About an hour or two or three later, sitting under the beating sun, let’s say for countless hours, the familiar Jeep finally rolls into view with Joseph’s apathetic face shown on the other side of the windshield.

Joseph guides the Jeep into its parking space and sets the gear in park.

From the curb that marks the border of the park, Brandon peers up from his phone at the vehicle. He hops to his feet, stuffs his phone into his jeans’ pocket, and rushes to the passenger’s door of the Jeep.

"Thank you, Joey!" Brandon exclaims as he climbs into the Jeep.

Joseph rolls his eyes in response.

Brandon closes the door and snaps his seatbelt across from him. "Alright, let’s get going."

With his deadly eyes glaring ahead, Joseph sharply shifts the Jeep into reverse, then looks behind his shoulder to back out safely.

Then the two silent roll onto the road and drive into the town of Solana Beach before getting onto the freeway.

Once on the freeway, Joseph begins talking: "You missed practice."

Brandon gapes at him. "What?"

He shrugs without looking at him. "Told you not to go."

With a sigh, Brandon turns back to face the road. "I’m gonna get busted…"

"I told Coach you were sick," he cuts in.

Brandon whirls to gazes at him with hopeful eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah, what’d you think I was gonna tell him? That you were swimming in the ocean because you’re a merman?" He scoffs at how pathetic the truth sounded.

Brandon nods his head in agreement.

"And Hacker backed me up as well, which helped," Joseph continues on. "Especially after what happened last night."

Brandon slightly smiles at him. "Thanks, Joey."

"Hm." Joseph then begins to change lanes to exit the freeway.

---

Back at the Monarossabergie House, the two roommates are strolling up the front yard just from getting off of the parked Jeep.

"So, Joey," Brandon starts off as he takes the path that crosses through the grass; Joseph above, walking on the porch. "What are we gonna—?"

Suddenly, the sprinklers rise from the edge of the grass and begin shooting water. The water spritzes on the grass, the porch, the pathways, and on Brandon.

Brandon gasps and stumbles backward, shocked by the strange appearance of sprinklers: They are up in the afternoon, at the exact moment he crosses the grass, spraying water all over him.

Brandon peers down at himself, seeing his shirt dotted with dark water spots. He feels his hands dripping with water. "Oh shoot!"

He then bolts to the stairs of the porch, rushes up them, runs across the porch, and bursts into the house. He then makes a sharp left into the hallway and scrambles into the bathroom. He closes the door behind him, feeling his heart pound against his chest.

He latches his hands against the door, his back pressed against it, bracing for the tail to appear. Yet the tail does not come; the sensation is not even evident.

Brandon blinks in realization. "The sensation…my tail…" He pats his shirt with his eyes on his shoes. "It’s gone! I’m no longer a merman!" He then pulls the door open and prances down the hallway, toward the foyer.

He spots Joseph standing in the foyer, staring at him with confusion. "Joey! Joey" He halts in front of him, panting. "I-I don’t have a tail! The sprinklers sprayed water at me and I didn’t turn into a merman! I can finally touch water! I can finally play hockey!"

"Finally," Joseph huffs out.

"See? See, look!" Brandon rushes back into the bathroom and turns on the faucet. Joseph ambles from behind.

Brandon slips his hand underneath the running water and turns it around, fully covering it. He then flicks it off and whirls to him. "I barely feel the sensation! I’m cured!"

Joseph nods his head with inquired eyes on his hand. "How, though?" He flicks his eyes up at him. "You were just swimming as merman as one can be a couple of hours ago."

Brandon tilts his head from side to side. "Yeah, and then I had to wait an hour and a half out at the sun, thanks to you…!" His voice fades off as an idea pops into his mind." He gasps at it, gazing at his roommate. "The sun!"

---

A few moments later, Brandon is out on the patio, lying on a lounge chair. He is wearing a pair of sunglasses and a tacky sunhat while reading a hockey magazine.

He is out in the sun, soaking in all its rays to make sure that the merman curse will not haunt him again if he covers himself in water.

"Ah! This is the life!" he exclaims adjusting the magazine in his hands. "I first swim in the morning and now I’m just chillin’ in the sun with a magazine and no one else around me. This is actually a really nice day—"

Suddenly, rain begins to pour down, drenching Brandon from head to toe. He slaps his soaked magazine against his legs and whips off his swamped hat and sunglasses. "Are you kidding me‽" he shouts to the sky.

Then, a familiar sensation emerges to his attention from inside him, beginning to spiral around intensely.

"Oh nooo!!!" Brandon immediately hops onto his feet and bursts back inside.

"I’M GONNA TURN INTO A MERMAN!!!" he shouts to his roommates as he bolts across the living room and into the foyer.

He rushes down the hallway and throws himself into the bathroom just as he feels his legs growing ten times heavier than before.

He crashes onto the bathroom’s tiled flooring. "Ack…!" he groans between gritted teeth. "Why does turning into a merman have to involve pain from falling?" He pulls up his upper body and peers down at it.

His shirt is no longer visible, but his tattoos are.

With a huff, Brandon peers behind his shoulder. He catches his sublime, sapphire-coloured tail lying behind him. "I was so close." He then flops his tail up and down, making sure he is not imagining this. "So...close."

Notes

E.7 "Imma Merman"
Part 6/8
Episode 7/20