Deleted Scene: Boardwalk

This scene ended up on the chopping block because it was replaced by more plot moving content.

The bright sun, the hot sand, roaring ocean and many shops made up the board walk. It was a place where people would come to play on the beach or sell anything from food to worthless junk. Marie tugged on Dorian’s hand to get him moving with her to the sandy surface where the water could not reach. She knew they would have to be careful, but figured that being close to the water, to smell the salty air would help, and it already seemed to do just that. Dorian was beginning to look much happier to be so near his home. Picking up her pace, Marie tried to see if she could get him to run. “Come on, Dorian!” she called.

With some difficulty, Dorian managed to keep up with her, finding it hard to run upon sand. Even Marie was stumbling; jogging on the beach was something that even humans would have issues doing. “Marie! What are you doing? Slow down!” Dorian exclaimed as his arm was reached out as far as it could go to hold on to her.

It was probably a cruel thing to do to the poor merman, but Marie was feeling rather playful. Letting go of his hand, she dashed of a few feet, rotated around in which she would be running backwards and declared, “You can’t catch me!”

Dorian had stopped jogging when her hand had left his grasp and stared at Marie in confusion. Not understanding what she was trying to do until he heard the challenge. A grin spread on his face as laughter escaped and he began the chase. He was clumsy running, but so was she on the sand which evened out the playing field. They both stumbled and fell a number of times, but not in such a manner that it would hurt. Usually, Dorian managed to catch himself and push back up to dash after her again. From what Marie could tell, the merman was having a good time, laughing and playing with her. Marie was kind enough in the game to slow down and allow him to catch her a couple of times only for her to switch the chase to him. It was a game of two person tag. They kept going with no determination of a winner until Dorian stopped un-expectantly.

Marie didn’t have enough time to stop herself, running into his back and sending them both falling to the ground. They landed with a cloud of sand flying into the air away from their bodies; Marie on top of Dorian. Gasping, she got herself off of the merman and knelt beside him, “Dorian, are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

The young man rotated onto his back, breathing heavily from all the running he had been put through. He swallowed and shook his head in reply, “No, you didn’t hurt me. I’m all right.”

“Good,” Marie sighed in relief. The last thing he needed was more injury upon injury. Meanwhile, Dorian sat up, still having a habit of keeping his legs together as though he still had a tail. She giggled inwardly and then inquired, “Why did you stop running? Is there something wrong?”

Dorian blinked for a moment and then the memory of what had caught his attention, returned. “Oh yeah!” He wavered up to his feet and pointed at the ocean waves where figures of young men could be seen on surfboards, riding the waves. “Are those humans out there? What are they doing?” he asked in excitement.

Marie squinted a bit from the sunlight and realized what he was talking about, “Oh, yeah those are humans. They’re surfing.”

“Surfing?” Dorian echoed in question.

She nodded, getting back into a standing position. “It’s a challenge for humans to ride the waves back to shore on a board called a surf board without drowning. Very dangerous sport, but fun at the same time when you have enough experience,” Marie explained. “Would you like to watch them for a bit?”

“Could I?”

Marie nodded, taking his hand and jogging along side to bring the young man closer to watching the action. Together, they watched the surfers’ battle against natures most powerful waves. Some fell splashing into the arch or below it, while others stood proudly, mocking the water that could not take them. Dorian was entranced by the spectacle, taking in the colorful boards they rode on, the way they teased the ocean and the way the water responded. Eventually, the giant wave had reached its limit, crashing down to rush up to touch the sandy beach. At first Marie stood beside Dorian cheering for the surviving surfers until realizing where they were standing.

“Dorian!” she grabbed him by the back of his T-shirt and quickly pulled him away before the ocean could even get close enough to touch his feet.

He stumbled and fell upon his seat, “Ow!” Dorian’s eyes then grew large realizing what almost happened. Admittedly, Dorian wanted to demand to know why she had kept him from turning back. However, a pain to his side where the merman had his stitches, reminded him as to why he couldn’t go home just yet. Suddenly, he felt rather heartbroken, so close to returning home only to have it snatched away.

“Dorian, are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?” Marie fretted.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay,” he assured while allowing for Marie to help him back up. “That was close wasn’t it… people would have seen.”

“Yeah…” Marie was quiet; having the feeling that Dorian wasn’t too happy with what she had done. “I’m sorry.”

Dorian sighed, closing his eyes briefly before looking upon her again. “Don’t worry, I understand, Marie.” He looked back at the glimmering water that beckoned to him as though it were saying, Come back little merman, return to where you belong. Come home, come home. Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to turn away from his home waters; away from temptation. The homesickness was returning again with a vengeance. “Marie… take me away before I make a huge mistake.”

Taking hold of his hand, Marie nodded, “Here, I know where we can go to have some fun without the risk of water getting to you.” The young woman tugged gently to move the merman along towards the boardwalk shops.

One of the great things about the shops was that was that it was located so close to the beach. There was a wonderful view of the sea and the salty air was all around them. Also, the people who set up their wares usually had the most interesting things to purchase. Plus, there were plenty of small restaurants where anyone could get anything from ice cream to sandwiches. Dorian was almost instantly distracted by things all around him, especially the surf boards. He had stopped at a particular one that had a painting of a mermaid on it. Touching the smooth surface, Dorian closely examined a humans perspective of what a mermaid must look like. Needless to say, he didn’t approve of the illustration, beginning to point out things that were inaccurate. Marie had to pull him away before the shop keeper could have a fit over the critique.

It wasn’t too long after that Dorian was beginning to feel better, enjoying the sights and smells surrounding him. They had even come across a Jamaican band who; played on steel drums for money, their clothes colorful and bright in the afternoon sunshine. Despite, Dorian’s minor objections, she encouraged him to try dancing again with her. As the young man grew to understand the beat of the music, he did manage to dance quite well; finding his merman grace again in his human form. In the end the crowd even applauded them with one of the band members joking that maybe they should join them on tour. The couple escaped with everything intact, laughing along the way.

Marie couldn’t be happier for her merman companion; he was happy again and it showed in his silver, violet eyes. Meanwhile, the sun grew hotter as afternoon grew later, leading her to realize that Dorian needed protection. She had him sit down on a bench while purchasing the necessities needed to shield away the sunlight. Upon her return, Marie rubbed sun block into his exposed skin, which felt rather strange to the bewildered young man. Once Dorian was practically coated in the stuff, she took some brand new sunglasses out of her pocket and stuck them onto his face. He looked around, confused at first by the new way he saw the world, which led to a fit of giggles from Marie. Grabbing hold of his hand again, she pulled him up so their fun may continue without further interruption.

The day seemed like it would go on forever uninterrupted by anything having to do with life. As they had looked through everything that Marie had considered being important, the couple headed into the area where the wares were not so impressive. It was just a bunch of junk really, Marie thought. However, the useless junk turned out to not be so to Dorian. “Marie, look at that, over there,” he pointed at one of the shops and tugged her towards it.

To her surprise, Marie found herself getting yanked along; Dorian had become surprisingly fast. “What? What is it?” she laughed.

“Look at this!” Dorian insisted, stopping in front of an older, somewhat run down shop. Inside there where hung many things that could be found washed up on the beach; cleaned up, and or made into jewelry. Nothing there would have been very impressive to anyone else except for Dorian; who was staring at everything with amazement. His eyes were larger than Marie had ever seen them before, taking in all the familiar objects that reminded him of home. “This is amazing!” he exclaimed. “Where did this human get all these? Marie, look at this!” He snatched a large, glass bauble from a basket on the table that was full of them. It was a deep blue color and glittered in the sunlight. “I used to play with these when I was little. I wonder how they got to be here. In fact, I lost mine and it looked almost exactly like this one… no… wait! I think this one was mine!”

“Really?” Marie was curious now, moving around the young man to get a closer look at what he held. “You used to play with these?”

“Yeah,” he nodded with a wide smile on his face. “The mermaids like to collect them though as almost a vanity contest.”

“Beautiful things those are; I wouldn’t blame them.” Marie and Dorian jumped in fright, nearly dropping the bauble. An older woman with long, graying, orange red hair appeared from behind the mauve curtain in the back. She was dressed in aqua colored, hippy like clothing and had blue eyes that stared at them through a pair of glasses. Wrinkles lined her face, showing her cheek bones beneath aged skin. Her ruby red lips parted in a wide smile. “Ah, customers, it’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone so intrigued about my things. What can I do for the both of you?” she said in a voice that was like the gentle splashing of water.

Dorian stared at the strange woman, completely stunned and gripping the glass ball close to his heart. Fortunately, Marie was quick thinking enough to get over her fright. “Oh… no thank you, Madam, we were just browsing.” She gently plucked the object out of Dorian’s hand and set it back into the basket. Tucking her arm around the merman’s Marie attempted to escape with him.

“Wait a moment, children!” the woman beckoned. They turned around to see the merchant leave her shop and walk slowly towards them. Her hands were outstretched as though she were in a trance of some sort, reaching out until they rested gently upon Dorian’s face. “Could it be…” she whispered as though possessed. The hands, trembling, took hold of his sunglasses and removed them to reveal his beautiful eyes. Dorian stood, frozen and unsure what to do about this woman. Marie was stunned, unable to move to stop the woman.

“Oh my goodness,” the red head gasped. “Oh my…” Her smile grew very warm as her slender fingers caressed Dorian’s cheek. “So young… why you’re just a child… Oh little one, what are you doing so far from home?”

The former merman was speechless. As the woman continued to touch his face, Dorian’s eyes closed and his head drooped. Her hand trailed down to the side of his neck where the gills used to be, fingering it tenderly, “This change was recent… and… not by your choice now was it,” she implied in whispered tones. She moved to the throat, massaging it while causing Dorian to raise his head upward. “Your vocal cords are strong… you must have a most beautiful voice even in this form.” After that, the woman finally removed herself from Dorian in which he opened his eyes as though waking from a dream.

Even in this form? Marie thought; did this woman know that Dorian is actually a merman?

“I used to have a beautiful voice; and a most stunning body when I was young and fresh,” the older woman recollected. “I was like everyone else, but… the one I desired found not interest in me… he wanted those of the land.” Shaking her head, the merchant headed back to her shop, “That was a long time ago, before I surrendered to this human form… to grow old and die here alone.”

Marie looked up at Dorian; he seemed to be thinking the same thing she was.

Plucking up the bauble the merman had earlier, she put it into Dorian’s grasp, closing his fingers around it lovingly. “This may have been yours, little one and it is only right that you have it returned to you.” Tears were in the woman’s eyes; touching his cheek again as one had escaped from his eye. She smiled at him, “Dearest, little one… you are not like the others that were turned. Do not make the same mistake…”

“The others?” Dorian inquired, quietly.

“Take care of yourself,” the older woman insisted gently, pulling herself away to return to the shop, putting up the closed sign and disappearing behind the curtain again. Marie and Dorian stood together, stunned, able to hear the woman’s small sounds of weeping.

The two friends had moved onward after the strange interaction, eventually ending their day watching the sunset. Dorian sat upon one of the dry rocks where they could be near the ocean but not get touched by it; handing the glass ball back and forth between his hands. His expression was thoughtful, pondering over the woman that they didn’t speak of since. It wasn’t until Marie climbed up the boulders and sat beside him when the merman looked up. Marie offered him one of the two ice cream bars she had bought and then silence returned. Together, they slowly ate the cold treats, watching the shifting colors in the sky being reflected in the water. Silence was unusual for the couple, especially when something unusual had occurred. “What are you thinking about, Dorian?” Marie wondered.

Dorian didn’t answer her right away, putting his thoughts together into one that would make a complete explanation. “I believe… she used to be a mermaid,” he said.

“A mermaid… turned into a human for real?” Marie questioned.

“Yes… I don’t know how or why… but she is or was a mermaid. How else could she have known so much about me being a merman? There is… more to my people than I was raised to believe. She had mentioned others and so… I am wondering what it is that I was not supposed to know; and if it’s on the Ruins of Mizu,” Dorian explained, revealing his thought process. “That former mermaid knows something and I want to know what it is.”

Marie was quiet, sucking on her ice cream, mulling over his words. “You know,” she spoke. “I used to think she was some crazy, old lady… but I can see why she is the way she is now. What do we do?”

“I don’t know…” Dorian admitted with a shrug. “There are so many questions that I have and… I can’t put them in order right now. So much happened in such a short amount of time, but… maybe, just maybe she can help me save my father.”

“Let us hope that is so,” Marie agreed. Scooting closely beside him, she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “It’s going to be okay, Dorian. We’ll figure it out together.”

“Thank you, Marie,” he smiled down at her. They then turned to the sunset again, nibbling further on their treats. Dorian had paused to examine it for a moment. “Hey, Marie?”

“Yeah?”

“What is this?”

Marie couldn’t help but laugh; it had seemed that he was back to his old self again. Easily distracted.