When I reached him, we were mere feet from the surface. His body was light as I grabbed him and pulled him down to my rocky cave. I put him on a mossy pile of rocks near the hot spring and tied rocks to his wrist to keep him from floating away.
He had a look of panic frozen on his face, and it made me feel even worse for not trying to save him faster. If secrecy hadn’t been my top priority, this boy would still be with his lady friend. I was a really awful person.
I rummaged about my cavern and found some kelp sheets that I used as blankets. I wrapped him in the sheet and put a moss bundle under his head as a pillow. Then I went to my chest and pulled out a seashell bra.
Most times I wore a top made of discarded cloth. I didn’t need to wear anything more structured because of my solitary lifestyle, but when I went to council meeting I needed to wear standard mermaid attire.
While thinking of attire I realised, that I should probably get the boy out of his. The transition is very painful in trousers, or so I’m told. I unwrapped him from his kelp bundle and looked for the buttons on his cossie. I found no buttons, but I did find a zipper. I stripped him of his oddly rubbery cossie and wrapped him back up.
After a four days of peace, I heard a stir from the boy who had drowned. I swam over to him and sat down beside him. His eyes started moving around in their now lidless sockets and his gills fluttered. He sat up and looked around in a panic. Then he saw me and screamed.
“Well ya didn’t have to scare away every fish on the eastern seaboard.” I told him. He backed against the wall, noticing his own tail for the first time. He screamed again. “Thats quite enough of that now. What’s your name?” I asked. He looked very confused
“I don’t know. It was Drew, but that doesn’t seem right.” He admitted. I sighed, I remember waking up this confused, only I didn’t have anyone to help me.
“Thats how I was too. Can ya tell me your favorite city?” I questioned. I had swam in circles for days after waking up, not being able to remember myself. It took at least a week for a mermatron to find me and help me identify myself. The first thing she asked me about my favorite animal, so I was asking for a favorite of Drew’s to help him.
“Terrytown, New York. It was were my grandmother lived.” He said, a sad smile on his face.
“Ok, let’s call ya Terry then. New body, new beginning, new name. Cool tail you got, can you name the fish it is from?” I inquired.
“Its a blue shark tail. I don’t know how I know that, but I’m totally sure. How come you don’t have the tail of a real fish?” He asked me. I shrugged.
“Mermaids just don’t get regular tails. Only mermen and mermatrons get those. You will meet some of them at the council meeting tomorrow.” I told him. He settled down on the couch like structure he had awakened on.
“There is a council of merpeople? If there are enough of you, of us, to have council, how come you haven’t been discovered?” He asked.
“I don’t know about today, but in my day, nobody was looking. Also, if a mermatron or merman gets hooked, they can turn into a fish to escape exposure. Mermaids revert to women without any memories of their lives.” I told him. I told him to hold his question while i fetched him something. I went back into my room and grabbed the tunic I had been working on. “Try this on, I made it for you while you were asleep.” I told him when i reentered the room.
He pulled it on and it fit perfectly. It was woven sea grass on the sides and straps, but the front and back panels were blue seaglass held together by heat hardened clay. He looked fit for council. I had him slip it back off and i hung placed on a rock, out of the way. When I turned back to him he looked like he had another question on the tip of his tongue.
“How old are you and where are you from?” He asked.
“Well I drowned right near here in 1922. My old house was right up on the cliff above us.” I told him. His eyes widened.
“Are we near where I drowned? If so, is your name Sarah Eastwood?” He asked. I was taken aback. That was my old name, not that I knew it until now, but that was it. I gasped.
“It was. Since I drowned I’ve been called Maple by the other merpeople.” I told him. He smiled.
“My girlfriends last name is Eastwood! Her great grandmother's sister drowned in 27’!” He said, excitement. His excitement ended when he realised that his girlfriend thought he was dead.
“Terry, she can’t know where you are. It is the number one law of the sea. If you interact with anyone from your old life, they will kill you.” I told him. He looked lifeless. I swam closer to him and embraced him. He just sat there, staring past me. If we hadn’t been underwater, I know he would have been crying.
