Mermaids of Kokololio (#JustWriteit 2016)

Chapter 2: The Map, the Bottle, and the Book.

A/N: Moon is a month and a season cycle is a year.

Like the outside of the chest there was salt and sand everywhere, in the crevices, on the bottom of the chest, and even on the objects inside. There was a huge paper, looking pretty old, a bottle of some kind of liquid, and an old book.

'Why would grandmother have all this locked in a chest? and what's with the salt and sand?' I think.

I grab the old paper first and realize it's a map of not just the island, but the ocean as well.

I rest it on the floor next to me and grab the bottle of liquid. It was crusted with salt but I could make out a glow from the liquid which was a blue teal color. I set it down next to the map and move on to the book.

The cover was a dark brown leather with no title. I open it up and shut my eyes as a bright light shines from the pages, but even under my eyelids I could see the gold light shining. I close the book and the light goes away. I open my eyes slowly and adjust back to the room's darkness.

'What in the world was that?!'

I slowly open it again bracing for the gold light, but nothing comes. Puzzled, I go ahead and look at the pages. Instead of the normal black inc writing against white paper I was met with gold letters against yellow stained paper from age with blue ripples under each sentence.

'First a gold glow, now an old book with gold writing and blue ripples? what has grandmother been up to?' I wonder.

I read the words.

"This Diary belongs to Kau'i Kekoa,-"

'That's Grandmother's name...'

"-Today is the third moon in the one thousand and nine hundred and twenty ninth season cycle.

Today I went out again to watch the boy on the dock. I helped him catch a fish.
He seemed really proud of himself and must have not known it was me that helped him. I wish I could meet him in person, but it's not the Mer way. I've heard stories though that an elder living at the bottom levels has helped Mer get to land, maybe he can do the same for me.

End of today's writing."

'Mer? like a Mermaid?' I wonder.

This can't be real, the book was owned by my grandmother for sure, but what does she mean when she talks about the "Mer way" and "get to land".

'She can't be, she couldn't be a-a-a mermaid....'

I looked at the bottle.

There must be an answer.

I grab everything and ran down the attic stairs and into my room before I hid everything under my bed.

Now for answers.

I raced out and down another set of stairs to the kitchen, where mom was working on organizing everything.

"Hey Mom..." I said, hesitating for a moment as I tried to think over the possibilities of what could happen if I told her if what I found.

She would probably say it was my imagination, but if what I thought about grandma turned out to be true then she would surely try to keep it from me, I mean why wouldn't I have known by now Grandma was a mermaid unless mom didn't want me to.

"Yes Hannah?" She replied, though I could tell she was focused as she organized some plates in the cabinet.

"Has grandmother ever been, interested, in the ocean?" I asked.

"Your grandmother? The ocean? I believe she loved the ocean more than anything in the world, before she had me she and your grandfather would sail out and scuba dive together, they even had their own water camera. I never knew what they did with the photos, but they spoke and laughed over it often. Why do you ask?" She questioned.

"Oh, nothing. Just, curious. Did she ever talk about, mermaids maybe?" I pressed.

"Mermaids?" She laughed. "Oh dear, I remember her telling me all sorts of stories of a mermaid and her adventures in the ocean, the way she described them, they felt like they weren't just stories, but memories. Ahh, those days were good. Hannah, is there a reason your asking these questions darling? Because I don't think it's just 'curiosity'."

"No, no reason at all. I just want to better know my grandmother." I lied.

She didn't say anything else and kept working.

I head back to my room and look at the bottle, the map and the book again. What did it all mean?