Daughter of the Tide

It Must Be a Mermaid

"A lonely mermaid took the time

To stare across the sea

Just hoping to find a shining star

That might set her heart so free

A lonely mermaid fell asleep

On the beach when she found peace

For the heavens sent to her

A dream for her to keep."

~~~

There was something about the water that never failed to send me into a trance of peace and freedom. When I was younger, after I'd overcome my fear of falling in and drowning, I used to sit on the shore and simply watch it. Watching the waves became my favorite past time. And as Ryan and I lay on the dock on a rare sunny afternoon in Bernig, I remembered why I loved it so much.

We'd decided not to tell anyone about what we'd seen in the water. For all we knew, it was just a big fish and our imaginations were getting the best of us. So instead, we took one of his mother's old Polaroid cameras, worn with age, and waiting at the dock's edge for something to happen. If we had proof before we told someone about it, they were more likely to believe us.

I was letting the sea's gentle tune wash over me as we warmed in the sun when Ryan sat up suddenly. I opened my eyes, shielding them from the sunlight. He held up the camera and looked through it.

"Smile," he said. I sat up quickly and reach for it, making him squirm out of my reach.

"No, Ryan," I grumbled, "I don't want my picture taken."

"Come on!" he begged, "when we're old, we can look back at it and remember that summer we spent hunting for a giant fish." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"You mean the summer we wasted waiting for something that isn't coming back?" I corrected him. "We're lucky my father hasn't yelled at us for being so close to the water." Ryan lowered the camera and looked at me.

"Whatever was in the water threw a rock at us," he reminded me, "I think it's worth the time. Maybe we should throw another rock?"

"Maybe we should tell our fathers that we saw a big fish... it may be the thing eating all of the other fish," I told him. Ryan shifted, crossing his legs and setting the camera in his lap.

"They'll just think it was a shark or something and then the whole town will be panicking," he shook his head.

"They know that sharks don't come this close to shore," I dismissed his claim.

"Neither do giant fish," he grimaced, holding the camera up again and pointing it at the water as if it would show him things that he couldn't see with his normal eyesight.

"Do you think they're finished with Polly's shop yet?" I asked him, changing the subject. It took a day after the appearance of Hans and Harper before things started to change in Bernig. Polly's Ice Cream Shoppe was being painted a bright, pastel pink that contrasted greatly against the grey of the town. It'd been at least four days worth of painting and Ryan was worried that it'd still be closed on his birthday, which was two days away.

"They better be," he pouted, lowering the camera and looking at me. "All I wanted was some good hang out time at Polly's... I can't believe she sold her shop."