The Little Mermaid

chapter 1: Prologue

She watches him, the beautiful young boy with the peppering of freckles over his pale skin. And she weaves her delicate fingers through his sopping wet hair, and she sings, and she'll sing until somebody comes for him and she'll swim away then because nobody can be allowed to see her. But for now she sings, and he sleeps. He's breathing softly and she can see his chest rise and fall. And she's happy knowing that he's safe. The man wasn't so lucky, she doesn't know why but a lump forms in her throat at the thought of it, at the thought of the young boy's father who perished on that boat so far out into the ocean. She doesn't know this boy, or the man, but her heart breaks for them both. He's so beautiful, and young and innocent and she only wants to take care of him, even if it's just for awhile. She keeps singing, hoping that the sound of her voice will bring him comfort and nice dreams.

"Dad?" he whispers, so softly that she can barely hear it over the sound of the crashing waves nipping at her tail and his voice is hoarse and strained. "Dad?" he says again. She panics, she doesn't know what to do. He can't see her, nobody can be allowed to see her. She doesn't want to leave him all alone, but she must. He opens his eyes, it's too late.

"Are you... are you an angel?" he says weakly. At that she climbs away from him, startled.

"Wait," he says, a little stronger, sitting up. She knows that she shouldn't stay, that she can't, but he looks so lost, so scared. "You were singing," he says as a statement rather than a question. "I heard you."

She simply nods.

He smiles a little. "You sing like an angel," he says confusedly. "Am I dead?"

She shakes her head.

"Whoa," he says, recoiling a little, she wondered how long it would take for him to see it. "Is that... is that real?" he says, reaching out to touch it, and she scoots back a little, frightened. "It's okay," he says. "I'm not going to hurt you." She's still uneasy, but she doesn't stop him this time.

"Cool," he says, running his hand over the slimy orange and pink scales. "What's your name?" he says.

"Name?" she finally says uneasily. "I don't have a name. Not a human one"

"Everybody has a name," he says. "Mine's Finn."

"Like a fish?" she says.

"Yeah, it's like I'm a fish too."

She giggles a little.

"Wait a minute," he says, reaching out for the gold necklace that she's wearing. "Your necklace, it says Rachel."

"Rachel?" she repeats. She found the necklace at the bottom of the sea the week before, unsure of whom it belonged to or what it meant, she just thought it was beautiful, so she kept it.

"That must be your name," he says. "Rachel."

"Rachel," she says again, liking the way it sounds. "I like it." She says smiling.

"I like your tail Rachel," he says, touching it again. "It's all slippery."

"That tickles," she says, giggling.

"Sorry," he says bashfully, and he blushes a little, because she's beautiful, even though he doesn't like girls he likes her, he likes her face, and her big dark eyes and her long long hair and her shiny, slippery tail. "I didn't think you were real, I mean what you are."

"Promise you won't tell anyone," she says. "I'm not supposed to show myself to humans."

"But this is the coolest thing ever. I mean, can't I at least tell my dad?" At that his face falls and he starts to look around frantically. "Wait, where's... what happened to my dad?" He starts to get scared, she can tell. "Wh- where is he?"

She doesn't know how to tell him, she doesn't want to lie so she opens her mouth to speak.

"Finn!" She snaps her gaze toward the direction of the yelling. "Christopher!"

"They're coming for you, I have to go!" she says frantically as they approach the beach. "Promise me you won't say a word."

"I promise," Finn says. "Will I see you again?"

She doesn't answer, she simply leans forward and touches her wet, salty lips to his, his first kiss.

"Goodbye Finn," she says, disappearing into the ocean before he can say another word.

He sits on the beach in his black suit, carving random shapes into the wet sand. He knows that he should be crying, his mother cried the whole time. He wants to cry, he wants to scream, he wants to punch and kick the waves that took his father beneath them, but he can't, because he knows that his hands will go straight through them. The ocean could kill but it couldn't be killed, he couldn't take revenge on the ocean, he could only sit there and poke uselessly at the sand. His mother will be mad that he ran off, he doesn't care, being on the beach is the closest he'll ever be to his father again. And the truth is, as guilty as he feels for being able to think about anything more than how much he misses him, he thinks about her, about the beautiful girl with the shiny tail who kissed him. It had to have been her, she must have been the one who saved him. He couldn't have swam that far by himself.

As soon as he remembered the storm and the boat going under he put the pieces together. She saved his life somehow, and she sang to him in the sweetest voice until he woke up. He knows that she's real, that he didn't dream her, but he doesn't know if he'll ever see her again and the thought of it makes him even sadder. He looks out over the ocean at the sun setting over the glistening water and he thinks of them both. And he wonders if people who die in the ocean turn into fish, he wonders if that was what happened to Rachel, then he shakes his head, realizing that that's stupid. But most people would think that believing in mermaids at all was stupid.

He wants to see her again, he wants to see her again so badly that he thinks he sees her shining coral-hued tail pop out of the water for a split second. He blinks and looks out over the water again. No, it couldn't be he thinks to himself, shaking his head. But then, so slowly that he isn't sure it's happening at all, a girl, a very young girl with long dark hair and big brown eyes pokes her head up out of the water, and he drops his stick, shocked. He stands up slowly as if he fears that she will swim away if he moves too quickly, but she doesn't swim away, she just smiles her brilliant smile, and in spite of everything, in spite of the intense sadness he feels in his heart, he smiles back.

So what do you guys think should I continue?