The Siren's Call

V

Henri was relieved when the fighting was finally over. Before their peace with the sirens might've been shaky, but now it was non existent. They had crossed a line, gone way past it, and he felt justified (if not just a little bit guilty) about the few sirens who had died. A couple of his men had too, but unfortunately that was the cost. Many had been wounded on both sides, as if their fight had been an actual war and not an ambush. He was glad the girl's distraction had worked though, he hadn't been sure.

Karis, he realized.

He scanned the area for her, his stomach tying up in knots. No, no, no, he thought, getting anxious. Finally he spotted her, and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. There was someone behind her however, and that's when he noticed the knife pressed against her throat, her blue eyes filled with terror as she stared into his. He took a few slow steps forward, his hands cautiously raised in the air. He was within feet of them now, and he recognized the face behind her. Maurice?! He knew someone had betrayed him, but that was one person he knew, no, thought he could trust. He smiled and Henri saw the fangs and knew his men wouldn't be able to help him without the girl getting hurt.
"What do you want?" Henri asked him, hands still cautiously raised.
"I want you to let us all go, or I'll kill the girl. Don't come any closer boy," he warned, glaring at him.
"Actually, it's Captain to you," he said, taking another step. "And I'm afraid I can't let that happen."
Henri lunged, pulling out a knife from his sleeve in one smooth movement, putting it in the Maurice's arm and he screamed, letting go of the girl.
"You'll pay!" He snarled at Henri, then smiled through clenched teeth. Henri prepared for him to lunge at him, but was surprised when he threw himself the opposite way.

Right toward Karis.

...

Pain ran through every inch of her body, like hot acid or boiling water in her veins. Karis vaguely noticed someone screaming, and she wasn't sure if it was herself or Henri. Or both. She fell to the ground and saw cold black eyes staring at her, and decided she was dead. She was finally dead.
But Karis couldn't have been because death wasn't supposed to hurt like that. She felt as if she was floating on air and every sound was drowned out by her screams, those black eyes across from her consuming everything until all she saw was a black hole. And so much pain. It seemed to be stemming from her neck, and spreading toward the rest of her body.
If she wasn't dead already, Karis wanted to be.

But finally, after decades of waiting, the pain subsided. Her eyes opened and she felt different somehow. Wet. And cold. Something was scratching against her skin as she moved wearily, struggling to open her eyes. When she did the first thing she saw was a little crab staring up at her.
Karis screamed.
She rubbed her eyes and saw that she was on a beach, the same beach as before. Before? She couldn't remember when before was. Or what it was. Why am I here? She thought, trying to sit up but every muscle in her body was sore. She stared at a seagull flying past grey cliffs towards a lighter grey sky and tried to collect some facts.
My name is Karis. I'm seventeen years old. No siblings, but my mom–she choked out a sob–is dead. My father left us when I was eight. He wasn't at mom's funeral. After mom's funeral I jumped off a cliff into the ocean...to kill myself. She stood up after some struggle and looked toward the ocean.

And someone saved my life.

For some strange reason, Karis couldn't remember what happened after she jumped. Or how she ended up on the beach. There was a boy, she knew, and he saved her life. But that was it. Everything else was a blank slate, as if part of her memory had been removed and she was trying to figure out what it had been based on such simple traces of its absence.

As she watched the blue/grey ocean waves crash against the shore and then pull back into the sea, she knew where her answers would be found. She knew it was ludicrous, and she was probably going insane, but there was a part of her that was drawn to those waves. She knew no matter how far she was from the ocean it's song would be playing as echoes in her head forever.