Mermaid

Two

The final bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Stuffing my notebook into my bag and getting up from my seat, I quickly left my class. I entered the hall that was filling up with high school students. The talking ranged from anything between plans for the weekend to how someone did on the math test. I couldn't help but smile as I listened. The people around me had such simple lives in comparison to mine.

I locked the door to my deep blue truck and walked along the gravel path that led to my front door. Unlocking the door, I stepped inside the grey house. I set my keys down and walked upstairs to my room. I threw my bag on the floor, flopping down on my green beanbag. I looked around my room, smiling softly at the pictures that covered every inch of the wall. The pictures were of my father and I, my favorite sea creatures, and the places I wanted to travel to. I could feel my eyes grow heavy as I looked over my life plastered on my walls and within seconds I was fast asleep.

"Dakota Annabelle Lynx, if you're not up by the time I count to three I'm taking away your keys!" My mother exclaimed. My eyes snapped open and I looked around my room. The sun was just setting, the evening light flooding the room. I jumped up from the beanbag and left my room, running down the stairs. My mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, her arms crossed over her chest. Her chestnut brown hair was in a high a pony tail, her make up flawless. I skidded to a stop as I got closer to her. "I've been standing here calling you for the past three minutes. Did you not hear me?" She asked, looking into my eyes. I looked down, shaking my head. "No ma'am," I muttered. The older woman sighed and turned around. She headed towards the kitchen. "Dinner is almost ready. Go get cleaned up," My mother ordered. I nodded even though her back was turned and walked down the final two steps.

I sat across from my mother at the dining room table. A plate of spaghetti was in front of me. It was one of my favorite dishes but lately, I didn't enjoy most of the things I used to. My mother had started to notice. "What's wrong Dakota?" She inquired. I stared at the food in front of me and shrugged. I could hear the sound of metal clanking against the plate. "Dakota, look at me." I sighed inwardly and looked up to see light brown eyes searching me.

My mother, Jessica Lynx, was an accountant at the local bank here in Seaside. She was a respected member of the community and people always listened to what she had to say. It amused me how easily she had climbed her way up the social ladder even though she was an outsider to our small town. My mother was originally from Dallas, Texas. She met my father at a business convention here in Seaside and fell in love with him and the ocean. She decided here was where she would spend the rest of her life. The natives of Seaside quickly took to my mother like moths to a flame. There was just something about her that attracted people to her. My mother earned their trust and soon enough, they were treating her as though they'd known her since the day she was born. When we received news of my father's disappearance, the community showered us with meals, flowers, prayers, anything to make the situation less painful. My mother was devastated but everyday she got a little better. It's been three months since my father disappeared and now I can't see a hint of pain in her golden brown eyes. I know she still loves him but it bothers me how easily she could have accepted his fate. I was stubborn, a trait I had acquired from the sailor. I would not let him go so easily, not when I knew there was something I could do to bring him back.

"Dakota?" The voice of my mother snapped me out of my thoughts and I blinked. "Tell me what's wrong with you, please? I'm worried about you." I held back the urge to snort at her words. Worried about me? More like worried about what people were saying behind our backs. I could imagine it now, our neighbors whispering to one another about 'the Lynx girl, the freak who never talks and is obsessed with mermaids'. I was 100% sure my mother would die of embarrassment if those words were spoken out in public. As an accountant and involved member of the small community, she had an image to uphold, an image I was slowly destroying. "Dakota, sweetie, I understand that things are difficult for you right now but if you need to talk-," I pushed my chair back and stood. "I'm fine, Mom," I said, looking into the eyes of the older woman. "Thanks for dinner." And with that, I left the dining room and went upstairs to my room.

As I began to close the door behind me, I could hear my mother's voice coming from downstairs. "Carl, our little girl is slipping away from me and there's nothing I can do," she said, her voice quiet and shaky. I sighed and closed the door. My eyes drifted to the last picture I took with my father, a few months before he went out to sea. I felt tears sting my eyes but I bit my lip in a desperate attempt to hold them back. Our family was falling apart without my father; we needed him more than ever. I had to find him before it was too late, before our family vanished from existence.