Rinse and Repeat

Hour of The Storm

  Jacy was the first to spot the four people, they were climbing down to Portuguese beach. It took a minute for the other two to see them even after Jacy explained in detail where the tourists were on the stairs. They discussed what they were going to do and decided to confront the tourists about the hippocampus.

They headed down to the beach, knowing exactly what they had to do, exactly what is always done whenever someone spots one of Mosbury's rare creatures. Other than being known for the rare dolphins that reside off the coast, Mosbury is known for one other thing. Everyone who seems to spot something mysterious and mythical are never seen again, they seem too just.... disappear. The set up had worked perfectly yet again, tourists came into the deli claiming to see something magical, but what they didn't know was that it was all planned out. Every year around the same time a group comes together to play this out, most of the time the same groups. They trick tourists into believing they saw something that needs to be shared and then those people aren't seen again. This year Sofia, Kyle and Jacy are playing the final part out, as the youngest part of this group they get the privilege to do it. So slowly, they each make their way down, down to where the tourists were getting their snorkeling gear on. Once down on the beach they slink into the water exactly when the tourists entered the water to try and spot the hippocampus again. With grace like dolphins, they slip under the water to finish out their job, as they go under, they start to change. Their legs start to morph together, the skin on one leg knits itself to the other, from the thighs to tip of each toe, the legs fuse into one. The feet fused together and grew out, forming one huge fin, and within a few moments they had completely changed. Once human and covered in flesh, now covered in sickly gray scales covering their bodies. Sharp fins protruded from their backs, and one long, and sharp tail was now in place of two legs. With quick glances and a silent exchange of words, they all go their separate ways, one goes down, and two go around to circle in on the four snorkelers. One of the pods of Mendocinos dolphins came swimming past, sending a strong rush of water past the divers. The rush of water sent the divers a bit off balance, once they all regained themselves and were treading water they noticed one of them was missing. A storm was brewing outside, the wind whispered at the top of the water and the waves began to grow. The panicked tourists started looking around frantically for their missing friend, but they couldn't spot him. He had been dragged out to sea and down far into the depths of the black water. Slowly, one by one, the remaining three disappeared as their first friend had, until there was none left.

All three of the kids resurfaced to rough waves, strong winds and ice-cold rain falling. With loud yelling and huge smiles, the three celebrated, for they had completed their first ritual. They all watched as a pod of dolphins and a few shimmery hippocampi leapt out of the water in the distance, right after they began to swim back to shore. What most aren't aware of when visiting this picture-perfect coastal town was that it has a very dark secret. No one that is a resident of Mendocino is truly human, they're all a rare subspecies of sirens. Every person that is born and raised in Mendocino is a siren, all of them, every stoner, teacher, rich person, and all the old people. This is why any tourist who sees one of the rare creatures never seems to come back from vacation.

An hour or so later they had all showered and were meeting back with the rest of the group to recap how it went. Everything played out smoothly and next thing they knew there was a whole new flock of tourists arriving. As it plays out every single time a new flock of them show up, everything resets. The hippocampus knows their jobs, the dolphins do too, everybody has their part to play out, and the kids decide their new plan. Rinse and repeat, that's how it goes here in stormy Mosbury.