I’ve always known and believed in my heart of hearts that Mermaids are real, that they’re not just some fairytale creatures in storybooks. These sea mammals rumoured to be half fish, half human has been cast over the centuries as either good or evil, depending on the one telling the story. Some believe Mermaids are ungodly, an abomination to nature, descendants of the survivors from the great flood during Noah’s time.

It is believed that those who did not drown, were genetically transformed into these creatures as a curse for their sins. Others believe Mermaids are bloodsuckers who prey on the lust of men, enticing them with their irresistible beauty. While some cultures believe that these sea creatures are an aberration, cursed to live within the depths of the oceans, other cultures see them as holy and pure beings in possession of great power and unmeasurable wealth.

Good or evil, I wasn’t sure what Mermaids were, except for the fact that they exist, though deep in the shadowy nooks of our water bodies. I never thought a day would come when I’d set eyes on one, and that day took me by surprise. It wasn’t a hallucination, neither was it one of my momentary episodes of vast illusions nor was it my imagination. No, this was as real as the pen I hold in my hand this instant. I’d had a little too much to drink, but this wasn’t the alcohol making me see things or playing tricks on me. I knew what I saw at the seashore that night.

It was the 15th of September, 1989. I was in my tent that night, after a bonfire party with my friends, the boys sure knew how to make a noise, probably because we were in the woods, leagues away from civilization. The music was loud, and so were our terrible voices as we sang along. Jeremy and his ex-girlfriend, Bethany were the chief pioneers of this outing. Melissa was the crazy one, the loudest of us all, she was never on the same page with anyone, not even her boyfriend, Matt who ironically was the most quiet of us. We’d often wondered how those two got along given that they were the exact opposite of each other. But they were a good match, Matt knew how to control that narcissistic, overbearing, and neurotic girlfriend of his and she was good at getting on his nerves.

Melissa was acting crazy, completely drunk, and had almost puked on Jason, Jeremy’s brother when my sister, Amy tripped over a twig and bumped in the way receiving a full load of Melissa’s vomit on her V-necked milk-coloured sweater. We all expected Amy to flame up as she was quick to anger, but instead, she took off the sweater, refilled her cup with more whisky, and turned up the music. We danced that night until sleep gradually slipped into our eyes, one by one.

It was a couple of minutes past midnight when I woke up suddenly, still a bit tipsy I managed to leave my tent to go take a piss. I heard the sound of a crushing dry stick beneath my boot which caused a hare to scurry off into the bushes around. My eyes were shut as I let out a satisfactory sigh of relief while my urine rained on the base of the thick bark of a tree, under which I was standing. Soon, I was finished and had bagged my third leg into my trousers when I saw her in the water in front, staring at me. The full moon was at its peak with the cold and distant stars, twinkling in the night sky. I stared back trying to figure out which one of the girls would be bathing at this ungodly hour. It wasn’t Bethany, nor Melissa, and neither was it, Amy.

Curiosity they say kills the cat. My interest was pricked, I needed to know who she was, so I went down the gentle slope that led to the shore for a closer look. The tidal waves were overlapping themselves as the ocean currents washed off some sea shells to the shore where I was now standing. The strange lady had turned her back and was busy humming melodiously halfway into the sea. I called out to her but received no response. Not sure what made me go further but I found myself walking into the water, and was almost at her spot when she turned to face me. Good heavens! Never had I beheld such a desirable beauty before. Her elegance was luscious, ravishing like none I’d ever seen.

She looked at me with those pale blue eyes that gazed into mine, making me immediately smitten, swayed by her stunning pulchritude. She was so attractive that I found myself mesmerized, staring into the wonder of this rare alluring magnificence. I’d seen a lot of beauty in my time but none could be compared to hers. She looked human, but I knew she wasn’t. Her hair, wet from swimming, was dazzling, black, and long.

Very long that it was hanging off both her shoulders and sliding down her chest through her perky breasts concealing only her nipples, leaving the molds of the glands bare. She must be naked. I thought to myself, basking for a moment in the fantasy of having this sexy strange girl in my bed. I was lost in lust over her.

It wasn’t until I looked harder that I discerned the glowing scales running symmetrically along her arms. There was a glimmer on her face as she smiled at me with a slight wave that revealed her webbed fingers and diamond nails, shiny, sharp, and pointy. Naturally, haven seen these abnormal things, I should’ve been scared, terrified. But for some reason, I was not. In fact, I waved back with a wide grin of astonishment. She did not speak, and neither did I see her cherry-red lips move, but I could hear her sweet voice in my head. It sounded like running water from a fountain blended with a high-pitched harmony of several voices. Her words were music to my ears even though I could not understand the language in which she spoke. She must have been telepathic.

My smile broadened when she came closer and gently placed her webbed fingers on my face. She stared deep into my eyes with her head cocking sideways like she was examining me, trying to figure me out. Her hands were so cold on my cheek too but I couldn’t care less. She slowly went around me in a circle, and I felt the softness of her breasts brushing off against my skin before she returned to face me. She reached as if to kiss me and my heart suddenly went pitter-patter, a feeling I was unfamiliar with.

I used to be the one to make the ladies nervous, not the other way round. Now, her breasts were pressing against my chest, tempting me to fondle them. I was falling for her eyes despite the gills I observed at the side of her ears. Her perfumed breaths were icy and I could feel the chills on my face. Humans breathe out warm air, hers was cold. So cold.

I dared to reach for her hips and pull her closer to myself and probably even kiss her but as soon as I made the move, she swam off alarmingly to a reasonable distance that would require me to swim for a while before getting there. She took one last look at me and then submerged head-first into the sea. Her fishtail rose into the air flapping for a split second like a happy Dolphin before sinking in with the rest of her body.

That very instant, I held my breath and dove into the sea, and then I saw her clearly. Gracious Lord! She was a Mermaid. Human from the waist upward and Fish from the waist down. Her tail was dancing back and forth as the blue scales that covered it completely, glittered simultaneously with those that ran along her arms. Her face lit up like a thousand sapphires, shimmering in the water which was by now enveloped by the blue sparklings of her scales. Her hair rose and was hovering over her head. It was then I realized there was a tiny star-shaped piece of cloth that covered her nipples. She beamed a bright smile at me, glimmering in absolute gorgeousness then swam off with so much speed that caused a wave to blow me off a couple of feet backward, drifting my balance.

While I struggled weightlessly with flailing arms and legs and as water bubbles were escaping my lips, I watched her, in the form of a blue glow, travel speedily to the depth of the sea where she vanished into the ocean’s deep without a trace.

I narrated the incident to my friends the following morning but as expected, I was laughed at. They did not believe me and I do not blame them, what I saw that night was a myth, a creature that only existed in stories. I spent the next two months scouring the oceans for evidence that I wasn’t drunk that night. I wanted to prove that I was telling the truth. That mermaids were really. But all my efforts were futile. It was like she just vanished like she was only in my head. At some point, I began to doubt if I was certain of what really happened that night. I returned to that particular seashore more nights than I can remember, hoping that she would reveal herself again. She did not, so I gave up.

One fateful evening, I visited a Library in my small town and while strolling across the bookshelves arranged in rows, I accidentally bumped into someone. The force from our collision knocked down the pile of books she was holding. With a swift response, I bent over to help pick them up while I apologized. The moment my hand touched her’s by mistake, I felt something like a bell ring in my head and I looked up at her face.

I’d be dammed if she wasn’t a dropped-dead gorgeous diva dressed so innocently like one of those girls from the church. The only other person I knew to have such a desirable beauty as this was,… wait a minute. Before my brain would process what was going on, she had smiled at me and was already walking away. I rose to my feet immediately and called at her to wait. She paused in her pace and turned to face me, hugging the pile of books in her hands. I knew I recognised her from somewhere, that smile was really familiar.

For more than a minute we both were looking at each other without saying a word. I dared to walk up to her and that was when I confirmed my suspension. The nearer to her I drew, the colder I felt, the same temperature as when I touched her hand minutes ago.

She placed her hand on my face and stared deep into my eyes. History was repeating itself, except this time we were in my territory. That was definitely why she looked different, like a human. There was my proof but I knew no one would believe me anyway.

I heard someone call her Erin and she replied saying she’d be with them in a jiffy. Erin smiled at me one last time before walking away. As she was leaving, she was humming the same sweet melody she hummed the first time we met. I realised then that mermaids don’t only exist, but they’re also amongst us, disguised as humans.

Author: Samuel Francis

Tags: mermaid