bopinnz

"Hey, are you dead?"

Alexander felt someone aggressively poking him in the ribs. He recognized the voice as female. Who-

He opened his eyes, trying to see who was there.
It was black.
He couldn't see anything.
No ocean, no sand. He had gone blind!

"Hey! Hey! I can't see!" he swatted his arms around as if trying to kill a fly. He panicked. Never see anyone ever again? No more coral reef? How would he get around?

Just as he was about to start crying about his life being ruined, he felt something touch his face. He was able to see again. Leaning over him was a girl, she had tanned skin, and very frizzy hair pulled into a high ponytail. She wore a light yellow shell bra, as most girls did.

"Hey weirdo, you just had this over your face." she held up a strange object. It was green, like sea foam. It had a round top, with nothing inside and a curved part around the front (or what he assumed was the front) it was soft and bendable.

"What's this?" Alex took the item and examined it, bending it inside out and looking at the small bronze latch on the back.
"It's a purchite." the girl said this as if it were obvious.
"A what?"
"A purchite, humans use it to block the sun out of their face and put it over their eyes when they sleep," she explained. "Like how you had it on your face."
"Well, what's the point in that? You can't see!"
"I'm not sure," she admitted "humans can be strange."

Alex looked at the purchite again, testing it out and bending the crown of it back and forth. He looked back up at the girl.
"Who are you anyway? And how do you know this?"
The girl fixed her posture proudly.
"Peggy!" she held out her hand to shake. "I'm a human specialist!"

Alex took her hand and shook it.
"Alexander."
He then sat up and looked around where was he? "How come we haven't met before? And if you don't mind me asking where am I?"

Peggy tilted her head.
"Well, I saw you on this human boat and decided to check it out. You have a lot of cool stuff here you know." she picked up a clear plastic container, holding water? Then she turned back to Alex. "Who are you anyway? And what are you doing in King's territory? I've never seen you before."

Alex's eyes widened "I'm where? I'm not supposed to be here!"
"Don't worry I won't tell." Peggy gave a reassuring smile. Alex let out a sigh of relief. "If you let me look at this human stuff!" she narrowed her eyes.
"Sure, I don't have a use for it." Peggy excitedly picked the plastic back up.

"Why do you have such an interest in plastic? It hurts animals."
"I've only seen this thing once before! They're very rare! It's a briny!" she held it up proudly. "Humans use it to eat water!"

"Eat water? What's the point in that?"
"Not sure yet. Somehow they don't get it like we do." she toyed with the plastic trying to get inside. After about a minute she successfully unscrewed the top. She looked inside.

"Hey, lemme see." Alex swiped the briny out of Peggys hands.
"Heyyy" she whined "I was looking at that!" Alex ignored her looking through the small hole at the top.
"How do they eat the water?"
"They put it in their mouths like food and swallow, no need to chew." Alex lifted the briny to his lips and tilted it back so the water fell to his mouth. He immediately gagged.
"What's the point in this!?" he coughed.

"What does it taste like?" Peggy yelled leaning forward to take the briny back.
"Gross! No flavor! Why would humans do this by choice?"
"Not sure, but this is great for my human research!" She twisted the top back on and stuffed the briny in a small brown human bag.

She must know a lot about humans. She picked up another item, it was beige in one section, but bright and colorful on the other. It was also covered in plastic.
"What's that?"
"It's a skittle. I've actually heard humans call it that. She picked at the thin plastic around it, peeling it off the skittle. "They eat it. It's supposed to be sweet."

"Oh no, I'm not doing that again. You can try it first."
"Gladly." she finished unwrapping the skittle and took a bite.
"How is it?" she nodded while chewing and held it out for Alex to try.
"Don't eat too much, I want to save some for later." Alex took the skittle now realizing it was soft. He now realized the colorful part was small circles on top of the spongy beige part. He sniffed it first.
"You're sure it's good?"

"Yes!" Alex slowly took a bite, his eyes lit up. It was soft, and sweet, just like Peggy had said. But it was also much more, nothing like he had ever tasted. He was about to take another bite, but he ended up empty handed. Peggy had swiped the skittle back and was putting it into her bag. "Great wasn't it?" She smiled.

"Yeah, why can't I take it, I did have it first."
"We made a deal, I get to see your human stuff."
"The word take wasn't in the deal."
"Fine" She handed him the skittle. "You can have that, but nothing else!"
"My human boat." he called childishly. Peggy rolled her eyes picking up the next human item. It was reflecting the sun, and had bright blue and yellow words on it.
"This" she held up the object "Is a sumbon. Humans use it to block off perverts. They spray it in their eyes. But it can also be used for hair. It smooths it out."

She put her finger on the blue top, pushing it down. She held out her hand and the sunbon sprayed out an oily liquid. "See?" she smoothed out her ponytail with the sumbon spray and looked at her hair. It was smoother, but a little shiny. She stuffed the sumbon back into her bag and picked up the last item.

"What the fuck is that?" Alex cringed. It was bright orange and round like roe, but much bigger. Peggy examined the object over, sniffing it and poking it.
"I think I've seen one." she murmured. "I think its called an aronel. It's a human egg." she held it a little further from her face.

"Why the fuck would someone put that- wait," Alex had the sudden realization. A human must've seen him, to have sent him with all this stuff. That's what must've happened after he was knocked out. He remembered a voice, someone singing a beautiful song to him. Who had seen him? Then Peggy interrupted his thoughts.

"Humans, I'm not sure why, but I've seen them eat these."
"They eat their own eggs? Thats fucked up!"
"I don't know a lot about these, it's just a rough idea. But you should ask the human you met, he clearly helped you."
"I didn't- what do you mean?"
"He put that on you" she pointed to the white fabric over his torso. "It's covering your burn." she mentioned, shrugging. "I was curious. Never seen it before."

"Tell me more about humans." Alex commanded "I don't know much."
"I can tell, you're clearly an amateur." Just then another mermaid emerged from the water. She had a pink top and dark skin, her hair was half up and surprisingly curly seeing as she had been underwater. She wore a frown, directed at Peggy.
"Pegs, what did we say about the surface? And who the hell is this?" the girl glanced at me.

"Ang don't worry, this is just my friend Alex. We were looking at some things."
"No more human stuff." Ang looked back at me. "Nice to meet you, but we must go. It's late and King wants us for supper, come on Pegs." then she left.

Peggy gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry, but I can't disobey my older sister." she leaned in, "She can get saltier than the dead sea." Peggy whispered. Alex smiled.
"Bye then I guess."
"I hope to see you again!" And with that she picked up the aronel and put it in her bag, ducking back underwater. Alex quickly finished his skittle, enjoying the sweet flavors, and slipped off the yellow boat.

Now just to find a way back to his side of the ocean.