I want someone to write a book where Mermaids are the women thrown off ships when the sailors got afraid because having a woman on the boat is bad luck. And as they sink to the bottom, legs tied together, they change slowly until they can breathe, until they can use their tied up legs to swim. And they drown sailors in revenge, luring them in by singing in their husky voices still stinging from the salt water they breathed.
someone please write this
The storm raged in the skies above, furious lightning and pounding rain falling from the battle in the sky onto the unwise few that had chosen to witness the duel from below. The ship carrying the foolhardy sailors swayed and lurched, somehow clinging onto the skin of the world, but it was clear to all on her that only precious few minutes remained until her fragile life would snap - taking them with her.
The vessel housed some fifty men and a single woman. Circumstance had dictated that she would end up on a ship which had looked mighty to her young eyes at first glance, but now seemed nothing less than a child’s toy in face of the mightier storm. Uneasy looks had been directed her way throughout her rather unpleasant journey with these men. These looks, however, had vanished the instant the first signs of the now-breathtaking storm had darkened the skies, only to be replaced with looks of condemning accusation, and even burning hatred.
That day, as she had been forced to do every other day, she pushed aside her pride and ignored the rumours that immediately flared from her comrades’ mouths as she passed them, going about her business. However long the superstitious fools will whisper to each other, they still know enough to remain loyal to their captain, and he has silenced all their protests towards me so far, she thought to herself. I, however, have a job to do, and one that does not allow time for idle chitchat.
The rain hammered against her, soaking through the little of her clothes that had dried while she had slept below. She ignored the chill that spread though her body, seeping into her bones, and peered out to sea.
“Storm’s as fierce as ever, Cap'n.” she reported, but the savage wind stole her voice away. She swung down from the crow’s nest, holding onto the slippery rope for dear life, and repeated her remark, shouting at the top of her lungs. The unwelcome news elicited yet more glares towards her, but she paid no attention to them. She had a job to do.
The captain shuffled gloomily towards her, a fact that she noticed with a touch of foreboding.
“I think it’s high time we had a little talk,” he shouted over the roar of thunder, after inclining his head a little to acknowledge my observation. “Captain’s quarters, where there’s less of this blasted din.”
She followed him, her head held high, not betraying any indication that she knew what he was about to order her, and that it wasn’t anything good.
The door slammed shut behind them, cutting them off from the action on the deck.
“Cap'n?” The woman asked, voice steady, not betraying any of the fear beginning to trickle through her body.
“Aileen, there’s no easy way to say this. The sailors on this ship have expressed their concern over bringing a woman on a voyage - bad luck, you know. I must confess that I thought this all nonsense when I first brought you on, but the storm’s rather changed my view on matters. I never should have tempted fate, and now I’ll lose a talented and hardworking crew member, but-”
“You intend on making me walk the plank.” Aileen interrupted, her voice as undisturbed as ever, but seething inside. He would make this about him? She thought to herself. He would talk about the loss he would face?
“Well, yes.”
“Then relay the order. I feel no need to delay my fate.”
She knew that she would die anyway, down in the sea or on the pathetic boat, and both options were as wet as the other at the moment. She felt a certain satisfaction in imagining the panic coursing through the crew when she was not there to hold everything together. After all, she was the only person on the vessel who felt that they had a job to do.
She told herself this repeatedly as she stood on the end of a plank of wood, but her heart still pounded against her chest, and she was still afraid.
She hopped forward as best as she could with bound legs, determined to be in control of her destiny, but even that failed as she slipped on the wet wood, and tumbled into the sea. Humiliation filled her as she heard the laughter of those on deck, the last thing she will ever hear, she thinks. Water began to enter her body, and her throat stung from the salt. Desperately, she kicked out, but her feet were tethered and she couldn’t breathe. The world began to go dark, and she can’t help but wish that it had ended some other way, any other way.
Just as she had given up all hope, the world came back into focus. Her legs felt.. stronger, somehow, as if she could swim, despite her still bound legs. Her throat still felt sore, but most of the stinging sensation had vanished, and, most strange of all, she was breathing. Breathing, under the water! Aileen gazed in astonishment around her, her gaze soon snapping to her legs - or what used to be her legs. A golden fish’s tail sprung from her lower half.
Even more confounded, a faint memory of an old wives’ tale tugged at the back of her mind. The legend of the Sirens, sweetly-singing half-woman half-fish creatures that lured sailors to their deaths. A myth that she had dismissed as false until now, but what else could explain what had happened to her?
Her now-even-keener eyesight caught a glimpse of something on the surface of the water - foolish sailors clinging onto the wreckage of a ship, sailors who looked very familiar. Aileen’s eyes locked onto one familiar face, the face of her former captain. The confusion drained from her, and a small smile graced her face. She swam effortlessly towards the surface, her sore throat yearning to sing.
She had a job to do.
