Meribella (Dear Mermaid) Chapter 3

BY BLESSING SILVER

IF YOU MISS ANY EPISODE CLICK HERE

Maurice got up the next morning, yawning sleepily in hunger and unfulfilled sleep he dragged his feet to the bathroom. He couldn’t afford to spend anymore time on bed else he’ll be late for school and he hates answering questions from Mrs Juliet, he was a par time student
in a not so famous college.
Combining work and school coupled with daily necessities and social life wasn’t all that easy, he’d have skipped school at least for today since yesterday was pretty hectic and all but he knew better than that, skipping school wasn’t the remedy.. his life has revolved like that for years now but everything still seem new, Almost all staffs in the college where he schools knew his background story. They knew his father and he’d rather prefer going to school over again than having a hearty talk with his father.

His mind shifted to the stranger he had allowed into his house yester-night, he wondered if she had woken. He didn’t even know her name. he knew nothing about her.
Ah! he’s hungry, sleepy and still getting worried over a stranger he had brought into his house. So much for the morning.
He lazily got under the shower and the running water completely drove him out of his sleeping thought, it woke him up fully. He got out of the shower and had a quick brush then got out of the bathroom, he quickly pulled into a black trouser, a v-necked shirt and clad-ed his feet with a slippers. He moved to the living room, finding it empty he moved to the kitchen and set a tea pot on the electric stove, he got the ingredients for making coffee and a pack of sliced bread from the refrigerator. He untwisted the little foil nylon bounding it’s mouth and set it on the breakfast bar. Making a quick coffee out of the now boiled water he took a bottle of jam and buttered up the bread then sat on a chair beside the breakfast table. He thought it’d more nice if he called his guest to breakfast too, she must be hungry.. ‘His guest’ he thought with a scoff, She was a total stranger. And he helped her, that makes her his guest. His subconscious added and he shook it off.
He stood up and head to her room door, he got there and knocked, hearing no response he knocked again and a small sound from the room told him she was awake so he turned the door knob and got in, she was awake and she was standing close to the window. Looking out into the streets, he looked down. She was still in the dress he bought for her yesterday, his gaze moved to her long orange-like hair which stopped a bit above her waist, letting his gaze run to her leg it caught the the open gash below her knee and the dried blood still surrounding it.
He’d have to treat that when he gets back from school, too bad he wasn’t on a brief leave today, he’d go late if he decides to do it now, he looked back at her face to see her eyes on him and he flinched a bit, realizing she had caught him staring he rubbed his temples.
“I-I made breakfast and I came to ask if you need some” he said and,almost laughed at his statement, of course she needs some, if not some all. she had a big appetite. She kept mute, looking at him with questioning eyes, he was just about talking when she asked the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard as a question.
“What is breakfast?” she asked, her brows narrowed and her eyes inquiring.
“What is breakfast?” he repeated, like he didn’t hear her and she nodded ,making him more surprised.
“Breakfast is food,” he simply answered “It’s the meal eaten in the morning” she nodded with a smile.
“I’ll love to eat BREAKFAST if it’s food” she said, stressing the breakfast like it was a learned word that needed practice to be pronounced and he bit his lip to stop him from laughing so instead he smiled and turned to lead her out but stopped and turned..
“Have you, you know brushed your teeth? There’s a new toothbrush in the bathroom, you can use it if you don’t mind,” he said but she stared at him in some sort of amusement and he understood. Maybe she didn’t know where to find the bathroom “Oh, the bathroom door is just beside you, by the left. that door” he pointed, hoping she’d ask him to excuse her while she get into her privacy but instead she kept on looking at him.
“What?” he questioned “Don’t you want to brush?”
“What is a toothbrush and a bathroom” he almost asked if she really meant the question but instead he shook his head, realizing he was late and his time at home for now is limited.
“I’ll explain that when I get back from school, but now we need to have breakfast” he said “You know I need to address you by your name, do you have a name?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, glad she finally understood one of the strange words he was uttering “It’s Bella” his brows struck.
She remembers her name but nothing about her home nor her parent. Oh, he remembered she mentioned that her parents were late and she didn’t have a home, what was he going to do? he can’t let her stay here for too long, her stay will arouse questions and besides what if she wasn’t as innocent as she acted and looked. What is he was harboring a wanted criminal. He shook the thoughts off and led her to the kitchen, he gave her a seat opposite him and filled the coffee cups with coffee, added milk and sugar, then buttered up two bread slices and pushed it to her. He watched her first take the coffee cup to her lips and when it came down it was empty!
Seriously, Is she really this dumb?
Who takes all the tea before bread?
She took her bread slice and finished it off in three bites, he buttered another bread for her and filled her cup with coffee, and focused on his own breakfast, shaking his head at her improper behavior.

Few minutes after, he was done with breakfast, Bella sat on a couch in the living room while he cleared up the mess left on the table before going this room, he ran a comb through his hair and added hair lotion to the front that stuck out, almost covering an eye. He grabbed his backpack, tucked in his wallet and car keys then walked to the living room.
“Bella,” he called and she turned her gaze away from the soap opera displaying on TV, to him. “I’m going to school and I won’t be back until evening, i–
“What’s a school?” she interrupted and he sighed.
“I’ll explain when I get back but right now I have to hurry, if you get hungry there’s coffee in the kettle and some bread in the fridge, there are some crackers and soft biscuits too. You can have it for lunch, I’ll make food when I get back” he said. “Do you understand?” she nodded and followed him out to the porch.
“You have to stay inside, if you need to pee there’s a bathroom and if you’re bored you can watch TV, there’s food as well so you don’t have any reason to go out. It’s dangerous” he said and she nodded again.
“I’ll stay in” she answered, she wished she could go with him. She didn’t want him to leave her, she was scared he won’t return but she didn’t want him to go late to wherever it was he was going either so she obediently watched him as he drove out.
She went back to the living room, closing the door behind her, she sat on the couch and continued watching the movie she had earlier left, she understood nothing but seeing people like her on TV fascinated her, she wondered how they fit into it, they even made food and ate, she shook her head in awe.

The movie ended and news took over, she found it boring watching one man talk all through so she stood up and went to her room with the intention of reaching her mother through the mystical mirror she was given, she locked the door and took out the mirror from the shell. She looked into it but surprisingly her reflection didn’t appear.
“Mother?” she called into the mirror but nothing happened, “Keenan. Mother can you hear me?” nothing appeared nor responded so she put it back into the shell and hid it under the pillow, she went back to the living room, seeing the news still displaying on TV she moved to the kitchen and took the teapot, she poured a cup-ful of the dark liquid and took it up to her lips then sipped a bit, she spat it back into the cup in great distaste.
It tasted nothing like the one she had with her friend, it was bitter and somehow choke-y, she squeezed her face and shifted away from the cup then walked to the fridge, she took out the bread, a pack of biscuit and a bottle of sprite drink.
She tore the bread open, buttered it with too much Jam and took a large bite, she moaned, it was delicious. More than the one Maurice offered her for breakfast or whatever he called it. she took more bread slices and kept butter-ing them up with too much jam and sending them to her stomach. In ten minutes she had emptied the bread pack and the little Jam left in the bottle got licked up by her and the sprite bottle laid empty on the counter. She sighed in satisfaction and belched, humans really had tasty foods. She was full from this one so she put the biscuit pack back in the refrigerator and set the disposable waste in a corner.
She rubbed her stomach and walked to her room where she fell on the soft comfy bed, using the pillow as support she drifted into a long dream-able sleep
___***___
Waking up with a slight jerk into the evening she rubbed her eyes and sat upright, her heart thumping greatly in her chest. She just had a very scary dream, she found herself back at Tarania where she was about getting wedded to prince Elliot, Right in the middle of the wedding she heard a soft call behind her and she turned, her eyes caught a pile of stone surrounded with old cracked shells. Swimming to it she saw her mother in the muddle with her eyes closed, lying lifeless-ly on the stone pile with- Keenan crying greatly besides her. Her beating stopped and she looked back, Elliot was there smiling at her fate and signalling on her to come.
“No! no!,” she yelled before jumping to reality and out of sleep.

She shakily reached under the pillow and took out the shell, pulled it open with trembling hands and took out the mirror. Seeing the thick evening clouds illuminating the room and making her view of the mirror a bit blurry she drew it closer.
“Mother?” she called but nothing appeared “Keenan. Mother,please answer me I’m really worried about you guys” still nothing appeared.
“Mother, please live for me OK, I love you so much. please don’t go, I’ll die if you do” her eye lashes batted the lid and she sighed then put the mystical mirror back in its shell.
She let herself be at rest with the thought that her mother must’ve been asleep that was why she refused to take her call.. She knew better than that but she forced herself to go with it. She didn’t want to think negative.
She stood up from the bed and walked with her feet naked to the living room, the flat screen television now displayed movie but she wasn’t in the mood for that, she was worried about her mother and she was hungry, her stomach grumbled in accord and she rubbed it then moved to the kitchen.
Pulling out the pack of biscuit from the fridge she set it on the counter then took out two cans of soda, she moved with it to the counter and set it down, she tore the biscuit pack and dug two of the crispy snack into her mouth, moaning in delight she pulled open a soda and took it to her lips, she took a long sip. It wasn’t sweet like the one she had with the bread and it wasn’t bitter either like that coffee so she took it and drained it up with the remaining cookie.
Taking out another pack from the fridge she finished it up with the soda then took out the plate of crackers and another soda before moving to the sitting room with it, setting it on the armrest she sat and started eating.
She heard a car drive into the house, then the clanging of metals. Seconds later the door pulled open and he walked in, looking so handsome she almost drooled.
“Hey Bella,” he greeted closing the door behind him and setting his backpack on a sofa.
Her eyes moved to his lips as they jammed and separated, he looked so handsome with his dark brown hair sticking in front almost completely covering an eye. She loved him, he was more handsome than Elliot and he wasn’t arrogant or livid. He took care of her even though she was a stranger and he let her into his home. He was far more better than Elliot in everything, damn royalty!
“Hi–
“It’s Maurice, you can call me Maurice” he said.
Maurice? it was a strange name but it was pretty and she loved it. she loved everything as long as he was included in it.
His eyes moved to the empty cracker plate in her mouth crunching the last piece, her thin lip working together, he watched her take a sip from the soda and he smiled. she must be really hungry if that was what she had since he was away and knowing that she had a big appetite made him worry about her stomach.
“I know you must be hungry so I’ll just make dinner, what would you like for dinner Bella?” he asked with an inquiring look but her eyes stayed on him not moving, just staying on him.
“You can name anything, I’ll make it if it’s what you like” he cooed and she stood, he smiled thinking she was about to mention something really big but she walked to him, bent a bit and whispered “What’s dinner?” then pulled away shyly.
His brows struck. Is she really doing this question stuff again, she doesn’t know what dinner is.
“Dinner’s an evening meal, it’s the food we take in the evening” he expatiated and she nodded with a smile.
“I’ll like to have dinner” she said, carefully pronouncing the dinner.
He shook his head, she wasn’t familiar with meals so he decided to make her pasta and sauce, well she could use coffee since he had no coke.
“I’ll just make some quick pasta. I know you like pasta a lot” he took of his sweater, “You can have some biscuits while I make dinner, I know your appetite is really huge” he said and she smiled, he shook his head and moved to the kitchen, his gaze first caught the open fridge and the illuminating light in it, he quickly closed it and rested his palm on it. She didn’t even close the fridge after taking the cracker. He turned and sighed then gasp when his gaze caught the empty food cans on the counter, he moved to it, his lips slightly apart in shock.
There was an empty bread nylon, two empty soda cans, an empty sprite bottle, a completely wiped jam bottle and two empty biscuit pack lying carelessly in a corner, he ran a hand on it, a shock moan escaping his lips.
Bella had all this, like everything on this counter and still claimed to be hungry..is she always this voracious?
He had better learn to get used to her since she’d be staying with him for a while.
Shaking his head he packed the waste into the trash basket and wiped the crumbs, threw away the cold coffee in the sink and rinsed it with the running water.
He took out the ingredients for pasta and set the pot on the cooker to start preparing dinner.
.