Running in the dark to find you

The Third Summer & The Incident

After a year long of school, Zhao Yunlan was back at the summer house with his parents.

After his wild discovery, Zhao Yunlan had suddenly taken an interest in swimming and diving. In school, he joined the swim club. And over time, he was the best among his peers!
He suddenly became very popular in school, girls and also boys were after him. But he barely paid any attention to it. Sure, it was fun to have so many admirers. But Zhao Yunlan only cared about solving the mystery at that place. He only concentrated on the thought of continuing his search at that place.

He knew that if he wanted to know more about those sea creatures, he had to improve his swimming skills.

And now, the fifteen year old Zhao Yunlan, had succeeded in his goal. He was one of the best swimmers in his school, which meant that he was ready to explore the sea and also swim to that mysterious island, hopefully.

He thought about the strange things that had happened and what the man had said the year before. He already came to the conclusion that the man's tale wasn't some far-fetch idea. He remembered that he caught a glimpse of one of them one time. He finally had a clue what was going on. And he intended to solve the mystery once and for all. In case he failed, he had another idea; which was buying a ton of bread to lure the sirens out. Since he remembered what happened the summer before.

Zhao Yunlan admitted that his screw was loose, but after watching a series of documentaries about the ocean, his theory seemed to sound less insane. He knew that only 5 percent of the ocean had been explored, so what else was out there?

He began obsessing over myths and legends, believing that there was some truth to them. Heck, he even followed a few conspiracy theories online that were related to the ocean. The stories had to come from somewhere, right?

Zhao Yunlan was more than prepared to uncover the sea's secret or hoped to do so. He was one of the best swimmers in his school after all! There was even a chance for him to get a swim-scholarship later on, if he stayed on this path.

His parents were proud that Zhao Yunlan was finally getting better in school and were even more proud that he was one of the prized swim athletes. Their worries for their son had disappeared and they looked forward to his bright future.
They didn't worry when Zhao Yunlan would wake up early in the morning to swim in the sea or in the afternoon or at night.

But that changed when two weeks later, his mother went for a stroll at the beach and found her son, lying on the shore, coughing up water.

She immediately ran up to him and asked what happened.

Zhao Yunlan had blood-shot eyes and blue colored lips. He was breathing heavily, gasping for the lack of air in his lungs.
He could barely see anything. His sight hadn't recovered yet. Everything seemed to blur for Zhao Yunlan. Yet, he heard his mother asking him a question.

"Something..." Zhao Yunlan croaked, his voice sounded raspy.

"Something grabbed my leg and tried to pull me down." Zhao Yunlan explained, catching his breath at every word.

From that day on, Zhao Yunlan didn't swim again. He somehow couldn't bring himself to get back into the water. Every time he tried, he remembered how he almost drowned. The fear of being suffocated once again scared Zhao Yunlan. The darkness. He didn't want to relive it.

He thought of how close he was to lose his life for the cost of uncovering the mystery that had been eating him alive for almost three years, and ultimately decided to drop it.

No more investigating. No more swimming. No more theories.

Zhao Yunlan finally gave up on it.

He spent the rest of his summer in his room, reading. Which was fairly surprising. Zhao Yunlan wasn't very fond of books since he was a very active person, who always preferred sports and outside activities than reading books. But here he was, reading non-fiction books from the library.

Yes, they even had a library in the summer house.

His mother was an intelligent woman and loved to read. Before they bought the summer house, she had already gathered a ton of books from all kinds of genres. Just for their summer house alone.

Zhao Yunlan would have picked up a fantasy book or adventure or such. But his father didn't want any of that. He saw to it that Zhao Yunlan should read non-fiction books for a while.

His father believed that if he read a fictional book, then his son would be more obsessed with this so-called siren.
When Zhao Yunlan had spouted nonsense about someone grabbing his leg, his father didn't believe him. He thought that his son was being delusional and childish. He didn't want any of that.

Zhao Yunlan laid down on his stomach on the carpet as he read about European History.
There were some parts that interested him, but as he kept reading, he felt as if his energy might drain and that he'd pass out from the words.

He immediately closed the book and went to get some fresh air on the balcony.
It always seemed to calm him, the summer breeze, the warmth of the sun...

He leaned onto the rails and sighed deeply.

He was so close on reaching that island. Every day, he would try and test his limit on how far he could swim. And every day, he kept improving; his stamina, his speed and his endurance were all getting better. But when he almost got there, that was when something grabbed him. It felt as if a hand grabbed his leg, pulling him into the dark abyss. But he felt as if his leg was being stabbed by something sharp. Could it be that sirens had sharp nails? Or maybe was it claws?

How did he even survive anyway? He couldn't recall what happened afterwards. Like, how he managed to get back on land? Was that even possible? Did the siren have enough of him and just let him go? Did it help him?

He lowered his head and shut his eyes. Was there something he overlooked?

Since swimming failed, he could always make some sandwiches and lure a few sirens out, like he originally intended as back up. But what if those sirens were truly dangerous, like the locals had said?

Zhao Yunlan shook his head.

That didn't make any sense. Otherwise, he and his family would be long dead by now. There was a motive behind the attack. A reason why he almost drowned. But what was it?

After a while, he heard shuffling noises, bringing him back to reality.

Was something coming for him?

He wanted to look where that noise originated, but he felt stuck. He froze in terror as he thought of a possible scenario.

Maybe it was the siren that grabbed his leg? Maybe it was here to finish what it started?

Zhao Yunlan didn't even realize how frantic his breathing was. How he tried to breathe air but couldn't feel it reaching his lungs. His hands started to shake but he immediately gripped onto the railings so the shaking would stop.

Then suddenly, he heard a voice. Someone was singing.

Zhao Yunlan recalled how that voice sounded similar. And that melody! Like he had heard it before. It's the exact same one from three summers ago!

He unusually felt ecstatic for a moment, before fear took control of him as he remembered that it might not be a friendly siren.

As he somehow regained control of his body, he rushed back into his room and shut the door to the balcony.

He was afraid. Afraid of the monster that was out there.

He covered his ears and shut his eyes, repeating the same words over and over, "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real!"

It effectively took a toll on Zhao Yunlan's mental state.

After that summer, his parents decided to take Zhao Yunlan to see a therapist.