“You may now kiss the bride.” The officiant declared. That was the moment when Ade’s heart went from broken to shattered.
Amicable woops and cries carried across Pleasant Bay. Ade sat in the uncomfortable white folding chair, facing the alter where Jeremiah and Cece reach for one another, sharing their first kiss in holy matrimony.
The pieces of her heart sank like ashes to the sea. Jeremiah was no longer hers to make memories with. And a life together? Not a chance in hell. It was all over now. Fin. Finito. Kaput.
Ade swallowed the last fourth of her ceremonial Chardonnay. She ran her fingers through her silky brown locks, gazing over the cliff’s edge, the ocean calling to her with every retreat of the water from the edge of beach. Come closer, come closer, we’re here for you the waves seemed to say.
Ade ached for the salt water to enfold around her. The sun was setting in wild colors, fading across the sky from yellow to orange to pink to red. Her time was near.
The newly weds raise their fists to the sky as everyone in the sea of guests stood clapping, laughing, and crying. Her heart ached. The ocean could dissolve any pain she carried.
“I have to excuse myself, I am feeling super dehydrated and need to lie down,” whispered Ade. Her mother and father, both equally enamored by the energy filling the lawn of wedding chairs, nodded like seagulls.
“Let us know if you need anything sweetie,” her mom cooed, rubbing Ade’s pale arms. “Feel better.”
“OK, thanks. I’m going to go lie down for a while in the hotel room, don’t wait up for me.” responded Ade. Her mother and father seemed far away in the fantasy at play, already their attention was back to the newly weds. Rolling her eyes, Ade swiveled on her now dirty-covered stilletos and suddenly caught Jeremiah’s pleading green eyes from the aisle.
Ugh. Her stomach dropped as she tried to discern the look on his face. Yet, she knew she had to let him go. She couldn’t compete with Cece. The small-town girl with the heart-shaped face and mother-like, nurturing ways. The very fact that Cece couldn’t swim kept her locked to the land, needing the safety of a white fence and a garden to be free. Ade wanted more, and it was her very inability to be herself on land that ruined everything with Jeremiah.
Ade drew back from memories and faintly smiled, giving Jeremiah what he needed to hear to move forward. Congratulations, she whispered. With that, Ade turned and started walking towards the ocean, not looking back what might be the look of loss on his face.
Once she got to the sand, she ditched her shoes, purse, wrap and earrings in a little ball high on the beach. Ade looked down at her arms, seeing the metallic-like scale appear. A restlessness crept up into her chest as she broke into the water.
Immediately, her throat opened like a vent, revealing fleshy gills. She breathing in the cool salty water, a smile coming to her face. Swimming now, her legs transformed into an elegant, blue-green tail. The tail gave her mermaid power to drive against the incoming tide. Arms, outstretched, she dove deeper, swiveling her tail back and forth like a seal. Impenetrable eyes could see for miles in the water. She made out outlines of mooring lines for the harbor boats, groups of blue fish migrating along the shoreline after bate fish, and the infamous harbor seals with their big eyes and cat-like whiskers.
Ade’s sense of smell also heightened with her transition into mer-woman. She breathed in the smell of low tide, like the inside of a snail shell or drying seaweed on sun-baked rocks. The hum of boats over her head cautioned her, and she swam deeper towards the ocean floor.
Treasure welcomes her on the sand. Ade loved to see the horseshoe crabs mating, the smaller males latching on to the females as she fertilized the ocean floor with her eggs. This magical word was all hers, at least so she thought.
Somewhere beyond the safety of the harbor, the world of forgotten treasures and lost hearts, there was a loud, guttural cry. Ade quietly haulted, cocking her head in the direction of the mysterious, yet alarming sound.
A small crab scurried under a rock beside her, and lone striper darted in the opposite direction. The cry came again, this time longer. Ade could just barely make out the word, “Why?!” The voice sounded human, and hurt. Ade shuddered in fear, was someone drowning? Was it a shark attack on a seal? Was the sea witch back to release her from the spell? Ade had grown to love her transformation. Her sunset retreats to the water. Her secret place away from the life she led on land.
Ade swallowed and bravely swam closer to the cut, where the open ocean met the cove. The water here was colder, the ocean rips chuck-full of bait fish and larger herds of bluefish and striper.
The cries were becoming more clear, “WHYYYYYYYYYY?” the voice wined. Ade was certain it was a human voice, but how? For the last decade, she has swam circles in this harbor and never seen another mermaid, or mer-person. Fisherman were close encounters, sure. Great whites, oh yes. They frequent the rips in hunt of fresh meat at night. Was it possible that the witch had cursed someone else to this salty life, too?
Ade felt some hope in the idea that maybe there was another human soul with the tail of fish, too. Another heart in pieces. Or one that could push the thought of Jeremiah and his land lover to the back of her mind.
The cry came again, and Ade continued to swim to it. Pushing against the current, she swam past the sand bar barrier, moving into the open ocean. Fear was catching up to her, but she wiggled harder like a sea eel through space and time until she saw it. A man with blonde-ear length hair, wild, blotchy-red blue eyes staring right back at her.
