The Witch and The Mermaid

Friends?

In the northern region of a kingdom named Essora, there lies a mystical forest and inside that forest, there lives a witch. A witch as powerful as she is brilliant, her name is Melanie.

As the morning light shines through Melanie's bedroom windows, she opens her eyes and slowly sits up in bed. She stretches a bit and places her feet on the cold wood flooring. Once Melanie reaches the bathroom, she brushes her long auburn-brown hair and then her teeth. She rubs her pale green eyes one last time and she goes to get changed. She changes into one of her favorite outfits, a medium length black dress, with a cream crew neck sweater under-neat, with a pair of black rain boots. Adding socks and her favorite faux-leather bag to finish the look she is out the door and ready to start her day.

Once Melanie steps outside she feels the chill of autumn on her skin. Before she leaves she grabs her black witches hat off the hook by the door to her small cottage, puts it on and heads out.

Starting her day out in the woods is one of Melanie's favorite parts of her day, especially bright and early in the morning. Melanie spots a creek she usually stops at to collect water and some rocks. Before she reaches the creek Melanie notices something weird, she wonders if something is in the creek. Usually, the creek has some small tadpoles in it but nothing more.

As Melanie inches closer to the creek, she is surprised by a BIG SPLASH! She backs up, trying not to get wet and finally notices what was in the water.

"Hello!" says a girl as she pops out of the water.

"Um... Hi." says Melanie, responding sheepishly.

Melanie keeps her distance as she isn't sure what is happening. She doesn't know if this is some random girl in the middle of the creek or something else. The girl looks at Melanie confused.

"Am I... Is this your creek?" The girl asks, seeming a little scared.

"No! No. You're not in my creek. I've just never seen anyone swim in the creek before, that's all. I'm usually up here alone." Melanie says, trying to reassure this girl.

"Oh wonderful!" The girl says as she twirls in the water. "I was worried I was trespassing."

"Do you mind if I ask, why you're in the creek?" Melanie asks.

The girl looks at Melanie confused again, as if it's odd that she would ask this. "I saw this small opening as I was swimming in from a river. Thought this would be a nice place to relax." She says without skipping a beat, seeming very confident in her decision.

As the strange girl answer's Melanie's question, Melanie can't stop staring at her. Melanie has never seen her before, she is usually the only one in the forest most of the time and Melanie has never seen her in town either. She wonders if maybe this girl is from somewhere far away and visiting. But visiting who?

This girl can see Melanie ponder over what to say next. "You're trying to figure me out, aren't you?" She says as she swims closer to the edge of the creek and places her arms over the side, laying her chin down on her arms.

Melanie is caught off guard by this. "Quite frankly, yes I am. Most of the time I'm the only one in this forest, except for the animals of course and I've never seen you in town before." Melanie says bluntly.

"You don't hold back, do you? Haven't you noticed yet? I've certainly noticed you, little witch." The girl says bluntly back.

"Notice what?" Melanie retorts back, as soon as she does the girl moves as if she is going to kick her feet up but instead it's a tail... Melanie soon realizes this girl is a mermaid. She's never seen one in person before, only heard stories and legends of sirens making ships crash and sink. She can't believe her eyes, Melanie stares in awe. Most people would be shocked or even frightened by this discovery. But Melanie is excited!