I scrambled up on shore, not wanting to be in the water any more or the spell it cast over me. I shook the water droplets off my hands and noticed something strange about them. I looked closer and saw tiny scales on the back of my hand. Pulling at them, I winced. It was like pulling on a fingernail. This was for real.
I walked home slowly, knowing my father would take me back home. Even worse, I was going to have to explain this to him. Or would I? Something would come to mind. Perhaps he knew what was going on. My mind was spinning. Nothing made sense. "Help me," I said as a tear slipped down my cheek.
Nearby, out of sight, a satisfied - looking man rubbed his camera lenses with his thin white coat. He adjusted his sun hat, with unruly blond hair sticking out the sides, refusing to be ignored. Still watching the girl, he smiled and whispered, "Just you wait, just you wait."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I went inside our small condo, where I found my father sitting at the table. He didn't look at me.
"Dad, I -"
"I know where you went. You don't have to explain." When he looks up, his eyes are brimming with tears. "It's time I told you the truth."
I stared at him for a moment and sat down. Under the table, I studied the two blue-green scales on my hand. What did he want to tell me?
"The truth about your mother."
I straightened up and looked at him. We never talked about her. The one time I had, he had told me vaguely how she had drowned while they were sailing. That should have made me afraid of the water, but I was even more drawn to it. I suppose I thought if I went to the sea, I would be closer to her. I had always imagined her coming up out of the waves, hugging me and telling me how much she had missed me. After that, we always ignored the subject, pretending like the hole she was supposed to fill wasn't there.
"I was at this very beach when I met her. I used to live here. Her name was Asaphis. She was in this yellow gown and she had dark hair and the most beautiful green eyes . . ."
"Like mine, dad?" I ventured cautiously.
He smiled sadly. "Just like yours. We met for many days, and talked. At the end of every day, she would always go down to the beach and I assumed she slept there. I offered to buy her a hotel room, but she always refused. She was all I could think about at the time. I spent every spare minute with her, eventually asking her to marry me. She had enchanted me, and I wasn't letting her go. Then she told me her secret. She was a mermaid."
I stared at him for a minute. How could this even be true?
"I was too in love with her to care and we married. She left her sea home to live with me, and I became increasingly more bewitched by her. I stopped going to church, never even looking at the Bible, which was the thing that would have solved my problems. Then I discovered that she was pregnant. We were both so happy. A little while after, she gave birth to two little girls. Twins."
"I . . . have . . . a twin?"
"Yes. But there was a problem. One of the girls, when we took her home and bathed her, grew a tail and turned into a mermaid. I was shocked, and I dried her off, but nothing happened. She wouldn't turn back. Asaphis saw and snatched the mer-girl from me and spoke to me, and I realized she was only a siren and wanted to take advantage of me, distracting me away from the things that really matter. Then she ran out of the house and dove into the ocean with Sapphire, your sister, and I . . . I never saw her again. It was awful. I was so afraid that one morning, I would wake up and you would be gone. So I moved away from this dreadful place and came to Michigan."
We were silent for quite some time.
"But why did you come here?" I said quietly. "Didn't you think something would happen?"
"The spell from Asaphis has never quite worn off." he said wearily. "It comes back time and time again. That's why I wanted to come here so badly."
I looked at my hand again, and kept picking at the scales. I know they'll come off if I just . . . He noticed me staring at my hand so intensely and grabbed it. I started to protest, but he had already seen the scales. "What's this?"
I pulled my hand back. "Nothing."
"Charlotte," he said, a note of warning in his voice.
I sighed. "When I went to the beach today . . . I was swimming and . . . I had a tail. It vanished, but these scales appeared."
He shook his head slowly. "We have to get you back home. Now."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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_pure_imagination_
