A Mermaid's Tale (Re-writing)

Chapter One

“Kate! Don’t run off without us sweetheart!” called Kate’s mother, Brenda, she was searching for her phone in her large handbag, her long blonde hair was hanging over her face and her charcoal eyes were becoming more angry as the frustration grew in her because she couldn't find her phone. Her husband Jake was helping her look for it, he had short chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes. It was a hot summer’s day in the middle of July. The Summerland family was spending a day in their home town Buffalo. Brenda, Jake, Kate and Kate’s older sister Allison- who was eleven years old, and had short brunette hair and hazel eyes and whom was the spitting image of her father- were all out at Lake Buffalo. Allison was gazing up at the lighthouse in admiration.

   Kate, as the free spirit she was, ran out to the edge and gazed down into the lake with her teddy bear in one arm, and began giggling at her own reflection. She was only six years old, she tended not to listen to what her parents told her, she didn't see the harm in just looking into the lake. Then something caught her eye, a young boy appeared in the water, he was gazing up at her. She moved a strand of her long blonde hair out of her face, she squinted with her charcoal eyes to see if she was seeing this right. The young boy looked like he had never seen another person before. Kate couldn't keep her eyes off him, and neither could the boy to her. His long black hair was flowing with the small waves, he was wearing no shirt, his eyes were as blue as the ocean, with the sharp waves crashing against the shore and as clear as a cloudless summers day, they were an awful shade of blue, they may have been clear and defiantly unique but they were almost the same colour as his eye ball.

   After minutes of gazing at each other, suddenly the little boy’s hand reached out, his arm which was as pale as a sheet of paper, grabbed onto Kate’s arm, his touch was as cold as a block of ice. He pulled her down into the lake, she screamed and dropped her teddy. The little boy was dragging her down into the lake. She tried kicking free but the little boy continued pulling her. When she looked down at him she saw a long green fin flapping, the boy was a merman. His grip became tighter as she continued to struggle. Kate continued to scream and began losing her breath more quickly. The merman hissed in frustration.

   Suddenly someone else grabbed onto Kate’s other arm, she looked up and saw her father holding and trying to pull her up before she lost consciousness. He managed to yank her free from the merman’s grip. Her father examined the young boy, he saw this fin and knew he had to get away. He swam up with Kate and as they got to the surface he was about to swim to the shore with his daughter. Until something grabbed onto his ankle, he looked down and saw the merman yanking him down. His face was crinkled up and grew long sharp teeth from his fangs and his eyes had transformed into a clear white. The merman was yanking so hard it made the bones in Jake’s ankle snap out of place, as soon as he felt his bones crack he began screaming. Kate’s mother ran into the lake leaving Allison by the lighthouse, she grabbed Kate and held her to her chest. She saw Jake being dragged down into the lake, she screamed and began crying. She held Kate at arm’s length and locked eyes with her, her eyes full of desperation and panic, “Swim to shore, I’ll be back with your father.” She pushed Kate towards the shore and swam down to find Jake and save him.

Kate swam to shore and cuddled her older sister and sat on the grass and waited for their parents to come back. Day turned into night, they sat and waited for hours. Did nothing but wait and wait…and wait. Their parents never came back.