The Mermaid Man and Me, His Mermaid Mate

The Mermaid Man and Me, His Mermaid Mate - Prologue

Prologue

I was a child when I first met the thing that would be my curse.

It was sunny just like today and I was sitting with my Mum and Dad on the beach building sandcastles. I wore a pink sunbathing suit and my Mum had slathered me in sunscreen and stuck a hat on my head to protect me from the sun. The sand scratched at my skin as I built a sandcastle while my Mum and Dad talked and laughed together.

"Darling, why don't you go collect some shells to stick on your lovely sandcastles?" My Mum said, her brillaint smile on me.

I nodded and ventured off around a small area of the beach with my sandcastle bucket, always staying in sight. I picked lots and lots of pretty shells and pebbels for my sandcastles. I liked anything sparkley.

I remember walking, and picking stones and shells up, and walking more. I didn't realise how far I ventured till I rounded a corner and looked down. There was large rocks with water falling around them and back into a circle of water that split back into the sea. I was compelled to investigate.

Slowly, I stepped down each rock carefully. I bit my lip concentrating.

"There must be lots of pretty shells down here," I said to myself as I climbed down another rock.

When I got to the bottom of the rocks, I slid down on my belly and looked into the pool of water, my eyes searching for anything shiny.

Suddenly I saw a flash of black scales that had a shimmering effect to them. I gasped and pulled myself back.

What was that?, I wondered to myself. Possibly a big fish?

I shook my head and looked back in the water. I saw my reflection at first. My dark grey eyes looked bewildered into the pool. My blonde hair had light curls that curled down to my shoulder blades. I had a small nose, lips the colour of a dusk rose, and plump rounded cheeks brushed with dark pink from the heat.

As I stared deeper into the pool, I noticed exactly how deep it was. The part I was looking over was so deep I couldn't even see the bottom. But when I looked at other parts of the pool, I could see shiny pebbles and starfish and small groups of fish swimming around.

I looked back down into the part I couldn't see the bottom of and noticed how two blue diamonds started creeping up. No, not diamonds... Eyes.

I couldn't stop staring. Those eyes were so bright and shiny and had a metallic hint to them. The were so beautiful and compelling.

A man's face popped up out of the water. His hair was no longer than an inch. His eyes were fringed with long thick lashes. His cheekbones were sharp and carved to perfection. His nose was long and thin. His lips were thin, the bottom lip a tiny bit bigger. But what really drew me was the fact that this man had a tail. A tail with scales just like the big fish that swam by.

"Wow!" My voice was full of wonder and excited. "I knew you were real! Mummy said you were just stories, but I knew you were real!"

"How could you possibly..." The merman trailed off and studied me. "How old are you?"

"I'm six, how old are you?" I countered.

He gave me a stern look. "I am much, much older than you are."

"Will you help me look for shells?" I asked him, confidently.

"What?" He looked surprised at what I said.

I pulled a few shells and pebbles out of my bucket. "Shells. I made a sandcastle and I'm going to add shells on to make them look pretty."

"Err..." He didn't quite know what to say.