Cursed to the Sea

It was a warm Summer night when I met my curse...

"You're not going out there for your mother!  She's as good as gone!"  My father yelled at me as I stood in the doorway with a sack full of my things.  My father had been crying when I crept down the stairs in hopes of escaping into the night, but his face was as cold as a rock now.

"I know she's out there father!  I need to find her!"  I cried and tried to pull away, but his grip on my wrist was too strong.  His gaze was poisonous under the glare of the lantern.

"She left us for a reason!  She didn't want no more of her life wasted in the lighthouse!  She left for them damn pirates!"  My father nearly bellowed.  I could see the pain and sorrow in his eyes that flickered under the dim candelight.

"She left because of you!"  I hissed.  This made him loosen his grip and step away.  Had I said too much?  I bit my lip and hurried out the door.  I raced down the rocks that led to the beach and looked back to see if he was chasing me, but there was no sign of him.  I let my toes  gently touched the edge of the waves and stared out at the horizon.

My mother had left four days ago on The Royal Revenge a ship that was crossing the Mediterranean to England.  My mother had always told me that she hated the sea, the coastal town we lived in.  She wanted to live high class.  My father was convinced that she was leaving her safe life for that of a dangerous pirate.  The bay had only been invaded by a band of pirates once.  They had burned down every shop and stolen everything that was precious to us.  That was when I was three, six mere years ago. 

I noticed that the little boat I had left by the rocks was still there.  I hopped inside and grabbed the oars from under the wooden planks that were used for sitting and threw them in the sand.  I heard the sound of galloping over head, and leaned against a rock to keep from being seen as a carriage tottered by above.  It was the governer's carriage.  Driven by four white stallions who could kiII a man if he was in the way.  It was made of the finest material from Spain, and people stopped to stare at the elegant sight as it strode by.

I began pushing the boat through the sand and smiled once it was at the edge of the shore.  I grabbed my sack and rummaged through until I found an old compass I had found wash up on shore a while ago and a tea-stained map that I had found in the basement of the lighthouse.  I lit the lantern I had taken from my bedroom and studied the map.

"If I go due North, I should be there in three days," I said to myself as I rolled up the map and put it back in the sack with the compass. 

"Syrena!"  I could hear my father call.  I noticed him roaming above, his lantern like a lost firefly.  I stayed completely silent as pushed the boat into the water, the cold waves lapping up against my pale legs.  It was up to my knees now, drenching the rim of my nightgown.

"Syrena!" My father called again, but I did not call back.  I needed to find my mother, even if it meant leaving my father and taking on the dangers of the water.  I jumped into the boat and began paddling the oars through the water.

"Please come back Syrena!  You are the only thing I have left!"  My father bellowed as he began to make his way down the rocks to the beach.  I was already quarter of a mile out to see, which meant I was crossing into the path of the lighthouse.  I stopped and waited for the light to rim around before pushing harder and faster through the water.

"SYRENA!!!!"  I could tell my father was crying now, his call full of grief.  A beam came around once again, but I had just made it by three meters, maybe less.  A smirk grew across my face as I lifted the oars and let the waves push the little boat out to sea.  From now on it would easy sailing, nothing could get in my way, or so I thought...

_____________

"Syrena, I'm so glad you have come..."  My mother's eyes were like dancing Sapphires as she sauntered over to me.  She was wearing a pale pink gown and a white powdered wig.  Her face was covered in makeup.  None of her seemed real.  "You must come to the ball to celebrate our reunion!"  She exclaimed and clapped her hands together.  I looked down to see I was no longer wearing my damp nightgown, but an elegant white gown.  My shoulder-length brunette hair was curled in ringlets, and I was wearing slippers with heels.  "Come along," my mother took my hand as we stepped into a beautiful golden room where an orchestra played and wealthy royals danced in ravishing gowns with pearls around their necks.  I suddenly felt tight, the dress was pressing into my stomach, along with my mother's hand.  I could no longer breath.  "Welcome to the English life..."  My mother said with a devious smirk.

I jolted up, breathing heavily with tears streaming down my face.  It was all just a dream.  A horrifying nightmare.  I sat up and looked around.  Droplets of water were slicing through the water.  They were like needles as they touched my skin.  A flash of lightning lit the sky and a blast of thunder followed.  It shook the sea, making the waves grow and rock my boat.

It took a minute for me to interpret what exactly was happening.  Storms in the sea were unpredictable, I should have known what I was in for.  I grabbed my compass to make sure the boat was still on track and began to row forward.  Another flash of lightning lit the sky as the waves crashed up onto the boat, soaking me from head to toe.

I grabbed a bucket from the sack and began scooping out the gallons of endless water that flooded the boat.  

I looked up and gasped, dropping the bucket, petrified by the wave that towered over me like the lighthouse, but more grand.  

It seemed to happen in slow motion as the wave washed over me, sending my body into the sea where I would die.  The jagged rocks scraped my skin as I was whipped around in the water.  I thought of Will, the governor's son, and his amazingly large mansion.  The way his green eyes stared at me when I entered the entryway.  The way he tried to stop his mother from screaming at me.  Then my father's scream echoed through the pounding of the current.  I thought of what my father would say when he found my body wash up on shore.  How he would hold my lifeless hands and cry to the heavens as he held the wooden cross around his neck.  

"I'm sorry..."  I managed to make out with the last of the oxygen in my longs, then the world went completely black.

___________

I screamed in horror as the man pressed his wet hands once again to my chest.

"Calm down miss, this is the only way you can live!"  He shouted and pressed again, an unbearable pain surging through my veins.  I cried tears of aggony and tried to break free from his grip as blood made the water turn a dark shade of crimson.  The man lifted his hands and pressed a finger to my lips.

"Trust me, I'm going to save you," he whispered.  He then muttered a few words before letting his fingertips brush against my legs.  He lifted away and squeezed my hand.

"Don't die on me, You're going to be okay,"
I suddenly felt an indescribable tingling in my legs and looked down to see patches of scales were taking the place of my pale skin.  My legs seemed to meld together and my toes became fine as thread and webbed out to become fins.  The pain was completely gone now, but the curse had taken it's place.  I was no longer human, but a creature of the sea...