hardly breathing, hardly living. He had to think about when to breath, and walking too fast made his knees lock. Michael helped him walk down to the front door, smiling and being all encouraging, but Calum saw how tight the skin was when he smiled. He saw the worry laced in the pupils of Michael's wide eyes. He wasn't blind to Michael's concern. It was nauseatingly clear, even in Calum's far-away state.

Calum let his weight lean on Michael's shoulders as they walked down towards the beach. Hot sand burned the bottoms of Calum's feet, but he didn't have the strength to move his feet. The beach was empty, as it usual is mid-afternoon. Kids are at school and adults are at work. The few surfers out struggle to find any waves big enough to ride anyway, so the beach is pretty much abandoned. Calum's glad for it.

They reach the edge of the water, the ocean waves lapping at Calum's feet. His mind is fizzy with exhaustion, but Michael holds him up as they both shuffle further into the water. Calum can feel Michael's body shivering, quivering at the cold water, but he doesn't let go of his best friend. They wade in until the water hits Calum's hips, and then Michael allows himself to slow let go of Calum's waist. Calum can feel the change happening, feels the tingling of the scales folding themselves over Calum's lower half. He plunges himself under water to make it easier and Michael watches him disappear under the slow waves, mildly confused and concerned. He stays under the water for a couple minutes, and Michael is about to dive under to try and see if he's even breathing, but then his surfaces.

Calum blinks water out of his eyes and looks up at Michael. He sees his friend's worried green eyes and says, "I'm okay. Thank you."

And it was true. Calum felt the strength return to his body. Not a lot, and definitely still slow, but certainly much better than how he felt on land. Michael nods a little too quickly.

"Okay. okay," Michael says softly, like he's trying to convince himself just as much as he's convincing Calum. Then he presses his lips together and moves to turn away, but then looks back at Calum. "Be safe, please."

Calum nods slowly. "Of course."

So Michael turns around and wades through the water back towards the beach, and Calum watches to make sure he gets there fine before diving back under the water. His body still aches a little and he definitely can't swim quite as fast as before, but Calum knows Michael was right. He needed this.

The boy moves slowly under the water, focusing on swimming as he eases himself back into being under the water once again. It isn't until he's almost to the clan when he realizes something is off. He looks up from the sandy floor, his heart sinking when he sees the beautiful surroundings looking almost broody, everything motionless and darning like statues. The water seems almost murky and dark, and no movement distills the water apart from him. No schools of fish or crabs or jellyfish are in sight, as if they were in hiding. Calum's eyes have to adjust in order for him to even see, due to the lack of light in the water. Almost as if the sun is blocked.

He realizes what's wrong when he reaches the clan. There isn't much light because of the boats, boats everywhere. They sit above the water, their motor running, and Calum realizes just how terrifying boats and ships are from under the water. He has to swim as slow as he can to avoid any nets, and Calum can feel his heart rate quickening. It's gotten worse, so much worse.

He arrives at the clan a moment afterwards, and all the mermaids are huddled together in the middle, nobody straying too far from one another. Calum sees Ashton and Luke with them, and he feels a moment of relief that they have moved out from their shelter inside the cave. Ashton is talking incessantly to Luke, who listens and nods quickly. All the people around them are whispering quietly to each other, concerned looks in their eyes.

Calum doesn't have to move very far in when Ashton sees him. Calum gets chills down his spine when he sees how dead Ashton's are, void of any sympathy or compassion. They stare at Calum without anything but anger.

"I told you that you didn't belong here! How many times do I have to tell you?" Ashton yells, and Calum shrinks back a little. Luke blinks at Calum, torn, but he doesn't move away from Ashton's side. Joy immediately rushes over to him, placing a soothing hand on his arm.

"Don't listen to him," she says softly.

Calum can't help but let Ashton's words get to him, as much as he tries not to. Calum crosses his arms and slumps his shoulders, staring down at the ground instead of at Ashton. He lets the cold water envelope him, sending goosebumps spiraling down his arms and legs.

Calum hears Ashton announce to the others, "Because of the nets and boats, we have no choice but to leave. At least for the time being."

Murmur raises among all the others, worry laced in their voices. Ashton watches them all sadly and says, just as upset, "I'm so sorry. It's the only way we can be safe."

Calum falls back a little and Joy grabs his arm to keep him in place. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not."

Before he can start arguing with her, Ashton leaves the group of people and starts swimming over to me. Calum tenses, his chest feeling lungless as Ashton approaches. He crosses his arms over his broad chest as he looks at Calum.

"You're going to have to choose, Calum. You can't keep going back and forth between land and sea. This is the consequence. You have to choose," says Ashton. Calum can feel his blood turn to ice, his wide brown eyes staring at Ashton. Calum struggles to digest the information, his words still swimming around in his mind like water.

Ashton doesn't stay long enough to hear Calum's decision. He just turns and returns to Luke and the others, avoiding Calum's eyes. Calum lets himself drift away from everyone, his mind wandering confusedly.

"I don't know what to do," he says to himself. "Don't know what to do..."

He feels like crying, because he saw this coming, yet he feels as though he just got hit by a train. He doesn't understand how he's expected to make such a drastic decision. Life under the water or life on land. Ashton doesn't get how difficult that is, how mind-twisting it is. He just doesn't.

Calum forces himself to leave, as Ashton wished, and he slowly makes his way back in the direction of the beach. He thinks as he swims. He can't imagine leaving his life under the sea behind, due to it being so unbearingly crucial to his health. He's sure he could swim in the ocean for an hour or two and be fine, but leaving the clan... he just can't imagine it. His mum is there. His real, honest-to-God birth mother is there. And Luke. And Ashton, despite how much Ashton hates his guts. They're all there. That life is in his blood. How could he leave that behind?

But even more so, he has Michael on land. His life, his family, his friends. He's human, really, at least most of the time. He thinks of being a merman more of a part-time job, like it's just a section of him that flourishes in certain conditions. But having legs and being with his best friend and feeling the sun on his skin, that's his real life. There is no possible way he could leave that behind, either.

Calum groans to himself as he approaches the beach. He needs to go talk to Michael. He needs to.

The boy rushes up the beach, sand sticking to his wet feet as he runs. He doesn't slow down until he gets to the front door of his house. Inside, he hears the television blaring from the den area, and he hurries inside to see Michael lounging on the couch with a bag of chips. The pink haired boy turns around with surprise.

"You're back! Thank God," Michael says, getting up and rushing over. He touches Calum's shoulders, as if to make sure his skin doesn't just fall apart in his hands. "How are you feeling? Better?"

Calum nods distractedly. "Yeah, better."

"Good." Michael smiles. Then it starts to fade as Michael furrows his eyebrows. "What's wrong? You're not talking."

Calum looks back up, meeting Michael's eyes. "I..." He trails off. Michael tilts his head. "Ashton gave me a choice. Either I stay here on land or I stay under the ocean. He won't let me go back and forth anymore."

Michael blinks. "Ashton? Who's Ashton?"

Calum shuts his eyes. "I'm sorry, Michael."

Michael blinks again, and then he starts narrowing his eyes. "Calum..." he begins warningly.

"I'm sorry. I-- I have no choice."

"You're choosing the ocean. You're choosing the ocean instead of me," Michael says softly, staring at Calum dismally. He looks so pitifully heartbroken that Calum just wants to hug him, but he knows he can't.

"I have to go back now, and tell them," Calum says. He starts moving back towards the door. Michael makes a noise in his throat, like a protest. His green eyes follow Calum as he moves toward the stairs.

Michael starts looking exasperated. "What am I supposed to tell Laura?"

Calum avoids his best friend's eyes. "Nothing that involves a tail."

And then Calum turns and runs back down the stairs, hurrying out the door and slamming it shut behind him before he can say another word. His heart pounds in his chest and he shuts his eyes, guilt beginning to form in his heart. His eyes sting, like he wants to cry, but no tears come out, and it makes Calum even more frustrated than he was before.

Calum feels like he could crumble into dust at any given moment as he moves back towards the beach. Skin is fragile, just a thin layering over your body. It breaks easily, peeling away like flimsy plastic. It feels taut over his body, like it will snap and fall away any minute. His entire body feels tindery, weak. He hates it. He hates how his body feels when it's dry and weak and small.

But not as much as he hates what he just did to his very undeserving best friend.

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A/N: once i finish writing all the chapters for this story, i'm going to move on to i know places, and then to ikywt. thanks for the patience:)

IM SEEING THE 1975 ON WEDNESDAY CAN YOU BELIEVE OMG. have ya'll seen them live?? if so tell me about it and get me hyped up

also do ya'll travel anywhere for thanksgiving?

everyone comes to our house its so annoying lol

ok see ya'll in the next chapter. love you to death. thanks for reading, please vote and comment!

love you to the moon as always. bye