The Mermaid's Calling

It was that dream again. Fern had a reoccurring dream for months now, and she didn't know why. All she did know was that every time she went to sleep, she was forced to watch the same boy fall into the sea repeatedly. Slowly, as her eyes adjusted to the water surrounding her, Fern stretched her arms and glowing tail forward. She had woken up alone, the rest of her school already swimming around for breakfast.

None of them were surprised to see her leave her cave later than usual. She had a tendency of swimming into the darkness at night, searching for the boy in her dreams. The thought of a boy younger than her, a human, sinking to their death made her feel sick to her stomach. Of course, when she told her folks about it, they brushed off even the thought of a boy drowning where they were.

Fern's long black hair flowed softly in the soft blue water as she joined her school, moving at a fast pace to catch up with the colony of fish in front of them. The rest of her school had brightly colored tails, ranging from a bright blue to match the ocean to a sparkly pink like their pearls. Fern never knew why she was the only mermaid with a whitetail. It made her unique, but it also made her curious.

Suddenly, a voice in her head stopped her movements instantly. It was Kierra, the eldest of their group, warning them. All of them halted immediately, noticing the dark shadow above their heads that Kierra had warned them about. It was a large figure, pushing water underneath it backward in a quick motion. For years the elders had tried to figure out what the humans above were doing, what the object was called.

All they knew was that when the object appeared, humans also appeared.

Aster was officially an adult now. He had graduated from high school, and he was moving along to the next step required by his parents; college. Aster was an average teenage boy, he made decent grades to satisfy his family and had been hanging out with the same three guys his entire life. Unfortunately, when they graduated together his friends made Aster promise he would join them on their celebration trip.

This involved taking a boat to Seriola Island, which was the reason Aster was regretting making his promise. Aster wasn't sure why, but water made him incredibly sick. Showering, and bathing didn't phase him. It was when he was by the pool, a beach, even some rivers, and lakes when he grew uncomfortable. He couldn't touch the water, he couldn't swim. Early on, his parents had tried to force him to take swimming lessons to beat his fear, but it ended badly.

Aster had ended up passing out in the trainer's arms, and his parents were warned the anxiety involved could be dangerous for his health. Ever since that incident, Aster has avoided large bodies of water like the plague, until today.

He found himself on a boat his friend Silas had rented out, surrounded by nothing by the vast ocean. Granted, his friends already knew about his intense fear when they pressured him onto the boat in the first place. He had spent the past four hours trying not to throw up from panicking, spending his trip in the corner with noise-canceling headphones on and his eyes closed.

Eventually, he felt the boat stopped moving and his eyes opened in response to see the light cream-colored sand in front of him instead of the water for once. His appearance wasn't pretty. His tan skin was flushed red, his dark hair was tousled from the headphones he was wearing. Despite this, as soon as he realized they had arrived he ripped the accessory off his head and wobbled off the boat onto the steps awaiting them.

He could hear his friends calling after him as he continued to swirl onto the shore, but he knew if he stopped he would freak out once again. Aster had been too close to the water, for far too long. Even though during this vacation his friends would likely return to the beach, he vowed to stay away from the water as much as he possibly could.

Seriola Island was popular where he was from. It was known for its beautiful ocean features and unique buildings. No building looked like the other, and most streets took you across the entire island in a simple circle if you walked straight. The hotel they were staying at reminded him of old roman buildings, decorated by white columns and littered with windows on one side. Once inside, Aster's eyes landed on a blonde-haired employee sitting at the check-in office, and he pulled himself together for a moment before wandering her direction.

"Good afternoon, is this where I check in to get keys?"

The strange and quite loud object finally disappeared over their heads, allowing all the mermaids to exhale in relief. For some reason that Fern never understood all of them were taught to be afraid of anything that related to humans. She had been told the cruel stories of what happened to mermaids after they were found by humans. Apparently, in current times, all humans believed mermaids were myths created by their ancestors.

She had grown up to the same stories being repeated and pushed into her mind, some even spiking fear in her heart as her elders wanted. The thought couldn't leave her mind even still recently, however. If her dream was something that had actually happened in the past or would happen in the future, could she ignore it?

Fern mindlessly followed her clan towards the fish that were escaping their motives, not being able to focus after their encounter of the day. The young boys beautiful black flowing hair appeared once again, his body slowly sinking towards the bottom of the ocean as the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

If she were ever to find a human in that state, how could she leave him?