Night Song

The voice was stunning, even with the water between us, stretching for what seemed like miles. The moonlight filtered through the clouds, adding to the surreal atmosphere. I knew about their kind, of course, but never expected to hear one sing. Not like this one did. Not in a way I thought would tear my heart from my chest; not in a way that pulled me into the shallows- to inch forward bit by bit, desperate to get closer and yet wary. I’d heard the stories. I knew the dangers.

And yet…

Surely I could get just a little closer. I simply needed to hear more. I prayed the voice wouldn’t stop. Prayed that as I slowly crossed the line where our worlds blurred, the silver light of the moon would reveal the owner of the voice. The only thing I knew for sure was that it was male. The deep tones of their voice told me that. The sound wrapped me with warmth even as the cool water lapped at my hips and the wind raised goosebumps on my damp arms.

Finally, I saw him. He moved along an outcropping of rocks and into the light as a cloud pulled back the curtain on the moon. Long, lean but strong looking, dark hair that moved in the breeze, and eyes closed as the words he sang came pouring out of his beautiful mouth. I’d never been transfixed by a mouth before, but I found my fingers reaching through the air as though they could touch his lips and feel the song as it left them.

I nearly cried out with despair when he slipped himself off the rocks and into the water, out of my view, stopping myself only just in time. My heart lifted when he came into view once again, this time waist deep in the water, moving gracefully, and much to my delight, coming towards me. I dipped myself lower into the water, afraid that if he saw me, he would leave. He wasn’t singing anymore, but I hoped that if he thought himself still alone, he might start up again. His lithe body slipped through the water, deeper than I was, further towards the eternity that is the sea, and I didn’t move. Still, he must have sensed me, somehow, because he turned.

His eyes found me immediately, and a crooked smile painted his face. “Hello.”

I swallowed hard and was silent for a moment. How could I use my voice, knowing how small and unremarkable it was compared to his? I pressed my lips together and looked away from him before I spoke. “Hello.”

He had none of the same shyness I was suddenly experiencing. “Did you hear all that?” he asked, gesturing to the rocks where he’d been only a minute before.

I nodded. “Most of it, I think.” I sank lower still in the water, suddenly feeling as though I’d been intruding and had no right to be where I was.

“Well, don’t go falling in love with me,” he said, I thought teasingly.

My heart flipped in my chest anyway, because oh, that voice. If I was honest with myself, I could easily fall in love with that voice.

“I’ll do my best,” I answered.

He went under the water then, so suddenly I thought perhaps he’d been dragged under by something, but my momentary panic was relieved when his head broke the surface again, closer this time.

“It’s the only place I get to be alone,” he said to me.

I replied dumbly. “Oh?”

The clouds covered the moon again and the shadows played over his hair and skin, and I thought I caught a glint in his eye, but it could have been the clouds, and the moon, and the water, and my disbelief he was there talking to me. There was something magical about the whole situation.

He laughed then. “Yes. But I don’t have to be completely alone if you wanted to come back tomorrow night. Just a thought.”

I felt my cheeks burn and was glad of the night. He’d never know I was blushing.