Siren’s Song
Crash
The murky wave’s violently smashed against each other, fighting for dominance before becoming one again. The sky swirled with multiple dark and sinister colors.
Crash
A child’s voice, carried on the briny winds, then lost again among the waves. The child cried out again in an exotic, inhuman language, “Mortla!” but the only answer came from the twisting waters, dancing in steps no one can follow. The child continued to cry out in a voice stricken with loss and helplessness.
She wasn’t human, but neither did she completely belong to the ocean that now tried fruitlessly to throw her against cliffs unseen. ”You do not belong with us”, they seemed to be telling her in their vaporous voices, fierce but beautiful.
Ignoring them, the Halfling slowly inched her way over to the shore. She could not see the shore, but she could see those forbidden city lights, off to her left. Struggling along at her strenuous pace, she began to think about the dangers of land.
She had never dared to venture forward, onto the sandy beaches, among the humans. She always listened to her mother’s warnings, after all. But now is not the time to think these thoughts, she told her unruly mind sternly.
Slowly but surely, she made her way over to the lights, beyond the beach. Finally, she reached the sand and sank down into it, breathing heavily. Her mind started to blank out, she wanted sleep. But suddenly blinding, searing pain.
The pain was on her ears, her forearms, the backs of her legs, and her neck. Her nails and toenails even started to tingle. Gasping, she bolted up, then, as a fresh wave of pain ran through her, she staggered back. Back towards the waves.
Splash
She fell among the traitorous waters, and the pain slowly melted away. But instead of feeling relieved, she felt fear. What could she do? The land caused her to suffer, even as much as the ocean. Finally, her mind won dominance over her body, and she started to sink.
Down
Down
And as the sky slowly began to disappear over her head, she started to get lost. Lost. In the swirling vortex in her mind, which was steadily becoming blacker, and blacker. Emptier and emptier the child’s mind got, until there was nothing left.
So she finally gave up and lost herself in the black hole that was her consciousness.
Crash
.*.*.*.*.*
The sky was blue that day, perfect for finding the most colorful and vibrant shells. This is what the Siren girl thought as she swam her way to The Rocks, tall pillars of stone that speared through the waves, reaching all the way up to the sky.
She stopped and stared, fascinated. The Rocks sparkled with millions of colorful shells, but that’s not what caught her attention that day. No, it wasn’t the beautiful shells that reflected into the water, like a liquid rainbow, that caught the Siren’s attention. It was the shimmering cloth caught on one of the lower stones.
At first, she thought it was some kind of mutilated jellyfish, but when she swam closer, she realized it was a bikini. A pink and white one. She stared in open wonder. She had often seen the humans on the beach wearing these, but never up close.
She herself wore some kelp leaves with abalone shells studded throughout the garment, but it was nothing compared to this. Shivering with excitement, she started to look the bikini over. It had a tag on the back that said “Miracle’s of Silk”, and she decided that, not having a name (or, at least, not remembering her name) she would steal Miracle as her own. She had been studying the humans long enough to know how to put the suit on, and when she finally got it on, she swam a lap around The Rocks.
Realizing the bikini wasn’t going to be a problem, Miracle smiled, showing sharp canine teeth. Clothes never felt so good.
.*.*.*.*.*
The water was warm and bright as Miracle swam down to the coral of the ocean floor. There, and only there, was a giant clam. Well, only what was now the top part of a giant clamshell. If you angled it right, you could see you’re complete reflection.
As Miracle swam, she steadied the shell between two shelves of corral, and studied the new bikini. The shimmering pink and white material was in stark contrast to her hair. The silvery- blue stuff ended in soft curls all the way down to her waist.
Her skin was a porcelain that shimmered and glowed with all the colors of a pearly luster. But what always caught her attention were her eyes. They were a deep sky blue and royal violet. And, if one were to look closer, they would also notice the sparkling gold chips immersed in those captivating orbs.
On either side of her head, through her hair, grew two elongated ears that ended in points. Her finger and toenails ended in claws, but not in a demonic way. She had three thin, pale lines that, when swimming, acted as gills. These were on her neck.
And on her forearms, above her ankles, and her back grew fins, to help her maneuver in the deep water.
But even more exotic and beautiful than her appearance was her voice. When she sang, or even talked, the very wind seemed to stop and listen. So that is how fair Miracle spent her time. Singing, collecting the rarest and most beautiful shells, and spying on the humans.
The humans were a never-ending source of fascination. And amusement. Her long ears helped her to hear the conversations going on, so sometimes she felt as if she were one of them. But there was only one type of human that one her undying attention.
The teenage boy.
She was seventeen years old, but not being around other intelligent life as long as she can remember, she didn’t know why she always stared at teenage boys.
An outsider may think she only watched the humans as an amusing pastime, but she knew better. Secretly, (not that there was anyone to tell) she wanted to be one. And she was sure she could, too.
True, she could live and breath in the ocean, but if she was really made to traverse the lonely seas by herself than why did she always feel so lonesome?
She was not a solitary creature by nature, and she refused to change her nature. Yes, she could hear the whispering, and sometimes roaring, music of the waves. But hard as she tried, she could never understand the language.
So, instead of following the oceanic half of her instincts, she listened to the human, the inquisitive, half. Instead of trying to understand the waves, she would eventually try to overcome her sense of fear and venture out into the human world.
And she would do that.
Tonight.
.*.*.*.*.*
The sky was clear as Miracle made her way through the calm, moonlit waters. But it was not The Rocks that she was making her way to. No, it was The Beach. She had tried hundreds upon hundreds of times to face her fears and venture out, but to no avail.
Ironic, how she wasn’t even the slightest bit scared to swim close to the humans in daylight, when they might see her, but she got almost paralyzed by fear when she made her way to the abandoned beach under the cloak of night.
But this time, she would make it. She had to make it.
When Miracle got close enough to shore to touch the sandy bottom, she stood up. She almost fell back down as gravity took control. Trying to steady herself, she stood up straighter.
She found that it was nigh on impossible to breath through her gills, so she tried to breath through her mouth. It felt strange, but it worked.
Miracle took a few cautious steps, than laughed in glee. She could do it! But as she took that final step, pain. On her ears, fins, canines, gills, and claws. But instead of crawling back to the water, she stood her ground.
As the pain intensified, than started to recede, it all came back to her. In little flashing pictures, her memory returned.
Late night swims with her mother and the other sirens, their scales so different from her own skin, flashing through the water. The shocking but some how expected news that she was a Halfling, part Siren, part human. And then, in one painful flash, the memory of that fateful morning. Keesa, now Miracle, was swimming with her mother and the other Sirens when a sudden hurricane tore them apart. Her memories were back, but Miracle felt hollow.
She hadn’t seen, heard of, or even thought of her mother for over ten years, and it left her empty, like a cleaned out snail shell. Reaching up to her ears, she realized that they were rounded like a humans.
Her fins and gills, claws and canines, were now gone. The open air had worked the sudden transformation. And she finally got a chance to make her wish come true, but one thing stood in her way.
She had to find her mother…. Or did she? With a new name, and a new look, (except the silvery blue hair and the large, gold flecked eyes) she might be able to blend in and stand her own in this mysterious new world.
So her choices were this. Either she could walk on land and liver her dream, find true love, and sing her heart out in front of an adoring crowd, or she could forsake all of that and search for the mother she hadn’t seen for so long.
Not taking the time to contemplate her decision, she turned back to the starlit waves and immersed herself. Turning back into a Siren, Miracle left the shore, and her dreams, far behind.
It was time to start a new dream
