“Then you say, ‘Swim to me. Swim to me, let me enfold you’.”

~ Tim Buckley, ‘Song of the Siren’

For most people, there are certain elements of the supernatural world that cannot possibly exist. Like vampires, werewolves, even witches.

It is certainly no different when it comes to the mysterious case of mermaids.

Half woman, half fish?

Impossible.

And yet, there are things in our Universe that cannot be explained away by Science and Logic. This was certainly the case when Bae Juhyun (whom her friends called Irene) had her very first encounter with the realms of the supernatural and still lived to tell the tale somehow.  

It was a balmy, summer’s night and Irene was drunk off her head. She stumbled as if on stilts across the white sand of the beach, a half-consumed bottle of vodka clutched possessively in her right hand.

She’d been at a house party on the beachfront just 20 minutes before. She’d also left abruptly in the middle of a spirited game of beer pong when she’d caught her ex-girlfriend making out with her new bae right in front of her.

They’d broken up months ago and Irene had moved on since then. So it really shouldn’t have mattered who her ex was kissing now. And yet, the sight of the two women locking lips in a public place had caused Irene’s insides to twist with unexpected agony and sudden loneliness.

So she’d quit the party and walked several metres towards the waterfront. The pier was eerily quiet in the absence of any person roaming the wooden platform save for Irene. She’d initially wanted to go for a night’s swim like in days of old, but there were some lines that even Irene couldn’t make herself cross, especially when she was inebriated.

So she took to gazing at the starry night overhead and taking regular swigs from the bottle of vodka she’d swiped from the party. The water lolled and rolled in a lazy stupor, which numbed Irene’s senses even further.

She sighed and gazed up at the full moon, that bright, elusive ball which emanated its own romantic mystery.

“Oh moon,” Irene whispered, her vision slipping in and out of focus while she tried her best to concentrate. “My life is so boring. I need something…magical to happen.”

A white cloud enveloped the moon and banished it completely. And with that came the soft plop of water shifting in close proximity to Irene. The drunken girl turned her attention towards the source of the noise and gave a start.

There was something moving in the water.

Irene placed her half-empty bottle of liquor at her feet and squinted her eyes. She caught sight of a large scaly tail glittering and rising above the dark surface of the water.

At first, Irene thought that fishy tail reminded her of a whale. And yet, it was unheard of for whales to be spotted so close to the shore at this particular beach.

What could it be?

Just when Irene thought her night couldn’t get any stranger, the fish tail disappeared beneath the waves and the face and shoulders of a slender woman emerged from the depths of the sea in its place.

“What the hell?”  

In her abstraction, Irene moved forward and her foot got caught on a rotten wooden plank. Part of the platform gave way beneath her and she was soon falling through a massive hole in the pier into the cold, briny sea.

The water claimed her in an instant and dragged her down. If Irene had been sober, she could’ve kicked out her legs and swam back to the shore in a matter of minutes. But because of the alcohol flowing through her veins and her confusion over what she’d just seen, her feeble feet moved like heavy steel through the seaweed which shrouded her whole body. That green creature clawed at her clothes and skin and refused to let her go as the salt, briny water engulfed her lungs and dragged her further down. 

Irene had swum so often in the ocean over time that she’d forgotten the elusive dangers of that swift, blue tyrant. But as the water filled up every orifice of her body and the faint glimmer of the woeful moon above was the only thing she could see above her, Irene realised with overwhelming terror that she was about to die.

Her body went limp and her eyes closed as she moved swiftly down to the depths to meet her Maker…

…

…

…

…

The water shook and tiny fish in the near vicinity scattered in fright as a figure dove and swam towards Irene’s descending body. Two strong, sinewy arms reached forward and wrapped around the young woman’s limp figure and pulled her up again. The seaweed fell away from Irene’s feet like ribbons and it wasn’t long before her head broke through the surface of the water. Her savior moved like silk through the seawater, dipping and diving through the waves.

Irene’s body fell with a soft thud onto the wet sand and pale hands moved over her chest to dislodge water which had made a home in her lungs. With one final push, Irene was roused from unconsciousness with raspy breaths which rattled through her chest. Every cough that exited her body scratched painfully at her scarred throat, but she was miraculously alive.

As Irene’s eyes opened and adjusted to the darkness, she took in the sight of a figure standing directly above her. She gave a start when she realised that it was a young woman and she was stark .

Irene was struck by the woman’s hair, a velvety black curtain which hung all the way down to her posterior. She stared down at Irene with an unfathomable expression on her porcelain face. Her eyes were a mesmerizing green, like coral. Irene couldn’t take her eyes off of this strange creature who had just saved her life.

“Who…what?” Irene stammered nonsensically, struggling to focus on the woman in front of her.

Her eyes closed and she lapsed into unconsciousness once more.

When she awoke later, the sun had risen and her best friend, Wendy, was kneeling over her and shaking her shoulders.

“Irene, are you ok?! Oh my God, what were you thinking swimming in the sea when you were drunk?! Have you completely lost your mind?!”

Another man knelt in the sand next to Wendy and checked Irene’s pulse on her left arm which was stamped with a string of light brown freckles. He was dressed in swimming trunks and wore some kind of sash around his bare chest. Irene’s befuddled mind asserted that he must be a life guard.

“Ma’am, how many fingers am I holding up?” the man asked in a brisk tone.

“My body may be waterlogged, but I’m not an idiot. You’re holding up four fingers.” Irene snapped, trying to sit up.

“You are an idiot, Bae Irene. You could’ve been brain dead!” Wendy hissed indignantly, her hands sweeping over her friend’s face to check that she was really ok.

“I’m fine, Wendy, stop fussing,” Irene chided, her chest feeling like it had been punched and beaten into a pulp. “I accidentally fell in, but it was alright because someone-”

Irene stopped short and Wendy and the life guard waited patiently for her to continue. But try as she might, she couldn’t remember what she was about to say. Flashes of coral green eyes swam through her memory, the only thing which attached itself to her cognitive processes. The rest of her recollection was a miserable, blurry spot of vagueness inside her head.

“Someone? Who?” Wendy pressed when it looked like Irene wouldn’t answer. 

Irene clutched the side of her face, her head feeling dizzy.

“I don’t know,” she finally whispered.

A few nights later, Irene tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The sound of the wind whistling outside shrieked like an angry bird in her eardrums. Dull waves crashed like doldrums, creating their own mantra of monotony in the cold, listless night.

Irene finally had enough and got out of bed to use the toilet. When that was complete, she journeyed into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. Her home was a nondescript affair, a tiny bungalow packed like a sardine amongst many other wealthier holiday houses in that beachy suburb. She and Wendy rented it together, having remained steadfast friends since they were in primary school.

Irene had always loved the sea; it reminded her of days long gone when she and her parents would leave their suburban home on the weekends and picnic at the beach. She was an only child, the product of a dangerous and trying pregnancy which had made her parents dote on her even more as the years progressed. They often worried about her enigmatic pull towards the ocean, but they never once tried to stop her when she’d first begun her swimming lessons in that vast blue of mystery. They eventually grew proud of the many trophies and medals Irene brought home from the swimming competitions she entered and won at school.

Now she was all grown up and still drawn to the sea. Even more so now after she nearly drowned and struggled in vain to remember who had rescued her. It frustrated Irene, especially since she’d always prided herself on being able to remember the minutest details of life’s nostalgic banalities. Like the time that Wendy lost her white gold seahorse-shaped earring and Irene recalled that her friend had been baking that afternoon and leaning too far over the mixing bowl filled with flour. She even remembered the first book that her mother had given to her as a young child.

So why couldn’t she remember what happened the other night?

Irene downed the contents of her glass and set it down in the kitchen sink with a loud clink. Then she raced back to her bedroom and got dressed in the first items of clothes she could find. She was still careful not to make a sound as she tiptoed past Wendy’s bedroom in case her friend tried to stop her. As an afterthought, Irene also remembered that Wendy had an early shift at the local gym and didn’t want to disturb her peaceful sleep. She looked back with a weary sigh before shutting the front door softly behind her.

She found herself standing on the beach a few minutes later, gazing wistfully at the black sea, illuminated in silvery streams by a full moon overhead. Irene still wasn’t sure why she had come here; only that she needed answers to the questions piling up inside her head.

The wind had picked up even more, encircling her body in a grotesque caricature of a lover, rippling through the sleeves of her hoodie as it tried to pull her closer to the water. Despite the loneliness of the setting, it was tranquil, wafting fresh, briny air into Irene’s nostrils and temporarily clearing away the cobwebs from her mind.

She squatted on her haunches and scooped up a handful of wet sand, letting the mushy grains dance over her fingers. As it had for days on end, her mind drifted back to coral green eyes which had haunted every thought and shrieking nightmare, stuck like a starfish to her senses.

Irene let the wet sand drop back onto the ground and stood up, wiping her dirty hands off on her jeans. As she rose to her full height, she jumped back in fright when she realised she wasn’t alone.

A figure stood before her, conjured up as if out of thin air. Upon closer scrutiny, Irene realised that it was a woman. A young woman with an athletic yet curvaceous build; tanned skin; long black hair the colour of a raven’s wings.

And coral green eyes.

Based on how much of her skin was visible, Irene surmised that the woman was .

Irene’s heart jumped in her chest as the woman continued staring at her, seemingly in no hurry to break the impregnable silence which surrounded them.

Finally, Irene couldn’t take it anymore.

She stepped forward and the woman retreated at the same pace.

Irene’s cheeks flushed crimson, realising too late that her actions might be seen as threatening. She reached forward with her palms flat and open in a gesture of supplication.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Please…I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to know something: did you save me from drowning five nights ago?” Irene practically whispered.

The woman stared at her and Irene feared that nothing would come of her question. Then out of nowhere, the mysterious woman gave an imperceptible nod. Just when Irene heaved a sigh of relief and smiled encouragingly, the woman turned away.

“Wait!” Irene called just as the woman waded through the shallow waves. “What is your name?”

The woman tilted her head to the side while staring at Irene, as if she was surveying the human girl and weighing out her options. Then she emitted what sounded like a weary sigh before her lips moved.

“My name is Seulgi.”

“Seulgi.” Irene said, curving inwards while she sounded out the name. “I’m Irene, nice to meet-”

Seulgi didn’t wait to hear the end of her sentence. Irene gaped in astonishment as the mysterious woman turned her back completely on her and dove through the waves. As her upper body rose momentarily in perfect imitation of a dolphin spiral, Irene’s eyes bugged out of their sockets when she realised her human legs had disappeared and was replaced instead with a tail and a scaly lower body like that of a large fish.

Half woman.

Half fish.

A mermaid. 

Impossible.

Irene whispered those four syllables to herself as she watched that strange figure disappear beneath the waves and vanish completely.

Like before, Irene would’ve forgotten all about that second strange encounter if she hadn’t been walking on the beach after hours yet again. It had become a habit of hers in recent times to stroll around there late at night, to Wendy’s intense horror. Irene had never been afraid of the sea. She’d never understood it, except that it was an elusive bond which seemed to grow in its fascination and intensity over time.

If she had any extra reason to fear the magnificent ocean, particularly in light of certain things which had occurred in recent times, Irene couldn’t remember. All she had now were faint images of coral green eyes and a large fish tail which entered her mind at the strangest hours. Wendy was wrapped up in her own world of work and saving to travel abroad one day soon to take Irene’s recent abstraction too much to heart.

As for Irene, life went on as per usual. She waited tables at the seafood restaurant close to her home and jogged on the beach every morning. And on nights like this, she often found a smooth boulder near the rock pools and sat down on it, listening to her iPod for hours. Tonight, the moon was full, but an opaque silver which only glowed faintly in contrast to other nights in recent times. Irene didn’t notice the difference, her only concern being to shut out the rest of the world and drift off into her own pensive thoughts.

Just as she placed her earphones in her ears and was about to choose a song from a playlist, she heard a strange, muffled sound. Irene frowned and took her earphones out again, depositing her music player back into her shorts pocket. She got up from the boulder and stepped cautiously through the rock pool with her bare feet, which flowed with streams of gurgling seawater at regular intervals. The sound she’d initially heard became louder and louder the longer she climbed over sprawling sand dunes. The more she listened, the more Irene realised that they were moans and whimpers coming from somewhere close by.

It sounded like an animal that was in trouble.

It was darker on this part of the beach with the nearby palm trees throwing patches of ominous black shade onto the sand, causing Irene to become very afraid. The sounds grew closer and were only matched by the hard pounding of Irene’s heart as she struggled to keep her breathing even. The moon twinkled with renewed vitality and a beam fell over a figure sprawled in the sand.

Irene gasped when she saw the thin ropes intricately woven around the figure, cutting painfully deep into a pair of tanned womanly legs.

“No!”

Then Irene suddenly remembered with sharp clarity a young woman with the lower body of a fish rescuing her when she nearly drowned two weeks ago. She’d desperately been trying to remember this entire time and the memory seamlessly came back to her as if it had never abandoned her to begin with.

“Seulgi!”

Irene knelt beside the young woman and examined her. Seulgi was still conscious and struggling against the fish net she’d unwittingly gotten stuck in. But her eyes were dilated and infused with shock and terror. Her whole body was clammy and limp, exactly like a fish that had been out of water for too long.

“Oh my God.”

Irene searched haphazardly for any kind of blade in her pockets. But all she had stored in there was an old pack of chewing gum and a few fluff balls. She finally threw caution to the wind and got on her hands and knees, trying to search for anything sharp to use in the near vicinity. Her eyes fell upon a rock shard that had washed up onto the shore. She grabbed it and started hacking away at the ropes which kept Seulgi bound and trapped.

Several tense minutes ensued and Irene soon had Seulgi freed. But even with her liberty handed to her, Seulgi couldn’t move. Try as she might, her human legs kept shaking and sending her sprawling forward. Irene became even more afraid when Seulgi collapsed onto her knees, hitting her chest with her hand as she wheezed and gasped for air.

“What’s wrong with you?” Irene questioned frantically, kneeling beside Seulgi and patting her back.

“Weak. Need…water.”

Irene stared out at the ocean and understood. She was about to help Seulgi onto her feet when she remembered something.

“Your legs – will they change back to a fish tail when you go in again?”

Seulgi nodded rapidly, coughing and spluttering.

“Can you swim back to where you came from?”

Seulgi nodded, but with less conviction, which worried Irene even more.

“You can’t do that on your own, you’re still too weak.”

“I’ll be fine,” Seulgi gasped out stubbornly.

“Seulgi, you can’t.” Irene protested.

“I don’t have a choice!” Seulgi growled. “I can’t stay here,” she added more calmly a few seconds later.

Irene racked her brain for an answer that would ensure she could take care of Seulgi by getting her to some salt water quickly. Luckily, the solution came to her just as soon as she’d posed the initial problem.

“My friend, Wendy, works at a gym near here. It has a swimming pool-”

“I can’t be in regular water either!” Seulgi snapped.

“It has sea water in it. Prospective divers use it to help them acclimatize before they go into the ocean.” Irene explained in a patient voice. 

Seulgi fixed the human girl with a look of deep uncertainty and distrust. But the longer she stared, the more sincerity she saw in those dark brown eyes. Those eyes spoke volumes about a woman who had never hurt so much as stepped on a snail or pointed a magnifying glass at ants under the hot rays of the sun.

In that millisecond, Seulgi trusted that Bae Irene wouldn’t hurt her.

“Fine.”

Irene smiled encouragingly at her and took out her cellphone. “We’re going to need a little help.”

************************

Wendy came sprinting onto the beach nearly 10 minutes later, carrying a bundle in her arms.

“Jesus, Irene, what was so damn urgent that you couldn’t tell me all the details over the phone? And why did I need to bring extra clothes?”

Wendy stopped short in her tracks and fixed her eyes on a strange sight. Her best friend was kneeling beside a young woman she didn’t recognise. And the stranger was too.

Wendy blushed profusely and averted her gaze, a million questions flooding her head at that precise moment.

“Irene, what’s going on? Who is this?”

“This is…my friend, Seulgi. She’s uh…not feeling too well. I need you to help me take her to your gym.”

“Why does she need to go to the gym if she’s sick? Shouldn’t she go to a doctor?” Wendy asked in a quizzical tone.

“It’s complicated, Wendy. She needs to immerse herself in salt water.”

“There’s plenty of salt water out here!”

“I can’t leave her outside, she’s too weak.” Irene said firmly. “I know I’m not making any sense, but I need you to trust me just this once and not ask me too many questions.”

“Fine, but I want an explanation later.”

Irene frowned when Wendy continued standing several paces without looking at either her or Seulgi.

“For God’s sake, would you come over here and help me?!”

“I’m uncomfortable being around people, Irene! Or have you already forgotten ‘The P.E Locker Room Incident of ‘09’?”

“Stop being such a wuss and get over here!”

Wendy threw Irene a withering look and knelt down on the sand too to help Seulgi.

“I brought an old tracksuit of yours.”

“Thank you.”

“How did your friend end up anyway?” Wendy hissed.

Irene resisted the urge to slap a palm to her forehead. So she settled for rolling her eyes instead. “Like me, she likes skinny dipping at night sometimes. You work the top, I’ll do the bottom.”

Seulgi stared in confusion between the two humans bickering loudly with each other while they helped her into some clothes.

“Help me pick her up,” Irene urged when she was finished with pulling the pants over Seulgi’s waist.

“Are you serious???”

“Why would I ask if I wasn’t serious?”

“Why can’t your friend walk on her own?”

“Because it’s so much more fun when people carry you around ‘bridal style’ for no reason whatsoever.” Irene remarked in a sugary sweet tone. “What do you ing think, Wendy? She can’t walk at all right now!” she snapped irately a second later.

Wendy sniffed indignantly at this and took hold of Seulgi’s arms. “There’s no need to take that tone with me, Bae Irene.”

“Enough with the lecture on etiquette. Just help me please!” Irene begged, worried that someone would spot the three of them on the beach in this awkward position.

“You owe me so big for this,” Wendy grumbled when she and Irene coordinated walking with Seulgi in their arms.

It took some doing, but they made it to the gym without being spotted by anyone in the neighbouring houses. By the time they got inside, both Wendy and Irene were sweaty and exhausted from carrying Seulgi into the indoor swimming pool. With some manoeuvring, Wendy managed to switch on the lights.

A multitude of fluorescent beams came to life, illuminating the vast room and the massive swimming pool with sharp relief.

“Switch on the pool pump to get the sea salt moving through the water.” Irene instructed.

Wendy helped Irene set Seulgi down onto the cold tiled floor and jogged to the electricity board at the far end of the room. Irene knelt beside Seulgi and touched her clammy forehead.

“Hang in there, you’ll be fine soon,” she whispered reassuringly.

Wendy came sprinting back just as the pool pump roared to life in the distance. The water, which had been still just moments before, rolled in a lackadaisical motion, just like miniature waves.

“Help me take off her clothes.”

“What?! Why is she getting again?!” Wendy screeched in horror.

“Just shut up and do it!”

Wendy emitted several choice curse words and acquiesced. She averted her eyes when Seulgi was and Irene had helped her to lie on her side.

“What are you doing now?” Wendy asked wearily.

“She needs to go into the water somehow.” Irene muttered. “Seulgi, I’m going to roll you into the water now. I’ll be right here if anything goes wrong.”

Irene said a silent prayer and began pushing Seulgi’s body with all her might. After a few shoves, Seulgi moved and toppled into the pool. She disappeared beneath the water’s surface and it was difficult to pinpoint her location for several tense seconds. Both Irene and Wendy took to kneeling over the pool and holding onto the edges to see where Seulgi had gone.

Wendy shook her head and got to her feet again.

“Irene, you need to tell me what the hell is going on here!” she fumed, hands on her hips with her back to the pool.

A crash of water and a foreign mass colliding sounded directly behind her. She turned around and both she and Irene stared in consternation at Seulgi flew upwards, briefly suspended in the air, an emerald green fish tail flapping wildly beneath her as she dove gracefully back into the pool.

Wendy’s eyes were wide as saucers as she staggered backwards and pointed wildly at the pool.

“W-w-what the hell was that? Did you see that?!” she demanded, rounding on Irene, who was just as shell-shocked as she was at Seulgi’s rapid transformation.

Wendy’s heart pounded erratically in her chest as she tried to understand what was happening. “Your friend…she…a fish tail…human body…M-m-m-mer, mer-”

Her eyes rolled into her skull as she fainted. Irene snapped out of her own shock just in time to catch her friend before she hit the ground. She held onto her friend’s head while she gazed in amazement at Seulgi swimming happily around the length of the swimming pool.

“You were right, Irene. This water’s fine! Can you see how well I’m swimming?” Seulgi cried out, beaming with happiness at her progress.

Irene smiled weakly at the mermaid before gazing in bewilderment down at her friend, who had passed out.

This was turning into one strange night…

Luckily, Wendy woke up a few minutes after that and she and Irene took turns in keeping an eye on Seulgi swimming in the pool. From this vantage point, Irene could see the colour coming back into Seulgi’s skin, a very different picture from the pitiable figure she’d been just hours before. She swam happily through the water, diving in and out at every turn, looking like she could go on in that manner forever and ever.

Irene wasn’t sure when she finally dozed off from exhaustion. But she woke up close to 4am, rubbing her smarting neck. She found herself sitting up on a wooden bench a few paces away from the swimming pool. The last thing she remembered was sitting at the pool’s edge with her feet dangling in the water watching Seulgi do the mermaid equivalent of ‘swimming laps’.

Even more astounding than this was that a towel had been rolled up and placed exactly where her head had been resting before. She looked around wildly, not seeing either Seulgi or Wendy anywhere in sight.

Where did they go?

Just when she was about get hysterical, Seulgi appeared from the shadows and walked towards her.

On her human legs.

And even more disturbing than this was that she was still in fact .

“Seulgi! You’re ok!” Irene exclaimed, getting to her feet.

She cleared awkwardly and averted her gaze from Seulgi’s tanned skin, which seemed to glow with an unnatural light of perfection.

“Of course I’m alright,” Seulgi said matter-of-factly. “Salt water is good for me. It keeps me healthy and strong.”

“Then what happened last night? Why were you so weak?” Irene asked, curiosity overriding her every nerve-ending.

Seulgi sighed and pursed her hands together. “I was careless. I have a bad habit of leaving the water and wandering on the beach when I’m not supposed to. Mermaids get their strength from the moon, especially when it is full. But even that full moon was not strong enough to sustain me and I stayed out of the water for too long. I stumbled on my human legs and got trapped in that fish net you found me in. if you hadn’t come when you did, I don’t know what would’ve happened. Thank you.”

Irene ducked her head ever so lightly, embarrassment and elation coursing through her bones. “You’re welcome. I couldn’t just leave you like that.”

“You are very kind, Irene. Humans often aren’t.”

“Have you met many humans before?”

“Enough to make me keep my distance.”

That statement stung more than Irene cared to admit. But she rallied nonetheless by saying, “I never got a chance to thank you for saving my life. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t come to my rescue.”

Unlike Irene’s response to being paid a compliment, Seulgi simply tilted her head in confusion at the human girl’s words. “It was natural to save you. There’s still too much life in you for it to be wasted out there,” she said, gesturing with her hand in the direction of the ocean.

Irene noted that Seulgi had a strange way of phrasing things. And yet, she’d never felt more comfortable in anyone else’s presence like she did with the mermaid, and that included the company of her best friend too.

“Then I should be more careful when I go swimming.”

Seulgi turned her head and stared in the direction of the ocean. “I’ve been gone too long, I should get back.”

“Right!” Irene exclaimed. “I guess ‘home’ for you is in the water. But…you can’t leave here without putting something on first.” When Seulgi continued looking confused, Irene elaborated. “Clothes.”

“Those are the things that humans wear to cover their ness?” Seulgi asked.

“Yes,” Irene answered. “Gotta cover up them privates so they stay…private.” She flushed bright red when Seulgi frowned quizzically at her words. “Anyway, you can use the clothes my friend Wendy brought you last night.”

“I really shouldn’t,” Seulgi murmured, waving her hands in protest. “They will get ruined.”

“Then maybe just…take this towel?” Irene offered, holding up her makeshift pillow and trying her best to avert her eyes from the mermaid’s exquisite form.

“I can’t take that either. I put it down for you to rest your head on – what will you use instead?” Seulgi questioned innocently.

“Wait…you put that towel down for me?”

“Of course. You were tired after tending to me; I wanted to repay the favour by carrying you away from the water and letting you rest.”

Irene remembered moments when her father used to carry her to bed as a young child and times when Wendy would cover her with a blanket after she fell asleep in front of the TV. But here was a stranger, a supernatural creature, caring for her in similar fashion to that of her loved ones.

It was an overwhelming and perplexing kindness.

“Thank you, Seulgi. But I insist you take the towel. You can leave it on the sand when you go back in and I will collect it later.”

Seulgi relented. “Very well, I accept your offer.”

Irene let the towel unravel and handed it to Seulgi. As the mermaid grasped at the soft fabric, their fingers brushed, sending a sharp voltage of pleasure-pain coursing over Irene’s skin. The action was reminiscent of the time she got stung by a jelly-fish when she was 10 years old; but unlike that scorching pain, this sting was more persistent, an inviting agony.

“Son of a , why are you always when I’m around?”

Irene withdrew her hand guiltily from Seulgi’s when she caught of Wendy glowering at the mermaid from the exit.

“ness isn’t wrong.” Seulgi said with simplicity.

“Tell that to my scarred eyeballs.” Wendy retorted.

“Wendy, where have you been? I was so worried,” Irene stated.

“Yes, I could tell. Relax, I just went home to change into my work clothes. My shift starts in an hour and your mermaid needs to swim a lap in her own pool before someone sees her.”

Irene was surprised that Wendy was already coming to terms with what she had witnessed a few hours ago, albeit in an obnoxious and sarcastic manner.

“Right. I’ll go with Seulgi and make sure the beach is clear.”

“Wendy.” It was Seulgi who addressed her and her face looked so serious that it worried Irene. “Thank you for helping me last night. I hope to repay the favour one day soon.”

“O-kay,” Wendy murmured, feeling embarrassed and just a little pleased in spite of herself. “Send me a postcard the next time you’re in the neighbourhood.”

“I will,” Seulgi answered right away, which startled both Wendy and Irene even more.

As the weeks progressed and Irene spent more time with Seulgi, the more she remembered about her encounters with the mermaid. There were still some frustrating gaps in her memory which often overlapped, but she was too happy to notice.

All the time she spent with Seulgi felt like an adventure. Irene often slipped out at night now to meet the mysterious mermaid. Whether it was swimming in the ocean or waiting for Seulgi to emerge from the water on her human legs and walk with her along the beach, they enjoyed each other’s company immensely.

To Irene’s intense embarrassment, Seulgi seemed to find her stories about her mundane life more fascinating than her own supernatural existence. The mermaid told her that she wasn’t the only one of her kind; there was a small group of them living in a secret dwelling underwater. Seulgi never said where her home was and Irene was wise enough not to ask. She knew how much Seulgi’s clan meant to her and giving up their location to a human was the highest form of treason which all sea creatures acknowledged. She was content enough just to be around her new friend as much as possible.

Irene came home from work one evening, her head in a happy daze. She was surprised to find Wendy sitting at the living room table, poring over what looked like a calendar and an assortment of papers. After her long shifts at the gym, Wendy was usually too tired for anything but vegging out on the couch and watching reality shows.

“Wendy? What are you doing?”

“Irene! Thank God you’re home, we need to talk.”

“Can it wait till later? I’m meeting Seulgi in a little while.”

Wendy frowned deeply at this. It was exactly as she had feared all along.

“That’s exactly why we need to talk now. Irene…I think you need to be careful about all the time you’re spending with Seulgi.”

Irene’s happy daze seemed to deflate just a little at her friend’s words. “Why would you say that?” she asked, her smile dropping.

“Remember how you initially couldn’t remember Seulgi, even after she saved your life and the time after that when you saw her on the beach?”

“Yeah. I guess my brain got soaked with too much seawater after all.” Irene joked.

Wendy shook her head and Irene was astounded by how one simple action could be so vehement. “No, I don’t think so at all. Seulgi’s a mermaid and her energy and strength comes from the moon, right?”

“Right.”

“I think something about Seulgi, her very existence maybe, is messing with your memory.”

“What makes you think that?” Irene found herself involuntarily taking a seat beside Wendy at the table and staring at papers which Wendy had printed from various websites. “Wendy, what is all this?”

“I’ve been researching mermaids in general on the internet: folklore, mythology, personal accounts-”

“What for?”

“And I found this.” Wendy pushed a piece of paper towards Irene.

Irene studied the contents silently. The more she read, the blacker her expression became. She looked up at Wendy with an ugly look on her face. “Wendy, what are you trying to do?”

“There are documented cases of sailors, divers and other miscellaneous people who have nearly drowned in the sea and miraculously survived somehow. But they’ve never been able to say exactly how they were all rescued. The one woman, a professional swimmer, couldn’t explain why she ended up taking a swim late at night and in the ocean of all places, when she herself had never had any previous desire to swim in there before. All she could tell the coast guard and the police after she was rescued was that she was somehow ‘drawn to something which resembled a large fish.’ According to her, whatever it was compelled her to swim to it.” Wendy declared in an ominous voice.

Instead of being afraid, Irene laughed outright. “Maybe she had a craving for tuna.”

“I’m serious, Irene! Mermaids are also sirens; so many urban legends tell stories about them luring innocent sailors to their secret coves.”

“So what do you think is going on here? That Seulgi ‘put a spell on me’? She wouldn’t do that.” Irene said in a firm voice.

Wendy shook her head and Irene saw true remorse in her friend’s eyes. “If Seulgi did something to you, I don’t think it was intentional. Don’t you see? It’s like she said all along – mermaids generally don’t interact with humans except in extreme cases. Seulgi’s never even showed you where she lives, because she’s afraid that someone will harm her or her clan. Maybe mermaids have the power to distort a human’s memory, like a built-in defense mechanism that prevents humans who come into contact with them from seeking them out afterwards.”

Irene thought over her friend’s words for close to a minute before something else occurred to her. “Even if that’s true, then why can I remember Seulgi now after all those other occasions?”

“You do remember her better than the first time. But haven’t you noticed that there are still gaps in your memory wherever Seulgi’s concerned? You couldn’t remember meeting her two weeks ago for a late night swim.”

“I was really tired that night! Have you always remembered every single boring detail of your job?” Irene retorted with a sneer.

“Of course not, but I don’t care about my job nearly as much as you obviously care about Seulgi. Surely you’d remember more about someone you care about, Irene.”

Irene was getting angry, and it was confusing the hell out of her. She stood up rapidly, her hands trembling at her sides.

“You’re wrong about all of this, Wendy! I remember seeing Seulgi a few nights ago – what do you think of that?!”

“Really? And what did you two crazy kids do together?”

“What we always do together, we-”

Irene’s cheeks, which had been hot with rage just a few seconds before, suddenly paled. Wendy grew concerned when her friend put a hand to her forehead as if she was in pain.

“I…” Irene stammered. “I can’t remember. B-b-but that doesn’t prove anything, Wendy! We probably just went swimming, it’s not something creepy or dangerous you need to worry about!”

Wendy shook her head and pointed her finger at the calendar she’d been studying when Irene first came home. She’d marked certain days with red circles. “I’ve been making a note of all the times you’ve spent with Seulgi, including the night you nearly drowned. And they all fell on nights which had full moons. Seulgi’s mystical powers, like the ability to change from a mermaid to a human, are at their strongest on those nights.”

“It could just be a coincidence.” Irene murmured, believing her own logic less and less.

“I don’t think so, Bae. It all fits and I’m worried about what this friendship with Seulgi is doing. You’re losing yourself.” Wendy said, her eyes swimming with unshed tears.

Irene had begun crying too, but her words were still steady as she said, “That’s not true, I’ve never felt more happy and complete till now. Seulgi is…amazing. When I’m with her, everything in the universe feels right. Please don’t patronise me by saying that I can’t possibly think for myself in this respect. No amount of magic in the world could make me feel something this strongly, something I’ve never felt for anyone else before.”

It was the first time Irene was saying these things out loud. And Wendy saw the truth of it reflecting in her brown eyes.

“Oh my God. You’re in love with her.”

Irene gasped in amazement, the statement clearing up so many more cobwebs in her mind. She’d never felt more free and chained all at once by her own heart.

“So what if I am? Don’t tell me you found that in your ‘research’ too?” Irene scoffed, her heart pounding loudly in her own ears.

“Irene, you can’t be in love with Seulgi. She’s not even the same species as you!” Wendy fumed indignantly.

Irene laughed derisively at this and grabbed her house keys. “Seulgi’s probably wondering where I am. I have to go.”

“Irene, wait! What if you lose all your memories as a result of getting too close to Seulgi? Please don’t do this, I’m begging you.”

Irene wanted to stay and comfort her friend because she was so obviously distressed about all of this. But her desire to see Seulgi more won out in the end.

“I’m sorry,” was all she said before closing the front door after her.

Irene was out of breath after jogging the whole way to the beach. As she predicted, Seulgi was already waiting for her in the sea, her dark hair slicked back against her scalp from the water. She smiled and waved animatedly at Irene, who could only grin stupidly back in return.

“I thought you weren’t going to come!” Seulgi called out.

Irene’s heart melted at the vulnerability in Seulgi’s tone. How could she ever think of leaving her? Seulgi had become the very life blood in her veins.

“Are you kidding? There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” Irene said with the utmost sincerity. Seulgi smiled radiantly and Irene thought that it was in all honesty the loveliest thing she’d ever seen. “So what are we doing tonight?”

“Come into the water. I want to show you something.” Seulgi said, her tone holding an enigmatic allure.

Irene’s pulse points thrummed erratically as she summed up the courage to strip herself bare in front of Seulgi. She’d done it on numerous occasions before; but something about Wendy’s guessing at her true feelings for the mermaid made this night all the more poignant and terrifying.

Seulgi’s eyes followed the pattern of undress as it revealed more of Irene’s breathtaking skin and her sensual curves that would’ve made her a target for any hot-blooded predator. With a guilty squirm, she realised that she may be the only predator for miles who could possibly harm the human girl.

With that said, the mermaid had never felt a stronger inkling to protect someone the way she did with Irene. Her insides boiled with want when Irene grinned devilishly at her and dove into the water.

In a matter of seconds, Irene had joined Seulgi and they took to staring at the full moon, the water coming up to their necks.

“Where are we going?” Irene asked with mild curiosity.

“It’s a surprise. Do you trust me?” Seulgi questioned with sudden nervousness.

Irene turned to her and smiled, the ghost of Wendy’s words of warning echoing through her mind. “Of course. You have saved my life before, remember?”

Seulgi grinned at this and took Irene’s slender hand in her own. “Try to breathe as evenly as possible.”

Before Irene could decipher what that meant, Seulgi yanked her downwards and they had soon sped off through the depths of the sea. At first, the salt stung her weak eyes, making visibility a blurring and bewildering conundrum. But soon, Irene’s eyes adjusted and she marveled at the colourful schools of fish they swam in-between. They seemed to dance through seaweed groves and smooth rocks which littered the ocean floor. Irene’s eyes gazed fearfully at a shark zooming towards them, its sharp teeth bared and poised to attack. But Seulgi’s firm hand gripped hers tightly again and pulled her to safety behind a wall of coral, that same shark swimming dumbly past their hiding spot.

Irene had trained herself a long time ago to breathe underwater for long intervals and it had never benefitted her more than when she was here with Seulgi, witnessing incredible sights with her earthy eyes and imperfect existence. Seulgi seemed to come alive in her presence, literally swimming circles around her, flashing teasing smiles at her which promised the unveiling of many more enticing secrets.

She was exquisite in her natural habitat.

And just when Irene thought she would pass out from sheer delight, Seulgi tugged her hand and pulled her back through the water. Irene’s head broke the surface minutes later and she coughed and spluttered, gratefully inhaling copious amounts of oxygen which soon filled her lungs. Seulgi swam slowly around her, checking every inch of her for any signs of illness or damage.

“Are you alright?” the mermaid asked in concern.

“I…” Irene got lost in the unexpected warmth of Seulgi’s coral green eyes. “This has been the best night of my life. Why did we come back so soon though?”

Seulgi smiled, albeit a sad one. “Your body isn’t made for long voyages in the water. Besides, I only went down there tonight so I could give you this.”

She handed Irene a smooth object. Irene turned it over and realised that it was an oyster. It was unlike any oyster she’d ever seen before; this one in particular was as big as a dinner plate.

“Thanks, but I already ate.”

Seulgi chuckled at Irene’s humour. "Let’s go back to shore and open it properly.”

After Irene went back to her clothes to find a handy Swiss knife, Seulgi joined her a minute later on human legs. Seulgi took the knife and oyster from Irene and began prying the black shell carefully apart. It finally opened like the shutters on an animal trap and all Irene could see at first was the soft, peach-coloured flesh inside. But after Seulgi hacked it away with precise cutting, Irene gaped in awe at the tiny silver ball at the bottom.

“Is that…?”

Seulgi nodded, her face shining with excitement. “It’s a pearl oyster, the largest kind in its species. We collect them for our diet, but I also like collecting the pearls for myself. They’re like little moons, only smaller and prettier. They remind me of you.” She admitted with a stammer, casting her eyes downward.

Irene held the pearl between her two fingers, transfixed by the sight. “No one’s ever given me so much as a diamond ring before. It’s beautiful – thank you, Seulgi.”

Seulgi looked up again and saw a burning, hungry look in Irene’s eyes. It made her both uneasy and strangely elated somehow. Irene gingerly put the pearl back inside the oyster before beginning a new topic of discussion.

“Seulgi, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Mermaids…besides being able to change into human form, can they do other things too? Like affect a human’s memories?” Irene asked out of the blue.

Seulgi’s heart jumped in her chest at Irene’s words. How could she possibly know?

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Because lately…I can’t seem to remember little things and big things too. Things mostly to do with you and…it scares me.” Irene admitted.

Seulgi’s apprehension disappeared when she saw how unhappy Irene looked.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you sooner. Memory loss is a by-product of a human’s encounter with a mermaid. We use it to protect our secrets so that humans cannot hunt us.”

“I understand why it might happen with other humans. But why me? I would never do anything to hurt you.” Irene said with the utmost sincerity.

Seulgi’s heart leapt with joy at this, but she remained steadfast in her rationality as she tried to explain the situation. “I know that, and I trust you completely. But ancient mermaid magic doesn’t differentiate between good humans and bad ones. Don’t be afraid, the memory loss isn’t harmful to you.”

“But it’s only temporary, right? I won’t keep forgetting things about you, will I?” Irene asked in a hopeful tone.

When Seulgi looked away, her heart grew very weary.

“I’m sorry, Irene. The memory loss will continue until you forget me completely. It happened once with another human friend of mine named Kai. He was a surfer that I rescued during a particularly bad storm a few years ago. We used to swim together all the time till one day when he didn’t come into the water at all. He only stood on the shore and stared back at me with blank eyes; that’s when I knew that what my grandmother had told me about friendships with humans was true. They’re only meant to be temporary. But with you…I hoped that things would be…different.”

Irene’s shoulders shook with anguish as she cried her heart out. “I don’t want to ever forget you, Seulgi. I’ve never met someone like you before. Isn’t there a way for my memories to stay with me?”

Even while Seulgi shook her head, she remembered something else her grandmother had once told her. However, she’d never known whether there was any truth to it.

“It hasn’t happened in centuries. But there is one way…”

Seulgi had told her as best as she could without making her own troubled feelings known just yet. But Irene was maniacal in her eagerness.

“But this is good, Seulgi! There’s a way for us to stay together!”

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Irene. It could be dangerous. It might not even work.” Seulgi mumbled, feeling disheartened.

“I don’t care, I want to try. Seulgi, I have to be with you because…I love you.”

Seulgi was stunned into silence at Irene’s words. She didn’t dare to believe it; and yet, her apprehension died and she felt buoyant with happiness and her own mutual feelings of love.

“Irene, I love you too.”

That was all it took for Irene to wrap her arms around Seulgi and meld their lips together. Even though Seulgi was uncertain of what to do at first, Irene guided her with the sweet patience of her desire, peppering with scalding kisses which made Seulgi dizzy with anguished desire. She never knew that something so intoxicating as kissing had ever existed till this moment.

She never imagined how right it would feel to have this beautiful human girl in her arms, drowning her senses and dragging her down till both her artificial legs and her real tail felt like they were separated from the rest of her body. Irene was a skilled kisser and taught Seulgi that secret art form till the mermaid trembled and moaned incomprehensible syllables of delight into the night air.

Irene’s body burned wherever it came into contact with Seulgi’s skin, like ice sticking to her pores and imprinting its way into her thoughts with scalding clarity. The moon enveloped their feverish bodies and followed their descent as they sank deeper into the sand. Irene took the lead as she laid Seulgi down and hovered above her, kissing every inch of the mermaid, the taste of coarse salt spreading over her tongue. Her stomach rippled with pleasure when Seulgi placed her hands at the base of and pulled her down slowly, her coral green eyes fixed on her as she reached forward with her lips and her heart. Her fingers traced over the subtle ridges in Irene’s chest, sending ecstasy floating through the human girl’s whole body.

It was like she was swimming, only sweeter and far more dangerous. Because she was travelling into the unknown now and had no way of knowing which way the tide would eventually turn. But Irene didn’t care as she gave herself completely over to that perplexing siren of destiny. Their bodies slotted perfectly together and with hands interlocked, the ordinary and the supernatural collided and merged into one.

Irene came home close to dawn with a definite spring in her step. Wendy was waiting for her at the front door, tapping her foot impatiently with anger dancing in her eyes.

“I was worried sick, Irene! I called the police, but they can only do something when a person’s been missing for 24 hours. Where the hell have you been all night long?!”

“I was at the beach,” Irene explained, her head still spinning with a mesh of happiness and desire.

“Doing what???”

“I was with Seulgi. Wendy, I know you’re worried about how close we are, but we had an amazing night together. We went diving, I saw the most incredible sea creatures down there. Seulgi brought me an oyster with a real pearl in it from the ocean floor and she told me…she told me she loved me. Wendy, Seulgi loves me back. I feel so wonderful right now, because I finally have someone special that I want to spend the rest of my earthly life with.  I’m in love with Seulgi, a mermaid.”

The minute she said her love’s name and what she was, a curious change came over Irene and Wendy. She went from being ecstatic and in love to someone completely different. Her gaze changed and with it, her beautiful memories, tearing at the seams and slipping away from her grasp entirely. Wendy too stopped being angry quite abruptly and became placidly curious about where Irene had been all night long.

“I’m sorry…” Wendy began slowly, feeling puzzled with her demeanour. “Where did you say you went again, Irene?”

“I was at the beach all night…by myself.” Irene said slowly. She believed what she was saying, but felt strangely unhappy with her answer.

“Oh, that’s a relief. But you should be careful going there so often by yourself.” Wendy warned, turning away to turn on the kettle in the kitchen.

“Sure, I’ll remember next time.” Irene murmured, her head buzzing with nothingness. It felt soothing, but oh so lonely at the same time.

And just like that, both Irene and Wendy forgot all about the mermaid named Seulgi. Life went on as per usual with bills to pay and the occasional fun in-between. Irene went on a few dates, but not with any real fervour. There was a terrible void in her chest, but she couldn’t remember why.

Irene still felt an indescribable pull towards the sea, so she snuck away at night as often as she could. But whatever she hoped to find wasn’t there, and it left her with a gnawing sensation of dismay and heartache. She ignored those feelings as best as she could and before she could blink, a whole year slid painfully by.

By some unforeseen coincidence, Wendy and Irene decided to have seafood for lunch. So they went to a restaurant near the pier. The table they choose was outside on the quay with an excellent view of the sapphire ocean.

Both girls paid very little attention to their meals that afternoon, each lost in their own enigmatic thoughts. Finally, Wendy stopped stabbing moodily at her rubbery calamari and looked across at her best friend.

“Bae?”

“Hmm?” Irene asked, her eyes trained on the waves lulling lazily in the distance.

“Do you ever feel like our lives are just going nowhere slowly? Like…something’s missing?”

Irene met her friend’s eyes and smiled sadly. “All the time.”

“Maybe we’re just…sick of this neighbourhood. Maybe it’s time for a change.” Wendy said with sudden determination.

“Maybe you’re right,” Irene agreed.

She didn’t want to leave; it still felt like something was tying her to this place, to the sea. But with frustrating agony, she couldn’t remember just what. She’d long since given up trying to guess.

“Where do you think we should go?” Wendy mused in a dreamy voice.

“Dunno. Maybe somewhere with lots of trees-” Irene stopped short when a beam of light hit her directly in the eyes, blinding her momentarily.

“Irene, are you alright?” Wendy asked in concern.

Irene saw streams of orange and red hitting her eyeballs like razor sharp knives. She opened her eyes with difficulty, holding her hand up to protect her face. “I’m alright, someone beamed a light in my face or something.”

“Where did it come from?” Wendy questioned, gazing wildly around their table.

“Over there,” Irene said, pointing in the direction of the ocean.

The light was still there, dancing off the waves, growing brighter and brighter till it enveloped Irene in a burning halo of anticipation. She found herself rising from her chair and walking slowly in the direction of the pier towards that scorching light.

“Irene, where are you going?” Wendy called out after her friend.

Irene paid no attention to Wendy or anyone else at the restaurant staring after her. Her mind had gone deliriously blank as she followed the light to its point of origin, a glowing figure waiting in the water for her.

At first, it was just a head she could see, with black hair slicked back against the scalp. But the closer Irene walked to the edge of the pier, the more she could see of the smooth, tanned skin humming with vivacity and a pair of eyes which seemed to burn through her very soul.  

Those same coral green eyes she’d dreamt about on many a night, not remembering who they’d belonged to for the longest time. She’d forgotten that those eyes had once sought out the vapid void in her chest and cauterised it with acceptance and the newness of first love.

Then Irene remembered everything to do with her mermaid Seulgi.

Irene’s shoulders shook with anguish as she cried her heart out. “I don’t want to ever forget you, Seulgi. I’ve never met someone like you before. Isn’t there a way for my memories to stay with me?”

Even while Seulgi shook her head, she remembered something else her grandmother had once told her. However, she’d never known whether there was any truth to it.

“It hasn’t happened in centuries. But there is one way…” Seulgi squared her shoulders and continued. “My grandmother is a very powerful mermaid; she has the ability to heal sickness and…transform beings. It is not often that mermaids and humans fall in love, but in extreme cases where both parties don’t wish to be separated, my grandmother once said that a spell could be done upon the human to change them into our kind. But it takes time and effort. In the meanwhile, the mermaid must leave his or her prospective human mate and return to their clan. The human will forget the mermaid’s existence temporarily, but when the mermaid comes back-”

“Yes?” Irene asked eagerly.

Seulgi sighed and looked her dead in the eye. “The mermaid will call to her one true love and she will come.”

Seulgi had told her as best as she could without making her own troubled feelings known just yet. But Irene was maniacal in her eagerness.

“But this is good, Seulgi! There’s a way for us to stay together!”

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Irene. It could be dangerous. It might not even work.” Seulgi mumbled, feeling disheartened.

“I don’t care, I want to try. Seulgi, I have to be with you because…I love you.”

Seulgi was stunned into silence at Irene’s words. She didn’t dare to believe it; and yet, her apprehension died and she felt buoyant with happiness and her own mutual feelings of love.

“Irene, I love you too.”

“Seulgi…” Irene whispered, her cheeks stained with tears falling rapidly from her eyes as she stared out at the water.

Seulgi said nothing from her vantage point, but smiled enigmatically instead, sending a thrill of pleasure that Irene had forgotten she’d ever known before. Her feet teetered dangerously over the edge of the pier, that same wooden platform she had once crashed through late one night when she was inebriated with alcohol and oppressive loneliness.

Seulgi fixed Irene, her one true love, with an intoxicating gaze that many of her ancestors had used on unsuspecting sailors to lure them to their secret coves. But unlike those previous enchantments which only sought to create a temporary enticement, Seulgi’s gaze held the promise of feathered dreams and dazzling adventures still to come.

“Irene,” Seulgi said, her voice filled with serene devotion. “It is time, my love. Come to me.”

At first, Irene couldn’t move from sheer astonishment and a stab of panic. But Seulgi held her gaze, stretching her hands out towards her in a gesture of welcome supplication.

“I am waiting for you. Come to me, Irene.”

Wendy and the rest of the restaurant goers watched in astonishment as Irene jumped from the pier into the water with her clothes on.

“Irene!” Wendy screamed, watching in horror as her friend swam with full towards the strange woman in the sea. It was as if a thin veil had dropped from her eyes when she finally realised who Seulgi was, remembering all her old fears about mermaids and their captivating powers.

Irene swam with all her might through the waves, not looking back once. All she could see ahead of her was Seulgi and the beautiful expectation of finally being with her again. It was as if she had been swimming in the ocean for years to fulfill just one purpose: to be reunited with her supernatural love.

“Seulgi! I’m coming!” she cried happily, blinking salt out of her eyes.

As soon as she got close enough to Seulgi, she fell into her arms and kissed her. Seulgi wrapped her arms possessively around her back and returned each unfettered kiss with equal fervor. When they finally pulled apart, Seulgi cupped Irene’s cheek with her hand, smiling brightly.

“Are you ready, my darling?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” Irene said in a flash.

Seulgi nodded and moved her hand to the back of Irene’s head, holding it in a tight grasp. Wendy screamed her lungs out when Seulgi disappeared beneath the waves, pulling Irene down with her.

“IRENE!!!”

The water rippled like a squirming leaf for several tense seconds before it became ominously still again. In the midst of the commotion of restaurant goers shouting for someone to call the police and the coast guard, Wendy ran to the pier’s edge and knelt down, weeping softly for the loss of her best friend.

And that was the last that anyone ever saw of the human girl named Bae Irene.

Irene’s disappearance was officially classified as a ‘shark attack’ which had happened in broad daylight. This was because the police who investigated the incident were disinclined to believe that a host of people had actually seen what looked like a mermaid in the water. As the months slid by, most of those witnesses soon began to forget what they had seen.

But the memory stayed with Wendy Son.

She wasn’t exactly sure why; perhaps it was because her own connection to Seulgi had been strong enough to sustain her memories of the enigmatic mermaid. Or maybe Seulgi had used her powers to allow her to keep her memories. Either way, it ignited a desire in Wendy to find out as much as she could about what had happened to her best friend.

She rarely slept now, spending most of her nights reading books and researching articles on the internet to discover exactly what happened when a mermaid and a human fell in love. While the police, Irene's parents and her own family told her emphatically over time that Irene was probably dead, Wendy never gave up hope.

Finally, when her foolish quest for answers had run its course, Wendy did something that was incredibly dangerous and insane. She purposely hired a speed boat with a driver and took it out into the marina late one afternoon as sunset approached. She had never been a strong swimmer, not like Irene. But she used that to her advantage when the driver was sufficiently distracted with steering the boat and purposely flung herself overboard.

She heard the cries of the driver gurgling through her ears as she sank like a lead ball through the water. She moved her arms helplessly in a bid to swim, but it was no use. Perhaps she had already given up on some level when it came to living a life without her one true friend.

Water engulfed Wendy’s lungs and she closed her eyes as she said one last prayer to her Creator.

A moment later, something knocked into her forcefully, bruising her side. Wendy opened her eyes wildly and saw a flash of colours dancing around her as something or someone grabbed her waist and sped forward. Whatever held her was firm, but gentle. That touch was both foreign and familiar to Wendy all at once as she struggled to see what was happening.

They broke through the water’s surface with a crash, Wendy spluttering haphazardly for several seconds, her lungs dispelling the water which had temporarily held her captive. She was deposited into shallow water just a few paces away from the shore. But it wasn’t a shore she recognized; based on her minimal knowledge of Geography, Wendy guessed that she was probably only a few kilometres away from home.

But why had she been brought here? And by whom?

She soon had her answer when she caught sight of a figure observing her from the water. Wendy blinked furiously as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

This couldn’t possibly be real.

The figure in the water had black hair, pale skin and a string of light brown freckles on her left arm which she remembered well. But the eyes were no longer brown; they were light orange with flecks of gold in them.

That face, oh that face.

Wendy broke down instantly when she looked at her best friend. “Irene…”

Irene stared back at her, tears streaming down her face that mingled instantly with the water encircling her. At first, her smile was morose, reflecting all of the misery and guilt she felt at leaving her best friend behind. But soon, it morphed and changed into a smile which was quiet and serene, assuring Wendy that she was ok now.

Wendy gave a start when another figure swam up behind Irene.

It was Seulgi, looking as beautiful and mysterious as ever.

Wendy wanted to hate the mermaid for taking her best friend away from her. But when she saw those coral eyes beseeching her silently as she laid a protective hand on Irene’s bare shoulder, she saw so much love and tenderness in that one action. Wendy cried even more, but nodded at both Irene and Seulgi, telling them with her eyes that she understood.

Seulgi leapt backwards and disappeared underwater, giving Irene and Wendy a chance to say goodbye. Irene looked at her best and smiled radiantly, her eyes dancing with untold mischief. Wendy’s eyes bugged out of their sockets when Irene leapt gracefully into the air and dove back down into the water.

Wendy couldn’t help noticing that Irene no longer had human legs.

“Son of a ,” she murmured, chuckling in amusement at this strange twist of fate.

Irene had an orange fish tail which matched her new eyes.

A mermaid’s tail just like Seulgi's.

I first got the idea for this story while listening to Tim Buckley's 'Song To The Siren', a beautiful and haunting song. Fun fact: Tim Buckley is the father of singer Jeff Buckley, who did an amazing cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' :-P It was really hard to figure out how to end a love story between a human and mermaid without it becoming too scary or sappy.PipTheTerrible came to my rescue in that respect and helped me brainstorm an acceptable ending with a touch of eerie mystery, bless him :-D Alright, time to sleep, Mama tired. I need to go find my own mermaid, tee hee. Till the next crazy adventure, be happy and silly, my pets. Pip pip cheerio!