One sunny morning a young girl and her father went fishing. They always went fishing together, while the girl’s father waited for fish to bite, they would look at the clouds to make shapes out of them. The girl was looking at the ocean when she suddenly saw something under the surface. It looked like a fish, but with a very long tail, “Daddy,” she asked, “Did you see that?"
“See what, sweetheart?” She looked back but the thing was gone,
“It’s gone, or maybe it was just my imagination.” Just then, black storm clouds swam through the sky. Lightning struck the ocean’s surface. The fishing boat rocked this way and that, the girl was flung all around the boat and her father was bellowing her name, but it was muffled under the crashing of the waves and the clashing of the lightning. All of a sudden a large wave crashed into the boat and the girl’s body was catapulted over 20 feet into the air, looking down at the terrifying nightmare, “DADDY!” she shrieked. Then her life was flashing before her eyes. She was a baby, being cradled in her Mummy’s arms. FLASH. She was learning how to ride a bike, her Mummy pushing her from behind, “Don’t let go Mummy!” FLASH. She and Father were visiting Mummy in the hospital, “I’ll be alright sweetheart.” Mummy says, but she gave Father a sad look when she thought her daughter wasn’t looking. That was when Father first started calling her sweetheart. FLASH. “Let’s go fishing sweetheart!” Father says,
“But daddy, fishing’s boring and smelly” The girl moaned,
“Come on, maybe you’ll see a mermaid!” FLASH. With a sudden thought the girl was pulled back to the present, a mermaid! That’s what that thing was! A mermaid! Then she realised she was falling, and started screaming. She plummeted into the ocean and started flailing her arms around to try to find the surface, her eyes glued shut. She was running out of breath. Arms grabbed for her then, wrapping around her waist. Her eyes trying to open but the salty water stung her eyes. She couldn’t feel her legs or feet, her lungs ached. Warm, unfamiliar lips pressed against hers, blowing sweet air into her lungs and she sucked in gleefully. Her eyes opened a fracture when the lips and arms pulled away; she saw a blurry outline of a blue fish tail with large flippers swimming away. A large crash sounded above her, which indicated her father diving into the water to rescue her, about time too. His strong arms grabbed her hips and yanked her up towards the surface, they eventually broke through and instinctively she gulped in air. Her father then started swimming towards the strangely close shore, closer then when she fell in anyway. She would help kick her legs but she couldn’t move them, she couldn’t even feel them. Everything is cold. And that is the last thought she remembered.
