The Fate of The Sirens

Chapter 4

She slowly started to fall to the bottom of the lake. The water swallowed her whole. The water sent ripples outwards as she descended into the dark, cold lake. It was as if everything and everyone she lived for was rapidly slipping away from her.
Areas of her skin had been burned, and she had multiple injuries. Her crystal bracelet still shimmering from her.
Before she reaches the bottom, a hauntingly beautiful voice is heard in the distance. The sound is muffled in her ears. A siren is humming. The sound is so enchanting that it tickles her ear. It's a welcoming and warm sound yet has such a depressing undertone.
The siren quickly sweeps her into his arms. He leans in to drown her to the bottom of the lake but she slightly opens her eyes. Her glowing hazel eyes caught him off guard. He jolts back and feels as if he hadn't been in his right mind.
He carries Aurora as he swims up to the
surface. He lays her down on the sand and starts giving her cpr. After 1 set of chest compressions, she doesn't seem to wake up. He realizes that he will have to blow air into her mouth. The thought of doing that makes him nervous. He usually doesn't associate himself with the humans, but something is different about her.
He leans in to blow into her mouth but she opens her eyes once again. She starts coughing the water out and the siren jolts back. She looks shocked this time. She tries to sit up quickly and crawl towards the water but soon feels sharp pains and soreness around her body. She frantically scans the waters, looking for her parents and friend, but they are nowhere to be found. Just floating pieces of the plane scattered around the lake.

"Woah, take it easy," he touches Aurora's shoulder to try and calm her down.

Defeated, she looks towards the water.

"Mom?! Dad?!" She calls out with a shakiness in her voice. Her eyes well up with tears. Her body is trembling with fear and despair. The only people that could comfort her in this nightmare are nowhere to be found.

"No, no, no, no, no! It can't!" she denied. "This- this isn't real!"

She starts pulling the bracelet her mom made for her. She starts trying to head towards the water but the siren grabs her arm to hold her back. She keeps trying to get away.

"Get off of me!" she screamed.

He loosens his grip.
"You can't go out there!" He paused and hesitated before he continued. "You'll be drowned and become like me."
"Like you?"

She looks back at him, seeing that he looks pretty normal from the top. She feels something against her leg and it isn't a leg. It's a tail.
She jolts back, "Y-you have a tail."
"Yup, unfortunately."
"You have a tail?!"
"Uh.."
"How do you have a tail?! Mermaids aren't real!" she argues.
"Well, first of all, I'm a siren. Second, I'm sitting right here."
She put her hands on her face trying to make sense of this.
"This is just too much... everyone's dead and now-" she mumbles. Her voice cracks as it's all starting to feel too real now.

She slouches down with her hands cupping her face.

"They're gone... they're gone..." she repeatedly says.  More tears fell down her face.
"There's still hope for you." He says. "They could be alive, underwater."
Aurora looked up at him, with wide eyes. "Really?" she wiped her tears.
"Yeah. I'm sure they all became sirens. I'm guessing it was an airplane crash of some sorts?"
"Yeah.."
"The only problem with that is if they died before they reached the bottom of the lake, then they couldn't be turned-"

Tears filled her eyes again.

"No they couldn't have died!" she wept.
"Oh. I didn't mean to make you-"
"You're not helping at all you know that? You should've just let me drown," she says angrily.
"Yeah, I don't know what got into me," the siren responds.
"How rude! I didn't actually mean that," Aurora says.

She attempted to get up on her legs but felt sharp pains as she got up.

"Uh, you might not want to-" the siren warns her.
"No. I'm fine!" Aurora interrupted.

She got up, unstable, she reaches her hand out towards him.

She wipes her tears again and says, "My name is Aurora."

He looks up at her. He's looking as if he'd thought she'd fall again and say "I told you so".

"...Nice to meet you. My name is Nathan, but as you can see, I can't get up," he smiled.
"Oh," she nervously chuckles.
"Well, I need to become a siren," Aurora says. She feels the pain in her legs from trying to stand up.

He grabs her hand and brings her to crouch on the ground. He looks her in the eyes.

"I can't do that. You don't want to do this. Trust me. You don't want to be trapped down here."
"I need to find my family. Just tell me how. I can't just leave them behind," she fidgets with her torn-apart shirt.
"Fine. This was your decision, Riri. I'm gonna have to drown you."
"Riri? No one ever calls me that- and wait! You have to drown me?"
"It w-will only take a second," his voice starts getting shaky. He touches his chest, turns his head away and starts coughing.
Aurora sighs, "But I don't wanna do that."
"Y-you have to if you want to... s-save your family," he starts coughing up blood into his fist.

Aurora notices the blood and his continuous coughing.

"Are you okay?!"
"Y...Yeah. I'm fine, I just can't be out of the water for too long, or I'll shrivel up and die," he laughed.

He crawls back into the water.

"Heh, okay. I'm not sure whether to laugh or not."
"Nah, it's fine," Nathan and Aurora stare at each other blankly for a moment, "What's the hold up? Are you coming or not?"
Looking annoyed, Aurora replies, "Okay, fine." She looks at his hand and hesitates.