Dark River(Katie) Clora

I swam up out of the water and looked over at the beach, where two human teenage boys were still sitting. Being the only mermaid on the river, I could try and see if they would come in the water. I wouldn’t drown them. I just want someone to talk to. I dipped into the deep river and swam slowly in their direction, the light of the golden sun reflecting off of my deep blue scales. I sighed, thinking about the reason why I was the only mermaid in this river.

My father was a human man who had stumbled across this very river. He had seen my mother, who was a mermaid, every time he came down here. He always sat on the beach and waited for her to get close enough to talk to. He never saw her tail. But she had a special power. If she dried her tail quick enough, it would turn into two human legs. So, she would swim past him every day and then to a different beach, farther down the river. She would drag herself up onto it and dry her tail and go to see my father.

My father found out what she was after when she had me. He went on a full outraged attack. He killed my mother for tricking him, but she saved me by hiding me farther down the river. When I saw that my mother hadn’t come back, I started to cry. My crying was so loud that all of the other mermaids left. I stopped crying and started to teach myself how to swim. Every mermaid has a power. I figured out mine when I accidently went up on shore one day. The scales of my tail had just touched the shore when my tail turned to two human legs. I stood up, wobbly, and practiced walking until it felt normal. Then my feet touched the water and I had a tail again.

I swam deep underwater, passed the boys, and headed down to the beach where my mother used to stop. Like always, my scales touched the rough sand and I felt my tail split and become two human legs. I made a dress for myself out of leaves and walked down to the beach where the boys were sitting. My dark brown hair was surprisingly dry and it fell across my face. I harshly pushed it back out of my face and continued walking.

I came to the beach where the boys were sitting. As I got closer, and since water wasn’t blocking my sight, I saw that one boy had to be my age, sixteen, and the other at least a year older. The one that looked my age had light bronze hair and green eyes, rimmed with silver. He was tan. His buddy had blond hair and bright blue eyes. They both looked up and saw me standing there.

“Hello,” I said cautiously. The boys looked up at me. The bronze colored hair guy looked over at his friend.

“Hey, chick,” the bronze haired guy said, “why are you here and why are you wearing that dress?” I looked down at my dress and also noticed that I didn’t have any shoes on. I looked down at the ground and wiggled sand in between my toes.

“Um, I live in the forest,” I said. The guy raised his eyebrow. He could tell I was lying.

“Oh, really,” he said, glancing over at his friend with an amused expression on his face. “Well, little mermaid, why don’t we come down and see your home?” I got scared. How did they know I was a mermaid? No one had ever figured it out. My heart started to pound as they stood up. My gut twisted and I couldn’t breathe. How did they know? Unless…

I looked closer at the bronze haired guy’s eyes. They were green, yes, but underneath those stupid contacts were eyes of pure silver. I heard a growl come out of his throat. Werewolves…

I kicked out as hard as I could. My bare foot caught the bronze haired teen in the stomach. My powerful leg sent him flying back. He hit a tree with a sickening thud. His buddy ran at me. I deftly moved out of the way, slamming my elbow into his back as he ran past me. I swung back around quickly to block an incoming punch from the bronze haired guy. I grabbed his wrist, punched him in the mouth, and kicked him in the stomach again, sending him flying back.

The blond haired boy had gotten up and had produced a silver whistle from his pocket. He blew on it. I didn’t hear a thing. I was prepared for an attack though.

Slowly, little by little, more boys crept out from the gaining darkness of the forest. I spun around slowly in a circle, looking at all of the boys that were coming. There were tall boys, short ones, black haired, brown haired, blonds, reds, blue eyed, green eyed, hazel, brown, BLACK! There were so many that I couldn’t count them all. I didn’t have the time.

Immediately, a red head that was at the front of the circle leapt at me and grabbed my arms. I struggled to get out. Two more boys grabbed my legs and held them to the ground. I stopped fighting as the bronzed hair boy stood back up. He touching his bleeding lip. His fingers came away with blood on them. He smiled, looking at all of the boys, then suddenly punched me in the stomach. I gasped at the pain and if the red head hadn’t been holding my arms, I would have doubled over in pain. The bronze guy got close to my ear.

His breath was hot against my ear as he whispered, “Listen, you little sea rat, you stay in that water and you won’t get hurt. If you ever come out of that water again, you know what will happen.” He drew away, looking into my eyes. He made a motion for the boys to disperse. The boys that were holding me dropped me and ran swiftly into the forest. The last to depart was the bronze haired boy. I knew he was waiting for me to get back in the water. I sighed and waved him away as I started towards the water. I could feel the weight of his stare on my back.

As soon as my foot hit the water, the change began. Pins and needles went up and down both of my legs, squishing them together to make one big tail. I fell in the water, disappearing under the crystal blue surface. I could still see out though and I thought a saw a flash of resentment in the bronze haired boy’s expression. But he shook his shoulders and disappeared into the dark forest. I took a deep breath of water and swam farther down the river, towards the beach where I had gotten out. I brought my head out of the water and swam over to the beach, pulling myself out of the water. My head was full of anger and I couldn’t decide what to do. My heart became small and my fingernails turned to claws. My teeth became sharp and my ears became pointed. I had become a monster.


Brathel

I couldn’t get it out of my head at what my brother had done. He was standing before me with his friend Azdra. We were in my house in the forest. It was made entirely out of wood that I had cut down. The entire village was built of oak and pine wood. We had kept this small camp for years and nobody had done a stupid thing like Jrathed. I felt the pressure of being the leader. I couldn’t take it.

“I am completely and utterly disappointed,” I snarled at them. “You were supposed to make friends with the mermaid, not turn her into a monster.”

“We are truly sorry, Brathel,” my brother said. He looked over at Azdra. Azdra had his head down and wouldn’t look at me or my brother. “She started to lie to us, so it was sort of a defense mode.”

I turned to Azdra. “And why didn’t you think before using that whistle? I gave you that whistle for emergencies only! And what was this?"

“Not an emergency?” Azdra mumbled.

“Right! Okay, I can’t bear to see either of you right now.” I sat down in a chair. “Leave me.” They dipped their heads to me and walked out of the house. I put my head in my hands and shook it. I should have gone down there instead of them. The leader of the pack never sends his brother or his brother’s friends to do the leader’s work. I sighed, put my hands on my knees, and pushed myself up. Maybe I should go down there and talk to her.

As soon as I walked out of the house, there was a big mess of commotion. The girls were screaming at something and the boys were crowded around someone, poking them to tell them what had happened.

“Move, move!” I yelled at the girls. They all slid out of my way and I saw what they were screaming at. Draxen, one of my pack, was lying on his back, his head up and staring at nothing. His mouth was full of water. His skin looked gray and clammy and I knew in a second he was dead.

“Who was with him?” I shouted, looking around. I knew not let one of the werewolves travel alone. They always had to travel with another person. “Who?!”

“Me, sir,” a young boy said, creeping out from inside the circle of boys. He was one that I hadn’t seen before with his black hair and bright yellow eyes (us werewolves always have weird eyes). “I was with him. We were heading down to the river and I had gone on ahead to see if there were any bushes of food nearby. I heard him scream and the sudden sound of splashing water. When I turned around, he wasn’t there. I walked down closer to the river to see if I could see him, but I couldn’t. Suddenly, his body popped out of the water and floated over to me.” The boy stopped, looking frightened.

“Did you see anything else in the water?”

“Yessir. Before I brought his body out of the water, I saw a young woman’s head come out of the water. She had dark brown hair that was pulled up on top of her head by vines. She had light green eyes and a blue feather in her hair. I just saw her eyes and the bridge of her nose though. Nothing else showed. The water was dark, reflecting off the night sky of course. As soon as she saw me see her, she disappeared back under that water. I grabbed Draxen as fast as I could and took off running up here.” I spun around to look at Jrathed.

“What color were the mermaid’s eyes?”

“Light green.”

“Hair color?”

“Brown.”

“Dang it! You idiots turned the nice mermaid into a river monster.” I slapped my forehead with my hand. Jrathed looked at my expression and cringed. He knew what was going to happen. “You and Azdra are coming with me down to the river to see if we can talk to that mermaid.” He nodded slowly and Azdra didn’t meet my eyes again.

“Okay, Brathel,” Jrathed said, looking down at the ground. I pointed at him and walked back into my house. I shoved on the boots that I made from scratch. I grabbed my quiver and my bow, just in case the mermaid got out of control. I was worried about this. I walked back out and pulled Jrathed off to the side.

“You stay close to me and do not leave my side,” I snarled in his ear. He nodded quickly and walked over to the shed. He grabbed a small dagger. I knew he wanted it to stay hidden. The corners of my mouth started to quirk up. But I quickly became serious. Azdra had grabbed a bigger sword and was close to me. Jrathed walked over and we started heading down to talk to the mer—monster, I guess.

I walked ahead of the other two. I wanted to protect them, so… I went first. I was able to hear the river before we saw it. Werewolves had good hearing. I headed down to the water quickly. Hopefully I could talk to this mermonster before dawn, when it was light. I knelt down by the water and ran my finger in a pattern on the water. The pattern turned golden and rippled across the water. Almost immediately, I saw brown hair come out of the water and light green eyes staring at me. I heard growling coming from within the water.

“Um, excuse me, Ms…” I waited for a name. I heard it but it was sort of growling.

“Clora…” The voice was deep and horrendous. I winced a bit, but didn’t back up. The mermaid was beautiful. Her ears were pointed in a devilish way, but her skin looked smooth and her hair was dark brown. Her eyes gleamed in the starlight. She came farther up out of the water and I saw her lips were red.

“Please, let us talk to you. We want to have an understanding.” The mermaid smiled and I saw her teeth were small and pointed. She started to swim towards me. I saw her dark blue tail flit up and down in the water. She came close to the sand and started to reach out towards me with a webbed clawed hand.

“Brathel!” Jrathed yelled, pulling me back. I fell on my bottom away from the water. Clora hissed and lunged to grab my leg. Jrathed yelled and stabbed at her arm with his small dagger. The tip of it sliced some of her skin. She hissed again and slid back into the water. Azdra helped me up and then knelt by the water to see if the mermaid was gone. Suddenly, a long watery arm shot out of the water and grabbed Azdra by his neck. Azdra let out a gasp and suddenly held his breath. The mermaid dragged him into the water. Bubbles came up from under the water as the mermaid dragged him deeper into the water.

“Azdra!” Jrathed yelled, peering over the edge of the water. “Azdra!” I pulled Jrathed back and pushed him towards the camp.

“Run back to the camp and stay there until I get back, okay?” I said, crouching over the edge of the water. Jrathed ran as fast as he could, jumping over roots and branches that littered the ground. The bubbles stopped coming out of the water.

Suddenly, Azdra’s body floated up out of the water and his head hit my ankle. He looked gray and clammy and water filled his mouth. He looked exactly like Draxen when he died. I pulled him out of the water and pushed him behind me. I looked in the water for the mermaid. I sighed and sat down on the edge of the water. I put my head between my hands and I put my hands between my knees. I heard the water ripple and I felt them hit my feet. I didn’t want to look up. Even as a watery hand slid up and out of the water towards me. I saw water drip off of the webbed hands and the claws.

I looked up and over at the water. Clora’s hair was wet and she was close to the beach. Her full head was out of the water and she was smiling at me for some reason. I tensed myself for water. But she didn’t drag me under the water. Instead, her hand touched my foot. I saw that it wasn’t webbed or clawed anymore. It was smooth and fair skinned. I looked up and saw she had pulled herself out of the water. She was now wearing a leaf dress and she was drying her legs off. I watched her head as she turned to look at me. Her teeth weren’t pointed anymore.

“Hello,” she said. She crawled up and over to me, sitting down next to me. “Was that your brother?” She nodded towards Azdra. I shook my head. She dropped her head a little. “Are you afraid of me?” I nodded. She started to growl.

“Just a little bit though!” I said, holding my arms out to stop her growling. “You’ve drowned two of my pack members.” She nodded, looking down at the sand. I put my hand on her hand.

“Why did you turn into a monster?” I asked her.

“I…um…” she started. “I came out of the water to talk to your boys. They called me a liar and they attacked me. I fought them and then they called the pack. Three of them grabbed me and that bronze haired boy hit me in the stomach.”

“Jrathed?” I asked. “That’s my brother.” She hissed a bit, but didn’t follow it. I still had my hand on her hand.

“I just wanted to talk to someone,” she said, looking down. An idea snapped into my head.

“Why don’t I come down here every day and we can talk?” She got excited.

“Yes! That would be fun!” She perked up and said, “I have to go.” She slid down into the water and disappeared. I watched her go and then went back up to camp.

For days after that, I walked down to the water every day and sat down at the beach to talk to her. We talked for hours and then she would have to go every time before midnight. For some of the days, we started to build a dock out into the water. She wanted to stay in the water a lot of the time so that’s why we built the dock. I crawled out onto the dock every day after we built it. I put my feet in the water and felt it bouncing against my feet. We mostly talked about what it was like to live in the water or in the forest. Her favorite things to do and my favorite things to do. It was amazing.

I headed down there today. I walked all the way down and walked out onto the dock. I sat down and waited for her to come, like every day. The only thing that was different is that she didn’t show up right away. I drew the pattern that I had used when we met. It turned gold and rippled the water. I saw green eyes come out of the water and look at me. I smiled and waited for Clora to come to talk to me, but she didn’t. Instead, she dipped back under the water. I saw the water ripple and I saw her swimming closer. My smile wavered a bit. She was acting really weird. She came up a few feet away from me and I saw that it wasn’t Clora. It was a different mermaid. This one had green eyes and long blond hair. This mermaid had dark green scales and not blue like Clora’s. I scrambled to my feet and pointed a shaking finger at the mermaid.

“Where’s Clora?” I asked, my voice wavering. The mermaid smiled, showing small pointed teeth.

“She’s a little… caught up.” She gestured towards a small oak that was at the edge of the river. I looked at the mermaid for a second longer and then slowly turned to look at the tree. What I saw nearly made me yell. Clora was caught in a net made out of small vines, made quickly and very crudely.

“Clora!” I yelled, sprinting off the dock and running over to the tree. Her brown hair was hanging in front of her face and her arms and legs had cuts on them. She looked up as I got close. Her eyes were dull.

“Brathel…” Her voice was hardly a whisper. I reaching into my jacket and pulled out a hunting knife. I threw it was hard as I could at the vine binding the net to the tree. It sliced easily through the vine and Clora fell out of the net and into my arms. Her eyes were shut and her chest barely rose and fell. I fell to my knees on the soft sand. The blond mermaid pulled herself onto the beach and got close to us.

“She’s dying, you know that,” the mermaid said. She was drying her fin. Suddenly, her fin split in two and she had two normal legs. “Mermaids can only be out of water for so long.”

“Who did this to her?” I growled. I cradled her towards my body. Her breath was fading fast. “Who?!” The mermaid cupped her hands together and the air between her hands became fuzzy. Suddenly I saw a picture of Jrathed.

“I believe this is him,” the mermaid said. “I had come down to visit my niece, like I do every year, but instead I found her like this.” I felt the sting of tears at the back of my eyes. Sudden rage crept up in my stomach. But I would deal with Jrathed later. I felt Clora shift in my arms. I turned her away from me to where I could see her eyes. They were open and they were looking at me. She let out a breath.

“Brathel… I'm…so…sorry,” she whispered. I put my head against her neck.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” I whispered against her neck. “I’m not sorry that I fell in love with you.” I lift my head away from her neck. She was looking at me with pained love. I leaned down and kissed her lips. She let me and I saw her eyes close. Her lips were yielding and lovely. I drew back just as she died in my arms.

“No! Please no!” I yelled. I clung to her body, not believing what had just happened. I set her down gently and stood up. My brother had killed the girl I had been in love with. I was going to kill him. Clora’s aunt stood up and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You okay?” she asked. I shook my head blindly, stumbling backward. Fierce anger rose up inside me. I crouched down on my hands and knees. I suddenly became my wolf form. I howled and took off for the camp.

It took me five minutes to get there in my wolf form. I slid on the ground, transforming into my human form. “Jrathed! Where are you?!” All of my pack came out at the commotion. Jrathed came out of his house. At my expression, his face became expressionless. I growled at him. “Get over here!” I shouted.

“Did you find my little present that I left for you?” he asked rudely, standing in front of me. I whipped out my hunting knife, going so fast that a few of the girls gasped. I pressed the cold tip of the knife against his throat. His green eyes looked at me with sarcasm. “You don’t have the guts.” I slowly drew the knife across his throat, making a line of blood. His eyes widened.

“Really? I don’t have the guts?” I growled in his face.

“So? Kill me then.” He pressed closer to me. I remember a saying my father used to say to me.

“The wrong man,” I started, lowering the knife, “would hurt the innocent. The right man would trial the guilty and innocent. The strong man would punish the guilty. A stronger man would let the guilty go.” I threw the knife into the ground and turned around. I walked passed my pack and headed back down to the beach.

Clora’s aunt had left. Probably to tell everyone that Clora had… died. I reached Clora’s body and picked it up. Her, I thought, not it. I brought her over to the water and laid her down gently in it. I picked a pink and white flower that was hanging from a vine near me. I placed it on her ear and closed her eyes. I pushed her off into the middle of the river. The water caught her and took her. I watched her disappear down the river and into the unknown.

Ten years have passed since Clora passed. I always come out to sit on the dock that we built together. Every day now the river is full with new mermaids. They see me and disappear, but I don’t care. I always think about Clora. She’s with her mother now. She’s home. I smile at a small brown haired mermaid that has swum up to me. She has light green eyes and her hair was pulled up onto her head. She was a small child. She held her hands up to me. I pull out what she has handed to me and smile. Maybe Clora hasn’t left me after all.


The object was a small white and pink flower.

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