The Gift and Curse of Lillian Rose

Chapter 1

I woke up to the sound of beeping. I opened my eyes to see a flash of flourescent light above me. Squinting, I sat up. I was in the hospital, a machine next to my bed, an IV in my arm. I didn't remember anything at all...the last thing I do was going underwater. I heard footsteps, and soon my mother was standing before me, hugging me tightly. 

"Lillian! You're awake!" She said joyusly. "You scared me to death!" She said, still hugging me. She was muttering something about ocean waters and sueing. 

"What happened?" I asked, pulling away from my mothers death grip. I heard another beep, and felt annoyed. I didn't want to be here in this hospital hooked up to annoying machines that wouldn't shut up, and I definitely did not want to have something poking out of my arm. 

"You were drowning, sweetheart." She said, tears forming in her eyes. "I swear, we tried to get you into swimming lessons..." She said, letting her voice trail off. 

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, I wasn't drowning. There was something in the water that grabbed me!" I said, getting even more annoyed. 

"Sweetheart, that's all in your head. Your friend Katie said she was talking to you while you were swimming and you started drowning." She said, looking at me. 

I rolled my eyes. "I know what I saw!" I said, getting mad now. 

"You're lucky that nice lifeguard was able to swim out to you in time and save you," She said. I was confused. What lifeguard? I asked myself. 

"Who?" I asked. "I don't remember anything about a lifeguard.." I said, and the machine beeped again. "Mom, can we go home now?" I asked. 

She shook her head. "No, sweetie. You're getting tested, apparently you were bit by something," she said. "You have to stay here for another one or two days," she said. 

I sighed and fell back onto my pillows. Great, I get to have doctors poke around me for another day or so.

My mother decided to leave me alone, which I was finally relieved that she had. The nurse knocked on my door a little later on.

"There are some people here to see you," she said and asked if they could come in.

"Yes, send them in." I said, adjusted my pillows. Katie came inside and threw her arms around me. 

"Lily! You're alive!" She said, hugging me so tight it was worse than my mother. 

"Yes, I'm alive. Now get off before one of my lungs burst," I said. She let go and then that's when I saw him. I didn't recognize him at all. He had chestnut brown hair and these Carmel colored eyes that were really pretty, especially for a boy. I felt myself instantly flush red as he approached my bed. He smiled, and it made me flush even more. 

"Lily, right?" He asked. I was disappointed to see that he questioned my name. I nodded. He continued on. "I just wanted to see if you were okay..you were already unconscious when I got you out of the water." He said. 

"Uh, I'm really sorry. But I don't remember ANYTHING." I said, feeling bad. How could anyone forget someone as attractive as him? I thought to myself. 

"I'm Alek." he said. I smiled at him. 

"Nice to meet you...in the correct way, Alek." I said. The redness in my face had dyed down by now, and I could see Katie smirking out of the corner of my eye. 

"Well, I'm glad you're alright." Alek said and was turning towards the door. 

"Thanks for coming.." I said kind of quietly. I obviously said it too quiet, because he didn't say anything else to me. Instead to turned to Katie. 

"I'll see you at seven?" He asked and smiled at her. WHAT?! She started giggling and smiling. "Bye." He said to her and then to me. When he was gone, she couldn't stop smiling. She didn't say anything to me, and after a while I said,

"What was that all about?" She looked at me, still smiling. 

"He asked me out!" She said. That didn't surprise me, she got asked out by guys every other week...but they didn't last long. Usually Katie and whoever the guy is just go out and never speak to eachother again. Which I think is rather stupid. When you go out with someone, you're supposed to actually like the person, not have just a one night thing. 

"Oh, congrats." I didn't really know what else to say...I mean, I didn't want to admit it, but I was kind of jealous. Katie continued to giggle and smile as if she were some six year old, and I was actually grateful when the doctor came into my room to check in on me. Katie turned to me when she had reached the door.

"I'll see you later, Lils!" She said waving and exiting the room. When she was gone, the doctor was still checking off things on his clipboard. After what felt like hours, he set the clipboard down. 

"Well, Lillian," he said. "You seem to be very lucky. If you had stayed underwater for more than another second, you might have died." He said seriously. That's what I hated about doctors, they were always so serious. "Did something else happen underwater? Anything else you can remember at all?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I really don't remember anything at all, doctor." I said. "Why..? Is there, something that I should know?" I asked a little worriedly. 

"Well, Lillian," he said and sighed. "We may think you've been bitten by something that might affect your life from now on.." He said even more seriously than before. 

I became even more worried. I bit my lip. "W-what is it?" I asked and swallowed, bracing myself for whatever he was going to say next.

"A mermaid." 

A/N: Sorry this took me so long to upload, I've been busy the last few days...if there are any errors, please tell me! Enjoy. (: