Years passed by and River slowly became more and more obsessed with what they had seen that day. It wasn't a dream, they were certain of it.
"It was a mermaid, it was -", they repeated it over and over again, day after day, year after year, but no one seemed to believe them.
As they grew older, they learned to avoid saying the word "mermaid". Instead they used "yet to be documented sea species". It sounded better, more sane.
As they finished high school, they decided to study marine biology. Their goal was to get a boat to fully document the yet undocumented sea creature they had seen as a child.
Research funds were hard to get, but ever since that day, they had saved every penny they got to buy themselves a third hand boat and learn themselves to fish and cook sea food. They also learned how to turn salt water into something drinkable by watching Gear Brills and with some clothes stuffed in their boat and some vitamin supplements, they were ready to go on their adventure.
They were ready to hunt down their dream.
***
As days turned into months of solitude, River's curiosity as a child and the need to learn more about the mermaid slowly changed into the need to possess.
They had to possess the mermaid, they had to call that mermaid theirs, they had to cage it and put it in a tank to show the world they hadn't dreamt that day, that they hadn't dreamt their encounter, they had to go down in history as the human who discovered the mermaid, they had to-
A splash interrupted their thoughts.
River looked up.
Did it work? Did my trap work?
River approached the fishing nets. They saw an exquisite tail and -
"It's only a catfish."
Little did they knew that as they threw the catfish back in the ocean big bright eyes stared at them, eyes that remembered that sweet little human from years ago.
YOU ARE READING
Out of the Blue & Into the Deep
Short StorySince their encounter with a mermaid, River has been obsessed with finding her again. Will they succeed in tracking her down? And what will the mermaid think of it?
