The Mermaid

Chapter three

The Mermaid chapter three

Imogen, Bailee, Hannah and I stood on the beach along with everyone else. By everyone else, I mean, all grade tens. We were the only grade nines there. "It's about to start! Let's go to the front so we can get a better view." Imogen suggested. We squeezed through the crowd until we were at the very front of the cheering audience.

"GO ELKS!" "GO GORILLAS!" "GO LEOPARDS!" "GO ISLANDERS!" We heard. Imogen let out a whistle, "GO MERMAIDS!" She yelled. "Which one is our guy?" Bailee asked, her eyes scanning the swimmers warming up. "I think that's him." Hannah said, pointing at a boy in swimming trunks with sandy blonde hair doing push-ups in the sand. "Isn't that Derek Henderson? He's hot." Bailee gushed. "Oh Bailee you think every guy is hot." I rolled my eyes and laughed. Bailee punched me playfully on the shoulder, "I so do not." "You do too!" I stuck out my tongue at her.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LISTEN UP!" Mr White shouted into his megaphone. But the chatter carries on, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! MAY I GET YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Imogen snorted, "my megaphone is better." We giggled. Finally, after hearing Mr White yell "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN" a dozen more times, everybody quieted down.

"WE WILL NOW BEGIN THE TENTH GRADE SWIMMING RACE! THE STARTING LINE IS THE RED CONES," he pointed at some red balls floating in the distant on the right. "AND THE FINISH LINE IS THE BEACH!" He pointed at a small area of the beach on the left where a woman stood holding a pistol. "THE FOLLOWING PARTICIPANTS ARE SAM COLE, KEVIN JACKSON..." Hannah flicked back her silky black hair, "The red balls seem really far away. Can we even see the swimmers?" She doubted. "I'm sure we will." Imogen dismissed it. "Look! They're about to start!"

We watched as the swimmers jumped into the water and swam to the red floating balls. Sure enough, we could see them clearly. The starting line was put strategically so that they were deep enough in the ocean to swim, but not too far that we can't see them.

A dozen bobbing heads above the water, ready to push off. "THREE TWO ONE GO!" The pistol fired, and the swimmers started swimming. Water splashed everywhere in the distance, their faces covered by the splashes. "GO MERMAIDS!" Imogen yelled again. She whooped and whistled and gestured for us to do the same.

I squinted into the distant, watching Derek swim. But something seemed a bit... Off. He looked tired and was clearly using all his strength, but it looked like something was wearing him down. He soon started falling in to the back of the group. "COME ON DEREK, YOU CAN DO THIS!" Bailee shouted, flipping her light brown hair no doubt hoping he would notice her. But he couldn't notice her, he was too busy trying to catch up with the group, trying to stay afloat, trying not to sink...

My eyes widened. Oh my god! Derek wasn't swimming anymore, he was trying to tread water, waving his arms wildly in the air, "HELP!" I heard him call, but his voice was quiet and drowned out by the screaming of the crowd. I think I was the only one who heard it. Mr White looked confused, but he didn't do anything. A good swimmer chosen to participate in the race would be impossible to drown.

But he was drowning. It was like something was pulling him under. Somehow that thought made a connection to a hazy memory in my brain. But I didn't have time to recall that memory, because Derek had disappeared under the surface. Before I knew what I was doing, I ran into the waves and dove in.

I slowly opened my eyes, the water was extremely clear. I saw corals, groups of fishes, and the sandy ocean floor way down below. Crabs and pretty seashells lie on the bottom. I swam as fast as I could to the pairs of legs in the distance. All the other pairs were nearly at the shore now except for one.

Derek.

His legs were kicking around wildly as if he was trying to shake off something. But as I looked closer, I realized he was...

A girl with a tail was grabbing onto his ankle, trying to drag him down and he was resisting. I froze in shock, and just stayed there below the surface of the ocean staring at the girl.

She must've felt my eyes on her because she spun around, and in that swift moment, her grip on his ankle loosened and he shook off her hand and swam back up to the surface. But she didn't even notice, she just stared at me.

I noticed how beautiful she was. She had long blonde hair flowing around her, her beautiful blue eyes staring right into me as if she could see through me. She was wearing a beautiful glowing gold dress, the color of the sand. But that was when it actually truly hit me. Underneath her dress, was a flicking green tail. Not feet. Tail.

Then she started swimming towards me so fast and I realized I needed air and I couldn't breath but I couldn't get me face out the water because she'd already grabbed hold of my ankle. I screamed, but it was muffled and drowned out and water filled my lungs.

I watched as the surface of the ocean slowly fades away, and I was dragged into the depth of the sea.