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Sirena

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Chapter 1: The Thing In The Water

Then you say: ‘Swim to me. Swim to me, let me enfold you.’

~ Tim Buckley, ‘Song of the Siren’

For most people, there are certain elements of the supernatural world that cannot possibly exist. Like vampires, werewolves, even witches. It is certainly no different when it comes to the mysterious case of mermaids. Half woman, half fish? Impossible. And yet, there are things in our Universe that cannot be explained away by Science and Logic. This was certainly the case when Lauren Viviane MacDonald (whom her friends called Viv for short) had her very first encounter with the realms of the supernatural and still lived to tell the tale.

It was a balmy, summer’s night in Santa Monica near the Third Street Promenade and Viv was drunk off her head. She stumbled as if on stilts across the white sand of Santa Monica State Beach, a half-consumed bottle of vodka clutched possessively in her right hand. She’d been at a house party on the beachfront just 20 minutes before. She’d also left abruptly in the middle of a spirited game of beer pong when she’d caught her ex-girlfriend making out with her new bae right in front of her. They’d broken up months ago and Viv had moved on since then. So it really shouldn’t have mattered who her ex was kissing now. And yet, the sight of the two women locking lips in a public place had caused Viv’s insides to twist with unexpected agony and sudden loneliness.

So she’d quit the party and walked several metres towards the waterfront. The pier was eerily quiet in the absence of any person roaming the wooden platform save for Viv. She’d initially wanted to go for a night’s swim like in days of old, but there were some lines that even Viv couldn’t make herself cross, especially when she was inebriated. So she took to gazing at the starry night overhead and taking regular swigs from the bottle of vodka she’d swiped from the party. The water lolled and rolled in a lazy stupor against the wooden platform, which numbed Viv’s senses even further.

She sighed and ran a hand through the silken strands of her mid-back, raven black hair. She gazed up at the full moon, that bright, elusive ball which emanated its own romantic mystery. “Oh, moon,” Viv whispered, her vision slipping in and out of focus while she tried her best to concentrate. “My life is so boring. I need something…magical to happen.”

A white cloud enveloped the moon and banished it completely. And with that came the soft plop of water shifting in close proximity to Viv. The drunken girl turned her attention towards the source of the noise and gave a start. There was something moving in the water. Viv placed her half-empty bottle of liquor at her feet and squinted in concentration. She caught sight of a large scaly tail glittering and rising above the dark surface of the water.

At first, Viv thought that fishy tail reminded her of a whale. And yet, it was unheard of for whales to be spotted so close to the shore at this particular beach. What could it be? Just when Viv thought her night couldn’t get any stranger, the fish tail disappeared beneath the waves and the face and shoulders of a pale, slender woman emerged from the depths of the sea in its place.

“What the hell?”

In her abstraction, Viv moved forward and her foot got caught on a rotten wooden plank. Part of the platform gave way beneath her and she was soon falling through a massive hole in the pier into the cold, briny sea.

The water claimed her in an instant and dragged her down. If Viv had been sober, she could’ve kicked out her legs and swum back to the shore in a matter of minutes. But because of the alcohol flowing through her veins and her confusion over what she’d just seen, her feeble feet moved like heavy steel through the seaweed which shrouded her whole body. That green creature clawed at her clothes and mocha skin; it refused to let her go as the salt, briny water engulfed her lungs and dragged her further down.

Viv had swum so often in the ocean over time that she’d forgotten the elusive dangers of that swift, blue tyrant. But as the water entered every orifice of her body and the faint glimmer of the woeful moon above was the only thing she could now see, Viv realised with overwhelming terror that she was about to die.

Her body went limp and her hazel-green eyes closed as she moved swiftly down to the depths to meet her Maker…

…

The water shook and tiny fish in the near vicinity scattered in fright as a figure dove and swam towards Viv’s descending body. Two strong, sinewy arms wrapped around the young woman’s limp figure and pulled her up again. The seaweed fell away in ribbons from Viv’s feet and it wasn’t long before her head broke through the surface of the water. Her savior moved like silk through the seawater, dipping and diving through the waves.

Viv’s body fell with a soft thud onto the wet sand and pale hands moved over her chest to dislodge water that had made a home in her lungs. With one final push, Viv was roused from unconsciousness with raspy breaths rattling through her chest. Every cough exiting her body scratched painfully at her scarred throat, but she was miraculously alive.

As Viv’s eyes opened and adjusted to the darkness, she took in the sight of a figure standing directly above her. She gave a start when she realized that it was a young woman and she was stark naked. Viv was struck by the woman’s hair, a shimmering, coppery curtain which hung just below her shoulders. She stared down at Viv with an unfathomable expression on her face, which looked as if it had been carved out of marble. Her eyes were an enigmatic, bluish-grey, like that of the ocean beyond them. Viv couldn’t take her eyes off of this strange creature who had just saved her life.

“Who...what?” Viv stammered nonsensically, struggling to focus on the woman in front of her. Her eyes closed and she lapsed into unconsciousness once more.

When she awoke later, the sun had risen and her best friend, Wendy Jung, was kneeling over her and shaking her shoulders. “Viv, are you ok?! Oh my God, what were you thinking swimming in the sea when you were drunk?! Have you completely lost your mind?!”

Another man knelt in the sand next to Wendy and checked Viv’s pulse on her left hand which had a white birthmark on it shaped like a star. He was dressed in swimming trunks and wore some kind of sash around his bare chest. Viv’s befuddled mind asserted that he must be a life guard.

“Ma’am, how many fingers am I holding up?” the man asked in a brisk tone.

“My body may be waterlogged, but I’m not an idiot. You’re holding up four fingers.” Viv tried to sit up.

“You are an idiot, Lauren Viviane MacDonald. You could’ve been brain dead!” Wendy’s fingers traced impatient lines over her friend’s face to check for any signs of damage.

“I’m fine, Wendy, stop fussing,” Viv chided, her chest feeling like it had been punched and beaten into a pulp. “I accidentally fell in, but it was alright because someone-”

Viv stopped short and Wendy and the lifeguard waited patiently for her to continue. But try as she might, she couldn’t remember what she was about to say. Flashes of greyish-blue eyes swam through her memory, the only thing which attached itself to her cognitive processes. The rest of her recollection was a miserable, blurry spot of vagueness inside her head.

“Someone? Who?” Wendy pressed when it looked like Viv wouldn’t answer.

Viv clutched the side of her face, her head feeling dizzy. “I don’t know,” she finally whispered.

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