Mermaid Secrets

Felicity thought she heard splashing, and her eyes flickered open. She sat up and looked outside the tent towards the sea where the sound was being carried inland on a warm salty breeze. There was something a little way out in the water. It looked like a girl, but then in an instant, the image was lost behind a bigger wave. Felicity crawled outside and stood up, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. There – a movement, like a fish jumping! Then just a couple of the smallest ripples were left which dissipated back into waves again.

“Sophie!” Felicity called. “I’ve just seen something in the water – I’m sure it was a mermaid!”

Without a backward glance, Felicity raced down the beach and into the sea. She hardly noticed the frigid water rise up her legs as she waded in, in her eagerness to get closer to where the last ripples had dispersed. Suddenly, there wasn’t any beach beneath her feet – the bottom must have shelved away. A memory flashed through Felicity’s mind of her parents warning that this was sometimes the case, so you had to be very careful - but it was too late! She bobbed under the water, and as the tide was receding, it pulled her further in. She couldn’t swim hard enough to get back to the beach, and she was beginning to tire – where are my parents - my sister? Her vision faded as a blackness crowded in.