Short Stories (reconstructed)

Tales of old

I wandered off the coast of my city in the hopes of finding a place to take my rest. I've come from a long day of fishing with my father, and wanted a stroll, and a place to stay for the afternoon.

I wandered far enough to find the cave under the fabled cliff, and at first, I thought nothing of it. Just another child's myth, I told myself as I entered.

I lit my way with a measly lighter, not expecting that I would find this landmark. I walked far back into its depths and found a tailed creature.

She had a deep purple fish-like tail and a human torso. Her long, dark hair barely covering her similarly purple eyes. Her body laid bare, almost skin and bones. I can't just leave her like this, I told myself as I turned to run, realizing that what I'd called a myth had been true. A man-eating creature, I thought to myself.

As the myths went, creatures of olden tales lived here. I just never thought those creatures would be starving mermaids.

I've come to know, however, that she didn't live in such a place. Not even an animal would, as there was nothing to hunt within it. Nothing that she or her people would eat.

She asked me to gather food for her, as she didn't have the energy to do it herself. When I came back, she told me her name. Her name was Sen.

Yet another thought proven wrong, I told myself as I listened to her tales. She explained that the man-eating creatures were sirens, not mermaids.

Us mermaids can't turn human, she explained as she took a bite of the food I'd gathered for her. My people and I can't and don't want to eat surface meat, she starts, eagerly consuming the seaweed. We only eat fish, and the plants that grow in the ocean, she concludes.

I felt guilty for even believing what I've been told, but I couldn't have known any better.

I had to head home by sunset, but continued to see her after every fishing trip. I would give her food to eat, and some to bring to her family as a gift from me.

Sooner than later, I thought to teach my people the true ways these mermaids lived, as I've come to understand. I wanted them to know that she and her people were not a danger, though I couldn't find how.

Mermaids and sirens look so much alike in water, and the only trait sirens have that mermaids don't is their resilience on land. They have marks on their eyes, Sen pointed out. The marks look like crosses, and would never go away. She explained.

I wondered how such a minuscule detail could be seen from afar. Throw sugar at them, she incited. She explained that sirens don't tolerate sugar, and mermaids do. When we sing, we do it only for us, our voices have no effect on human minds. She added.

With what I'd gotten, I did my best to tell my people. They called me crazy over and over and over, not wanting to believe that I 'survived a mermaid attack'.

Sen told me she'd like to go to the surface with me to help prove it, but for the longest time, they tried to bring her down with insults and threats.

We tried on and on, to no avail, until the fateful night came. A siren came by during one of our demonstrations, one she recognized. She was in no place to fight, but we saw it as a chance.

I had a pot of sugar by her that night, and threw it at the siren. As she'd told me, the siren melted the more sugar I threw.

My people watched as it happened, and as I was done protecting them, I threw the sugar on Sen's skin. It had no effect on her. And on that day, they finally believed us.

The more time passed, the more differences we found. Sirens have sharper ends to their tails, while mermaids have rounder. Sirens can't tolerate fresh water for long, and neither can they stand the smell of perfume.

With all that we've found and done, we can finally live with mermaids in peace. With that, the myth of the man-eating mermaid has finally become a story long-gone.