Dark waters

Chapter one

Annabelle

I stared down at my breakfast plate and sighed. Two fried eggs and a piece of bacon in and up side down rainbow shape. As much as I wanted to make to smiley face lighten my mood up, it just wouldn't. And this wasn't my uncle Johns' first attempt to make me happy either. 

"Anna" he stated, continuing to read his weekly news paper. "How would you feel about coming to work with me tonight?" My mood instantly perked. Mermaids had recently been discovered, and the local aquarium was the only place in the world that held them. The second I found out about them, I had pestered my parents yo take me to see them. Instead we went to a petting zoo. 

Not my ideal day trip, not gonna lie.

But my uncle John was one of the scientists working with them, and I had yet to see them. "Of course, I will only be in my office as it will be closed. But I am sure that you can still look around." He smiled at me fondly, taking a sip of his coffee. I nodded eagerly, wanting to see the creatures desperately. I had only been with my uncles family for a week, or else I would have already gone to see them.

"You coming, Luc?" I asked my cousin, nudging her shoulder. She just shook her head, giving off her classical Lucy look. "I went to see the mermaids twice already. Boring if you ask me. Unless they are specifically made to do tricks, they just swim away." I laughed at her moaning, taking a bite out of my crispy piece of bacon.

Maybe the last two weeks of summer wouldn't be so bad?

*****

I got ready and changed by nine o' clock, ready to go to the aquarium with uncle John. I wore a baggy yellow t shirt, which I tucked in scruffily to a tight pair of navy denim shorts. And I mean really cute short shorts. I wore the out fit with big black doc martins, which gave my short height maybe an extra inch. 

Hey. It was hard being five foot.

I couldn't really do anything with my black hair, as it was way too short. It came to about the length of a bob, under my chin. But instead of curling in wards, id curved out wards and up, even if it was only slightly. It made the whole style look different.

"Annabelle, are you ready to go?" my uncle called me. I grabbed my hand bag and ran down the stairs, a skip in my step. When I reached the bottom, the whole of the household stood there. Uncle John, bald with no hair upon his head. He smiled caringly at me as I came, clearly ready to leave. And then there was aunt Toni, whop was fussing over the mirror, and how it wouldn't sit straight. She had deep read hair, elegantly curled until her shoulders. And then cousin Lucy, a year younger than me at sixteen. She had striaght long blonde hair, and was clearly bored looking over her phone.

They looked like a perfect family. 

Yeah, maybe they weren't perfect individualy. But together, they seemed to be the base of a loving group. And at that moment, I had never yearned to see my parents so much since the first day of nursery.

"Right then. We'll be off then ladies" John said, grabbing his case and slipping his coat on. Aunt Toni walked up to be, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "You look just like your mother" she muttered, sighing in content. "Be careful, your parents would never forgive me if you got hurt. Those creatures are dangerous you know!" I laughed. She sounded just like mother her self. I promised her my safety and gave her a hug farewell. 

And as I sat in Uncle Johns' car, I had never felt so excited in my life. 

*****

As we entered the reception together, the last worker was just leaving. I guess it really was empty. The reception was a large blue room, surrounded by pictures of all the creatures who lived within the aquariums' walls. "Right then" Uncle John started, locking the door behind him. "Have a look around this room. You can read up on all the differnt species, and then it will direct you too where its container is. I'll come find you when I'm done" he kissed my head fondly and walked off in an unknown direction.

Even though all the creatures looked fascinating, I knew that there was only one that I really wanted to see. Unlike the rest of the sea creatures, the mermaids didn't have a picture as they were so new. But still, a small paragraph was there with all the information that I needed on them.

The mer creature is a recently discovered species with a similar brain to dolphins; intelligent. They can swim fast, up to 50 miles per hour and need to be in water to survive. Although they look human, they are very much not. They can not speak or understand, and are very aggressive. Please avoid maintaining eye contact or else it may agitate the animal. If this does happen, please alert a member of staff promptly. 

I rolled my eyes. They weren't animals, even if they couldn't speak. Unless they weren't really like the fictional mermaids and had no relation to Ariel? But that sseemed unlikely, esspecially at the way some of my friends had described them. They had all gone together in the earler summer, but obviously I couldn't... not after my parents incident.

I took a deep breathe and read the instructions on how to reach their own personal room. It wasn't too far, and I knew in reality that I would probably just run there. Besides; its not like any one was there to stop me.

I couldn't wait to see a real life mermaid. 

*****

Words: 998

So, yeah. Thats the first chapter done! If you haven't read any of my stories before ( I only have one main one), then hi! I'm Mia, a teenage girl with a passion for writing. I would apperiate it if you went and checked out "Their Flower" which is currently at 2.6k reads. Yeah, I was shocked too! 

So, I haven't actually written about mermaids before, so go easy on me. I just suddenly got the idea on my flight back from a holiday aborad, and just wanted to get it down. If it doesn't get too many votes and comments, I might be a little slow on the updates. On my other story I hardly get any comments, but the reads are my push to get out my posts. 

SO PLEASE COMMENT AND VOTE FOR MORE UPDATES!

Question of the day: What do you think happened to her parents?

Mia x

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