She poked her head out of the water just enough to watch the man as he paddled his canoe in the early evening dusk. The humans fascinated her with their 2 legs and the fact that they always wore clothes, she had never worn clothes, mermaids didnt need them, and they would only slow her down in the water. She swam parallel to his canoe; far enough away that he wouldnt notice her in the failing light yet still close enough to see him as he paddled his way to the shore. She didnt want to alert him to her presence for many humans reacted to her kind with suspicion or even worse. He stopped his canoe and looked around. That feeling was there again, that feeling of being watched. The feeling wasnt one of danger, it was more curiosity he felt than anything else and he wondered why he always got that feeling around now when he was coming back in the evenings. He finally focused on a spot some distance off the side of his canoe. The feelings seemed strongest from over that way. She froze where she was. Had he seen her? She didnt think so, she was too far away, with only her head showing above water and it was hard to see very far in the evening light. Still, it seemed that he was looking right at her so she quickly submerged, afraid he might have seen her. The feeling of being watched went away as suddenly as it had come and he shook his head, he wasnt even sure now about the feelings hed had of being watched for he was out in the ocean and he owned the small island he was living alone on so unless there were people on the bottom of the ocean he was alone out there. He started paddling again, thinking he must be going crazy if he thought he was being watched out here. He reached his home and tied off his canoe before going back inside his home and getting ready to eat dinner. She resurfaced after he had gone inside and spent a brief moment wondering what went on in one of those dwellings. She had never lived inside like the humans did, her home was the ocean and she had lived in it all her life and couldnt even fathom living in such a small space. She hoisted herself up on a smooth rock, worn smooth by the countless years of ocean waves that had crossed its surface, and sat there watching the house until long after the sun sank into the ocean wondering what went on inside one of those places. He walked out onto the beach in the early morning light and got ready for his morning swim. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and he stood on the beach, stretching, when he looked out into the bay he usually swam in and stopped what he was doing and stared. There appeared to be something out on the flat rock he usually swam to and back everyday but he couldnt quite make out what it was, it was too far away to tell. He waded out into the water and started swimming out to the rock, curious as to what would be out there; he had gotten a strange feeling when he looked out there, familiar, a whisper of what he had felt the evening before when he had been on his way home. Within a few minutes he was closing on the rock and he stopped dead in his tracks and just sat there treading water, not believing his eyes. At first he had thought there was a large fish on the rock because all he saw was a large silver tail and tail fin, now that he was closer he could see that the fish tail was attached to a womans torso, a very beautiful naked womans torso. She appeared to be sleeping and her midnight black hair was streaming out all around her and looked as though it was almost long enough to reach her tail fin. He eased closer, afraid to wake her up, afraid he was seeing things. Mermaids were only legends, werent they? Then her eyes opened and he was staring into the biggest pair of sea green eyes he had ever seen and almost forgot to breathe. She opened her eyes and stared into a pair of beautiful brown eyes. As she woke up she realized it was the eyes of the man she had been watching the night before. She couldnt even remember falling asleep; the last thing she remembered was sitting there watching his dwelling. She froze in fear for several seconds as they stared at each other, then slid into the water and swam away in the blink of an eye, leaving him staring at the spot she had been and wondering if he was still in the bed, asleep and dreaming all this. No, it wasnt a dream, the water around him was very real and so was the large flat rock just under the surface of the water. He hoisted himself onto the rock and stared off into the distance where she had disappeared. He knew without a doubt that she was the one who had been watching him the evening before when he had been out in his canoe, the familiar feeling he had felt when she had opened her eyes had convinced him of that. It had been so strong when her eyes opened that there was no doubt in his mind he had been feeling her watching him. He slid back into the water and swam back to shore wondering if hed scared her away for good. He hoped not, he was just as curious about her now as she had seemed to be about him and he wondered if he could get her to trust him enough not to bolt like a scared fish if they should ever meet again. He smiled at that thought; she was half fish so it was natural for her to bolt at something that frightened her. He only hoped that he could convince her not to run should they ever chance to meet again. The sensations he had felt over the past few days seemed to be explained, she had been watching him. She seemed extremely curious about him and he hoped that curiosity would bring her back. She stopped swimming when she was safely away from him and sat on a rock on the ocean bottom. How had she allowed herself to fall asleep like that and almost get caught? For all she knew he could have killed her, or worse, if the stories she heard were true especially the ones about being caged up in a big aquarium to be gawked at by other humans who would pay money to see them. She didn't see anything so spectacular about herself, so she was half fish with a human torso and gills for breathing underwater, which was no excuse to cage one of them up and gawk at them. Humans were funny creatures, she thought to herself, they wore clothes and communicated by moving their mouths and making noises instead of using their brains like she did and communicate telepathically. Maybe they couldn't, or forgot how in their evolution, she reasoned. Whatever it was, she told herself to stay away from the man or she might not be so lucky to get away next time, he had seemed to be startled at seeing her and she thought she saw curiosity there too but tried to convince herself that it was only wishful thinking. Shaking a lifetime of mistrust isn't easy even though she had always wondered if all humans were to be mistrusted or just some of them. The problem was figuring out which ones could be trusted, she could never be sure so she always kept her distance. This one man seemed to be very different though, she couldn't seem to stay away from him and she wondered if maybe he was one that could be trusted not to hurt her or cage her up. Knowing for sure would make things so much easier but for now caution was her only defense. She decided to stay away from him for her own good and his. A week later he was standing on the shore of the beach by his house. She hadn't been around, he would have known, and he missed her. He didn't even know anything about her yet he still missed her. He didn't even know if she had a name or if she could even speak. He realized he was becoming obsessed with her and wasn't sure if that was good or bad. The fact she was a mermaid complicated things. If anyone found out there really was a mermaid swimming around in the ocean there was no telling what would happen. People would come from all over to try to get a glimpse of her or someone would probably try to capture her for a sideshow of some sort and he didn't like either of those ideas, she belonged where she was-out in the ocean and as free as the fish she swam with. Perhaps it was best if he didn't see her again, if anyone saw her and word got out she could be in more danger than if she just stayed out of sight altogether. He sighed and turned to go back into his house, glancing one last time at the rock he had found her on. She could feel him tugging her back to him, no matter how hard she fought it and she had fought the tug for a week. She knew he could sense when she was around, no one else she had ever watched knew she had been watching them, they went about their lives and never even knew she had been watching them but he was different, he could feel her and that was as exciting as it was dangerous. Not able to resist the tug any longer she began to swim back toward his dwelling. By the next sunrise she was at the edge of a large kelp forest several hundred yards from the large rock he had first found her on. If he kept to his routine he should be getting ready for his morning swim right about now. She sank to the bottom of the ocean as she waited, unsure of why she was back here or what she would do if she saw him again. She pulled a piece of kelp out of the sand and nibbled on it as she waited. He woke as usual and started his morning routine of coffee and fresh fruit for breakfast. He sat at the table with his meal as he thought about why he had bought this island and moved out here to live alone. Just 5 years ago he had been happily married; they had been expecting their first child. At the time they were living in New York City and he had made quite a few sound investments in his life and was on his way to becoming one of the wealthiest men in the state. He and his wife had been decorating the baby's room in Winnie the Pooh and talking about baby names one night when the phone rang. It was his brother in Wisconsin; their mother had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital. His wife was too far along to travel safely so they agreed she would drive him to the airport and he would fly out to be with his mother. She had assured him she would keep in touch and inform him if she went into labor while he was gone. He packed a suitcase and arranged for the first flight to Wisconsin which was the redeye so at least they weren't rushed. She drove him out to the airport and waited while he checked in, waited until his flight was announced then kissed him goodbye. When his plane left she turned to leave and on the way back home she never had a chance as the big 18-wheeler lost control and crossed the median directly in front of her. She and her unborn baby were killed instantly. The truck driver lived and had been indicted for vehicular manslaughter after it had been discovered that he hadn't been taking the required breaks in his driving and had nodded off at the wheel. He shook himself out of his thoughts; they were still too depressing, even after 5 years. He had buried his mother, his wife and unborn child on the same day because his mother had passed away just after he had made it to her hospital room. The emotional strain had been too great and he had moved to this island originally bought as a retreat and had been here ever since, leaving his portfolio in the hands of trusted associates. He got up and got ready for his swim, he would need it today. He went outside to do his stretches and observed a small fishing boat fishing just outside his no fishing zone. As long as they respected his privacy and stayed outside his no fishing zone he had no problems with them. He continued with his morning stretches in preparation for his swim. She almost didn't see the net coming toward her in time. She moved quickly out of the way before she was scooped up with the rest of the fish that were already in it and moved back deeper into the kelp bed knowing the boat couldn't come in here without the things driving it getting tangled in the big green leaves. It was about then that she heard the splash from close to the shoreline so she waited until the boat was safely away before swimming slowly out of the kelp forest. As soon as he hit the water he knew-she was here, somewhere. He could feel it, the same feeling he felt the last time she had been around. She must be under the water, a long way off or both because he could barely feel her. He began to stroke his way to the rock and when he reached it he climbed upon it, sat down and waited. As much as he wanted to swim around and find her he also knew how skittish she was and he didn't want to scare her off again. Why was it so important to see her again? The answer to that question eluded him but he knew it wasn't only because she was a mermaid, they seemed to have some sort of connection that he couldn't explain just yet and he wanted to explore it. He hoped she did too but he couldn't be sure she was feeling the same thing he did, she could just be traveling through her territory and his beach was part of that territory. He couldn't even be sure she wasn't just watching him because he was trespassing on her territory. Were there others like her out there, did they travel in groups or were they solitary creatures only coming together to mate? He had so many questions, no answers and he was afraid he was reading too much into some feelings. Maybe he'd been alone too long and had finally lost the rest of his sanity. He watched the fishing boat disappear over the horizon as he sat and pondered the questions that were swirling around in his head. She sat on the bottom of the ocean as she watched him sitting on the rock. He appeared to be daydreaming or thinking and he looked troubled. She could feel a deep sadness coming from him as if he had suffered a terrible loss and it saddened her to know this. Maybe she could help him feel happiness again, heal the broken spirit she sensed inside him. She wasn't sure why she felt this way but she did and she's always been taught to rely on her feelings because they were usually right. With the fishing boat safely away from their location she slowly swam toward the surface, breaking through a safe distance from the rock directly in front of him and waited for him to notice her. It didn't take long, almost as soon as she popped out of the water he saw her. He stared at her, afraid to move lest she disappear again. He sat cross-legged on the rock and waited to see what she would do, remembering what happened the last time he got too close. She watched him sitting on the rock, not moving, and realized he was leaving everything that happened up to her. It gave her the confidence she needed to swim slowly closer, watching him carefully to see what he would do. If she was right about him she had found what she had been looking for and she had been looking for a long time. She stopped a couple of feet from where he was sitting and simply looked at him, letting her energy reach out to wrap around him like a blanket. Now it was up to him to accept what she was offering or not. When she stopped just short of him he thought he'd done something to scare her but she didn't swim away, she just remained where she was and looked at him with a strange look in her beautiful green eyes. That was when he felt something wrapping around him like a cloak or blanket-it was warm and soothing, making him feel as if he might actually be able to overcome the grief he had been harboring all these years. He understood then what she was doing, she was offering to help him heal and move on-with her. He understood that if he went there would be no turning back. He wasn't sure how he knew all this but he did. He hesitated as he contemplated what this would mean-leaving everything behind. 5 years ago, before the accident, he wouldn't even have to think twice about it-no way would he go but now what did he have? He had money but no one to share it with, no one he wanted to share it with anyway, except maybe what immediate family he had left and he had already left provisions for them and the rest of his fortune should anything happen to him. He looked back at the house he had lived alone in for the past 5 years then looked back at the mermaid who had captured his attention and heart just a week ago and made his decision. He slipped into the water and swam to her, holding her gaze the whole time and feeling all the sorrow and pain draining away the closer he got. She smiled and reached up a hand when he reached her and touched his face. He smiled back at her, kissed her softly then both of them turned toward the deep ocean and dove. Anyone looking at that moment would only have seen 2 large fish tails disappearing under the water. Story © August 2004, May 2005 Julie Hicks all bg textures courtesy of: GRSITES Back to Index