• The moment I laid my eyes on her, I fell in love with the mermaid. Perhaps it was because she appeared so very beautiful, yet, so very sad…

    I met her on a night like tonight, a clear starry night. I was out on a boat, fishing just a little ways off the coast of my hometown. I often did this once or twice a week, so I wasn’t that concerned for my safety.
    However, while I was thinking about nothing, I felt something wet splashed up against my leg. “What the-water? But where…” I looked around only to find a large hole in my boat. Desperate, I tried to clog the opening, but water still poured through.
    Not prepared for something like this, I panicked. Fear filled up within me, and in my state of horror, I forgot that I should start swimming. Instead the back of my head slammed into the boat as I thrashed around. Slowly I began to sink.
    I couldn’t breathe…and even when I reached for the surface, there was nothing I could do. So instead, I reached towards the dark depths of the ocean…
    That’s when I saw her. A beautiful mermaid swam towards me, her fins moving through the water swift and sure. By the time she reached me, I was beginning to lose consciousness but I was able to look into her eyes. Immediately I fell in love. This was my last thought before my world went dark.

    * * * * * * *

    When I awoke, the first thing I saw was the mermaid, who peered down at me, concern written on face. Seeing that I had gained consciousness, she sighed in relief and put a hand over her heart. “Thank goodness. I’m so glad you’re alright. You had hit your head pretty hard.”
    She pulled back as I sat up, groaning. The sun was beginning to rise, making the sky and ocean turn colorful shades of reds, yellows and oranges. I turned to thank the mermaid, but when I was able to see her clearly, my mouth went dry and my heart skipped a beat.
    She was gorgeous.
    She had long, pale blonde hair and eyes that were even clearer than the ocean itself. Her skin was pure white, like porcelain, and she had silver scales and fish fins. She looked exactly like the mermaids in a fairy tale.
    Then it hit me. A live mermaid was sitting in front of me. I sat there in shock.
    Apparently I had been staring too long, because she looked away, a light blush crossing her face. “Anyway, you’re also going to have a huge headache later because I accidentally hit your head against your ship after you passed out.”
    “Thank you so much…for saving me, I mean.” The words tumbling out of my mouth felt awkward and I felt nervous. Never before had I acted this way. “I’m really grateful. If you hadn’t rescued me…” I stopped, seeing that she was embarrassed by my thanks.
    Neither one of us said a word, so for a moment the only sounds heard were the gentle waves splashing lightly against the beach and the caws of the seagulls flying overhead. Then voices began to drift across the land; people were starting to wake up. The mermaid gave a small gasp and covered her mouth.
    “I have to leave before they see me.” She turned to head back to the ocean where she belonged, but suddenly stopped and gave a light whimper of pain. It was then I noticed a large gash along the side of the tail.
    “You’re hurt,” I said, bending forward for a closer look. Blood steadily streamed out of the wound.
    “This must have happened when I accidentally scraped up against the boat.” Once more she tried to move, but ended up wincing because of the pain. Desperation on written on her face, she looked up at me. “What do I do? I can’t let them see me.” She seemed so scared and upset that I knew I had to help her.
    Without thinking, I scooped her up into my arms. She sucked in a breath as she wrapped her arms around my neck and her skin felt smooth and cool in my hands. I began to wade deeper into the water and slowly, so not to hurt her, I made my way to my secret place, a rocky cove along side the ocean. Rocks and pebbles scraped alongside my legs, but I didn’t care.
    I heard the mermaid whisper something, but I was unable to hear her over the sounds of the splashing waves. “What did you say?” I asked, looking down at her as she gazed out into the ocean.
    “It’s coming,” she said in a hushed voice. “The storm is coming.” She snapped her head up at me, her eyes filled with worry and horror. “You have to leave.”
    “Huh?” I didn’t understand; what was going on? There couldn’t be a storm; it was sunny out, the sun was still coming over the horizon.
    “You have to leave me,” she repeated. “If you’re caught in this storm you won’t be able to get home! If you leave now you might have a chance to save yourself!”
    No sooner said strong winds suddenly came blowing in from the ocean. Almost as suddenly the sky went dark, hiding the sun behind the gray, stormy clouds. Rain began to pour down, getting in my face and I had to squint to see where I was walking it was raining so badly. ‘How is this happening?!’ I thought. ‘No storm comes in this fast!’ I keep walking despite the weather and I soon got to the cove. Being very careful, I set the mermaid down inside the cave. “There; no one will find you here.”
    “Thank you. Now hurry up and go back to your village. Otherwise you could die because of this storm.” She gazed up at me, and I could see that she really wanted me to go. And yet, I could also see that she didn’t want to be left alone, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself. I stood there for a moment before making my decision. “What are you doing?!” She said as I sat down next to her.
    “I’m not going anywhere without you.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could think. She looked at me in confusion. “You saved my life and now you’re injured because of it.” The mermaid opened her mouth to object. “It doesn’t matter what you say. I’m staying.”
    She gave me a weak smile. “Thank you. But just so you know, you don’t have to stay. I can always swim away when the tide gets too high.”
    I began to examine the cut on her tail. “Not like this you won’t. This scrape is really bad. We have to stop the bleeding right away.” I took off my shirt to use as a make shift bandage.
    “No! It’s okay, really.” She protested. “Besides, it doesn’t matter.” She looked away. “Tonight’s my night anyway.” Sadness crossed her face. “I should have known it was coming.”
    “Tonight’s your night? What are you talking about?” I asked, ignoring her protests and bandaging her fin up with my shirt. Another cold gust of wind blew into the cave and I shivered. “We should make a fire,” I muttered, crawling a little deeper into the grotto to look for the hidden supplies I had put there months before in case of an emergency. Finding everything we needed to build a fire and a couple of blankets, I went back to the mermaid.
    While I was gone she had propped herself against the rock wall and was waiting for me to get back. “We need to go deeper into the cave, the water is rising fast,” she informed me, looking pale from the blood loss. I peered out to see that she was right; the water had already covered the shore line. Once more, I picked up the mermaid and moved her to a safer place.
    “This should be okay.” I set her on the ground and then grabbed a blanket, draping it over her shoulders. She looked surprised by the act of kindness for a moment, but then she smiled and buried herself deeper into the soft fabric. Smiling to myself at the sweet picture she made, I got a fire started. “I think we’ll be fine,” I told her, sitting next to her as I pulled on sweatshirt over my head, thankful that I had decided to put it in with my emergency supplies.
    “Thank you again…Uh…” She tilted her head in curiosity. “What’s your name?”
    “It’s Nolan.” She beamed at me and I felt my heart skip another beat and my brain suddenly couldn’t think clearly. I scrambled to think of something to say. “What’s…What’s your name?”
    “My name’s Marina.” She rested her head on her knees, or at least where her tail bended, and her blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. “Thank you though, for saving me. But really…” Her smile disappeared and the look of sadness washed over her face again, “you didn’t need to.”
    “Oh yeah, you said it was your night. What was that about anyway?” When Marina didn’t say anything, I rushed and said, “I mean, you don’t have to tell me, I was just curious.” She gave a tiny smile, and I saw she tried to struggle to hold back tears but a single tear rolled down her cheek. “Hey, don’t cry,” I whispered, wiping away the tear. “It’s okay.” Outside the storm raged on, but right then all I could think about was the beautiful mermaid in front of me.
    “I don’t want to go,” she spoke in a hushed voice. “I want to stay here.”
    I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but she need to be comforted so I pulled her towards me. “You don’t have to go anywhere.” I could feel her shiver through the blanket and hugged her tighter.
    “But tonight’s the night when it all ends,” she whispered. “This storm is calling to me Nolan.” Marina looked up at me. “I don’t want to die tonight.”
    “Wait, so this storm is a signal?” I asked, slowly realizing what she meant. “This is a sign that you’re going to die?” She gave a slight nod.
    “I’m the second born in my family. In my clan, the second born is bad luck. So once they turn nineteen they’re ‘eliminated’.” She tried to smile but failed miserably.
    “What?!” Anger, hot and white shot through me. “That’s not fair!”
    “That’s what I thought. So I tried to escape from this curse.” She looked out at the choppy waters with a look of melancholy. “I guess it didn’t work. I’m going to die anyway.” She pulled her hand out of the blanket and grabbed my hand. Though her skin had felt so smooth before, now it felt cold and clammy. Her whole body was now trembling, though I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from fear.
    “Here, lay down. I’m going to go find us something to eat.” Tenderly I laid her up against the wall near to the fire. “I’ll be right back.”
    I had started to walk away when I felt something pull on my sweatshirt. I glanced and saw the mermaid was holding onto me. “I don’t want to die,” she repeated.
    I smiled and gently pried her hand off me and laid it next to her. “You don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to.” Then I turned to go find food from my rations.
    Deep inside, I was concerned. I had no idea how long we had been here (though it seemed like a lifetime) and from what I understood, Marina was going to die tonight. Even now, it seemed that like she was fading away right before my very eyes. It caused my heart to ache just to think about that. Though I barely knew anything about her, I already felt as if I had known her for a lifetime.
    After finding the food, I grabbed it and hurried back to Marina. “Told you I’d be back,” I said. She gave me a smile as I handed her something to eat.
    After awhile she said, “Umm…Nolan?” When she noticed I had looked over at her, she continued. “I’d like to thank you again because I’m glad I didn’t have to be alone tonight.”
    “I should thank you for saving me,” I replied. “In case you forgot, you saved me first. Even if you bumped my head on something while you were saving me.” She giggled, and it was just as I imagined it would be. Light and musical, it bounced off the cave walls.
    “Sorry about that,” she apologized in between giggles. “I told you it was an accident, you know.”
    “Sure it was,” I retorted teasingly, chuckling as well. When we finally settled down I suggested, “Let’s get some sleep. It’s been a long day and tomorrow I want to have a better look at your cut.”
    Reluctantly Marina nodded. “Okay.” It was obvious that she was still fearful of what would happen.
    Later, as the storm still raged on, Marina’s voice rang quietly through the cave. “Nolan?”
    “Yeah?” I rolled onto my side to face her.
    “You said earlier that I didn’t have to go anywhere I didn’t want to right? Do you really think that’s true?” Her voice wobbled and she looked at me with teary eyes.
    “Of course it is,” I assured.
    Once again she grabbed my hand. “You promise to be here when I wake up in the morning?”
    “I promise,” I said. “Now get some sleep, okay?” In the dark I saw her nod, then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

    * * * * * * *

    When I awoke the sun was shining bright and the birds were cawing loudly. It was hard to believe that there had been such a bad storm last night. I sat up, still holding Marina’s hand. “Marina?” I looked down to see that she still laid on the floor, looking at peace. Fear rushed through me as I gently touched her cheek, praying that it would still be warm, letting me know that she was still alive. But when I touched it, it felt as cool as stone.
    “No,” I breathed. “No.”
    My mermaid was dead