10 #2
“Well…” Blake hesitated. Matt had dated just about every person in their friend group over the course of their lives. “He and I used to date in high school, but it didn’t end up working out.”
“What happened?” Marin blurted. A second later, he grimaced and shook his head, looking embarrassed. “Sorry, that’s insensitive. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s okay,” Blake told him, holding up a hand.
“It’s not a big deal. Honestly, Matt was into some pretty sketchy shit that I won’t get into, and I wanted to go to college.
I ended up moving away to get my bachelor’s and we broke up a few months into the semester.
While I was in school, Matt cleaned his act up.
We’ve been best friends since we were kids, so we were able to patch things up, but there’s nothing romantic between us anymore. ”
Marin looked relieved. Blake’s pulse fluttered hopefully in his throat at the implication.
“I really ought to apologize to him for what happened earlier,” Marin said before Blake could inquire further.
“I am curious about that,” Blake said, a bit disappointed at the change in subject.
He’d been hoping to pick Marin’s brain about his feelings.
“You seemed to know that your singing was going to put him to sleep—and when you first fell off the slide, you were able to switch to human legs. Is this stuff you know inherently, or…?”
“I…” Marin began, squinting into the distance.
His mouth worked, as if he were attempting to put words to a situation he couldn’t quite describe.
“I guess so. I didn’t really think about the how or why.
I just kind of… did? It’s like how I knew how to sculpt with clay: it’s automatic knowledge to me. ”
“Well,” Blake began. “I could pull up some karaoke on YouTube at home? Maybe if you keep singing, it’ll help you remember some more—musical memory’s supposed to be a fairly powerful thing.”
“Maybe so,” Marin said, expression indiscernible. He was almost frustrated, like he was trying to remember a word that was on the tip of his tongue.
Blake took out his phone to text Celeste about it, but there was already a text from them:
“ You totally saw Marin, didn’t you ?”
Blake put his phone away.
“Ah! I totally forgot,” Marin said, reaching over to his side and grabbing the tablet from where it was resting on the bench. “I took a few pictures of stuff I found in the offices.”
“Excellent!” Blake grinned as Marin passed him the iPad. “Thank you for doing this. I really appreciate you going through the effort.”
“It was nothing,” Marin returned his smile.
Blake opened the camera roll and began to scroll through the documents.
“It was kind of fun—like an espionage mission. Unfortunately I didn’t find many relevant things.
There was a manual for the pirate ship I was on, but it didn’t really say much about me other than instructions for assembly and maintenance.
But I did find out it was made by a company called Splashgrounds Manufacturing and installed in 2003, the same year that the park opened as Slide Palace. ”
“No, that’s great information!” Blake insisted, scouring the pictures to see if he could pick up anything Marin had potentially missed.
“See, since you remembered Pokémon, that gives us a really narrow window to figure out when you—” his eyes flicked up to Marin, who was staring at him with an eager expression.
“Well, when you passed away. Pokémon came out in 1997, so we’re looking at a span of about seven years. ”
“You’re right, that does really narrow it down,” Marin mused, bringing a finger to his chin. “Keeping that in mind, what should our next move be? Looking through obituaries?”
Blake was glad that Marin had been the one to make the macabre suggestion. “That’s what I was thinking. Unfortunately, we still don’t know about what kind of geographical area we’re looking at or the cause of death…”
Blake’s eyes settled on the small, hoary scar bisecting Marin’s eyebrow. “But based on that scar you have, head injuries might be a good place to start.”
Marin’s hand flew to his brow, expression pensive as he traced the scar. “You’re right… I never considered that this might be a death wound.”
“As for the area…” Blake sighed, propping his chin on his palm. “I think we may want to start our search in the area surrounding this Splashgrounds place and work our way out from there.”
“Makes sense to me,” Marin said, taking his hand from his forehead and reaching for his empty container.
“Thanks for doing all the reconnaissance—here, let me get that for you,” Blake said, stacking Marin’s trash on top of his own.
“Again, it wasn’t any trouble.” Marin waved away the notion with his hand as Blake stood from the table.
“Still, it’s appreciated.” Blake stepped out of the party room and turned the corner towards the trash can—only to startle when he saw Noel hovering in his way.
“ Jesus! ” Blake grasped at his chest. “How do you keep doing that?!”
“Sorry,” Noel uttered. He crossed one arm over his torso, rubbing at his elbow. Even through his mask, Blake could tell his expression was sheepish. “I’ve been told I’m pretty quiet.”
“ Clearly .”
Marin popped his head over Blake’s shoulder, peering over at Noel.
“Hi there,” he greeted. “Is everything okay? I hope my art project wasn’t a problem?”
“N-no, you’re fine.” Noel shook his head. He turned to look across the hallway at the Walter standee, shifting his weight between his platform boots.
“Are… did you do a double today?” Blake asked, unsure of what Noel wanted from them.
He’d been at Water Zone since before Blake had even clocked in, so his shift should have been long over.
Blake raked his mind for any reason that Noel could want to talk to him other than the merman situation: at work, he tended to ignore Blake outside of asking to switch shifts for loss prevention.
When they were out with their friend group, Noel usually treated Blake with an icy disdain, if only for the fact that he was one of the unfortunate bastards to bear the title of “ex-boyfriend” to Noel’s precious crush.
“I…” Noel tore his eyes away from Walter, looking to Marin, Blake, and back at the merman. “Maybe it would be easier to show you.”
“O…kay?” Blake said while Noel shuffled towards the break room, gesturing for him and Marin to follow.
Noel approached the poor excuse for a kitchenette set off to one side. It consisted of a dirty microwave, a sink that Blake wasn’t certain that he’d ever seen used, and a mini fridge that he knew contained nothing more than Alex’s forgotten lunch.
Stepping up to the counter, Noel grasped at the wrist of the long-sleeved tee that he wore religiously beneath his security uniform, regardless of the oppressive California heat. His fingertips trembled as he tossed a nervous glance over towards Blake and Marin.
“Sorry,” he uttered. Blake flinched as the pale expanse of Noel’s forearm was revealed—the skin gleamed with a lattice of silver lines.
Before Blake could awkwardly avert his gaze, Noel stuck his arm beneath the faucet.
Turning the handle, the ancient plumbing jolted with an awkward thunk , hissing out air for a brief moment before spilling fresh water over Noel’s arm in stuttering starts.
Blake stared at him, perplexed as to why Noel decided to make such a show of washing his hands.
“What di—?” the question was cut short when Noel extracted his arm from the flow of water.
Glimmering below the tiny beads of water lingering on the surface of his skin, Noel was freckled with a handful of small, iridescent pink scales.
“The truth is,” Noel reached up to remove his mask, revealing two rows of gleaming shark teeth. He glanced at Marin, appearing almost ashamed. “I’m like you.”