Mermaid

Chapter 19

"Your mother always seemed to have two sides." Suzuki said as she and Erika sat in a park while one a bench underneath the shade of a tree as kids ran around and played. Before talking about this Suzuki went and gave Erika a heated drink of some kind of tea. Erika was never the kind of person to drink tea or coffee, mainly because she never liked those kinds of drinks, but now as she drank it the soothing feeling that went down her throat it seemed to relax her. "There would be times where she would be eccentric and very outgoing, but sometimes she would become very serious."

Erika frowned staring down at the can. "My mother had always been protective over me; she would always jump in to keep me safe, from strangers, teachers and others. I've seen her becoming a serious person, how her voice changed and how she acted. She was like that before right? When she met my father?"

Suzuki nodded. "She almost seem fascinated by him, my guess is how he acted around her, which she found strange."

"Strange?"

"How do I say this...?" Suzuki muttered underneath her breath. "Your mother didn't really like me all that much for a while, like I was some kind of threat towards her. When I tried to get close to her, to stop pestering Allen even though he saved her she changed, like she saw me as an enemy. But Allen pulled her aside and said that everything was alright before making her apologize to me."

"My mother attacked you?" Erika looked at the woman completely stunned, she had known that her mother had always been extremely protective over her and her father but not once did she ever become the violent type.

"Well, she almost did but I was alright, when she found out that I was married and had a child with my husband, she became completely different, and she was a lot nicer then. Almost like a completely different persona, tell me was she ever like that when you were young?"

Erika thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Not that I can remember, although when my mother modeled..."

"Yara modeled?" Suzuki cut her off looking completely surprised.

"Yes," Erika said with a frown. "Is that strange to hear or something?"

Suzuki nodded. "When your mother was here, even though she's in photos she had always refused to model for people it was almost as if she hated the camera."

"My mother never liked the flashes of them." Erika admitted. "She said they always hurt her eyes, but when she chose to do so the people she worked with used cameras that didn't need a flash since there were enough lights in the place, same when she was outside too."

"Maybe you gave her some kind of influence?"

Erika shrugged, she had no idea, maybe she did, maybe she didn't but the whole thing with her mother being aggressive didn't fit right. Though there was one thing that she did want to know. "Was there anyone else here who didn't like my mother? Like someone who hated her because of her looks or how she acted?"

"Well at times she could never eat fish, some kind of affliction, but as for people hating her..." Suzuki trailed off, a sudden thought coming to her mind before she sighed deeply. "Okay, there was one person, but I'm not sure if I can even call it hate after what she said to Yara and Allen." Erika remained silent, listening intently for what Suzuki had to say. "My mother, though she never said anything that came remotely close to calling it hatred she said something rather odd."

"What?"

"She said: "You're cursed, you and the man you're after, if you stay with him you'll bring nothing but misery on yourself and his life will end because of you. You, a being from water will bring nothing but the end of things." Or something like that."