Tails of the Sea

The wind blew strongly. Out at sea, the early morning sun sat on the edge of the horizon to shine over the waters.


The deep blue glinted with the light reflected upon it, but there was a little speckle that sat in the middle, interrupting the dazzling show. If one looked closer, one could probably make out the faint shape of a boat swaying with the waves.

A lone man stood sturdily in the rickety old ship. He has long since grown a pair of sea legs to go about his daily work, his bread and butter. Catching fish raked in enough for him to carry out a decent life, it seemed. The wind persisted in blowing strongly. It pulled and tugged at the fisherman’s coat. Little tufts of grey hair had escaped from under his hat as the wind threatened to blow it off too. Still, he brushed off its roughhousing and continued his job. While holding on to his dear hat, he walked over to the starboard side to haul his net into the boat.

He started to pull at the tangled lines. “Oh?” He paused. The net strangely felt a lot heavier today. With a grunt and a little more effort, he finally got the mass of fish onto the deck. Breathing a sigh of relief, he roved his eyes over the mound of wriggling fish. ‘Huh?’ The fisherman thought. ‘The catch isn’t more than usual, but why is it so heavy? Maybe that hand had something to do-,’.

“H-HAND!?” He exclaimed. But why would he catch a person of all things? He stumbled towards the net and struggled with the slippery scales and the horrible stench. When he had finally shoved the fishes out of the way, the sight before him rendered him speechless.

A lean, silvery tail flicked. The boy – no, the merboy – fluttered his eyes open. He blinked in the daylight, looking confused. His eyes then landed on the fisherman, and they snapped wide open. He quickly pushed his weight onto his elbows and scrambled backwards, only for his spine to hit the side of the boat. His frantic movements had the vessel rocked to and fro. The fisherman stepped forward, and he stilled.

The wind was howling in his ears now, the fisherman realised. His mind wandered to when he was still young, and very much stubborn. He remembered the times in The Strange Cat Tavern where old folk would retell stories of sailors lost at sea, lured to cliffs by enchanting voices from creatures with fish tails instead of feet. Now that he had one of those creatures right in front of his eyes, he knew how foolish he had been for scoffing at those tales.

---

The merboy glanced at the human in front of him warily. The man’s lips were moving and he was speaking something he did not understand. His eyes darted from his face to his weird appendages the humans called feet, and the net. Oh, the net.

“Damn it. If I’d listened to Father,” he muttered under his breath. The human stopped suddenly. He was staring intently at him.

“What?” The merboy hissed. There was a look in his eyes he could not place. The man took a step back, and he suddenly felt his stomach sinking.

---

‘You’re crazy!’ The voice inside his head screamed at him. He knows it’s crazy, but the fisherman can’t help the way his feet moved on their own accord. Cannot stop himself from reaching for the keys and spurring the boat to life.

He drove the boat silently towards the shore, where he could almost see his humble cottage waiting for his return. All the while, the creature thrashed behind him. He could feel his gaze on him, on the back of his head, burning. He must have been terrified.

He slowed his boat down to a stop when they reached the jetty. A sharp intake of breath, and he took off. Gingerly he picked up the merboy and dashed for the privacy of his cottage. He simply kicked the door open because really, a locked one is unnecessary when there’s nobody around for miles.

Slamming the door close, the fisherman stumbled over to the bathroom where he lowered down the merboy into the bathtub. He turned on the tap and let the water flow onto the shiny scales of his tail. 

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Notes: Haha I rewrote my SPM essay :P Probably not gonna work on this anymore but who knows eh? Maybe I'll continue this.