Sweet Song

Chapter 3

"What do you think you were doing?!" My father shouted at me angrily as he threw me into the house. I had been dragged back by my arm, despite my protests. "Mele, do you understand how dangerous that was?" He growled at me furiously. I shook my head and didn't dare speak. I knew that if I spoke I would only get it worse. "To your room. Now!"

I quickly scrambled and stumbled up the stairs to my bedroom. I quickly shut the door behind me and started to pace. I couldn't believe what was happening, or more precisely, what had happened. I just saw the most beautiful creature ever. She had long teal hair and a tail. She had a tail. I had to sit down on my bed as I thought this. The realization still hadn't sunk in.

I had heard tales about them. Stories which my father used to tell me at night. It was an attempt to scare me into falling asleep. That was what I had thought before today. I recognised what he had called them. I had heard the name many times though I could never seem to remember or pronounce it properly. This one looked nothing like the ones I had heard tales about.

Father told me that they were all grotesque creatures with fangs and sharp claws full of poison who sing their victims to their deaths. They would sing and hum the most magical of tunes and bewitch those on boats and beaches. In the end they would be drowned beneath the waves.

That's what my father had told me. This creature didn't speak though. She hardly opened her mouth. She touched me carefully. I could see irritation and anger in her eyes as though I had done something wrong. She touched me and she had every opportunity to bring me down under the water. She could've drowned me, she could have poisoned me. She could have hurt me but she didn't.

There was something peculiar about her. I knew I had to learn more. She didn't harm me and she seemed angry about something. I wanted to help her. I can't believe my father tried to hurt her. Yet, he calls them the 'monsters'. I sighed again as I stood up and paced around my pink bedroom. I had wanted to re-decorate with blue or white walls but my father said this colour suited me too much.

I looked out the window which showed a lovely view of the beach. I honestly thought dad moved here in order to torture me with things which I could never have. He never let me go out to the beach. That was something which confused me immensely. Perhaps he just didn't want me to meet those creatures. The sky was getting darker and there looked to be a storm coming. It was not a too dissimilar colour to my stormy grey eyes.

My eyes then wandered to an oval shaped mirror which I stood in front of. I was rather muscular and tall. I had long dark black hair with dark and rather bold eyebrows to match. My eyelashes were naturally thick and dark. My lips were full and rosy. I spent a lot of time doing this, looking in the mirror. I kept feeling as though I was looking for something. Something which I couldn't see. I was also relatively self-conscious. I always felt like I was in the public eye.

"Mele. You have rehearsal!" I heard my father shout from downstairs. I hadn't realized how long I had been thinking. I quickly exited my room and ran downstairs where my father stood with car keys in hand. "Ready?" He looked me up and down. I hadn't changed from when I went to the beach. I usually wore more comfortable clothes to rehearsal than this. I didn't really have time to change.

"Ready." I said with a nod. We headed out the door and to a local recording studio. It was a rather big place. It was used for both theatre production and studio recording. Father had made many friends and connections with those within the building even before I was born. He was dead set on his little princess being famous.

I never wanted to be famous. It sounded wonderful and brilliant as a child. I wanted to be the person on TV who would sing at the top of their lungs in front of an audience of thousands. That stopped by the time I was four. It was never a true desire of mine, it was much more like a childhood fairytale. From my experience, everyone had that. Everyone had one impossible dream as a child which couldn't come true.

Nevertheless, my father made me stay within this career. He didn't care what I wanted. He made me sing until my throat was raw and even then he made me practice without any kind of rest. He always told me about the sacrifices he made for this to happen. Soon enough, I stopped complaining and just went with it.

Rehearsals went by slowly. I was distracted, I had thoughts of the sandy shore on my mind. I longed to go back and see that creature again. I wanted to run my hands through the sand and put my feet in the water. I knew the risks. There was dangerous sea life out there, now I was wondering exactly to what extent these creatures were the kind we were familiar with.

I knew that I had to wait, father would be asleep soon and I would be able to sneak out again. It would be dark and it would be more dangerous. I would risk it. I don't live far from the beach so it wouldn't be too far out of the way. I'll just stick to where the houses are and pray that the siren comes closer to the more public areas of the beach. It wouldn't be too far from where we had met, it would just be a lot more open and closer to the houses.

Although, I wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to come back to the surface.