Breathe

Mermaid

Breathe

            The waves crashed against the beach. No one was in sight. Darkness crept through the sky and laid across the sky like a black blanket consuming anything in its reach except for one thing alone. The moon hung in the sky bright and tempting. It was a single white dot glowing with power and passions; a lustful mass only singing curses to its weak prey. The stars only tease its prey, giving it the taste of the seductive fate. It was silent, peaceful, and charming.

            The night had just begun and the villagers were safe in their homes. A small boat tied to the dock bobbed in the darkness. Hours went by until any life was spotted. By then the moon was high and at its peak of pull. Its first victim would lay willingly to its hunger.

            A lone man reached held a lantern in one hand and a fishing pole and a sack made of hide in the other. He made his way out to the old docks. He leaned his fishing pole against the dock’s post and lowered his stout body into the boat. He felt for the fishing pole but heard a splash and knew he had just lost his only fishing pole.

            He grabbed the lantern and leaned over the side of the boat. The water was dark. Sea foam stuck to the sides of the boat. The fishing pole was gone he sighed and placed the lantern on the dock again and began to get out. Before he hoisted himself up he heard a knock on the boat. He went to go look and saw his fishing pole floating along the edge of the boat. He pulled it out of the water, shook it dry and chuckled to himself a little. He reached for his bag and pulled it into the boat. He untied the rope holding it to the post and set out into the black bay.

After setting the hook and propping up the pole, he pulled out of his sack a ceramic jug full of a strong alcoholic drink. He gulped it down and watched the night sky for a brief time and wiped the drips off his beard onto his sleeve. He hiccupped and continued to drink from the jug until it was dry to the bone. He was very drunk by that point and began to mumble an old Irish song:

“An Mhuruch de Mhuir Big Mhór
Nuair a bhí mé buachaill i mbaile
Mo fear d'aois a dúirt liom:
"Is féidir leat a chaitheamh do shaol, do shaol jolly
Just a Sáilín 'ar an bhfarraige.
Is féidir leat cuardach a dhéanamh ar fud an domhain le haghaidh cailín deas
Til ag fás do chuid súl lag agus dim,
Ach ná dul searchin 'do mhac mhuruch,
Más rud é nach bhfuil a fhios agat conas a snámh"

He chuckled at himself again and slowly dozed off.

 

His eyes slowly opened when his line on his fishing pole was being tugged at. He got up and grabbed it and started to tug on it back. The water was calm without any break in the surface. The man would not have been to see past the edge of his boat if it were not for his lantern and the bright moon above, shining even brighter than it had been that peaceful, sinister night.

After his first tug, the line got very still. There was no slack just peace and stillness. He began to tug more and more but it only got harder to tug. Still drunk, he sat there for a long time just looking at the taught fishing line.  He was too amused and entranced by the perplexity that he didn’t notice the fog rolling in and covering the deep ocean. He gave up and reached for his pack to cut the rope, still holding it taught, when the line went flat. He pulled all of the rope up to find the hook straightened out. He grabbed the lantern and held it out over the side of the boat near the water.

He looked around and noticed the fog for the first time. It had completely swallowed him and his boat. He moved the lantern around trying to see but it was of no use. He grabbed an ore and began to paddle along to get back to shore, or what he thought was shore, when he heard a soft voice singing the rest of his old Irish song:

 

“toisc go raibh a cuid gruaige glas mar feamainne
Bhí a craiceann a bhí gorm agus pale
Bhí a aghaidh, bhí sé ina saothar ealaíne, Bhí dúil mhór agam go cailín le mo chroí go léir
Thaitin liom ach an chuid uachtarach
Nár mhaith liom an t-eireaball
Shínigh mé ar long seoltóireachta a
Mo gcéad lá ar muir
Feicthe agam ar an mhuruch sa dtonnta,
Lámh chúnta do dom
"Tar gcónaí liom san fharraige a dúirt sí,
Síos ar an urlár farraige
Agus beidh mé a thaispeáint duit milliún rudaí,
bhfaca tú riamh roimh””

 The sweet sound rang in the ears of the man. His heart pounded and nearly leaped from his chest. His drunken body rose and he looked further out. A smallish figure was moving about in the fog.

“Who’s there?” He cried. There was no reply except for the faint hum of the voice. It was a woman’s voice. He cried out for her many times to stop teasing him and to show herself but there was nothing but humming. 

The hum grew louder at first to almost a faint voice. It seemed closer with every second. As it got closer it grew louder and stronger. The man held his lantern out into the fog even though he could not see anything. The sound was right next to him. He began thrust the lantern around trying to see.  He looked to his left, right and behind him but no one was there. There was no boat, no drift wood, nothing.

He faced forward and saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen treading water.  She was humming the tune of the song but it rang through the man’s head. He could feel chills and vibrations running through his body. He could see her eyes light up with the reflection of her moon.

He wanted to get a better look at her face so he moved the lantern in front of her. As the light got closer she reached her hand out for his hand. The further her hand stretched the louder her hum got until it was fully extended and her voice rang clear. The light reached her face and the waves, the vibrations, the feeling, the voice stopped. For a beat there was silence as she was entranced by the flame and the next beat she was under the water.

There was a sound in the distance a faint whistle. Within a second it was a loud screech, blowing the man overboard and into the dark, thrashing water. The fog blew to the beach. He was stunned by the ear piercing screech and the cold water. He took a minute from the shock when the adrenalin started to rush. He saw the beach and began to swim to the best of his ability. He heard the humming again but he didn’t stop swimming. The hum turned into words. She sang:

“agus tharraing sí liom síos!”

The man felt hands reaching up his chest under the water as he thrashed and struggled to get to shore. The hands wrapped around his neck and slowed him down. The face of the girl came out the water and to the man’s face. Her lips danced along his. She rose out of the water and ran her fingers through his hair. The man was calmed by her and placed his large hand on her bare back and held her tight to his body. She broke the kiss and let him travel to her neck. Her eyes were fixed on the moon. Its light made her eyes glow a sea green. He got to her collar bone and her eyes rolled back into her head revealing a black sclera.

She grabbed the top of his head and shoved him under the water. A grin stretched on her face showing a mouth full of bright teeth made of pearls. Her black eyes looked as if they had waves in them. She sunk under the water. A single bubble trailed to the surface and popped. A single note of her song was heard.

Reviews

[zainul]

I am frightened by the wonderfully described story.
I felt shiver and goosebumps.
Is it a siren that drowned the man?
Thanks for sharing the amazing story.