Beneath The Waves

Chapter Four

Waking up the next morning, I was dreading to continue unpacking. I groggily stood up and made my way down the hallway.

After a few hours, I had completely emptied the cardboard boxes in the kitchen. I folded each of them up and walked outside to throw them into the dumpster.

I was startled when a loud splash came from the water. I dropped the boxes into the large metal trash bin and started to follow the sound, terrified that someone was watching me.

I walked along the edge of the ocean, keeping an eye out. There was a pile of boulders sitting half way in the water covered in a fishing net. I was hesitant to approach it to see who was around.

I made a large circle around the rocks, staying cautious. I peered over just enough to see if anyone was there and was shocked. It was a girl. She was all tangled up in the fishing net.

"Oh my god! Let me help you!" I kneeled down in the water next to her and began to rip apart the net.

"Get away from me," she growled, coughing and gasping for air. I held my hand out for her to take so she could get out of the water, but she slapped it away.

"I don't need help!" I ignored her and grabbed both of her arms and dragged her halfway onto the sand.

She turned away and frantically attempted to pull the net off herself.

My jaw dropped once I saw her; all of her.

She yanked and pulled the net, but not off of her legs, but where they should have been. Instead, a long, golden tail took its place.

She managed to loosen the fishing net enough to move back into the water and start to swim away.

"Wait! Don't go!" She ignored my calling and continued to move out until she realized some younger kids approaching the water, splashing around.

She immediately swam back to her hiding spot behind the boulders.

"I can help you," I whispered, leaning in closer so she could hear me.

She looked up, giving me an unsure look and a sharp glare.

"How?"

After a half hour of guarding the girl, the children were gone, no longer in eyesight.

She looked as if she were going to swim away again once the coast was clear, but as she tried to move, a small whimper escaped her mouth. She was injured. I grabbed both of her arms and dragged her across the sand towards my house.

Once I got her inside, I took a moment to catch my breath before taking her into the bathroom.

"Do you think you can climb into the tub." She shrugged and put her hands on the edge and lifted herself up. She then did somewhat of a side roll, landing her in the tub facing upwards.

"That works."

I, then, turned on the hot water and it began to fill up.

"Ah, too hot. Turn on the cold water. I'm used to the temperature of the ocean."

I drained the small amount of water and turned the other knob, allowing cold water to flow out.

"So," I began, trying to act normal and stay calm. "What's your name?"

"Arianna." She gave a small smile, looking more adjusted and comfortable around me.

"I'm Maya." I smiled back at her as I turned the water off, stopping the bathtub from overfilling.

"So...you're a..." I pointed down at her tail, refraining myself from finishing my question.

She laughed and nodded.

"Yes, I'm a mermaid," she responded shyly.

"So, they are real." She raised an eyebrow, looking at me with a sarcastic stare.

"I'm pretty sure I saw one of you when I was little," I added on.

"Not likely," she said shaking her head. "The last of us are here in the Caribbean. It's been that way for nearly a century."

"I used to live here. It was when I first moved in. We had gone boating."

I sighed thinking back to that day.

"What are you doing out here?" I immediately changed the tone of the conversation.

"Well, I actually wasn't supposed to be this close to land...I was looking for the special conch shells that wash up on shore to add to my collection. People rarely come over here but I got caught in the net. It originally was floating in the sea with only a small piece of it attached to the rock, and I didn't see it. And that's also why I wasn't able to swim away..." She gestured towards the side of her tail.

The golden scales looked scraped off leaving tender flesh in its place, and the color of the water in the tub a faded red.

"I might have something that can help." I stood up from my kneeling position and ran to my bedroom. I opened a few of the boxes and began rummaging through looking for the gauze and tape.

I returned to the bathroom momentarily and placed the gauze over her wound and set it in place with the surgical tape.

She looked up and gave a genuine smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem," I smiled back.

"...I really should be getting back...others might notice I'm gone and think something had might have happened." I nodded in understanding.

"Let me help you with that."

After getting Arianna out of the tub, I made sure that no one was around before dragging her back into the water.

She laid on her stomach and used her arms to keep her perched up.

"Thank you for helping..." I smiled in response.

"I've never met a human before...and it wasn't too bad. We are told to stay away from all of you; that you are all terrible and are out to hurt us..."

"And I met a mermaid and it wasn't too bad either." I gave her a wink and we both smiled at each other before she put herself entirely in the water and turned herself around to swim away.

I watched as her tail flipped up, splashing the surface of water creating a flash of gold and blue light.

I figured that was a wave and went back into my house. I shut the door behind me, and slowly slide down the side of the wall until I was sitting down.

I put my face in my hands and tried to shake myself back to reality.

That didn't just happen. That couldn't of just happen. Did I just imagine this all? Mermaids aren't-- mermaids can't be...real?

Beneath the Waves. Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved. Emily Kland.