Nixxon felt a sharp pain as he tried to open his eyes; the light above his head was so bright he felt like he would go blind.
He was used to bioluminescence, not the jarring intensity from the light above, it almost felt like the sun was lowered onto his face. He didn't like it.
He succeeded in opening his eyes and was once again blinded by the monochrome color of the room.
"Ugh..." He groaned; his body felt so much pain, his knees and hands still felt bruised, and his lower back and abdomen felt like he'd been bitten by piranhas.
His tailbone felt heavy, and he knew it was due to that huge monster that had hit him while he was trying to crawl that thin path.
He looked down at his body and realized that he'd been clothed in a blue material; it was quite comfortable; his new legs were perfectly fixed inside the tube-like material, and his hands were sticking out from the material that covered his upper body.
"Human clothing," He muttered.
The moment he tried to raise himself from what he believed to be a bed because it was designed similarly to the bed he was familiar with back home, he saw the white door pushed open, and a man in white clothing with a black object around his neck entered the room.
He looked as boring as those healers down in his kingdom.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Zee. Please do not try to move around; your injuries are not severe. That doesn't mean you can get on your own at the moment," Dr. Zee advised as he adjusted the bed so it raised Nixxon's upper body to a sitting position.
Nixxon was shocked by the movement of the bed, but he was more surprised to hear the man speaking the language his mother had secretly taught him since he could speak.
'So, this was human language,' he thought quietly, observing Dr. Zee's eyeglasses and wondering why the man had to fix a mirror in his eyes.
"What are those?" Nixxon tried to raise his hand and touch Dr. Zee's glasses, but he gasped in pain as he felt a sharp piercing pain in his wrist.
"Oh my, keep your hands down, Mr., please, I don't want your boss to have my neck." Dr. Zee's eyes widened as he saw the cannula slip out of Nixxon's wrist.
He quickly grabbed cotton wool and pressed on the puncture. "Hold this, please," Dr. Zee instructed and carefully removed the plastic needle, discarding it in a waste bin in a corner.
He turned and sighed, looking at the young man staring at him as if he were some sort of special specimen.
Nixxon suddenly realized that it was not every word in the human language that he understood.
"What is Boss? What was that thing you threw..." He paused and raised the cotton wool to see his red blood, "My blood is finally red," He smiled, happy that his Father's blood no longer ran in his veins; he was human!
"We've got a problem," Dr. Zee muttered as he heard Nixxon's questions and words.
***
Vernon walked in straight strides into the hospital building, Dane following behind like a shadow.
Nurses and doctors bowed to him as he walked past them but he ignored them all and headed right into the lift that would take him to the private ward where his captive had been laying unconscious for a whole fucking week.
Dane was the one who informed him about Dr. Zee's message, telling him that the young man had finally regained consciousness.
He got out of the lift, marched straight to Nixxon's room, and pushed the door open.
Dr. Zee was startled by the unexpected intruder, while Nixxon simply stared at the fine man standing at the door.
'What a fine Merman...human,' he corrected himself.
He stared at Vernon, wondering why the man was dressed in only dark colors. Did humans only dress in monochrome colors?
"Mr. Vernon, you're here, I have something -"
"Move, Doctor," Vernon ordered and walked into the room.
Nixxon couldn't help but notice that this human wasn't happy. His face was smooth, almost like the skin of a Mermen baby, but his scowl was like that of a mated and stressed Mermen.
He saw Vernon walking toward his bed and felt just a little frightened. He knew his mother had told him that humans were the best creatures, nice and friendly, yet he couldn't help feeling a little chill behind his spine; his frills would have risen in alert if he were still Mermen.
Vernon reached the side of Nixxon's bed, and to everyone's surprise, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Nixxon's face.
"Mr. Vernon!" Dr. Zee exclaimed.
"Shit," Dane murmured beside the door.
Vernon wasn't fazed by their exclamations, he pressed the gun on Nixxon's forehead, the cold metal digging into his skin.
"What is the name of your gang? Who sent you? And how did you get on my private property?" His voice dropped with a cold promise of death.
Nixxon knew he was being threatened, his fear instinct kicked in, but his curiosity won.
"What's this?" He asked, touching the gun and looking into Vernon's alluring grey eyes, "Are you trying to hurt me?" Nixxon questioned.
Vernon gritted his teeth, and in annoyance; he grabbed Nixxon's neck and pressed him down on the bed, "Answer my question, you dimwit!" He growled.
Nixxon choked; now he knew how fishes felt out of the water... out of breath.
"Mr. Vernon, Mr. Vernon, please, let him go. This was what I was trying to tell you; he'd lost his memories." Dr. Zee cautiously came and stood beside Vernon but dared not touch him.
He normally would never interfere with Vernon's business, but after asking Nixxon some questions, he came to realize that whatever happened to Nixxon made him lose a huge part of his memory.
Vernon didn't immediately let go of Nixxon's neck, he glared at him for a while before he released him and stepped back from him.
Nixxon inhaled a lungful of air, placing his hand around his neck and slightly coughing.
This just felt like when his Father tried to strangle him, so humans weren't that nice and friendly after all; they were just like the Mermen; some were good, while some were bad.
"What did you say?" Vernon questioned, his calculating eyes grazed over Nixxon.
He'd never felt that frustrated before; he'd spent a week trying to find out how the young man had appeared, but he'd been left with only the trails of limbs on the sand as someone tried to crawl out from the water beside his house.
"I mean, he'd lost all his memories. He only now understands basic communication and knows nothing about this planet, Earth; it's almost as if he'd appeared from another planet. All I know is that his name is Nixxon," Mr. Zee carefully explained.
Vernon made everyone feel a slow, cold crawl under their skin with the way he chuckled so darkly. "Nixxon." He tested the name on his lips, his eyes returning to Nixxon, who now had a frown on his clean face.
His face had been cleaned, and his aqua-blue eyes were so bright and troubled.
"You know you're replaceable, Zee?" Vernon asked, waving his hand to Dane, who was standing beside the door.
Dane quietly sighed and moved forward, taking the gun from Vernon's hand and pointing to Dr. Zee's face.
Dr. Zee forgot how to breathe. He gulped loudly and slowly nodded, "I know, Mr. Vernon, I don't dare betray you," He said in a shaky voice.
"Good. Bring him with us, Dane. We'll keep him until he regains his memories," Vernon commanded, pointing at Nixxon, who was still watching with silent eyes.
Vernon walked past Dr. Zee and went to grab Nixxon's arms, dragging him down on the bed.
"Mr. Vernon! He can't -"
Thud!
Nixxon fell to the floor on his wobbly legs, hitting his buttock on the floor. "Hurts!" He groaned.
Vernon was losing his patience; he was about to actually lose it and kick the young man on the floor.
"He can't walk," Dr. Zee announced, stopping Vernon's actions.
"I can't walk." Nixxon raised his hand and looked up at Vernon to help him up.
"Bastard," Vernon muttered and looked at Dane.
Dane immediately went and pushed over the wheelchair to Nixxon. "Get in here," He said as he placed his hands under Nixxon's armpits and helped him sit in the wheelchair.
Dane didn't know what to think of this young man; all he knew was that Vernon didn't like him, and he felt sorry for him already, that is if he was really innocent.
Vernon was never going to let him go unless he confessed.
Nixxon didn't know what to call the moving chair, but he sat still, allowing the man to push him out of the room.
He might be new to the human world, but he was no novice to emotions.
He could tell that the one they called Mr. Vernon didn't like him, and he knew that the cold metal he had placed on his forehead was dangerous, but playing dumb was his best way out.
The human world might be dangerous, but he'd never return to the water; he would find a way to navigate his life up here.
Survival was a general instinct, he would use it.