The cold bit into my skin, forcing my bones into a
clattering dance.
My hands shook in my pocket as they fiddled carelessly
against the meaningless items held inside. As my fingers fell onto the soft,
warm fabric, I sighed. Prying them out, I shakily slipped the grey wool gloves
onto my hands. Hot air plumed visibly from my lips as I leaned my left hand
atop the driver’s seat and reached for my second jacket.
“I hate the cold…” I muttered quietly. I pulled the jacket,
and myself, out of the car. Kissing my teeth, I drew the warm covering on.
Staring mournfully at the key in the ignition, I contemplated staying in the
car… thoughts of my bed, surrounded in the warmth of my thick comforter and the
blasting heater, ran through my mind.
Home…
Thoughts fell into the crashing waves that resounded behind
me. The weight of the water against the rocks startled me as the previous
thoughts drowned in it. Clicking my tongue, I turned the key and pried it out
of the ignition. There was no quiet as the car shut off. Swiftly, its sound was
consumed by the roaring of swelling tides in the distance.
An old car horn blared through the quiet formed by the
receding ocean, drawing my attention to the road. It was an old vehicle, its
model worn away by time. Groaning and creaking, it pulled itself up the incline
and around the bend. The driver was competing with the car for age. Though his
smile seemed to hold the mirth of a child as he stuck a hand out of the window
and waved at me. Chuckling, I returned the gesture and watched as the man urged
his struggling vehicle further upward before he disappeared around the
continuing winding roads.
I felt the keys slip from my grip and cursed silently as
they fell to the floor of the small car park. The cold kept my hands in an
annoying dance as I stooped low. My covered fingers brushed through the loose
gravel before I finally got hold of my keys again. Muttering under my breath, I
quickly closed the driver’s seat door and locked the car. Another wave crashed
against the rocks below, swallowing the sounds of shifting gravel as my feet
carried me towards the hood of my little red car. Peering over the bonnet, I
frowned across the poorly maintained car park. The scattering of greys and
white along the gravel floor was cut off by the offensive bulk of the black
SUV.
Trailing my eyes to the back of the car, which pointed
towards the winding road, I peered further into the distance. Along the road,
nearer the other side of the cove, was a fence littered with rope. I shifted my
weight onto the car as I pacified my racing heart. Instead of the SUV, I
thought back to my childhood.
This cove was home to one of the more popular traditions
from my village. Tying a rope around the fence was symbolic of our continued
relationship with the spirits of the sea and coast. I paid little attention to
the reasoning behind it, but I vividly remember the day my parents brought me
to tie my rope onto the fence. I had stolen the rope they prepared for me and
dyed it an obnoxious shade of blue. Just to be different.
It was said that the purpose of the act was to ask the
spirits to protect the child when the parents couldn’t…
I frowned slightly when I failed to catch sight of my rope.
My frown deepened when I realised that the only obnoxious
thing, where I should have seen my rope, was that SUV.
The breeze blew into my eyes, forcing them to squint in
response. Shuffling away from the car in discomfort, I pulled my ski mask up
from my neck to the bridge of my nose. Once it was snugly fit, I brought my
goggles down to shield my eyes. Comfortable with the new arrangement, and the
protection from the cold and the wind, I shifted my gaze over the horizon to my
right.
The sun hovered over the clear blue sea, kissing the peaks
of waves with sparkles as they danced to the tune of the currents below. I
nodded to myself before slipping my keys into my pocket, securing them behind
the zip as I drew my hand out.
Biting back at my gnawing nerves, I decided I had stalled
for long enough.
I walked away from my car, stopping at the front of the SUV.
Checking the license plate one more time, I gathered my courage before
continuing to the edge. I glanced at the fence once more and calmed as the
streak of blue rope flailed in the distance against the winds. It was old now,
withered and string-like from afar, but it was still there.
My eyes fell from the grassy wall near the fence, all the
way down the rugged, white and grey stained wall of the cove. Grass persisted
at the bottom, though it struggled in varying patches as sand covered most of
the short distance between the water and the…
Slapping my face, I nodded to myself.
‘For real this time.’ I muttered as I stared at the
precarious rock ‘staircase’ that led to the beach below.
This treacherous path down had to have been made
specifically for a mountain goat.
The narrow pathway was formed by smoothed slabs of rock
jammed into the cliff-side. I knew it was created by some masons from my
village a few decades ago, but I couldn’t help but curse them. Moss claimed the
unkempt passage and the persistent whistling of the wind weren’t the worst part
of the gales that threatened to blow you off the edge.
To slip or to be swept away by the breeze…
I clicked my tongue as the rock wobbled underneath my right
foot. Did I mention that most of the stone slabs jutted out far from what
little space that was naturally formed for footing? No? Well, it did! Stepping
back against the wall, I took a few calming breaths. I gripped the cold, damp
wall behind me, a practice that grounded me, as I scanned my pathway down once
more. Relief sparked through my chest as I caught sight of the slightly
elevated rock shelf dubbed 'The Rock'.
Shimmying down, I carefully avoided the mossy slab that had
just threatened to give way under me. Only when I cleared the unstable rock,
and sat on the larger, more platform like stone, did I fully relax. I shifted
further onto it, relishing the comfort of its stability. Which was ironic
considering it was wedged here after an earthquake had caused the previous path
to crumble. Once a few moments had passed, I dragged myself to the edge of the
rock.
The entire three-kilometre stretch of beach was now fully in
view. There were no trees, and the sand was isolated, barring the few patches
of grass that insisted upon mingling. I felt my left eye twitch as I caught
sight of the more modern staircase, around the middle of the cove, in between
the car park and the fence, that I had neglected to traverse. My plight was
sucked out of me as I caught sight of the three men that I had followed here.
They were dressed casually, as though they were simply planning to enjoy an
evening at the beach.
I scowled at their retreating figures in the distance. They
were nearing the bend where the beach continued beyond the cove. I hummed in
dismay as I realised I had stalled too long. It would be borderline impossible
to follow them. By the time I reached the beach, they would already be around
the bend, and I wasn’t sure how long they would be out of sight for. If they
were to turn around and find me following them again…
I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. Instead, I
cursed my poor planning. I should’ve taken the same stairs as them, but I was
too concerned about being caught. Leaning back, I laid flat against the rock
beneath me. The cold suddenly seeped in through my defensive layers. What
little warmth the sun was offering was already being depleted by the
combination of an increasing cloud cover and time. I searched for the ball of
gas for a few seconds and only found it when looking over the horizon.
Sighing, I retrieved my phone from my pocket and checked the
time. There were about ten minutes left of sunlight. The winds picked up, and I
quickly pocketed my phone before shielding my face with my forearms. I smiled
softly into the small cubby I had formed.
As much as I wanted to pursue those men and find proof of
their crimes against my family…
It just didn’t make sense.
I bit my bottom lip, closing my eyes as I struggled to make
a decision. The breeze held up suddenly, and I peeked up from my little safe
space. The sun began to dance with the ocean, changing the blues to a beautiful
soft orange. I calmed slightly and threw the thought of pursuing them aside for
now. The thought of a warm shower and the safety of my home had overcome my
desire for revenge disguised as journalism.
Standing up, I stared up at the sky. Maybe my parents would
forgive me for failing them again…
I started up the hill, my mind wrought with the weight of
regret and disappointment. Each step up crushed me a little more. I was snapped
out of my rumination when an awful grating sound filled my ears. Before I could
process what it was, I was abruptly hit with the sensation of weightlessness.
My thoughts shifted to the rocks below, eager to add me to
the ‘graphic content’ section of the news, if my mangled form was ever found.
My stomach lurched as panic clawed up from my gut to my throat. Grimacing, the
disorienting, spiralling world around me disappeared. Pain jolted through my
body as I felt the cold and dampness.
Time slipped away from my mind.
Then the realisation of the fact that I was suspended came
through the waves of pain. I vaguely wondered if there was a processing period
that came with my soul being pulled from my body. Mourning my demise, I cried
out… The sound of my own voice, raspy but present, alerted me to the fact that
the wind continued to howl. The sound of waves crashing against the rock
resounded, albeit a lot louder now. Slowly, I broke out of the darkness by
opening my eyes.
I noticed the beach, much closer now, though the wall of the
cliff took up most of my sight from my right eye. I looked up and found that my
left hand had somehow been caught between a pair of rocks. Suddenly, my
shoulder screamed at me in agony. Almost as if it were waiting for me to notice
its suffering first.
Slipping out a string of curses, I quickly reached out with
my right hand to relieve the tension on my left shoulder. Finding a purchase, I
desperately sought for more for my feet. Painstakingly, I clawed my way just
above the lip that my left hand held me up from and balked in wonder. Looking
down, my left hand was white from gripping at the rock, and I realised it wasn’t
as miraculous as finding a tiny gap at all. I had somehow caught onto the rock
while falling and held myself in place…
Pushing that thought aside, I focused on the climb ahead.
Looking up, I caught sight of the undersides of the horrendously jammed rocks
that signalled the pathway. With a plan of action, I slowly made my way up,
careful to avoid using my almost limp left arm as much as possible.
Eventually, the jammed rock I was aiming for was within
reach. I bit my lip as I forced my left hand up. Pulling against the rock, I
tested its stability for a few seconds. Tears welled in my eyes as I let my
left arm fall to my side, though I was satisfied with the rock. Climbing up a
bit further, I positioned the toes of my left boot between the rock I was about
to climb and the one to its left. Repeating the process with my right foot, I
exhaled sharply and prepared myself mentally. My right hand, my good hand,
reached up to the top of the rock from the right side. I let my left foot fall.
As momentum took my body to the right, I heaved my shoulder and chest onto the
rock. Clinging on, even with my chin, I let my right leg go and forced my left
hand to help me claw my way onto the rock.
I breathed raggedly, sweat clinging to my inner layer of
clothing as I pulled myself as close to the mountain face as possible.
“Oh, look at me, hee-haw, hee-haw!” I muttered mockingly to
myself after some time. Finally out of danger, I chastised myself for the fall.
Thinking back to it, I realised I had been so distracted by my failure to catch
the men that I had put my full weight on that wobbly rock from before.
I was particularly upset as I had proven my father right. As
a kid, he had often forced me to do a number of hardcore activities, claiming
that it would come in handy one day. When I was younger, I would tell him that,
instead of rock climbing, I would just stay away from the mountains… There was
nothing I hated more in this world than that man being right.
The cold clawed its way through my damp clothes and up my
spine as the winds howled around me. Grunting in frustration, I heeded the
urging of the breeze and decided to get off of the cliff before what remained
of my adrenaline rush was fully depleted. Looking up the cliff for the first
time, I saw I had all but made a full descent.
Sighing, I decided I would take the wooden stairs back up
instead.
I balked atop the last rock before the sandy floor.
Breathing heavily, I took a few seconds to prepare myself for the small fall to
the beach.
The roar of the surging water caught my attention. Shifting
my eyes towards the swelling tides, I saw a peculiar wave. It raced towards me,
at the same height, yet it motored with the energy of a wave that surfers
adored. With little time to react, I dragged myself to the rock above, just as
the wave finally broke.
The harsh sound of water slamming against rock wasn’t new to
this area, but it was new to the inside of the cove. It echoed, thunderous as
though the sea itself was bellowing in defiance against the greyish-white wall,
which seemed to struggle to contain it.
Finally, the ocean receded. White foam the last remnants to
be drug back with the tide. I paused a moment longer, eyeing the next wave with
caution. My eyebrows tightened in confusion as I watched the water in the cove
settle. Another wave rose and fell, trickling softly onto the sand. If it weren’t
for the desperately drenched grass, with some patches even having been
uprooted, I would’ve thought I had hit my head too hard in my fall.
I shook my head, carefully descending onto the beach after
the third wave signified the return of the ocean to normal. If there was ever a
sign to go home, that must have been it. I groaned as my body ached from the
drop. Hobbling quickly, I chose to ignore the way my body protested every step.
Instead of the pain, I focused on the stairs. One step at a
time, then a mountain to climb…
I groaned as my left shoulder seemed the most protestant at
my persistent usage of it. For the moment, I ignored the pain and what it
meant. I grabbed my left wrist and held it across my stomach. There was slight
relief, but I knew the stairs were my salvation.
I was a few feet away from the first step back home, and I
could feel the knots forming in my chest loosen a bit.
Then I saw something.
I squinted as I saw the low light of the fading sun glint
off of… something?
Shifting my left hand into my pocket with a wince, I used my
now free right hand to push the goggles onto the top of my head. Taking a step
away from the stairs, I leaned as I squinted.
There was a body on the beach.
Its lower half was being lapped up by the water, but I could
clearly make out the sight of a person who was not moving.
I grimaced. Turning back to the stairs as I contemplated
leaving. Not only was the ocean acting bizarre, and I was probably more injured
than I realised, but those guys were still in the area. What if they came back
to check out the sound of that peculiar wave? What if the person was already
dead? Would I be able to reach them and call the police in time? Would the
police reach before another rogue wave or the gang members came back?
I took a step towards the stairs.
But what if they were alive? Another wave would surely kill
them… How had they even… were they washed up by the wave? Were they swimming
and caught in that freak wave? I groaned, turning back to stare at them. What
if they were swimming away from the gang member… Would I leave them? Could I
leave them to the Wachowski gang just like I left my parents?
Cursing, I glanced at the sun that was being swallowed by
the horizon.
“I should really call myself Jack from now on…” The sound of
my voice was quickly snuffed out by another sharp gust of wind. I tugged my
goggles back over my eyes, re-cradled my left arm, and shuffled towards the
person as quickly as I could.
Each wet squelch of the sand made me question my decision.
The pain in my body seemed to grow as I drew further from the stairs. All the
energy that I had saved to climb back up to my car was being exhausted. I
pushed it all to the back of my mind as the body was a few feet away.
“Hey! Are you…”
A tail.
I turned back to the path and looked up. Staring intently, I
wondered if I had actually saved myself from falling.
Turning back to the body on the beach…
I saw it again.
Nodding to myself, I looked down at my hands. Wincing
slightly, I faced them palm up and spread my fingers as far as the gloves would
allow.
One.
Two.
Three.
I counted slowly, surprised at the sight of all ten of my
fingers. I had heard that this was a popular method to test whether you were
dreaming. Usually, if you were missing a finger, that meant that it was a dream…
I pushed my goggles up and counted them again.
I nodded once I had counted ten. Taking a deep breath, I
shifted my eyes from my grey-covered fingers and back to the body. I started
where things were normal in the first place
— the head.
Long hair that seemed a mix between a dark red and a deep
brown.
A very human face, a pretty one at that.
Her upper torso was bare, and I tried my best to glimpse
over her exposed breasts, something that could be due to her skinny dipping or
coming from a nude beach somewhere up the coast or… Taking a deep breath, I
slowly moved to her naval and where it all went wrong before.
Where there should have been a waistline, skin melded with
scales. A glistening bluish-green mix that seemed to have a fading yellowish
tint. The scales flowed all the way down where legs should have been,
disappearing under the water and leaving the rest up to my imagination.
“Right, a fin. As it should be…” I whispered before turning
back to my still splayed fingers and counted again.
Ten again.
I laughed as I shook my head and stared at the woman again.
Damp hair, exposed breasts, and tail…
Hair.
Breasts.
Tail.
My mind drew a blank for a moment as I just stood there. The
water lapped over my boots now, licking my socks as the birthing night brought
a deeper cold with it. Stepping away from the water’s edge, I unzipped my
pocket and brought out my phone. Still in a daze, I started asking the search
feature, ‘In which country do women have tails?’. As the Internet spewed out an
answer, it finally clicked.
“A mermaid…”
My hands shook, but this time not only from the cold or the
pain, which seemed to have dissipated. I stared at the woman before looking
down at my phone.
I had just found a mermaid…
A real mermaid…
They were real…
I stared at the creature, my body going numb and my mind
folding over itself in a tumultuous explosion of thoughts and emotions. It took
me a few moments to catch myself before I acted. I still had to be wary of the
sea. I still had to be wary of the gang members…
Taking a deep breath, I pushed aside everything else and
followed my instincts as a journalist. As I scrolled through my phone and
opened my streaming app, I reassured myself that it was the right idea. If I
had it all on camera, even if the worst of the worst happened to me, everyone
would know about it. Besides, I didn’t have the energy to do much else… Was I
supposed to drag the mermaid… out of the water?
Shaking my head, I realised the camera was on. As it pointed
at the body before me, it confirmed the presence of the tail once more.
“Hello everyone…” My voice trembled with a gravely husk. The
phone in my hand seemed to weigh a ton. Cursing to myself, I realised I was
holding it with my left hand. Grabbing it with my right hand, I cut off the
live stream. I slipped my phone back into the right-side pocket of my pants
before tucking my left arm back into the pocket on the left. Dragging my phone
free again, I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. Making sure to hit the
record button as well this time, I started again.
“Hello everyone. I’m here, reporting live, at the Destiny
Bond Cove. After conducting another private investigation on the Wachowski
family, I came across this.” I paused, intending to zoom in, but a sharp pain
in my shoulder made me take a few steps forward instead. “At first, I thought
someone had washed up on shore, but when I came closer I saw… well, what we’re
all seeing now.”
My eyes flickered past the screen to ensure that it hadn’t
suddenly vanished now that I had begun recording. A stream of pings alerted me
that there were messages in the chat. I quickly glanced at the viewers first
and relaxed as I saw my regular ten viewers were already here. Clicking to open
the chat, I began scanning the messages.
‘This can’t be real!’
‘Another fake? Really?’
‘Come on, bro, is this how you repay our trust in you?’
‘Wait… why is the camera quality so good?’
‘Come to think of it… don’t people usually do these fake
videos with low-quality cameras?’
I felt an unfamiliar rush of calm surge over me as I
continued to read the names of the chat members. These guys had believed me for
many years and had supported my efforts to find concrete evidence to avenge my
parents. Seeing them here, sharing this moment with me… suddenly I wasn’t
alone…
“I know it’s one thing to accept what happened to my family,
and another to believe this… but have I ever lied to you all? Despite
everything that mainstream has done to cover for the Wachowski family, I’ve
always been authentic and genuine. I’ve always…”
‘Hey man, we believe you wouldn’t stage this stunt… It’s
just a lot, you know…’ The words appeared from Jacob, cutting off my ranting. I
hadn’t even realised how desperate I was until I saw that message. I took
another shaky breath.
‘Yeah, man… sorry for saying it was fake… I thought it was
another streamer trying to scam us… I swear!’ I chuckled slightly at Malcolm’s
reply.
‘Dude, if this is real, cover her chest. If you get banned,
then this will all be for nothing!’ I cursed quietly and thanked Adam. Throwing
the phone onto the sand, I ripped off the extra jack that I took from the car
and threw it over her chest. I barely bit back a pained groan, my eyes
twitching and watering as I picked the phone back up.
‘Okay, first of all, don’t you ever throw us like that
again! I almost threw up!’
Rolling my eyes at Malcolm’s comment, I sighed as my heart
finally stopped throbbing in my throat. I stood for a moment again, confused
about what to do next.
“Hey!” I jumped as the voice bounced off the cove walls. I
squinted towards the stairs first, the cold, salt and sand dancing dangerously
in the air as they fought against my eyelashes to sting my eyes. Blinking, I
pulled the goggles back over my eyes. Turning on the flash on my phone, I saw
no one at the stairs. Flicking my light to the far side of the beach, opposite
where I had descended, I saw three men charging at me…
My heart started racing as I took a few shaky steps back.
“They’re coming…” I all but screamed out as I looked towards
my phone. My legs were like anchors. Exhaustion and pain crashed through my
body once more as I fell back onto the sand. I looked towards my phone,
desperate to ask for help, when I saw ten… eleven… no, thirty thousand people
had joined the live stream…
If they did anything… it would be recorded…
“These are the members of the Wachowski family who murdered
my parents!” I called out loudly, focusing my phone on the men rushing towards
me. They seemed smaller as I focused on them with the light and the camera
trained on them. They were much further away than I had remembered…
“If anything happens to me, go to my website and you’ll find
all the evidence you need to know that they are the ones responsible!”
I had given up on trying to respond to the flood of comments
in chat when a deafening bellow emitted from my phone. After almost dropping it
out of shock, I remembered it was the donation soundtrack I had chosen many
years ago. It had been so long since I had last got one… After a few more
seconds, the message finally popped up on the laggy stream.
‘Forget that man! I got the pictures! Get out of there! You
need to live!’ I bit my lip at Jacob’s words. I felt like I couldn’t move… But
I tried. I dragged myself to my feet and shone the flashlight at the men. They
were closer now, but still about a kilometre away. I groaned as I took a few
steps to the side towards the stairs. My light fell onto the mermaid again, and
I froze. As I stared at the image through the phone, I suddenly realised that
her face was contorted in pain.
Had I even checked on her wellbeing?
I hesitated as I continued to stare at her, my phone
dropping to my side, and the image was replaced by reality. An injured and
alone creature, caught in a whole new world and being broadcast for all to see.
For the government to see…
Suddenly, I was no longer staring at a mythological creature
come to life.
I was staring at a person, and she was…
Calm.
Everything seemed to melt around me as her eyelids slowly
parted. There was something that seemed to spark to life behind the
scintillating blues of her eyes. Something deeper and incomprehensible. An odd
sense of darkness… of dullness. Something that felt like… that resonated with
me…
The sounds of the ocean faded.
The breeze stopped.
Her lips parted.
And suddenly she was a step closer.
The world was us.
The sounds of serenity encircled us as she drew nearer yet.
Her eyes softened as she continued to stare deeply into my
eyes. Deeper than I thought possible. I never knew that my heart could be
touched so gingerly. So gently… Yet it was akin to the currents that swirled
and forged whirlpools mighty enough to drag ships to the bottom of the sea. And
only I could fall weightlessly into the waters, its spiralling melody meant
only for me. I found myself in these warm, calming waters. My head bobbing
above the water, never reaching low enough to be fearful of it… As though the
very essence of her being was the water that circled me and drew me in.
The soft melody finally melded into reality.
And I was standing right before her.
A touch away.
My fingers appeared as her hand rose to meet mine, which
longed for hers. The moments of distance turned into a horrible ache as I urged
our hands to meet. I begged to be connected with her. To belong…
I was wrenched away from my reverie as the weight of the
world seemed to careen down on top of me. Something slowed my propulsion at my
forehead, and pain erupted throughout my skull. I recoiled, and as my mouth
opened, there was no air.
There was only water.
I tried to open my eyes in panic, but the force of the water
kept them closed. Thoroughly disoriented, I could only feel the horrendous pain
that seemed to burst into life in a new part of my body every second. My body
was stopped once more; this time, my back took the brunt of the force.
A vague memory came to mind, and I thought of spreading my
body wide like a starfish. I couldn’t tell if it responded or not as I
struggled against the rapids.
Everything burned, and I begged anything to save me.
The world grew mute as the darkness behind my eyelids
suddenly grew even darker…