Running From Lions

“Have you heard about the mysterious disappearances that happened last night?” Colussy asked Jack as they took a break at the pier after finishing packing their supplies for the next trip.

“What mysterious disappearances?”

“Two sailors from SS James and Freedom suddenly disappeared overnight.”

Jack widened his eyes in disbelief. He always heard of accidents and kidnapping at sea, but never truly disappearances, like what Colussy is describing. The raven haired clutched onto his worn out windbreaker, pulling it tighter to get warm from the rather chilling sea breeze.

“One of the crew members on Freedom swore he heard somebody singing around midnight,” said Colussy, as he leaned even closer, letting his voice become just a whisper. “And people are saying, it must be a mermaid.”

“A mermaid?” Jack couldn’t help himself but laugh. “It’s the 21st century, mermaids don’t exist.”

“I am speaking the truth, really.” Colussy sighed, before grinning. “If you hear somebody singing in the cabins at night, I’m not helping you.”

Jack rolled his eyes before giving Colussy a playful punch on his arm. As Colussy started strolling off to their beaten up Orion fishing boat, Jack took one last look at the horizon, his eyes swooping across the gloomy sky and into the deep blue sea. He chuckled to himself, and shook his head before running to catch up with his fellow crew.

Mermaids? Yeah, right.

Little did he know that a pair of eyes were watching him intently from shadow of the pier, following Jack’s footsteps. Those eyes belonged to the same person who led many different sailors to their watery deaths, with two, just last night. Alex stretched his neck to get another glimpse, but to no avail. He sighed and noticed a small boy peering over the pier and looking straight at the Alex.
Alex smiled and put a finger to his own lips, before submerging into the water.

“Looks like I have a bit of proving to do to somebody.” The brown haired mermaid thought, as he swam deeper into the sea, the scales of his green mermaid tail shone from the sunlight.

“Two under one night?” Cassadee said, twirling her long brown hair. “Aren’t you a bit too impulsive?”
“It wasn’t my fault, the second guy was really cute.” Alex sighed, propping his head up on the rock with his hand. “The first guy was just really stupid.”

Both of them were at their favourite spot, a rocky beach on a small island, too small to be pinpointed on a map. No one ever comes here, be it mermaid or human, so Alex and Cass decide to call it theirs. Although mermaids tend not to have any friendships with other fellow mermaids, Alex and Cass were an exception. They were attached at the hip, from young until now, so they regard each other like what humans say it, best friends.

“Really?” Cass rolled her eyes. “You know, you gotta tone it down a little, or you’ll be on the receiving end.”
“I doubt that would happen to me.” Alex said factually, staring back at Cass.

“Okay then Mr. I-Am-So-Mighty Alex, who is your next target?”

“Another sailor who claimed mermaids don’t exist.” Alex grinned at the thought of it. “His side profile is really adorable, black hair with a huge nose.”

“Do you even know what his boat look like?” Cass questioned him, with one raised eyebrow.
“I will find him, don’t you underestimate my skills.” Alex scoffed, taking a stray seaweed in his hands and throwing it at Cass.

Cass made a face at Alex before throwing the seaweed back at Alex, missing him slightly, and swam away. The brunette rolled his eyes and was about to chase after her, but spotted white boat not far from the shore of the small island. A bald man appeared and threw over a huge net, before he went back inside his cabin. That man looked oddly familiar, but Alex couldn’t pinpoint exactly where.

“Is this guy stupid or what?” Alex muttered to himself, as he slowly swam deeper into the water. “There’s hardly any fish here.”

He squinted at the boat from under the water, realising something was caught in the net. It was something huge, from the way it struggled. Maybe it was a stray shark or something, they like to swim in shallow water, Alex thought, swimming even closer to inspect. A beautiful blue tail, long brown hair…

Oh my god.

Alex didn’t waste any time to save Cass. The stupid net was tangled around her neck and into her hair, she can’t pull away or take the net out on her own. The brunette gritted his teeth and he used his claws to rip apart the net. The net was so difficult to break apart, but Alex managed to do it. A lifeless Cass falls into Alex’s arms before he swiftly swims away, sending a death glare to that stupid boat and the stupid bald guy.