Week 7 Storytelling: True and Blue as the Sea

(Merman by Tenuki Handcrafts)

The sea was my escape.

The waves of the ocean took my salty tears, and washed them all away.

It was also where I found my treasures.

I found my first treasure, a green sea glass, when I was five. Each time I went to the sea, there was something beautiful there for me.

I first stored them in a shoebox, but as I grew over twelve years, the box became a chest in my room, holding my countless sea treasures.

When I was younger I imagined that mermaids put my treasures there. I talked to them sometimes, and I told them my name: Terra.

I still spoke to them sometimes.

One day I approached the sea, but there was no treasure waiting for me. I frowned, but I suddenly saw a glimmer of shining silver of a tail that looked like the tail of a dolphin.

I sat in shock, as I saw a flash of a boy’s face and then a human arm tossing a bottle cap to me.

“Wait!” I cried out, but as soon as I saw him, he was gone.

 The inside of the bottle cap said, “Happiness is on the horizon.”

I wondered if I was going crazy. Had a boy in the sea really given it to me?

***

The next day, when I reached the shore, I found a pearl lying on the sand.

“Are you there?” I called out softer, but then repeated louder.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I hoped that he was real, I needed him to be real. “Please! I just want to know I’m not crazy...”

“Don’t cry,” a voice called out.

I looked up, and saw the same boy, swimming in the water. If he had a tail I couldn’t see it.

He had a sun-kissed tan with many red tattoos and his right arm was covered with a sleeve of black tattoos. He had wild black hair that fell in tangles around his face, and chocolate brown eyes.

“Why did you throw me the bottle cap?”

He waded in the waters. He smiled with lips that looked like they would be soft to the touch. “To cheer you up.”

“Thank you…”

“You’re welcome,” He turned as if to swim into the depths of the ocean. “But, I must go.”

“But, you just got here!”

He turned around. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I promise.”

“Wait! Your name?”

“Kai!” He shouted, and dove into the ocean. Behind him his silver tail rose into the air and back down.

***

The next day I went to I went to the sea at the same time, and waited for Kai.

Not long after, he popped up from the water, smiling brighter than the sun that shone behind him.

He held something in his hand as he swam closer to me. “Hey, I got this for you!”

He swam closer and closer to the shoreline, exposing that his top half was muscular and well-defined. But where his hips were the long fish tail started. The scales on the tail shined like loose change.

“Wow,” I said and I didn’t really mean to.

“I know I’m freakish. I can go--”

“No! Please don’t go, I…” I like you a lot, but the words died somewhere in my throat.

He smiled, and held his hand out. There was a locket in his hand. It was beautiful, made of a small clam, and the chain was made of small sea shells.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Like you…” He said softly, and sheepishly grinned.

I felt my cheeks warm.

“Here, I’ll put it on,” he said, and  as he put it on, each time his fingers accidentally touched my neck, I felt a warmth radiate through my body.

I turned back around, and we were too close together, but neither of us moved.

“I love it,” I whispered.

“Do you love my other treasures? All of them?”

“You mean, all this time it was you?”

“Yeah. I saw you the first time I went to the shore. You were much smaller then and so was I,” he explained. “You looked so sad, so I gave you one of my treasures. You looked so happy, so I did it every time since.”

“I have loved every one of them. I have them all,” I told them. “They’re up in my room, we can go--” I clasped my hand over my mouth.

“No, there is a way,” he said. “Under tonight’s Full Moon, there’s a chance that I can turn human. But there is another chance that I won’t make it through the night…”

“No!” I shouted. “You can’t!”

“Terra, I have watched you all of these years. I listened to every word. I dreamed of this day that I could reply to you.”

“But we just met--“

“No, we’ve known each other for years, you just didn’t know it.” He smiled. “Before we officially met, I was going to do the ritual anyway.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“Come back tonight,” he said, and before I could say anything, he dove into the ocean, and disappeared.

***

When I returned, the moon was full and reflected on the waters around him.

“Just in case,” he said, and he pressed his lips to mine into a kiss.

He pulled away from me, put his arms in the air, and shouted in a foreign language.
 The water started to bubble around him.

His eyes watered. “I love you, Terra, don’t forget.”

There were so many bubbles around him, and I was reminded of the real ending of The Little Mermaid, when she turned to sea foam. I cried out as he disappeared into the waves.

I ran into the waves and an undertow took me under.

When I opened my eyes I saw it was no undertow. It was Kai. He had pulled me with his arms, and was swimming with legs.

We swam up to the surface, hugging me against him.

“It worked!” I cheered.

“Yes, Terra. As true and blue as the sea, don’t you see? We are meant to be.”

Just one thing: how was I going to hide my newly-human boyfriend in my room?

THE END
(for now.)

Authors Note:
Sorry it it felt like it ended abruptly, or the plot moved too fast! I was running out of words (our max is 1,000!) It was quite challenging to keep such a big story contained in 1,000 words.

I was inspired by all of the merpeople that were in the Japanese Mythology that I read this week. (I was surprised by how many!) There wasn’t exactly a story with a romance like this in the myths. I took my own artistic liberties with that.

This was my first time writing about a merman, or merpeople for that matter, and it was really fun! There are so many mermaid stories, so I thought, how perfect for a Young Adult Romance with a merman! (If this is your first time reading one of my stories: I love writing Young Adult! I usually write about vampires or faeries, but I love all mystical creatures--inlcuding merpeople!)

Also, this time I tried to make a story that had an actual happy ending for once. I tend to write dark, bittersweet stories, but it’s good to have a sweet and happy ending sometimes!

Not only is it a happy ending, but an ending that is making me think of all the cute things that will happen. The antics of hiding her boyfriend in her room, having to buy him clothes, and adjusting him to human society. I wonder if her family would be supportive?

So many possibilities, and I just love Kai and Terra, so you may see a sequel to this one soon! (I hoped you guys liked them too!)