The Voice I Was Given.

Days, Weeks, and Months

       

Every single day, Hypatia came to the beach. Not the place that used to be River's territory, but the beach that was right behind her house where she had last seen him. She didn't know why she did it. Hypatia knew that River had left to find a new territory and it would probably be far away from her. But he had promised that he would see her again, and so she continued this habit.

Life was boring for her now. Hypatia no longer enjoyed the job that she had worked so hard to earn and Grace was once again her only friend. Grace never talked about River, and Hypatia knew why. She thought that it would be better for Hypatia if she didn't say anything about him. The truth was opposite, but Hypatia also didn't really want to talk to Grace about it. She wanted to talk to River. First it was days, then it was weeks, and then months passed by without a single sighting of River.

One day, she saw Ty at the grocery shop. Her mind went blank from the anger. Everything was his fault. River would be able to stay with her if it wasn't for him. He's the one that murdered him and got away with it. That meeting ended with Ty holding his broken nose and Hypatia leaving the shop with a bloodied fist. She rarely hated anyone, but she hated him.

Eventually, Hypatia began to busy herself with trying to clean out her house. No matter what room she went in, should could smell the ocean, salty and fresh, perfuming the room. It made her heart hurt and miss River even more. No matter how many times she washed her sheets, they still smelled that way from the time she had wrapped him up in them. She would scrub the floors and counters for hours, but the scent still clung to them. It was beginning to get frustrating for her.

"Hey, Tia," Grace suddenly announced one day at work. "Marcus and Grey aren't gonna be able to go on the science trip after all. We can take their place, if you want to. I mean, we will get to work with BBC for their newest documentary. It's an awesome opportunity."

Hypatia looked up from her computer and sighed. "Grace, you know I can't go. I'm waiting-"

"-for River?" Grace interrupted, shaking her head. "Tia, for all you know, he could be in the pacific. If he hasn't come back yet, then there's a reason why he hasn't."

This statement almost made Hypatia angry, but she knew that it was true. She didn't know how big siren territories were, or how they were spaced or what environment they needed. There was also the possibility that he had been killed, but Hypatia didn't want to think about that possibility. But she still couldn't push the images out of her head. River shot through with harpoons, River attacked and devoured by Orcas, other sirens attacking him...Hypatia forced herself to stop.

"You're right, Grace," she finally agreed. "Okay, we should go. It'll take my mind off of things, anyway."

Grace smiled. "There she is! Hypatia, the girl who loves the ocean!"

Hypatia laughed. "Okay, Grace, quit patting yourself on the back. When is this trip anyway?"

"In three days," Grace replied. "We already have permission to take time off. Marcus said that he would cover our stations and Grey offered to take care of your boat. It's almost like they knew that you would end up going."

Over the next few days, Hypatia was glad that she agreed to go. It gave her something to do other than her regular routine and also it became something to look forward to. She went and got all the supplies that she needed, got her diving suit inspected, and did extra research on sea life in the area that they were going to. On the third day, she and Grace actually had to go and fly to New York. Once they arrived, the narrator for BBC, David Attenborough, met them there. The plan was that they were going to spend two weeks on the water to try and find a siren pod that had moved near the Hudson. It wasn't as dangerous as finding an adult, because juvenile's voices weren't developed enough to lure them off of the boat.