Sea of Tears

I am Pearl, my dear mother gave me that name. She named me after the most precious stone under the sea.

"You are lovely as pearls, darling," she always claims.

I just don't know where she got the idea of comparing me to pearls. I don't look like one. I'm not round like pearls. I maybe pail, like every Mer people do, but not as white as its surface.

I've got that golden-yellow hair, like the glow casts by the sun, a big bright ball hangs above the sea. My eyes are blue, like the color of the sky, where creatures with wings called birds fly, and soft-like white things called clouds drift by.

My mother often tells me that I've got the most beautiful tail of all our kind, everytime she sees me shining up my bright red tail with a bit of gold. That's according to her. She's my mother, of course. What else do you expect?

But I didn't find myself so special. Sometimes I wished to have red hair instead of gold; or sea-green eyes instead of sky-blue; or silver tail instead of red. I even wished to become a completely different creature, like dolphin, a bird, a ship, or a human.

Humans... They are beautiful. Those creatures with a pair of what they called legs, that let them walk and run on the dry lands.

How did I know that?

My older sisters told me stories about those creatures. Merpeople have this tradition that when mermaids have reached their 16th birthday, they would be allowed to come out the surface of the ocean and would have the chance to observe the humans, and among our family, I am the only one left who haven't experienced it.

Yes, we can come out of the water just to observe them and never to appear, never to communicate and never to show any hint of our existence to the human eyes.

We were strictly told by our parents, and our parents' parents, and all our ancestors not to deal with the human, because behind those innocent faces are demons whom may mercilessly hurt, or even kill us.

"Smile, my loveliest Pearl," mother says in a singsong voice while combing my golden hair. "Tomorrow's going to be your 16th birthday and you can finally see the distant lands, far above our kingdom."

I didn't know what's so exciting about going out the surface, but I've waited for this day. I didn't know what to expect. I just relied on my sisters' story about it, and tomorrow, it would be my turn to do it.

So my 16th birthday had come. My mother woke me up so early in the morning, pinned tiny pearls and arranged it like a crown on the top of my head, helped me shine up my tail, gave me a necklace made of colorful seashells and sea glasses, and clasped it around my neck.

"Why do I need to wear these?" I asked mother while looking at my reflection. "Ouch!" I winced when she pulled a single strand of my hair sticking out of the pins.

"Because you are attending the coming of age ceremony, and you are the only one who will be turning 16 today. You should look a lot more beautiful at this time," mother replied, still doing my hair.

I just responded with an exasperated sigh. She continued rifling through her endless collections of jars and bottles while humming until she found what she needed.

"Just one final touch, and you're good to go," she announced and opened a jar containing a glittery substance. She applied the substance all over me that made me glow in the dark, then she examined me from head to tail for the hundredth time and gave a satisfying smile.

After a long preparation, we finally left and headed to the ceremonial dome where the other merpeople have come to witness my coming of age. When we arrived at the dome, the seven elders of our kind were already taking their place in the center of the crowd. I saw my friends who just recently turned 16, their parents and the rest of the merpeople, who acknowledged me with appreciative smiles.