Mermaid

Chapter 1

I snuck aboard the ship at night, the only light I had was that of the waning moon. If any sailors found me aboard I was chum, having a girl aboard the ship is bad luck, I don't know why, it just is. I creeped into the cargo hold, my steps light and silent on the creaky boards, any noise and the watchman will know I'm here. I slowly descend into the darkness of the hold, I crawl over the merchandise they already have there. There is always a space at the front of the hold, near the bow of the boat, it's odd shape made it difficult to fit merchandise in there. I holed up there and waited for my journey away from hell to begin.

I've been here for 5 days barely moving, I snuck out once to grab some water and food and nearly got caught. Since that incident I've stayed here, where they are less likely to find me. I daren't make a peep, for fear that the sailors might find me, I'd heard horrible stories of what the sailors did to the women they found aboard, sometimes they kept the women as unwilling whores, sometimes the sailors raped the women then threw them overboard, and sometimes they tied weights to the woman's ankles and tossed her overboard and watched her drown. I don't know if they were exaggerations or if it truly happened because I heard all these tales in the pub I worked at, which sailors and merchants often frequented. The reliability of their tale telling skills is very low, in fact everything they say should be taken with a grain of salt. However I won't take my chances with them.

I don't know how long I sat there in that corner all huddled up shaking, barely sleeping as I feared too much for my life. I must have fallen asleep because I was suddenly jolted awake, as if I was hit by lightning, I could heard shouting but could see nothing. I opened my mouth to scream, but I realized I wore a gag. Suddenly I was disorientated, I could feel blood rushing to my head, my feet felt heavier than normal, my legs felt like they were being stretched to the bottom of the ocean floor. Suddenly I could seen, but all I could see was the ocean, waves licking at the side of the boat, white foam hit the sides , it was then that I realized my fear had come true, I had been found, and was about to be thrown overboard. A thought flitted through my head as I plummeted towards the sea, at least I didn't get raped.

As the frigid ocean embraced me, I opened my eyes, as I looked up and all I could see was a stream of bubbles rising towards the surface. I could see a wavering white light, that i assumed was the moon. I stared at it, letting it give me hope, as my vision slowly darkened, soon there was nothing. My body went slack as the weights hit the ocean floor, my blond hair swirled around me in the currents, my face seemed serene in the ocean, a pale dot on the ocean floor.

A object sped towards the prone body, it's sleek tail resembling that of a fish, it torso that of a human. It's hair was pulled back into an intricate braid, shells helped hold back the loose hairs. The humanoid being picked at the chains holding the woman to the floor of the ocean, and quickly broke them. The creature picked the woman up and sped towards an unknown destination.

I woke up to a horrible pain in my legs, I tried to scream but nothing came out of my mouth besides bubble, that's when I realized I was still underwater. I panicked, I tried to move, but I couldn't, I thrashed about desperate to get out of the water. Suddenly everything went black again, but just before I fell back into the welcoming arms of unconsciousness I saw a blurry shape rushing, or was it swimming, towards me.

As I came back around I looked around me in a daze, I wasn't freaking out anymore, in fact I was way to relaxed for this to be normal. I seemed to be in a underwater cave, I could see everything, but I couldn't see any light source, everything was in a grayscale. The cavern seemed to have been worked by human hands, the walls were smooths, and there seemed to be shelves that have been carved into the walls. Old-glass bottles filled the shelves, they seemed to be filled with liquids, how did they get liquids down here? A figure swam into the cave, as it got closer I could see that the bottom half of the creature was fish, and the top half a beautiful woman. My eyes widen as I realized that this was a mermaid. I opened my mouth to ask her what she wanted with me, she raised her hand to silence me, and pointed to her head.

Use your mind to talk, it is much less tiring. I heard a melodic voice say in my head, I started to freak out thinking that I had gone crazy. No, you are not crazy, and please refrain from broadcasting your thoughts. I realized that the voice I was hearing was the voice of the mermaid in front of me.

How do I refrain from broadcasting my thoughts? I asked her, I couldn't imagine that there was a simple solution to this problem.

Just imagine a wall surrounding your thoughts, and only let certain things through. Her mellifluous voice guided me through creating this "wall" and blocking my thoughts from others.

I closed my eyes and thought of bricks slowly piling around my mind, I left a door in the wall to allow thoughts in and out, and filled in the cracks left by the bricks. Once I felt the wall was complete, I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the mermaid in front of me inquisitively. She nodded in approval and mind-speeched me, I can't hear your thoughts anymore. I smiled in accomplishment, I'm glad I could finally do something right.