#wensen

Folder, folder, Christmas card from grandma, electricity bill, Christmas card from her parents… One by one Charlotte checked the mail she found while climbing the stairs to her apartment. There was nothing unusual, and the package she’d ordered over two weeks ago still hadn’t arrived. It had been a disappointment when opening the mailbox, but it couldn’t ruin her good mood. A fresh batch of Christmas cookies were waiting for her in her oven, and nothing would be able to break her holiday spirit. Not even the mountain of dishes that were also waiting for her.

Charlotte was aware of the melody she was humming by the time she reached the third floor. Christmas songs had always been one of her guilty pleasures, no matter what time of the year it was. There was something about them, something hopeful that always filled her heart with warmth. As did the scent of freshly baked cookies that filled the hallway. Just another minute or so, and they would be done.

The humming continued when Charlotte slid her hand in the pocket of her hoodie and took out her key. It was then, when she looked down at the key in her hand, that the humming fell silent. The joy running through Charlotte’s veins turned into panic as soon as the realization set in. She made a mistake. A big one. And her holiday spirit wasn’t as unbreakable as she thought.

She kept staring at the key in her hand. The spare key she usually gave to her neighbor to empty Charlotte’s mailbox when she was out of town. The key that opened her mailbox, but not the door to her apartment. She was locked out, and her cookies were locked in.

Possible solutions flashed through her mind. Who had a key of her apartment? Her parents, but it would take them over half an hour for them to get there. By then the building was probably already evacuated because of the fire alarm her cookies would set off. The landlord, but god knows when he would show up. The man didn’t really seem to like Charlotte after the leak she had in her bathroom a few months earlier.

None of her friends had a key. None of her neighbors had a key.

Wait…

Charlotte looked at her left, at the door of the one neighbor that might be able to help her. They’d never spoken before, but they had exchanged friendly smiles while passing in the hallways. Despite that, Charlotte still knew a few things about her neighbor.

Her name was Floor, according to the mailbox in the entrance hall. Floor had at least one cat, a grey one that had managed to escape into the hallway on several occasions. Floor was an exceptionally beautiful woman, but most important of all, Floor was a strong woman. Literally. Charlotte had seen the boxes her neighbor dragged towards her apartment when she moved in 2 months earlier, and those had looked anything but light.

Yes, Floor would be able to help her.

Charlotte knocked on her neighbor’s door, praying to any god that was willing to listen that Floor was home. Her cookies were running out of time, and this would turn into a live or burn situation if she didn’t act fast. She stared down at the door while she waited for an answer, as if it would speed things up.

It wasn’t long after her knock that Charlotte heard footsteps approaching the door. She heard the door being unlocked from the inside before it opened and Charlotte was greeted by Floor. Or rather, Floor’s breasts that were just below her eye level. Had she forgotten how tall her neighbor was?

‘Ehm, hi?’

Charlotte snapped out of her haze and looked up. For a second she just looked at the beautiful woman in front of her, then she remembered her emergency.

‘You need to save my boobies.’ Charlotte blurted out. ‘My cookies, I mean my cookies. You need to save my cookies?’

‘O-kay…’

‘I was baking Christmas cookies, but I locked myself out of my apartment and if I don’t get in there soon they will burn. So… I kinda need you to break down my door.’

‘You want me to break down your door for cookies?’ Floor asked amused.

‘I just really need to get in there.’

A chuckle sounded as Floor disappeared into her apartment, reappearing again half a minute later with something in her hand. Charlotte didn’t question it. She guided Floor to the door of her own apartment and frowned at what happened next.

Floor sank through her knees, kneeling in front of the door and examining the lock. She stuck whatever it was she was holding into the keyhole, rumbled around with another something in the lock, and pushed open the door just a few seconds later. Charlotte looked at her neighbor in awe while Floor got up again.

‘Did you just…?’

‘Save your cookies? Yeah, I think so.’

Her cookies! Without another word Charlotte stormed into her apartment and rushed over towards the oven. She yanked open the door and let out a big sigh of relief. There was no smoke to be seen yet, and her cookies had a beautiful golden color. Carefully she took them out of the oven and only then remembered Floor was still standing at the door.

‘Oh! Thank you so much! You saved them! I would offer you a cookie but they really need to cool down first.’ Charlotte said. ‘I can bring some over later?’

‘I would like that.’ Floor smiled ‘Oh and, Charlotte?’

‘Hmm?’

‘If your boobies ever need saving, I think I can also help with that.’

Just as Floor finished dressing, a warm and sweet smell drifted into her rented room from downstairs. Fresh bread; breakfast was in the making.

Floor loved the quaint triviality of human life by the sea; there was always something to learn. A new song from an old man, a story to hear, a flower to gather, something to see, smell or taste that didn’t grow underwater. 

Inhabiting a mortal body for some weeks was proving to be the perfect holiday.

She made her way hurriedly to the front room, where the innkeeper greeted her with his constant amiability.

“Morning, miss. Will you be having breakfast?”

“Thank you, I’ll take a stroll by the cliffs first.”

He nodded and went to look after his stove as Floor stepped out the door.

The inn’s battered sign swung and creaked overhead. The wind was harsh in those parts and Floor wasn’t used to her newly acquired fragility. She set off down the cobblestone path to the cliffs, buttoning her peacoat all the way up.

A mile or so away, Charlotte too was having an early morning. Just under the surface, she stretched, swam in circles and eights, and leapt out of the water and back in as a prelude to her daily hunt. The sea was wonderful, cold and crystal-clear; one could see through it for miles. But the catch of the day was a few dozen feet above, on the edge of a rocky cliff. A woman, tall and dark-haired, and even from afar, Charlotte could see she was nothing short of gorgeous.

Her lips curled and twitched and her tail batted up a mist as she swam eagerly towards the rocks.

Floor heard some soft, muted notes sung in a lively voice. She looked around and saw no one. Quite strange, she thought, but she knew the sea to be nothing if not that. The song was quite pleasant nonetheless, and so she stayed and listened, casting a longing gaze over her endless domain.

A red shimmer in the water caught her eyes. She squinted at it as it danced on the surface, and after a few moments, she could make out the body it crowned. A woman bathing down in the inlet? Not with a tail, it wasn’t.

She felt somewhat silly upon realizing the mermaid had been the one singing all along, but of course she had forgotten much since taking to dry land.

The mermaid’s song was exhilarating but, Floor could see, her wide red grin concealed an effective arrangement of sharp teeth. No one quite knew what mermaids did - not even her - with whomever they managed to capture, only that they were rarely ever seen again. There were rumors, of course; some were horrifying, others were racy and… not entirely unpleasant if one was to be honest.

At any rate, Floor wanted to play a little. She sat on the edge of the cliff, dangling her long legs down towards the water.

The mermaid’s voice seemed to hitch for a moment. 

So, so close… 

And her melody resumed with renewed vehemence, with renewed appetite. She cast her voice upward, hoping to swarm the woman with a maddening echo so that she might come closer still, fall into the water and Charlotte’s embrace.

But Floor only laughed and swayed her head to the tune, infuriatingly unaffected. 

Charlotte sang and chanted and finally shrieked in her frustration until she was out of breath. Why was it not working? What kind of woman was that up there?

Charlotte had not the least idea until Floor began to sing herself. A soft, beautiful song, but Charlotte heard it perfectly clear as if it were coming from the very sea all around. 

Was it?

She pulled her hand out of the water and held it up in front of her. The water didn’t run off, it clung to her skin like some strange clear mud. She tried to shake it off, to writhe free of the witchcraft, but she only found herself further entangled in it. She grunted, hissed and croaked, throwing her most hateful look up at the whatever-she-was.

Floor smiled and sang on until Charlotte was exhausted. 

Her limbs felt like putty and the strange tune simply drained her of all strength until she could only drift to and fro, bound by the music, slowly sinking into the blue quicksand.

Only then did Floor bring her song to a close, and the mermaid was free again, gasping for breath and growling her discontent. Whatever kind of woman that was atop the cliff, she was trouble.

Charlotte growled, gritting her teeth.

“Who are you?” 

“Just  a passerby,” came the cheery reply. “Good catch today?”

Good catch? With that atrociously amused smile as well? The audacity! It was an outrage and there was nothing Charlotte could do about it.

“Nothing yet,” she spit back..

“Good luck, then, I’ll be taking my leave,” Floor said, making to stand.

“Wait! You can’t just… just go away!”

Floor threw her head back in laughter.

“Why, I can do anything around these parts!”