A Song In The Night ~ TMF Mermaid AU

Part 3

Hailey POV

Try to imagine being stabbed in the heart. Now imagine being stabbed over and over and over again, and coat it all in a layer of poison. Multiply that pain by infinity, and you're not even close to beginning to understand how I felt when I saw Jake kissing that human angel.

I stared at them in shock, everything around me fading away until they were all I could see. I lost my balance and fell back into the ocean, the blue sky above slowly getting darker and darker. My heart ached with immeasurable pain. I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth, trying to keep the sobs in. I balled my fist and pressed it against my chest, curling up in pain. I felt the soft sandy ground below me and laid down, wishing desperately that I had been mistaken. But it was useless. I saw what I saw, and nothing could ever change that.

After much reluctance, I swam back to the little beach, hoping to find comfort in the confines of the cliff. I dragged myself onto the beach, my tail leaving behind a trail of wet sand. My arms buckled beneath me and I flopped useless on the ground, hurting everywhere. I felt a hand rub my arm, and I squinted up to see Zander looking back down at me, a sympathetic expression on his face. He helped me to sit up, and I leaned into him, the sobs wracking my body. He didn't say anything, he just tried to comfort me.

"I-" I hiccuped, then tried again. "I lov-ved h-im," I buried my face in my tail. "I know, Hailey. I know." I wanted to be comforted, but for some reason him saying those words made me crack. "No! You don't know! You have no clue what I'm feeling right now!" I shoved his arm off of me and pushed him away. I glared at him, hatred showing plainly in my eyes. I didn't hate him, but I was going through so many emotions right now I couldn't differentiate hate from heartbreak.

He swallowed hard. "Hailey, I do know what you're going through. I know exactly how you feel right now. I feel it every day when I see the one I love captivated by another. It makes you feel like the world is crumbling around you, and everything hurts like hell." I stared at his lavender eyes for another moment before breaking down again. He quickly came over and laid my head in his lap. I shuddered, staring out at the waves crashing over one another. Hot, salty tears ran down my face, and my throat contracted painfully. I barely noticed Zander stiffen up underneath me. He started to stand up and I moved off him, looking up to see why he had stood up.

All the pain smacked into me again, only this time it seemed to multiply. I froze in place, not knowing what to do. Jake was here, with that human girl. Here in my safe haven. I inched backwards instinctively. Why did he bring her? Why did he come at all?

He looked surprised to see Zander. "Who are you? How do you know Hailey?" Zander glared at Jake, shooting daggers from his eyes. "Neither of those are any of your business," Zander deadpanned. The human girl gasped and stared at me. Suddenly all eyes were on the pathetic mess I was; my hair tangled and sandy, my face red and blotchy, my eyes two empty black holes. But she wasn't staring at me, instead she seemed to be staring at my tail, sparkly and blue, and somehow the only part of me that didn't hurt.

"Wow, you weren't joking when you said you met a mermaid," the silver-haired girl said in awe, acting as if I was some animal that didn't understand a word she said, as if she couldn't see the misery in my eyes. That one small detail turned all my mixed emotions to hate, and channeled it towards the girl. I had the sudden urge to harm her, to throw a knife at her, to lunge forwards and strangle her, to drag her to the depths of the ocean and watch the life drain from her perfect, angelic face.

My fingers twitched, and I almost forgot the two reasons why none of those could ever become realities; I couldn't even walk, and Jake was right there. No matter how much it broke my heart to see him with another girl, I still loved him, and I would never wish the pain I was feeling on him. If he lost that girl, he would probably be devastated.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Zander screaming and lunging for Jake. He tackled Jake to the ground and the two wrestled in the sand. I was yelling at Zander to stop, but he didn't relent. The girl was simply standing there, frozen in shock.

Zander started punching Jake, over and over and over again. And with every fist he delivered, a word escaped his gritted teeth.

"Don't. Ever. Hurt. My. SISTER!" he shouted the last word, then released Jake. They were both breathing heavily, their clothes messed up, and some spots of blood showing. Jake was staring up and Zander, a look of confusion on his face. Zander glared back at him. Jake was looking so confused, I couldn't help but feel bad for him, even though he broke my heart. I decided to tell him everything.

"Jake," I spoke up, my voice cracking. Once again, all attention turned to me, the broken, miserable, mermaid. "Do you remember that night on the ship?"

There was silence for a while. "Yes," he responded, breaking the quiet. I smiled, but it didn't reach my eyes. "What did you feel that night? What did you think of me when you first saw me?" I heard him shifting. "Hailey, it felt magical. When I first heard you singing, I thought I had died and gone to heaven," he said softly. I shook my head. "No, Jake, that's what you heard. What did you see?"

Then came the answer I had been dreading. "I saw a mermaid," he responded. I sucked a breath through my teeth, trying to hold back the tears. That's all he saw me as. A mermaid. Not a lover, not a friend, a mermaid. A creature from the stories.

The tears spilled. I couldn't bear to look at him, and to think that yesterday I was wishing every moment to gaze into his eyes. He scrambled over to me and touched my arm. "NO!" I screamed. He flinched back. "YOU BROKE MY HEART, YOU MORON!" I shouted at him, my voice cracking. I couldn't control myself anymore. The pain and sadness took over my thoughts, clouding my judgement. I don't know how I managed to get to the water and to my boulder. I reached into one of the crevices and brought out a knife that I kept there.

I looked back at Jake one last time before plunging the knife into my chest.

Third person POV

Hailey fell into the water, and didn't come back up. Zander ran out to her, hoping to get there in time. But it was too late. Zander reached into the water and lifted Hailey's limp body out of the water. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open the slightest bit. The knife jutted out from her chest, the blood making the water red around them. Zander looked back at Jake, who was just standing in the shallows, a horrified look on his face. Zander dragged her body back to the beach and laid her down carefully. He took the knife out of her chest and threw it out into the ocean. Zander cradled her head, tears streaming down his face. "She was all I had left," he whispered. He squeezed his eyes open to look at her now peaceful face. It didn't match with the pain she had been feeling not even 5 minutes earlier. Jake took a step forward, and Zander lashed out.

"DON'T YOU SEE? YOU KILLED HER! SHE WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU, AND ALL YOU SAW IN HER WAS A CREATURE, NOTHING MORE! JUST A MYTHICAL CREATURE FROM YOUR STORIES!" Jake fell to his knees, staring at the lifeless form he might as well have murdered. "I-I didn't mean for this to happen... she was my friend-"

"No, she wasn't. Why did you even come here? She said you came here to look for her, but why? Why did you want to find her if you already had a girl?" Zander questioned, spite in his tone. Jake swallowed hard and caressed Hailey's cold cheek. "I did love Hailey..." he whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I thought I would never find her again, so I moved on." He gave a half-hearted chuckle, "Guess I never fully got over her."

Zander's mouth gaped in disbelief. Jake couldn't keep it in anymore and let out a sob, curving his back and leaning down to lay his head on Hailey's shoulder. The sobs wracked his body, and he wrapped his arms around Hailey's limp form. He held her close, ignoring the blood flowing from her wound. But no matter how much he cried and begged, she would not open her eyes. He squeezed his arms as tight as they could get. She slowly started to get lighter, and less solid. His arms wrapped around himself, and he kept his eyes squeezed shut. He couldn't bear to open them, to see the seafoam in front of him.

"Why?" he whispered, feeling utterly alone. "Why did she have to do it?"

I guess it was one of those mermaid stories.

A/N: I'm making an alternate ending so stay tuned ig-