Unlike my other short stories, this one is in English. It was mostly written during a writing sprint and somehow I just felt like trying out a different language. I hope you enjoy reading it and please leave me a vote if you like it!

(Anders als meine anderen Kurzgeschichten, ist diese auf Englisch. Sie ist größtenteils während eines Schreibsprints entstanden und irgendwie hatte ich einfach Lust, mal eine andere Sprache auszuprobieren. Ich hoffe ihr habt Spaß beim Lesen und lasst mir gerne ein Vote da, wenn es euch gefällt!)

🏖️🏝️🧜‍♀️🌊

Let me tell you a story. A story that begins at the sea. The sea, you're probably thinking, what's so special about it?

Well, let me tell you that the ocean may be more special than you think. Not only is it home to thousands of different species, many of which we don't even know about, but it's also home to other creatures. Magical, fantastic creatures. Mermaids.

Now you're probably saying something like, "Oh, that's silly, everyone knows mermaids aren't real. They're just some silly stories that somebody made up." Well, let me tell you, for most of my life I believed that, too. Mermaids, sirens, all those kinds of creatures belonged to fairy tales, legends and myths. Not the real world, and certainly not my life. But then came the summer that changed everything. My whole world was literally turned upside down.

We were at the Baltic Sea at the time, I was twelve and my little brother was seven, I think. Now that I'm older, I don't remember things the way I want to. But that's another story.

Me and my brother were playing on the beach, having a competition to see who could build the biggest sandcastle, when suddenly I heard a strange sound. It was some kind of melody, and even though I didn't know where it was coming from, it felt familiar. And somehow, it wasn't scary at all. I immediately turned around to look for the mysterious voice. I couldn't see anyone singing on the beach, so I thought it must be coming from the water. I told my brother that I wanted to go back into the water, and the next thing I knew I was running, splashing glittering drops of water in every direction. Laughing out loud, I dove into the blue cold. And it was really cold. It was like thousands of miniature knives piercing my skin at the same time. I did my best to ignore it and slowly opened my eyes. Then I started swimming.

From time to time I would break the surface, longing for air to breathe, and then dive back under. When I realized that I had swum too far from shore, I wanted to swim back, disappointed that I hadn't found anything. But just as I opened my eyes underwater, heading in the opposite direction I had been heading minutes before, I found myself staring into the eyes of someone. Or rather something. It looked like a girl, but her skin had a strange green tint, almost invisible in the brackish water. Her hair was the same color, swirling around her head as if a giant jellyfish was swimming with her. I was so surprised that I let out a loud scream, forgetting that I was underwater. I panicked and tried my best to get back to the surface.

When I finally reached the surface, I was breathing heavily. Slowly my brain started to work again and I cursed myself for screaming. Maybe I had made her swim away from me! Luckily, she was still there when I returned. She looked at me curiously and swam around me in big circles, making sure I couldn't reach her. Which, of course, I did not try, because personal space and privacy are important, you know?

When she realized I wasn't going to hurt her, she came closer and touched my hair, which I wore in a ponytail to keep it out of my face while swimming. It seemed to fascinate her. I saw very thin skin between her fingers. She could probably swim really fast with it. I signaled to her that I needed to breathe again. The sudden movement startled her at first, but she soon understood what I meant and nodded shyly. But to my annoyance, just as I was about to go back to her, I heard my father on the beach calling for me. I should come to the shore, we were going to eat. I saw her and yelled back, praying that my yelling wouldn't scare the mermaid or whatever she was: "I'll be right there!"

Then I dove under the surface for the last time.

Like the gesture for going to the surface, I tried to signal her that I had to go but would be back in a few ours. This time she didn't understand.

In the end, I had no choice but to leave. How could she have understood me? I had no idea if she measured time at all, and if so, in our system. I had simply tried to say too much. After the meal, which was quite silent on my part, I looked for her again, but she was gone. I tried desperately for the rest of our vacation, again and again, every day. But that one time was the only and last time I saw her. 

That moment is now etched in my memory, and maybe I changed the way you think about magical creatures. Whether it has or not, remember, always be respectful, no matter what kind of person you're talking to. Treat everyone as you would like to be treated.