Mermaid

Kalanie Saldajeno

"I wasn't drowning; I just had to sink for a while, hoping the water would wash away the traces you left."

She had the coldest pair of eyes framed by thick, voluminous lashes, her skin was unblemished, and her nose was delicate and thin, she had strange ears for they were a bit pointy, and her hair was a mess but still managed to look beautiful. My life changed ever since I found that naked girl—that day, I found a mermaid. At least that's what she calls herself; she insisted that she was a mermaid. No matter how you look at her, she's a normal girl, but…

"You look different from what I imagined a mermaid would look like," I told her blankly, thinking that all of this is just a joke.

"That's an image from a story," she told me with equal blankness.

I sighed, deciding to go along with her prank, "We're out in public, so if you don't mind, let's go to my place," I said, offering her my jacket. It was expensive, but the girl was naked, so I don't really have a choice.

I took her to my house, and she was all over the place; she's like a fish out of water— literally. She was touching every single thing that catches her eyes, though she mainly took a liking to my aquarium filled with tropical fish.

"Do you live in a spacious house by yourself?" she asked, her eyes not leaving the aquarium.

"Yes, that's right," I answered back, weary of the half-naked stranger prancing around my house.

"But if this is the only fish of its kind, it must be lonely." Her eyes still not leaving the aquarium.

I then realized that she wasn't talking about me; she spoke of the largest fish I kept in one of my aquariums. I didn't know what came into me, but I ended up taking care of the strange girl. I didn't know anything about her, but I'll find out her background not before long. I noticed a few weird things while living with this girl, like how she drinks saltwater and takes cold baths. Whenever I leave her alone, she secretly eats fish out of the aquarium.

If this goes on, I will be left with an empty tank.

One day I decided to take her out for a stroll, "It must be boring staying inside the house every day. Do you have somewhere you want to go?" I asked.

"I want to go to the sea!" she said, flashing me a toothy grin.

That was the first time I saw her smile, but I have to deny her what she wants, "That's a no, I can't swim, and there are plenty of other places." I eventually took her to the local aquarium.

"What tasty looking fish. Do they raise them for eating?" Curiosity laced her voice. I was stunned by her strange question, "No, the fish are for looking at."

"So, they will stay in this small place forever trapped?" An unfamiliar emotion glazed her pretty features. Was it pity? Hate? Sadness? I can't tell.

We ended up going to the beach. The sky was painted in a myriad of colors; the sun was saying its final goodbyes for the day. The tranquility and the overall atmosphere gave me the courage to ask her something that bothered me for a while.

"Have you been eating my tropical fish?" I was expecting some sort of reaction from her, but surprisingly she remained unperturbed.

"You found out," she answered indifferently.

That hit the mark, and suddenly I was pissed. "Just how far do I have to go along with this farce of yours? It's just cruel. Who are you?"

"I am a mermaid, just like I said before. I always am, I always will be. Are you familiar with the story of the little mermaid? She fell in love and became human. I'm like her. I became human to meet you".

Those were the last words I heard from her when she suddenly plunged into the sea. I followed her, forgetting that I cannot swim. I can feel the air slowly leaving my lungs and my vision getting blurry. Will this be my end? Before blacking out, I saw the strange girl. Her cold eyes were piercing right through my soul; her long black hair was floating in the water, giving her some sort of halo effect. If I were to die, I'd die happy; I was able to see such a beautiful sight before moving on to the afterlife. Maybe she's not a mermaid; maybe she was the angel of death.

The Little Mermaid's story was not a happy one in the first place. She turned into sea foam and disappeared, just like how the strange girl vanished without a trace. When I woke up, I was in my room, and the strange girl was nowhere in sight. I'm accustomed to losing things, but this was too sudden. My aquarium was empty; she ate all the tropical fish in the end.

I eventually returned to my past routine. I was lying on my bed when I heard the doorbell. To my surprise it was the strange girl, gone was the unruly curly hair instead, an elegant bun was placed atop her head, she usually goes barefoot, but this time she was wearing red pumps, of all the clothes she would be wearing I never imagined her to wear a suit and her cold eyes were covered in thick-rimmed glasses. I almost couldn't recognize her; she's like a whole new person.

"It's you?!. You.. who exactly are you?" I stuttered.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm a mermaid. There's something I must show you, come with me." Coldness still in her voice.

Once again, I found myself back at sea, the last place I saw this so-called mermaid. Suddenly, I heard a splashing sound. I cannot believe my eyes when I turned around, there were creatures all sharing the strange girls' features of cold stares and curly hair, but instead of feet, they have tails.

"Is that all? I have gone along with your petty game of charade. You think that I will be moved if you hired a bunch of actresses and got them to jump into the sea? Your efforts are quite pitiful," I said to her.

She sighed and pulled something out of her breast pocket—it was a knife. The knife was small, but the way it glimmered against the light indicates how sharp it is. It may be able to kill me if it hit the right spot. She twirled the knife around her fingers, looked up to me with tears threatening to fall from her cold eyes, and said, "If that's the case, should I play out the end of the story? Kill you and become a mermaid again? Turn into foam and disappear?"

I closed my eyes and awaited the pain, but instead, I heard a splash. Turning into foam and disappearing? How idiotic, she's going to leave me again, and I will not let that happen. In no time, I found myself jumping into the water despite not knowing how to swim, desperately looking for her.

I can feel myself sinking, and with my last breath, I found myself saying, "This isn't how the little mermaid ends, they are supposed to fall in love…they lived . . . happily . . . ever . . . after . . . "Suddenly I was completely submerged in water, I don't know if she heard me, but I hoped she did. I was about to close my eyes when I was suddenly pulled to the surface.

"Together?" she asked with her usual cold voice, which was strangely comforting. I mustered a smile while tasting the salt on my lips and gasping for air. It wasn't the most "regal" sight. I looked at her incredulously and noticed that she, too, has a tail.

I found myself asking once more, "What are you?"

This time she smiled—the same toothy grin that I rarely see and answered, "I told you before, I am a mermaid."

The Little Mermaid may have ended in a tragedy, but this story is different. The mermaid revealed her true identity right from the beginning; the time they spent together was enough for them to fall deeply in love. As of now, I am living with a mermaid. Her care and feeding are simple: give her raw fish to eat and saltwater to drink. Her intelligence is high, and she is a gentle and compassionate creature. There is only one thing that bothers me, though—she doesn't fit in the bathtub.