BLUE
Was marriage the only think a mermaid was supposed to do when she grew up? I asked myself that as I began getting ready for the big day ahead. My friends Coral and Oceana were braiding my hair and fixing it with sea shells. Since my hair was the longest among my friends, they loved braiding it. I looked at my appearance in the mirror and realized how beautiful the hairstyle had turned out to be.
“You look like a princess Blue!” Coral complimented me. “I’m sure Adrian will fall head over heels in love with you.”
I laughed.
Today was supposed to be a big day. I was going to be engaged to my best friend, Adrian. He and I had been friends since childhood and everyone used to tease us back then about how cute we looked together. The teasing had gotten serious during high school when Adrian confessed his feelings to me. My parents and his were actually thrilled about us getting married. Me? not, so much.
I had a sinking feeling inside, like I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to marry yet. I thought we were supposed to be in love with someone to marry. I read in those cliché Mermaid love story books that a person in love constantly felt the butterflies in the stomach or the longing to be with that person. With Adrian, I sensed nothing. It felt more like I was packing and moving into my best friends home. I couldn’t think of Adrian that way. He just did not evoke any romantic feelings and that made me nervous. I knew he was head over heels in love with me, and that kind of made me feel guilty about not feeling the same.
I wish I had some feelings for my future husband.
Maybe after I married, I’ll fall in love with him. That’s what happened with all the mermaids. They were matched in their respective clans, and betrothed soon after their birth, destined to marry their partners just how Coral and Oceana were and they were always giddy with excitement whenever I mentioned the names of their respective fiancés.
Coral added some pearls into my braid that made it shine brightly.
“There.” Oceana said delightfully, “You look so beautiful today, Blue. I’m so jealous you’re getting married before me.” She pouted.
I laughed. “Don’t be stupid. Your engagement is next month. It’s not that far.”
“I know, and I’m so excited. I can’t wait. We should do shopping for our wedding together.”
“Of course.” I said.
My gaze flitted towards the ring finger. Soon I’ll have an engagement ring on my finger. I hoped Adrian didn’t go all out and bought the most expensive pearl or something like that. I wanted something simple. The sea-horse carriage was waiting outside my home. After I got ready, the girls and I settled down inside the carriage that would take us to the venue which held my engagement ceremony. Throughout the ride, I felt agitated and nervous.
Once Adrian puts that ring on your finger, it’s a done deal. There won’t be another chance.
Swim away
The voice hissed in my hear.
Swim away while you still can, Blue.!
But what about my parents? They won’t like it.
You can deal with your parents later. Swim away and when you’re back you can explain how you’re still not ready to be engaged.
What about Adrian? He would be heartbroken!
You can explain Adrian later. He would understand, he’s your friend after-all.
Swim away, Blue.
The voice kept repeating the same thing in my head until I screamed. “Stop it!”
Coral and Oceana stared at me, their expressions puzzled. “Are you alright, Blue?” Coral asked.
I nodded. “I’m fine.”
The girls placed their hands on mine. “It’s okay. It will be fine. Everyone’s nervous on their special day. Think of your first kiss today. You can’t just keep dangling that in front of him, you know. At least let him kiss you.”
I smiled at them, unable to say anything else.
It would be like kissing my brother.
The engagement venue was a sea-garden decorated with illuminating shells and corals. Jelly-fishes swam around the place. There were also water balloons and flowers. It was going to be a private ceremony. Coral and Oceana began fixing my appearance again, analyzing their handiwork.
A few minutes before the ceremony began, I excused myself to go to the mer-ladies restroom. I was afraid the girls would follow me there too but thankfully they did not. Instead of heading towards the restroom, I swam out through the entrance making sure I wasn’t being noticed.I swam far away from the gardens, swimming until I knew I was far from the place. I didn’t have a particular plan in mind, I just wanted to stall the engagement with Adrian. A few hours later, I planned on calling him through the shell-phone and telling him the truth.
The truth that I didn’t want to get engaged yet. I assumed he would be hurt and maybe he would also scream at me and stop talking for days but eventually I knew he would understand because Adrian was a good merman.
I kept swimming for a good thirty-minutes until I realized I’d strayed into a much deeper end. The part of the ocean where no mermaid swam into.I panicked. I’d heard a lot of stories about the deep-end, about how mer-folk disappeared down there, eaten by a large species of fish or something more sinister. The horror stories of the deep end were infamous. In school we used to do dares and see if anyone could swim until the deep end and swim back but no one dared to do it.
I saw a shadow of a large fish. Perhaps a shark. Those were some nasty fish and attacked the mer-folk constantly. I eyed him and slowly began swimming back.
All I could see was darkness surrounding me. Tears began reaching the corner of my eyes, getting dissolved in the sea water. I swam in no particular direction and that’s when I saw something fall from the top. It was too fast for me to dodge. The thing fell around me and wound me up in it. I was tangled in a net. I’d heard these stories from mer-folk about how the humans came for fishing constantly and killed the mer-folk with their nets.
I continued to swim in the opposite direction but the rope pulled me up.
Up.
Up.
Up.
Until I saw the boat and the fishermen smiling and then I saw their expressions turn horrified. Once they pulled me up onto the human land, I’d loose my tail and shape-shift into a human, I decided. They pulled me up into their boat and I pretended to play dead.
I could hear their hushed whispers, talking to each other. “What the hell Buck? You did not just pull out a swimmer!”
“How did she get stuck in the fishnet?” The Buck guy asked someone else.
“Now you killed her because of your stupidity.”
“Maybe she already was a dead woman.” Buck said.
Someone brought their finger to my nose and I held my breathing. It was so easy, I could hold my breathing for as long as I wanted.
“The girl’s dead.” One of them declared.
“Too bad. She’s a nice piece of ass.”
I gritted my teeth. What did they mean by that? My ass was a piece? Like was it broken into pieces now that I was on land?
“What should we do now?”
“Let’s just throw her body on the surface. Who knows if she wakes up. Don’t wanna kill nobody.”
“Yeah. Good idea.” The other man said.
No..No..Noooo! Throw me back inside the water!
But they went along with their stupid plan and placed my body near the shore by the sand. I kept my eyes closed. The ropes had pulled me hard and it had made me weaker. I saw the ocean waves and crawled towards it through the grainy sand, my hand reaching out.
I had memories of my parents, friends and Adrian flash through my mind.
What was I going to do?
How will I swim back home? Or rather, how will I get back inside the water?
Tears blurred my vision, and this time I felt the wetness on my cheeks because I was on human land and not in the water anymore. I was having a hard time seeing clearly.
How will I find my way back home? This had been a huge mistake!
That was my last thought before everything blacked out.
HUNTERFirst day of college and my fists were already bruised. My baggage out of the dorms before I could say a word. And now I was pretty much left out to fend for myself because my father wouldn’t help me.How easier life would have been if he had agreed to pay rent for a small studio apartment and paid for the gas for my car as well? But instead, daddy dearest had blocked my credit cards, confiscated my car keys, (I drove a Red Maserati sports car so that hurt like bitch) and if that wasn’t enough, kicked me out of the mansion and now I was officially kicked out of the dorms too.That left me with renting a little apartment the size of a matchbox in a danky little neighborhood where you could hear the constant barks of the stray dogs and the police sirens because this place looked like a hell-hole.Maybe I was complaining too damn much but what else did you expect to do when you’d fallen from grace.There
BLUEWhen I opened my eyes, I realized I was in a completely different place.Where was I?Suddenly, it came back to me in flashes. Coral, Oceana, my home, the sea and Adrian. I’d swam away from them and then some mean humans had caught me in a fishnet. I’d pretended to be dead and that’s why they’d left me on the shore.I knew I was on human land. I shuddered and hugged myself as a sob raked my chest as I cried. I touched my cheek, this was the second time I was feeling the wetness of the tears on my cheeks. I was lying on something soft, a bed. That’s what it was and a blanket covered me. I’d read things about the human life and it had always fascinated me. Now all I wanted to do was to go back into the ocean; my home.A small brown creature stared at me from the window. It looked fluffy and cute. His big eyes stared, and he padded towards me on fours. I was scared at first so I pushed ba
BLUE I hated the way Hunter was looking at me, like I was crazy. He touched my ankles and pressed it gently. “Does it hurt here?” “No.” I shook my head. He touched some other part of my leg, his expressions concerned. “Can you talk about what happened at the beach?” “I don’t remember anything.” I admitted. “Where do you live?” “I live in the west side of the Ocean near the Palm Island. I was supposed to get engaged with my best friend but I didn’t want that to happen so I swam away and...and I realized I’d swam into the deepest end. I thought a shark was chasing me so I swam harder and then...” I knew I was getting hysterical, I still continued. “Some fishermen caught me in their net.” “Uh-huh.” That’s all Hunter said. He didn’t believe me! I could tell by his expressions. I didn’t even expect humans to understand me either, but it still hurt my feelings. “Let’s he
HunterWhen I informed Blue that I was taking her back to her home, she was excited and sat right up on the bed, rubbing her eyes. She was ready to go. Leslie continued to bark as if he has a premonition that Blue wasn’t coming back home once she left.Stupid dog. He got attached to every person that walked into the house but Blue was the first that he’d taken a liking to in such a short time.She smiled at him lovingly and ruffled his ears. “He loves you a lot.”I nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”She shook her head. “I can feel it, and Les told me that himself. He loves you and cares for you, but he just wishes you didn’t date bitches.”I stared at her incredulously. “What?”“He said all the girls you dated before were lying bitches.”I stared at Leslie, looking at me with gooey eyes, his pink tongue lolling out.How could Blue
Hunter The entire ride back to my apartment was silent. Blue continued to look out of the window. Even though she'd stopped crying, her expressions were a dead giveaway that something was wrong. She'd slipped on my t-shirt from before, her hands joined in her lap. When we came back to my apartment, Blue settled down on my bed and continued to stare into space. Leslie was rolling on the floor with joy, unable to contain his happiness on the return of his new best friend.My eyes flicked to the t-shirt she was wearing. The neckline was so big on her that it slipped down from the right shoulder showing off a creamy complexion. With her beautiful naturally dried aqua hair, she looked effortlessly pretty. She was so perfect that I wanted her to keep that t-shirt on forever.
HunterDrink! Drink! Drink!"The cheer of the people in the club continued as I took the small glass of tequila and downed it."Drink! Drink! Drink!""Whoooo! Hunter! You can do it!" Someone else cheered as I downed my fourth glass. I sneaked a glance at Howie, the nerd from the English class that had foolishly come to the party without realizing that he was going to be the center of all their attention.I downed the final glass and another roar of cheer pierced through the club. I couldn't even see straight, much less walk in a straight line.I was so screwed.
HunterI was in the midst of gobbling down a toast when I saw Blue's towel lying on the chaise. I sighed.It was her habit of forgetting things and having me to bring it back to her. I contemplated walking into the bathroom while she was having a bath, surely she'd drawn the curtain, right?I tossed the toast back on the plate, picked up the towel and padded into the bathroom. When I walked inside, I heard her singing. A melodious tune and her voice was sweet, and peaceful to the ears.I stood there, listening to her hum. "You have a beautiful voice, Blue. I didn't know you could sing."She stopped singing at once, and I had the feeling like she was going to be shy a
BLUE"Hannah, where do your parents live?" I asked her since I'd never heard Hunter talk about their parents."We used to live together at first. Me, Hunter, Ryan. I'm in my senior year of high school but I live with my parents, Ryan has a condo downtown and he takes care of the family business. And Hunter’s not the obeying kind so Dad disowned him temporarily after a series of bad behavior. He's the black sheep of the family."Hunter certainly didn't seem like a sheep to me."What kind of bad behavior?"I didn't think there was anything remotely bad about Hunter's behavior. Sure he was a little scary when he was angry, but he was still nice."He used to get kicked out of schools, the soccer team, getting into fights. That sort of thing." She explained.I nodded. I could ask Hunter about it later."Who is Ryan?""He's our oldest half-brother. Ryan's mother died when he was four and then Da