siren// tyler joseph

two

80 years later

you were in the living room of the house you shared with the other girls. two of the girls who had first saved you were still sirens; callista and pandora. the others were freed, out living a normal life now. but over the years, you had gotten two new additions to your little group.
ashley and elara.

so now it was the five of you, living in a nice house near the ocean. it was best to live near her, she enjoyed the presence of her five girls, and she absolutely loved it when they came to hang out or swim in her. it showed that they cared and respected her.

however, things did get quite boring around here, so you liked to get out.

"i think i'm gonna go for a walk," you told them, slipping on your shoes near the front door. they nodded, saying their quick goodbyes as you opened the door to leave. you took walks on the beach often. it was calming, especially during the evening.

as you walked along the sand, you heard the ocean whispering your name, the salty wind seeming to hold her quiet voice. but you ignored it, continuing your stroll and basking in the chilly breeze blowing through your hair. as much as you loved talking to her, the scenery around you was too beautiful to not look at. you wanted to watch the sky transform from hot pink to pitch black and listen to the waves lapping over the shore.

the sound of a dog barking nearby pulled you out of your trance, and you turned to where the sound was coming from. a furry golden retriever dog was waiting for a brunette man holding up a neon green tennis ball to throw it in the water for him. you smiled. you loved animals, especially dogs. you didn't have to talk to them to communicate with them, and that comforted you.

you stopped to watch the man and who you assumed to be his dog. he threw the ball in the water, the golden retriever instantly jumping in and swimming towards it. he picked it up in his mouth and came back, handing it back to the man. the brunette took it from his mouth, looking up and noticing you watching him. he smiled, motioning with his hand for you to come over. "you can pet him. he's really friendly," he said. you accepted his offer, bending down and running your fingers through the dog's soft golden fur. you wanted to ask what his name was, but you couldn't speak, not to anyone but the other four girls. your voice was deadly. it usually didn't bother you so much, but sometimes you really had the urge to actually talk to people other than the girls.

you looked at the collar around his neck, searching for a tag. eventually you found one. you smiled, reading the name. it was jim. for some reason, it seemed to suit the happy dog perfectly. jim suddenly jumped on top of you, licking your cheek. the brunette gently pulled him away, apologizing. "you can't jump on people jim," he told the dog, kneeling down and petting him. the boy had brown hair that grew out in waves over his forehead and copper brown eyes that seemed to glow in the evening light. his voice was soft, sweet like sugar. you wished you could talk to him.

"i'm tyler," the boy finally introduced himself, standing back up and holding his hand out to you. you shook it, smiling. obviously he was waiting for your response, but you couldn't exactly do that. so you signed your name instead, knowing beforehand that he probably wouldn't understand. "i'm sorry, are you deaf?" he asked in the nicest way possible, genuinely not trying to be rude. you shook your head. "just can't speak?" you nodded.

you pulled a pen out of your pocket, something you always carried around just in case you had to communicate with people. on your hand, you wrote, "i'm y/n." you held your hand out so he could read it.

"y/n," he said, his golden eyes meeting yours again. "i like it."

not wanting the conversation to dissipate, you quickly scribbled onto your arm, "jim is adorable. is he yours?" after reading your arm once again, tyler shook his head with a smile.

"actually, he's my friend josh's. we're touring right now and jim comes along sometimes, so i thought i'd hang out with him," he explained, patting jim on the head. the dog nuzzled his head against tyler's leg, begging for more attention.

"so where are you from?" you wrote.

"ohio," he replied. "columbus ohio, to be specific." that was a bit far from where you lived now. well, not super far, but definitely not close by. you lived on the coast of florida, and you'd been here for the past two years. you and the other girls had been thinking about a change of scenery. maybe you'd move.

"we'll be home pretty soon, though. tour ends next month and then... we have a bit of a break." you assumed he was in a band, since he was mentioning touring. perhaps he was the singer. he definitely seemed like the type to sing, with his calming voice and all. you wished you could go back to the simpler times when singing was something innocent, beautiful. now when you thought of it, you could only think of the people you had killed by using your voice.

"do you maybe want my number?" he asked, running a hand through his short beach wavy hair. "you know, so i can send you some cute pictures of jim, of course." you nodded. you were glad you didn't have to let this boy go so quickly. strangers had come and gone in your life, the only friends you had been able to keep were the other girls. it wasn't easy maintaining friendships when you technically weren't even human.

you handed the boy your pen, holding your arm out so he could write down his number. after he did so, you placed the pen back in your pocket, waving and giving a small smile to tyler as you walked away. he returned the small gesture, causing your cheeks to turn pink.

you hadn't felt this ecstatic in a while. not over a boy, at least. you wanted to hold yourself back from feeling anything for tyler, but it was difficult. it wasn't very often you had a connection with someone. in fact, nobody else had been able to make you feel as content as you felt when tyler's soft voice filtered through your ears.

but if tyler had ever found out about who you truly were, you knew that you'd be in big trouble, and he'd drop you immediately. and you couldn't blame him. nobody was interested in deadly singing mermaids.