Cue music
Randel stood, mouth agape at the sight before him.
It seemed as if the waves were being commanded by her song. They danced as she did, to a rhythm only she knew.
Randel had followed her from the fiesta. She was a stranger to the village, though that wasn’t rare during the festivals. Many tourists would come from far and wide to see the dances and parades that his town was known for.
He saw her through the crowd and his heart was stunned. Never had he seen such beauty. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing her for what she was.
A beautiful maiden lost in the mob of people.
His legs involuntarily moved. He had to meet her, to talk to her. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but surely once she was in front of him he would find the words.
He had to.
So, he followed her through the throng, avoiding people as best he could. Every time he thought he had lost her, Randel would see her from the corner of his eye and the chase began again.
If he had time to think he would probably wonder where the fishy smell was coming from and how it seemed to follow his trail.
But that didn’t matter to someone who caught by the net of love. All other things pale in comparison. All except one.
Her.
And thus, he stood by the pier, listening to the soothing melody that came from the maiden’s mouth.
Trying to find words to give his feelings justice.
Cue lights
The moon cast its light on the maiden and Randel.
“I—I mean—–Hello my name is Randel and——-,” Randel came up short trying to come up with a sentence that would make her notice him.
And all the while she sang.
It wasn’t as if she was ignoring Randel, far from it. Her gaze was locked on to the man in front of her, but it seemed like nothing could interrupt her song.
Randel stood mesmerized by the scene.
Until she stopped, abruptly.
He hadn’t noticed that there were fish that swam by her feet. The only thing he knew was that she was walking towards him arms outstretched.
He needed to tell her.
“I love you,” he said, finally letting his heart guide his actions.
She said nothing.
Randel stepped forward to embrace her, but she immediately took a step back.
“Why wont you come near me?” he asked.
She pointed to his neck, to where a golden crucifix hung. It was his lucky charm, something that he could never leave the house without.
“Do you want me to take it off?” Randel asked.
The maiden nodded.
Randel took the crucifix and carefully laid it on the ground.
The maiden stepped closer and kissed him.
Visions of the sea flooded Randel’s mind. A pearl palace beneath the sea, fantastical creatures beneath the depths and the soft warmth of the water enveloped him. He could taste the saltwater on her tongue and smell the ocean on her skin.
He didn’t want that moment to end.
The maiden beckoned him to walk with her to the sea, and Randel quiesced. There was no more room for words, not in this moment.
Randel stepped with her to the sea and a large wave engulfed them both.
Exit
Randel found himself being able to breathe beneath the water. A sudden panic came over him, but it only lasted moments after he found that the maiden was holding his hand.
They swam to the bottom of the depths, towards a crystalline palace.
Pearls larger than anything Randel had ever seen littered the entrance. There were guards with fish tails at the entrance of the palace.
It was then that he noticed the maiden had a fish tail as well.
He couldn’t believe this was happening. To be at the bottom of the sea with his new love was almost too much to handle.
But as long as she was there, there was nothing he couldn’t face.
She entered the palace and Randel followed.
In a banquet hall there were offerings of fish and sea plants that Randel could not identify.
“Please, eat,” the maiden said, the first words that came from her mouth.
Randel surveyed the food on the table. There were fish he couldn’t recognize, with black and blue scales and eyes so bright they might as well have been caught minutes ago.
Maybe they were.
He sat down at the table across from the maiden and instinctively made the sign of the cross, a habit developed from childhood.
The maiden screamed and clutched her head.
In that moment Randel felt heady, he tried to keep his eyes open, but then—
Blackout
Randel woke up by the pier, next to his golden crucifix with a splitting headache and wet clothes.
The last thing he remembers is drinking a little too much at the fiesta.
He takes his crucifix and puts it around his neck. “At least I still have this lucky thing,” he says to no one in particular.
The dawn greets him as he starts to walk back home, oblivious to the events that transpired the night before.
“Stupid little man! I almost had him!”
The shouts echoed in the crystal palace.
The maiden was joined by another fish-tailed woman, who was laughing at her misfortune.
“You should have left him the moment you saw he had gold.”
“I love a challenge and anyway it was too easy to enthrall that human, if he didn’t make that stupid sign I would have been able to keep him.”
“Well there’s no use in crying about it.”
“But I was so close!”
“Hush now, don’t worry. There will be another fiesta soon.” The fish-woman swam beside the maiden.
“I guess you’re right, more humans to hunt.”
“That’s the spirit!” The two sirena embraced.
“If only he had eaten the fish,” the maiden lamented.
“How many humans have eaten the fish you offered?”
“Fifteen, he would have been the sixteenth.”
“There’s always next time.”
And she was correct, for the cruelty of the sirena knows no bounds. They spent their days waiting for fiestas or Holy Week to walk on land and lure unsuspecting victims to their watery graves. And so, our story ends, with a warning.
Do not follow those that smell like the sea. Do not eat anything they offer.
Do not think that it is love that drives you towards them.
Always long for the embrace of land and the will of the Lord.
For it is only those that can save you from her grasp.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Story inspired by the Sirena legends
Sirena Illustration by Jerich Eusebio
Instagram: @lovelooksnotwiththeeyes