Breed Of Emotions

The Secret Of Mermaids

What exactly is a mermaid?
That's a question I've asked, and dreamed about answering my whole life. As a child I was fascinated by them. I had my birthday at the beach, we stayed in a hotel and had my party on the shoreline. My dad took me on a boat to go fishing, and eventually we decided to start swimming, so I got dressed up and dove in. As I was swimming up to the water's surface, my leg developed an unbearable cramp.

I was panicking and thrashing around, feeling the oxygen fleeting from my lungs. Then I saw it, a humanoid creature with a fish tail came swimming through the murky ocean water at a speed I could only dream of swimming at. My vision blurred and darkened, and the creature I assumed was a mermaid gently grasped my waist, and pulled me up to the roof of the ocean. I took a deep breath, taking in as much air as I could, calming myself down, and just like that the mermaid was gone.

I climbed back up to the boat and called out to my dad. But as I looked around I realized, my father wasn't there. I swerved my head frantically, looking back out into the ocean to see bubbles floating up to the surface, as I realized why, the last one popped. My father had drowned trying to save me.

That day I swore I'd find a mermaid, for my father.

I grew up and became a marine biologist. I studied everything about how such a creature could exist. It's been 20 years, and I decided to go back to where I last saw my dad. Staring out into the ocean, seeing seagulls leave streaks of white across the murky blue waves of the deep, it filled me with a sense of sorrow.

The ocean made me think. I pondered why I was even trying, why I was even considering success. Then, there was a ripple next to me. I turned to see a silhouette in the water, swimming away. I hurled myself into the water, swimming after it, not caring that I wasn't prepared for a dive. For the last 20 years I waited, and now I was finally going to get my birthday wish.

I pushed myself deeper and deeper, chasing down the silhouette. Bubbles exited my mouth as I realized I was out of breath. I looked around, shivering within my dark, watery grave.

A small school of skinny pale fish slowly swam by as the darkness approached my figure, my soul, consuming me. But just before my vision could fade, I saw it. A humanoid creature with a scaly fish tail emerged from the depths.

However, this one was different. It's body was more built, more muscular. The closer it got, the clearer the answer to this mystery grew. The oxygen I had inhaled was all gone now, I knew I had very little time left, and I think the mermaid did too. I wasn't going to die yet, I was willing my body to survive, the drive I had grown for the answer was too powerful for me to pass on before finding it.

The mermaid was right underneath me, I felt my lungs being crushed. Then it swam up, meeting my eyes. Instead of screaming, or just passing away with a depressed look, I smiled warmly at the mermaid. For 20 years I had cried every night, begging for him to return, and he finally did.

The mermaid looked like my father.