The Mermaid and The Woman.

She was a mermaid, her kind didn’t exist in this world, they were forbidden to enter into this realm. But she did anyway, she was curious to see what humans were like for herself. They were only told horrible stories about them, however the merfolk did some horrible things themselves, or so she thought. She wanted to see the difference, witness these horrid doings. Maybe these stories were based on their own likeness.

She also wanted to explore something new, wanted to see a new world, see what the shores had to offer.

A beach bed of rocks, a house with flickering lights.

Was something happening in that house? Something bad? She had no legs, she couldn’t reach the house, she could only watch and wonder.

A scream, a familiar scream. A scream from her dreams pierced her heart. She couldn’t explain it but it lifted her apparition from her body.

Only she didn’t have fins, or even legs. She was floating above her own body. Her heart fell again when she heard the yelp from the window.

 She clumsily floated to the sounds.

  She peeked through the window with the flickering lights. Inside she could see a screen with moving pictures. What is this magic? The screams were coming from a girl sitting on a couch in front of the screen. The moving pictures were showing someone getting murdered. What? Confused why this woman was sitting here watching someone getting murdered, while laughing. Why was she screaming, before such laughter? Her apparition floated there, watching this woman.

  She had nice hair, it was long, and auburn. That’s all she could see. She was eating something, the mermaid couldn’t make out what it was. Out of nowhere the woman raised her hand with a wand pointing at the screen. Stopping the moving pictures.

She turned around, and looked out the window, right at her. Can she see me? The mermaid moved a little to hide a little more behind the curtain. With her green eyes, her messy hair in her face. The look of horror braced in her features. Is she okay? The woman was turned towards the screen now, continuing the picture a little more tense now.

  The glance to the window was too fast for the mermaid, the woman's face laid in her spirit's mind. She wanted to see her face again, to look at it. Deeply. Take in each wrinkle, each crevice. See what lies beneath her eyes. She wanted to find out why she was watching this screen with dying people in it. She wanted to be in that room with her, needed to.

  The mermaid floated to the opened window to the next room.

  This room was dark, with the moonlight lighting up a bed that looked as if it hadn’t been slept in for years. When she went to open the door, her hand went through the door knob. She couldn’t hold it in this form.

  She experimented by putting her hand through the door, it went through perfectly. She pulled herself through. Before she could see anything around her a human walked right past her. An older lady, with a candle lantern in hand. She stopped at the door to the room where the woman is.

  “Dear, we’re heading to bed. It is an older house, so maybe keep it down a bit?”

  “Of course, mum! I was actually going to go upstairs to read.”

  The older lady, her mother, hesitated “Are you sure? The lights aren’t working up there, and there’s a few rooms up there that have mold. We need to get them taken care of once we get settled.”

  “I’ll be fine, I’ll have a few lanterns up there.” She smiled at her mother.

  “Alright, dear, if you must. Goodnight. Don’t be too loud.” Her voice was tired and drowning.

  The mermaid backed up into the room while her mother turned to walk back up the gloomy hall. She came back out when she was out of sight and went to the door she left open. The woman was curled on the couch, her legs into her chest. This woman with her messy hair and oversized clothes was the most gorgeous creature she ever laid eyes on.

*****

  “That’s what you get for saying that to a demon! Ha.” The woman was watching a horror movie, to celebrate her parents recently purchasing a new, much older house. It was built in the late 1800’s and needs work. Parts of the house were falling apart, and a lot of molding in the ceiling. Bugs roamed the cracks and rodents made creepy scratching noises throughout the night. Perfect place to watch a demonic possession movie.

  She turned off her movie. She put the rest of the chips back into the bag, folded it up and set it on the T.V stand.

  In the silence she felt like she was being watched again. She stood up slowly, turned her head. Nothing.

  ‘Is the movie getting to me?’ Normally horror movies don’t have an effect on her. She could watch it, and know it’s just a movie and continue on with her life. For some reason, this time she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

  It was still quite early for the woman, she grabbed her book and lamp in search of a good reading nook upstairs. Exploring what the halls had in store for her.

    She still had the feeling someone was following her as she walked towards the stairs. Watching her ascend them.

  When she got up the steps she raised her lamp and examined the rotting wood that had fallen down one hallway, she heard a creak. ‘I’ll read in the morning. Feeling a little freaked out’ her heart raised. She thought she saw eyes when she turned to go back down the stairs. She closed hers and shook her head. ‘Really! Calm down.’ She walked across the vestibule to the hallway leading to her current room.

She combed her hair, brushed her teeth and splashed her face with water. Between daps with the cloth, she thought she saw a faded light cross the room. ‘It’s nothing.’ In bed she starts to calm down a bit. She set’s the light down behind her and opens her book.

*****

  ’I’m making her jumpy.’ The mermaid spirit was getting sad that she was startling this lovely creature. But she wanted to say her hello. She wanted to tell her about her world underwater, beyond the caves of this world. She wanted to tell her about her family. About the songs they sing. What her family was like. What that screen was and how the pictures were moving. If she could do magic. She wanted to feel her skin, brush her hair. Know what she was reading. She wanted to prove the stories her people share with each other wrong. Watching this creature move about, and listening to the sound of her voice makes her swoon. She wanted to be hers. She wanted to be seen.

  A pull inside her. It was time. The apparition needed to get back to the mermaid's body. Who knew what would happen to her if she didn’t.

******

  A shiver went up the woman's spine, making her look up for a moment. At that moment she noticed something fly by her opened door. She got up, grabbed the lamp and walked to the door. Stay calm. A figure was floating down the hallway. She had no feet, so she couldn’t be walking.

  “Oh Hello.”

  The figure turned around. It was like all the darkness in her soul lifted, and light broke through. Her heart raced, her eyes widened. The woman couldn’t explain it, she walked towards the figure, her mind was no longer there. Taken over by love, or lust? Or some other power unknown to either of them.

  The figure didn’t say anything, the woman was silent.

  How were they touching right now? The mermaid's apparition somehow allowed her to take the hand of the woman. They didn’t say anything. She led her down the hall, and out the backdoor. Leading her to the beach.

  The woman stopped them, she was confused as an overpowering lust came over her. She was aroused by the figure's beauty. The way she moved. She wanted to rip her clothes off then and there.

  The mermaid put her hand on the woman's cheeks, then held her face for a moment.

  The dog must have heard the door close behind them. He started barking at the door. Barking at the mermaids' intrusion. How he was asleep the whole time without stirring till now no one knew, but the mermaid was upset.

  The pull was getting stronger. It was becoming painful. She could feel suffocation. Her body was dying. She took the woman’s hand and rushed towards her body.

  The woman wasn’t as shocked as the mermaid was hoping when she saw her body laying there. A beached mermaid. She watched as the apparition returned to her body.

  The mermaid gasped, she didn’t wake up, not fully she was hyperventilating. The woman ran over to her body. “What’s happening?”

Panicked, she tried to move her body closer to the water. Maybe water will help. They lay at the edge of the water. It seemed to help a little. Her body calmed down, her breathing slowed. The woman cupped water onto her mermaid. Holding her in the water, keeping her wet. She touched her head to her mermaid's forehead. She heard her parents rushing towards the ocean. The barking dog must have woken them.

  When her mermaid could move freely, she left her arms submerging herself into the water. When her head re-emerged from the water she looked at the girl that rescued her. Her parents were standing worried behind her. “I don’t want to go back to the waters, is there anything I could do to stay here with you?” Reaching out for the woman’s hand.

  Her father was calling her name. She turned back to look at her father, not moving, hand in hand with her mermaid. Tears in her eyes. Her father had a look of understanding. He turned to his wife, kissed her and then walked toward his daughter.

  He gave no explanation on how he knew this. “You can’t change a mermaid's heart. It takes more. More than words and more than you wanting it to change.”

  Before he could finish, his daughter fell into the water, breaking free from her mermaid's grip. She caught her underwater, making sure her face didn’t fall beneath the water. “What’s happening to her?” Her mermaid asked her father.

  “Her heart's turning to stone.” Her mermaid was happy, and worried for her. She held her mermaid in her arms. The soul needed it. She was turning into a mermaid. Mermaid’s hearts were made of stone.

  That’s how their spirits can roam land, and recognize their other half so easily.

  She couldn’t hear her dad say this. “They have to be willing. Willing to change, want it above all things. The soul needs it.”

  The woman turned into a Mermaid, to go be with her mermaid, their spirits together, swimming the ocean. Forever and Always.