Woman or Fish?

Part 1

What was he doing here? David wondered as he traveled along the pier.  The boats were gently rocking back and forth as the waves washed over them.  The moonlight reflected off the water brightly, giving the place an almost mystic look.  Everyone was either asleep or further inland doing something other than being on the boat. 

The small island was a fishing island; it had always been, ever since the first settlers came.  There were a lot of tourists around the island and if there were, they were here by accident.  No one ever hear of Mertail Island.  The only reason why he himself was here was because he had originated from this place.  He was born here and he had moved away as soon as he had turned eighteen.  His parents were still here, which was the only reason why he ever came back.  If there was any possible way to stay away from this cursed island he would do it without a hesitation.

His father was the reason why he came back this time.

Now at the age of twenty eight, he tried to avoid this place at all cost.  He had other things to do rather than having to come here all the time.   But when he had answered the phone and heard his hysterical mother, he had to come.  She had told him the strangest story when he had arrived on the island once again.  It stunned him that his father had gone to that extreme.

His father, the man that he had looked at with respect had gone missing.  But it was the strangest story that his father had told his mother about.  His father had told his mother one night while he was on the boat he had seen glistening scales run through the water.  He had claimed that it was a mermaid. 

Sure there had been many sightings of ‘mermaids’ in this region.  Mertail Island used to be the hot spot for all of them.  But the ‘sightings’ and rumors had died a long time ago.  His father wasn’t the kind of man to make things up.  He had always been straight forward, governing his kids with an iron fist that wouldn’t let anything go by him.  The retired Marine still had the muscles and the hard look about him even from back when he was a younger man.  So when David’s mother told him what his father claimed, it took him by complete surprise.

His mother told him after the night that his father claimed to have seen the supposed mermaid; he went out every single night.  Not only that but he was getting more and more withdrawn each time that he came back early into the morning.  It was the last night that had frightened her worst of all.  He had been so pale, and so robotic, she had explained to David.  It was like he wasn’t thinking about his movements anymore; he was only doing the actions.  And then his father was just gone.

David put his hands in his pockets and sighed.  He didn’t know what to do as he looked out over the water.  His father had been missing for two weeks now and there was no sign of him.  The coast guard sent out every resource that they could to try and find him, but to no avail.   They did however find his boat, with the anchor down in the water and the boat empty of life.  It didn’t look good that his father was still alive.

He started moving away from the pier, only to move towards the beach.  When he was younger he would always come to the beach with his father.  They had fished all the time, his father, like the many other fathers, were a fisherman and made his living.  Since the rest of his family was girls, David was the only son that the retired Marine had and made sure to spend as much time with him.

David’s footsteps carried him to the sand as he walked through it towards the water.  He didn’t know why he was here.  Maybe it was because he was searching for a sign for his father on the waves of the ocean.  He stopped just before the water’s waves could reach him.  The waves lapped against the sand with a soft swish before receding back into the ocean.

When he licked his lips, he could taste the salty air.  The wind blew through his hair and he closed his eyes for a moment.  If there was anything that he missed about this place, it was the ocean breeze and air.  It was the one thing that he had always enjoyed.

There was an odd sound that was coming from the ocean.  It sounded like splashing.  When he opened his eyes slowly he scanned over the water.  There was no surprise that it would be a fish, but the way the splashing ensued it sounded like a BIG fish.  His eyes scanned over the water and he froze.  There just in the spot where the moon reflected off the water, something large and huge was coming closer to shore. 

He stood taller, straightening his back and craning his neck to see what it could possibly be.  As the creature came closer and closer, it was now in shallow water.  About how the water would be up to his shoulders if he walked in.  It suddenly stood and he let out a strangled cry as the head emerged and long golden hair draped around shoulders.

A woman was walking out of the water.