Dark Water

Chapter 2

 They found Mihris in her boat a few miles from the dock, cold with blue lips and fingernails, but alive. They had lit the fireplace in her home, moving her mattress off her bed frame and onto the floor in front of it, covering her with blankets and hot, wet clothes. Mr. Gulliver had propped her head up with pillows, spooning warm bone-broth into her mouth to try and heather, and to keep her hydrated and fed. She awoke to him placing another warm cloth on her forehead, a few bandages wrapped around her head with compressions here and there. He instantly kneeled in front of her, the scent of ale on his breath as he spoke in a hushed voice.

"You saw her? Didn't you?" There was excitement in his voice and before she could respond he shushed her,

"You can't tell anyone about her, they'll kill her. She's been around since my fishing days, that's her cove. She's only here for winter every few years, she's the one that brings the fish and the storms. You have to tell them you fainted blue. tell them you fainted and hit your head. They cannot find out."

"She recognized me."

"What?"

"She recognized me. She dragged me in and pulled me to the rocks but didn't kill me. She could have killed me I was defenseless, but she didn't. She even let me help her when I cut her, it was like, she recognized my smell."

"You got close to her? And she didn't attack you?"

"No, no she didn't, aside from dragging me in. She pushed my boat back, it was like, she knew something about me it was strange. She even held my hand." He furrowed his brows as she spoke, thinking as he stroked his long beard.

"How strange. Usually, she attacks boats."

"She scratched my boat as a warning I think, only when I was in the cove. Before that when I was fishing, she simply rocked my boat and cut my anchor. She pushed the boat back and stopped doing it when I gave her most of my good catch."

"You need to go back out there, bring some fish with you, and see what happens. She's never behaved like this before, even when I used to feed her back during my fishing days."

"I just, I can't believe that sirens are real. truly real. have I lost my mind finally?"

"No, I don't think so, otherwise we're going to have to call you crazy blue. that's why you're going to tell them the story I gave you." She gave him a small nod in agreement, her mind feeling fuzzy, the small wounds on her head having a tingling feeling.

"Mr. Gulliver, do you know if she has any sort of toxicity to her?" She sat up, holding her face in her hands.

"Yes, but it's mild, and only if she bites you. I used to study her, it's a mild paralysis to fish and a hallucinogenic to humans."

"Oh." a concerned look came over his face at her response.

"Did she bite you?"

"No, she licked me."

"Oh. Wait, what?"

"She licked me, where she cut me on my head. She let me clean the cut I gave her, so I suppose that's how she gave thanks in return." She turned to see him writing what she was saying down, going and dipping the pen into the inkwell once again.

"I'll have to get you to write this all down in your journal, just to document what happened. Of course, no one else gets to know except you and me." She nodded at him in agreement. The town would be in an uproar, and the main source of food would be cut off, ending the town, and causing a large migration. They would just not fish near the cove for this winter. They had the rest of the bay anyway, and it seemed to be that the siren she had seen didn't exactly like people.