Power

Lost In Thoughts

"Do you need anything else?." Claire inquired.

When they returned, Claire offered Ivy some much-needed food to refill her energy following the painful shift she had endured by the coast. Both women were now sitting on the floor beside the fireplace in the small but cozy room where Ivy had awoken.

Ivy lazily put a small piece of salmon in her mouth. The silence they sat in was deafening, but neither knew exactly what to say, or rather, Ivy didn't. She still wished for everything to be nothing but a bad dream that she would soon awaken from. 

"I'm guessing you have no idea how you became a mermaid, right?" Claire's soft voice pulled Ivy from her scrambled thoughts. Ivy shook her head. She knew she had to tell Claire everything since Claire already knew her secret enigma. She also wanted to. Someone she could trust would prove highly beneficial in her current frustrating circumstances. 

"I was raised in a tower by a witch who wanted to protect me." Ivy began as she swallowed her last piece of salmon. Claire had now directed all her attention to Ivy; curiosity danced in her eyes. Ivy sighed and then proceeded to tell Claire all that had happened to her.

Most people would agree that death hurt so much because it meant that someone was gone, but to Ivy, people can be "gone" for a day, two, or even a month and they might still find their way back. In death, a person will cease to exist forever. They will never come back. She would never see or hear John again. And that was what hurt the most.

"And that's how I ended up here...alone." Ivy croaked out. By the end of what she had shared, her eyes were filled with tears eager to be set free, while Claire remained astonished. "Ivy I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, especially being so young. "Come here." Claire drew Ivy into a tight embrace that felt odd among Ivy's neverending despair and conflicting feelings.

Ivy couldn't deny how nice it felt to let everything out. She needed to inform someone. It was just too much to carry. Claire softly drew away after what felt like an eternity, and Ivy began ridding her face of the salty liquid filled with her sadness and her tear stains.

"Nobody should have to go through what you did, Ivy. You are an extremely strong girl. You went through an unbelievably painful transformation, and that too in the water. And the best part is you are still alive despite all of your physical and emotional pain." Claire gave Ivy a reassuring squeeze with pity-filled eyes.

Ivy chuckled bitterly. "That's a good way to put it, but there's really nothing good about staying alive now. I'm not strong, Claire. I'm weak because if I were strong, I would have been able to save John." Tears once again clouded Ivy's vision. Weak. Exactly as she said. Ivy sought no pity since she knew the reality. She was weak and cursed. The combination did little in motivating her to live.

"You're wrong about that, Ivy. When I was younger, my father would tell me stories about the waters of Mystimero. It's very infamous for the very strange and mysterious things that have happened there. Just by the looks alone, there's something different about those waters. Something alive. They say if you fall in, you never come back out. I'm surprised that you came out alive, Ivy, which only further proves my point that you are indeed stronger than you give yourself credit for." Claire said.

Ivy took in every word. She had never heard of this "Mystimero" but to her, at that very moment, she hated those waters, what it made her. She considered growing a tale a curse. John was right leaving the walls of the tower was dangerous. From the moment she found herself outside only a series of unfortunate events followed.

How was she to accept all this?

Claire's soothing, reassuring voice drew Ivy out of her train wreck thoughts. Of course, one would say so, but the sentiments that enveloped Ivy were far from hopeful.

When a knock arrived on the door, Claire began to speak, but Ivy was lost in perplexity and repulsion. The sounds around her were muffled as her brutal reality wounded her time and again.

"Ivy!" A familiar voice drew Ivy back into reality. Isabel stood in front of her, bouncy and smiling.

"Come on Ivy, let's get you acquainted with the pack." She beamed.

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