Breathe Cafe

by SiNgUrL


I’ve gone to the woods alone looking for something until I found the river and sat there.

I was thinking of Troy, my best friend. I left him in our old town. We just moved here in this new town a week ago because my mom remarried and she wanted us to relocate with Uncle Christopher.

The river was calm and it didn’t look deep. I sat on the edge letting my feet feel the current when I heard a beautiful voice. It was singing an unknown song and I couldn’t understand anything from it because the singer was uttering a different language. Her voice was beautiful, captivating and heart-melting. So I stood up and followed the mystical voice.

It was coming from the river and I couldn’t stop myself from walking deep in the waters, now getting angrier turning into rapids that were beating up my body. It was too late to go back now, I was deep in the rapids when something caught my feet and pulled me deeper down the bottom.

I was drowning. This mustn’t be happening. I could still hear the singing voice now filled with pure loneliness and melancholy. I couldn’t feel anything but pity for the singing girl. The rapids were still beating up my body. The pressure under the water was choking me when I saw a light.

It was a very bright light and I saw the girl’s long golden hair. She looked human except for the gills and the scales on her whole body. She was very beautiful. No, very beautiful wouldn’t fit her appearance. She looked more than that and any man who would see her wouldn’t be frightened but be captivated with her beauty. Her eyes were pure of longing and sadness that made my heart break into pieces. How could someone so beautiful be so sad? It was a devastating scene.

She continued singing and even with the rapids beating up my body with anger her voice still lulled me into unconsciousness. I couldn’t open my eyes anymore. In the darkness was still her heavenly voice.

************

I woke up coughing out water. My lungs and whole body was hurting. I opened my eyes and Troy was there holding me.

“Where am I? The girl…” I asked immediately. She was the first thing that came up in my mind.

“What girl?” Troy asked me when I saw that we weren’t alone. There was an old man behind him who looked like a fisherman.

“I don’t… I can’t be sure if I was…I was… What happened anyway?” my thoughts were still blurry and I couldn’t figure out what to say or ask.

“You drowned and…” Troy held me tight in his arms now and trailed off.

“You mustn’t be lurking here alone, young lady!” the old man said while he puffed out the smoke from his cigar.

“This part is very dangerous. I bet you saw her, that bloody mermaid can still be here!” he spat.

“Mermaid?” Troy and I asked almost at the same time. Troy looked confused and I was scared.

“Neh! Everyone kept laughing at me whenever I told the tale about this river!” he shook his head and spat again.

“Told ‘em not to be lurking around here but they thought I only wanted this place for myself! Bloody idiots didn’t listen and what did they get?” he laughed mockingly.

“They lost three boys and a girl! I know that mermaid had them!” he smoked.

“What happened?” I straightened up still holding Troy’s hand.

“To those bloody kids? Well, served them right. They were lured by the beauty of that bloody creature’s voice and appearance!” he looked at us maybe looking for any sign that we would be laughing at him but I couldn’t laugh at him. I knew he was telling an inexplicable truth.

“Could’ve saved them if they didn’t laugh at me but they pissed me off and called me a crazy bastard!” he added.

“You didn’t save them because they laughed at you?” Troy asked in disbelief.

“I tried to but bloody kids had a gun and fired at me. Shot me in the shoulder,” he rubbed his left shoulder. He tried saving them but they shooed him off.

“You saw her, right?” he winced at me and I nodded in answer.

“Lucky, we got to you just in time!”

“What does she want with people? That… that mermaid?” I asked nervously.

“She’s alone. My dad’s best friend died protecting her a very long time ago. They were lovers – Edwin and her. Since then she got angry with people who get close to this part of the river and sings that cursed song which hypnotizes people causing them to follow it then they drown,” he shook his head and flicked away his cigar and stepped on it.

“When she sings the song, the calmness of the river is replaced by her anger and sadness then the deadly rapids come and drown people away,” he let out a deep breath then looked at me again and smiled.

“That’s… really sad,” I uttered. I felt pity for the mermaid. She was only lonely.

“Sad?” he grunted.

“Maybe. But she already killed four kids and some are still missing until now,” he said.

“But… but you. I mean she doesn’t hurt you or…?” Troy trailed off. I knew that like me he was curious to know why he was still alive even though he lives near this part of the forest that he told us was dangerous.

“Edwin, her lover gave me this pendant made of seashell that she only knew where to get. It helps me ignore her voice and appearance. I can’t leave this place. I protect the people from her,” he spat again.

And I realized he wasn’t that bad. He looked like a snob but he still cared for other people. I bet he also cared for the mermaid but he wouldn’t admit it to anyone. The poor lonely soul living in the river who wants a revenge that couldn’t be fulfilled whether how many she kills because she lost the only one she dared to love.

Then I realized Troy was with me once again. My near death experience and the tale of the river made me realize how important my life is and how I wanted to share it wholly with him, my best friend, Troy.