Soft splashing carried across the empty shoreline. Sumomone felt like she was going to fall asleep from the rhythmic sound of it. She wasn’t made to be a fisherman. The hours were long and she had to wake up early, not to mention how much time she had to spend just waiting around. Her parents didn’t share her opinion.

So she had snuck away to the lip of a cave she had found not that long ago, lying on her back, lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves. The rock beneath her was warm, her feet dipping into the cool water.

She felt her eyes slip shut.

 

She was woken up by water dripping on her face, making her scrunch her nose as one landed on her eyelid. Something was covering the sun.

Was it starting to rain?

 

Opening her eyes she came face to face with a girl. Her hair and skin was blue, shimmering in the sunlight. It took her a moment to realise that they were scales. Her eyes were pitch black, her gaze feeling like it could pierce her soul.

When she looked downward, she already knew what she would find.

A fin, long and slender, dipped into the water.

Sumomone’s eyes widened. She’d heard stories about them, but never seen them in real life.

“Oh,” the mermaid spoke. There was something spellbinding about her voice. “You’re alive.”

“Were you going to eat me or something?” She’d heard about boats showing up empty, said to be left over from sailors dragged under to be eaten by the merfolk.

“Maybe.” The mermaid’s lips split in a smile, showing a row of needle-sharp teeth. “But now you’re bound to me in other ways.”

 

Fuck.

So it was true then? If you spoke to a mermaid you were bound to them by magic, destined to join them at the bottom of the sea.

The mermaid laughed quietly. “Don’t worry, I won’t take you right now. But you’ll come back here, and when you’re ready, you’ll join me on your own.”

She leaned forward, pressing her lips to hers for a brief moment.

Then, with a flick of her tail, she fell back into the water.

 

The last thing Sumomone saw of her was the large dorsal fin sinking underneath the surface.

 

Maybe life at the bottom of the sea wasn’t that bad. At least she had time to get used to the thought of it.

Back to top