The next day, the elder brother made good on his word and informed the village’s headman of the sighting. Before the sun had set, posters bearing a message of warning had been posted all around the piers, on bulletin boards, and in numerous store windows in all places of town. Citizens were informed to be wary of mermaids about, and be sure to report any sightings, no matter how minor. If sightings persisted for an extended period of time, the headman would send a messenger to the city carrying a request for a monster hunter. This was not a step anybody in the village, even the most aggressive of the townspeople, wanted to take. Hunters were expensive, and the villagers did not wish to bring undue violence into their peaceful lives. But they also did not wish to put those same lives into a position of risk.
The villagers continued with their everyday lives, but the dark cloud of potential danger, of a potential change to their everyday routines, hung over them, ever-present. People were quieter now, more watchful, less willing to go out at night. Some more superstitious folk placed charms and wards inside their houses so as to guard against evil, and in every spare moment muttered prayers and incantations under their breaths. Those with a more practical mind began carrying spears as they set off on their boats, scanning the dark waters for anything strange. In full, all but one of the inhabitants of this small community were on edge during this time. This sole exception was, of course, the younger brother.
The worry of the rest of the village, a grouping which included his brother, merely served to increase his excitement and glee. There was something going on, something different, something unheard of. This troubled air that suffused the village was something he had never experienced before. And he found that he loved it. During the day, he would keep his head down, blending in with the others as he wore a facade of preoccupation, but at night he would lie wide-eyed and awake, mind racing like it never had before with thoughts of adventure. Even if it was still a delusion, to him they seemed closer to fruition than ever. He imagined seeing the mermaid again, imagined taking her hand and following her into the depths of the ocean, to an undersea kingdom full of secrets beyond the imaginations of ordinary people, secrets that were his to discover. As often as he could, he looked for her.
He began to volunteer to take the boat out as frequently as possible in the hopes of catching another glimpse of the sight that had so enraptured him. His brother felt that there was nothing unusual about this behavior, simply viewing it as welcome assistance during a challenging time. When seeing him off, he always made sure that his younger brother was well equipped and prepared to deal with a dangerous situation. “Do not hesitate to use your spear,” he told his brother. “Even if it may appear human, it is most certainly not, and the slightest hesitation could have dire consequences.” With that, he would wave goodbye as the boat set off into the harbor.
The boy would cast his nets and his rods and bring in fish as per usual, but his attention would always primarily be on the water’s surface. Whenever he could spare the time to, his eyes would gaze down into the depths, searching and searching. Every once in a while he would fancy he saw something- a dark shape darting below the surface, a fish vanishing in an instant as though it had been grabbed from underneath, or even a pair of glowing yellow orbs gazing up at him. Each time he saw one of these his focus and attention would redouble, and he would scan the waves more desperately than ever. Sometimes he would shout if nobody else was around, an attempt to catch the attention of his quarry. He was never quite sure if she heard him, or if she was even there, but it was all he had to latch on to.
Never once did he even consider reporting his sightings. He did not want her to come to any harm.
One day, as he sat on the deck of the boat eating his lunch, a splash out at sea drew his attention. Abandoning his food, he rushed to the railing to look. Nothing immediately seemed abnormal, but after a moment there came another splash, this time seeming closer to the boat. And another, closer still. Could it be?
One final splash, mere feet from the hull, gave way to a small roil of bubbles, boiling and surging away. Slowly but surely, a shape rose from it.
A smile blossomed across the boy’s face as two large yellow eyes met his own.
They stared at one another for a long while. The boy dared not move, and who knows how mermaids’ minds work? Their gazes stayed connected, broken only by his blinks. After this had continued for some time, he opened his mouth and spoke a single, careful, quiet word.
“Hello.”
Nothing seemed to change, and the boy thought, perhaps mermaids cannot understand the language of men? But the mermaid tilted her head upwards at him, thick strands of greenish hair sliding off of her grey skin, revealing a nose little more than two slits and a wide, lipless mouth below it. As he watched, it turned upwards at the corners. She was smiling at him. Had she understood him after all?
That mouth opened ever so slightly. The boy’s eyes widened.
And promptly squeezed shut as a stream of seawater struck him in the face. He wiped his face clean just in time to see the mermaid leap backwards out of the water, with a wide grin across her face. He saw a long, slender, fishlike body, with a feminine torso atop it, for an instant before she vanished under the water. 543Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzM3X2jarGH
Standing there, dripping wet, he could not have been happier.
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