Mermaids

Ryan's Story

I WOKE UP IN A SWEAT. THE NIGHTMARE occurred again, the one with the soul-less mermaids chasing me. I had this nightmare a couple times a night, ever since I became a mermaid. That was only two days ago! I checked my alarm blearily. It was three o'clock AM.

I sat up as I heard a soft rap at the door. Were the zombies after me??

I grabbed a baseball bat and tiptoed over to the door. I creaked it open and readied my bat.

"Whoa!" Ryan whisper-screamed. "Don't kill me!"

"What are you doing up?" I hid the bat behind my bed, slightly embarrassed.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Me neither."

After my dad knew what was going on, he let Ryan stay over for a while. I had no idea how he convinced my mom and sister, though.

I wasn't sure how to bring any of this up in a conversation. I just knew that he knew, somehow.

That gave me two mysteries: who were my real parents, and how did he find out about us?

"Do you wanna hear my story?"

I was a little shocked at his abruptness, but yes, I very much did want to know his story.

He swallowed and sat down. "It started when I was about four. I used to live up here, just like you do. My family--my sister, Carlene, mom, and dad-- were planning to go on this huge cruise. I knew from day one that it was a bad idea. I was also friends with this girl with red hair, I can't remember her name, but she agreed with me.

"I begged and pleaded my parents not to go. But they were insistent: we would go, and we would have fun. So, we hopped on board and I sat in our room the whole time, refusing to have any fun at all. I knew something bad was going to happen." He shifted around on my ocean-blue couch.

"And then something did happen. Only the second night, there was a huge storm. I had to go on deck and find my family. I left the room, and not a moment too soon, because it had flooded when I left. Now I was really freaked out. I ran up on deck just in time to see this wave that had to be at least a hundred feet. And I knew we would die.

"As soon as it crashed down, new everyone was toast. And then, I watched my parents drown." He looked up at the ceiling, possibly trying not to start crying.

"Carlene was nowhere to be found. But my lungs weren't holding up. I closed my eyes and wished and wished to survive, to breathe water, anything! I'd never wished for anything more in my life. The surface was to far up to go to. And then, I took a breath of water. And to my surprise, I lived. But I had changed and soon, I regretted it. So I found a nice house in the village, and never quite moved on."

He rubbed his eyes and stood up to leave. But not before I tackled him with a hug, almost crying. "I'm so sorry, Ryan!"

He smiled gratefully. "It's okay, I've lived. But if I can, I'd like to search for any evidence of my sister being alive." He grabbed the shell harder.

"Okay," I agreed and we both went to our separate rooms and fell asleep.



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Okay, so i didn't get 3 votes. S'all good though, I was pretty darn enthusiastic about sharing this (super short, sorry!) chapter with y'all. I'm getting a decent amount of reads!!! :) this is exciting.

Thanks for reading and voting!

Till next time (tomorrow)

Rae <3