Image from Pexel (Edited on Canva)
I will never forget the first time I saw a pair of gold sclera with black slits as pupils, glimmering like diamonds under the turquoise sea bed. Such eyes, as precious as life, stared at me while I was bathing in a beach back to our home town when I was just five.
“That’s a shokoy, the water spirit of the sea,” my grandma said when I told her about it. “They watch swimmers and choose a potential victim to bring to their realm under the sea. They’re hideous humanoid creatures. Their skin is covered with scales, and green algae grow in the gaps of their fish scabs.”
As a kid, I was so fascinated with stories about mythical creatures messing up with humans, abducting and making them their wives.
That was why I went back to my hometown after sixteen years of living in the city. To find out if what they told me was true. Because according to the beliefs, when a girl saw a water spirit, that creature would come after her when she becomes an adult. This was the reason I was sent to the city—for me not to be taken by the spirit.
However, the moment I set foot on the grounds of our village, a gloomy vibe in the atmosphere greeted me.
‘Where are the people? Aren’t they supposed to be waiting for my arrival? Aren’t my family and friends excited to see me?’
I kept walking on the sandy path, going to the cluster of houses near the beach where I used to swim. My steps were heavy as if gravity’s energy had focused on my feet alone. The palm trees waved their branches at me, but they weren’t happy either. The birds chirped a melancholic tune. Frogs croaked a desolate song accompanied by the poignant hum of the somber crickets.
As I stepped closer to our house, I saw Grandma rushing towards me with her fiery eyes and displeased look, shouting.
“Why did you come back? I told you not to come back!”
I petrified.
I didn’t voice out that question. I didn’t want to sound like a stubborn granddaughter.
“What’s going on here? Why is everyone in a gloomy mood?” I asked her, ignoring her harangue.
“Your best friend, Jade. She had only celebrated her twenty-first birthday yesterday and—”
Grandma’s eyes welled with tears. Her red-orange lips, because of chewing nutmeg, quivered. She bit them to hide her tension, but it didn’t work.
From a distance, I saw a sail painted with the image of a maiden hugged by a merman. It was dad’s boat.
We watched as he pushed the boat to the shore.
We walked toward him, and I saw pain when our eyes met.
“There’s no trace of Jade anywhere,” he said, looking at Grandma. He then stared at me—unhappy. “Why did you come back?”
“Grandma asked me the same question. What is wrong with you? Don’t you miss me?”
Annoyed, I left them without wanting to hear their explanation.
My eyes were clouded by tears that I didn’t care where my feet had taken me. When I reached the secluded area of the shore, I tossed my bag on the sand and slumped. I hid behind the biggest rocks amongst the mangroves, so Father and Grandma couldn’t see me in case they search the area.
I leaned on the boulder and…
“To the north of this beach line awaits a ship with a red sail. Take it and find us… Euryce,” a familiar voice whispered to my ears.
“Jade?”
I got back to my feet and scampered onto the beach, looking for Jade.
“Jade! What do you mean by us? Where are you?!”
Without a second thought, I ran to the place the voice told me and saw a small ship, more like a boat with a red sail.
Just as I stepped onto the boat, the clear sky turned gray. No sooner than nimbus clouds formed above like an umbrella, the wind whistled and blew the sail, tossing the boat to the middle of the sea in a blink.
“What the—!”
The sea became turbulent. Unforgiving waves crushed the hull and the rudder of my boat, swaying and tossing me inside as if I was in a shaker. I rolled on the floor, hit my body in every area, and felt nauseated as a huge whirlpool sucked my tiny vessel.
Such a terrible feeling lasted for several minutes until a soft thud reached my ears. The boat came to a halt. No more, literally, stormy seas. No more weird clouds above, only the blue skies and the fluffy-cottony white clouds beamed at me.
With noodled legs, I helped myself up to check what happened.
I furrowed as I closed my eyes to clear my vision after the horrible event. Then, my jaws dropped at the sight of a palace amidst the island. My boat was stuck.
“Where am I?”
I jumped out of the boat onto the golden sandy shore. I scanned the place. There were seaweeds and corals swaying instead of trees with their dancing branches. Fish of various species, sizes, and colors stopped when they saw me. Some of them bowed. Others fluttered their flippers and fins.
“Welcome home, Your Highness,” they chorused.
Did I really hear them?
As I was trying to process the bizarre event, a merman emerged from the crowd. He had the same skin tone as mine—rose beige. His ears were covered with pointy fins. Although his face was more human, his eyes resembled that of a cat with the yellow sclera. Despite looking weird with some extra features, he was undeniably handsome; plus the golden tail with black stripes.
He didn’t open his cherry lips, but I heard him say, “It’s been a while, my beloved wife.”
“I’m nobody’s wife! Where’s my friend?!” I demanded, not minding the erratic beating of my heart, which I couldn’t discern if because of fear or admiration towards the merman. I knew that the creature in front of me took my friend.
“I’ll release her if you stay here.”
As he spoke, a hammerhead shark appeared with a silver cage under its pointy teeth. Inside was my unconscious friend, Jade. Her face had already turned light purple because of lack of oxygen underwater.
‘How come I can breathe?’
“Curious why you can breathe?” the merman asked with a sweet smile, displaying his dimples. “Then, don’t be. The answer is simple. YOU’RE ONE OF US.”
‘Did he just read my mind?’
“Don’t ask obvious questions.”
“Stop it! Stop reading my mind! Have you ever heard of the word privacy? You’re invading my privacy!”
“Oh, sorry. But did I complain when you stole my heart a long time ago?” he teased.
I couldn’t explain it, but I felt my cheeks burned because of what he said.
No! I mustn’t listen to him. I had to be tough.
“Just release Jade! And leave us alone!”
He swam closer to where I stood. That simple gesture made my heart flutter, and I needed to catch my breath.
“Euryce,” he said. His face was a few inches away from mine. “You’re cuter now than the first time I saw you.”
As I stared straight into his eyes, my mind went blank. My defense became weaker and weaker until I couldn’t feel myself. His face drew closer and closer.
‘Is he going to kiss me?’
Then I closed my eyes.
When I opened them, I was welcomed by a handsome face of a stranger and a worried look from Father and Grandmother.
“Thank God, you’re alive!” Grandma hugged me despite being soaking wet.
“Never do that again, leaving on a boat alone,” Father caringly scolded.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You ran away and took Dion’s boat. You don’t remember?”
“Who’s Dion?” I asked, scanning the faces of the other observing villagers.
“I am,” the man, whose face I saw first, said. “I performed CPR to save you because you almost drowned when my boat was swept fast by the wind while you were in it.”
“You what?!” I got up and covered my lips. ‘This guy technically kissed me without my permission, and I didn’t even know him,’ I screamed in my head.
“Euryce!”
My panic and attention diverted towards the girl with silky-straight, black hair who was rushing toward me.
“Jade!” We hugged each other. But then I remembered what happened. “You! Where have you been?! I thought you were missing?”
“I was, but not literally. I just went to the other island to buy you this!” She pulled out a set of paint and a canvas. “Happy birthday!”
“I almost died looking for you!” I jokingly yelled at her.
“I’m sorry. But at least you had your first kiss from Dion,” she said, giggling. “Every girl in our village is dying to be noticed by him, and you got lucky.”
“Save it. He just performed CPR. It’s not even a romantic kiss.”
“Even so.”
I glared at her, then glanced at Dion, who was gazing at me. And to be honest, I felt uncomfortable. There was something in his stare, in his eyes, making me feel the sense that this was not the first we met. My gut feeling was telling me I had seen him somewhere at some point.
