Saved By A Mermaid

Saved By A Mermaid

The aqua blue sea glittered under the baking hot sun. I remember sitting under the cool shade that fell down from the top of the boat whilst slowly sipping a cold beer. Patchy green hills and grey mountains boarded the calm pulsating sea. There was not one wondering cloud in the sky that day. Out on the harbour, holiday tourists came early to find a boat that would offer them the best tour of the islands. The daily boat trips served a range of delicious Mediterranean food, stunning sights of wildlife, picturesque views, music and sunshine. A perfect day to spend part of their holiday. Watching the boats clock, I debated wether to ride out to the near by lagoon where I could quickly shower under my favourite water fall. I uncrossed my legs that were perched up on one of the sun loungers and stretched my body, I rubbed my eyes and ruffled my sunk kissed hair. My skin was very dark now, a brown caramel, reminding  me of a horses saddle. I’m just full of vitamin D, I laughed to myself. Standing behind the wheel of the boat, I kicked the engine into gear reversing out and watching the harbour become distant. I turned around and headed left around a hilly corner towards the lagoon. It wasn't far away at all, literally just straight ahead and two left turns. The sea lapped up around the boat leaving a train of foamy bubbles behind me. The sound of the singing roar of the waterfall became apparent as I neared closer, smooth flat rocks made a path up the shallow water which  led up to the fall. I had to anchor my boat onto the corner of the hill side so as to leave the boat in the deep part of the water. Grabbing my body wash I jumped over board and swam into the lagoon until the warm water reached my upper thighs. Squinting from the suns sharp reflection I stopped dead in my tracks. I remember seeing exactly what looked like a body floating face down, its hair rippling around its head. Blinking in shock I looked again but saw nothing there. A weird feeling leaked inside of me, that was creepy I thought. 

"Must have been the beer, far too early." I said aloud, my echo stole into the water around me. 

I carried on the stone path feeling the already hot sun beating down onto my back. Today was defiantly going to be a scorcher I thought, enjoying the coolness of the water around my legs. 

I pushed my way through the hard falling waterfall where behind it there was a cool cave. Looking around I felt blissfully happy and floated down onto my back sinking my dry hot hair under the water. Closing my eyes for just a second I got up, I mustn't stay too long otherwise I'd loose customers. Quickly I squirted my body wash into the palm of my hand and lathered myself up from head to waist, enjoying the aroma of its spicy sweet scent. I then walked under the falling water, the strength of the water pounding down on me like a good massage, I rinsed away all the soapy suds. 

As I was cleaning my face I felt something grip around my ankle. In shock I jumped and then lost my balance falling into the water where I was quickly dragged under. I opened my eyes to see what had my ankle. In front of me was a revolting green creature, it had what looked like long tentacles one which had me in its grip. My heart was pounding so hard it could have punched a hole through my chest. In shock I sucked in some salty water through my nose and immediately began to choke and sputter. Flapping my arms instinctively to try and reach the surface of the water, panic engulfed  me as I was being dragged down deeper and surprise at quite how deep this shallow water was. Opening my eyes again right in front of me there was a pair of blood red snake slitted eyes from the blur of the creature that had me. My heart nearly failed me, loosing oxygen my chest felt like it was being crushed. Closing my eyes I tried with all my might to kick and punch the creature away, but it only seemed to grip harder. With a distant acceptance of death I let my body go limp and blew the last of what little air I had through my nostrils. A sound of ringing bells and an Arabic song faded around me, I thought this must have been my brain shutting down. I took one last look around me and remember seeing a beautiful rainbow glitter tail of gold, swirling pastel lilac and pearl white hair, which appeared  from a recognisable half body of a human, I think. It had two long very white arms, with a torso, neck and an apparent face. It was circling around me and the monster creature, when all of sudden it looked at me with an unimaginable face and screeched a horrifying scream that made me want to pour blood out of my stomach. The creature that had me unfurled its tight grip,and exploded into a gutty mess of bright green discharge which floated in the water like a fluid clot. I blacked out after that moment. The next thing I know, I  was lying face down under the shade of my boat on the lower deck. I remember seeing the white metal railings of the boat, the lined up sun loungers all shining under the sun. My chest hurt every time I breathed inwards. I lay there for a minute trying to remember what the hell had happened to me. How had I got back onto the boat? What on earth was that creature or animal that had dragged me in to the sea? And who was the person that had screamed, saving me from the creatures grips?

I slowly stood up feeling tired and achy. The boat I realised was still anchored to the corner of the hill. I kicked started the engine and headed back towards the harbour. When I was a quarter of the way away from the lagoon I heard a familiar sound of church bells and Arabic singing softly around the waves of the boat. I rushed to the side and looked down into the water, I saw the rainbow glittering tail wave and disappear in a second. What else could it have been I thought. It must have been a mermaid.

"A bloody mermaid! It must be a mermaid." I exclaimed to myself. I suddenly started laughing hysterically and walked back to the wheel to guide the boat. Seeing the harbour in sight, I decided to never tell a soul about what I had seen, everyone would think that  I was bonkers, defiantly no way of anyone believing my story. So I carried on as normal, I took around fifty tourists out that day, but I didn't stop at the lagoon anymore, and if anybody asked about it I just called it the mermaid lagoon explaining that it was too shallow to stop there. 

I'm not afraid of going back into the water, but I just can't bring myself to go back to my favourite lagoon again.

I also stopped drinking my morning beers.

L.J.B