Later Garret and his family were having dinner at the table. They were having steak with broccoli and mac and cheese. As they ate dinner, Garret in particular was eating pretty fast and pretty quickly. Soon enough, he was finished with his dinner.

"May I be excused?" he asked as he got up from the table and put his dishes in the sink and then left the kitchen.

His father and his mom looked at each other.

"Is he alright Tom?" asked the mom. "Maybe we should talk to him."

"That won't be necessary Charlotte," said Tom. "Besides we both know exactly what's going on and there's not much we can do about it."

"But Tom, he's been like this ever since that incident in school last year," said Charlotte. "It may have been only a year ago, but Garret's still affected by it. He was so happy back then."

"I know honey," said Tom. "But wouldn't worry. We have to keep our chins up. Pretty soon and hopefully, Garret will get better and will soon believe in happy endings again. You'll see."

"I hope you're right," said Charlotte.

"Daddy? Mommy? Is something the matter?" asked Lucy.

"Oh nothing sweetheart," said Tom. "Just talking about grown up stuff. Now then, it's time to get ready for bed. Go on and brush your teeth OK?"

"OK!" said Lucy.


Meanwhile in another world far below the depths of the sea, a world that was vastly different than yours or mine, dozens of sea creatures swam about going their way without a care in the world. Fish swam with their scales shining in the water and blue whales floated on by singing their song. It was just a sea you would see in the human world if you ever dove down by swimming or by submarine, however there was one thing that made the sea vastly different and special.

A special place that was home to merpeople and fish alike. A beautiful castle that appeared to be made of gold shining from the rays above the water. This place was the kingdom of Atlantica ruled by none other than King Triton himself. Inside this kingdom there was a palace where he and his seven daughters lived. Inside the palace six of the seven daughters were gathered around singing in perfect harmony. it appeared to be some kind of rehearsal. Just then there was a tapping of a baton causing the daughters to stop. In front of them on top of twas a small red Jamaican crab. Now he may be small for his size, however he was of course the Royal Composer for the King. His name was Sebastian. While he is normally a carefree crab, he does however have a tendency of being crabby.

"No, no, no! Dat's not how it's supposed to sound!" he said shaking his head. "Please, sing in de way I taught you!"

"Yes Sebastian," replied the girls.

Sebastian looked among them and noticed that one of the daughters wasn't there and he knew very well who it was.

"Of course," he muttered to himself. "She hasn't shown up again for rehearsal as usual." He turned to the girls. "Has anyone seen dat Ariel? Dis composition need a voice like hers!"

The young mermaids shook their heads having no idea and also knowing that when it came to Ariel, she was always either late or missing rehearsal. Sebastian then hopped off onto the floor and set off to search for the girl.

"I'm going ta look for Ariel," said Sebastian. "Until den, you girls stay here and no funny business."

Then he left in search for Ariel.


Sebastian swam outside of the palace and looked around searching for Ariel. As he swam about, he passed by some merfolk who all greeted him as he swam by. He greeted them back and asked them if they had seen Ariel. Most of them did not, but eventually he got a tip saying that someone had seen her by the coral beds. Sebastian then went on his way over to coral beds and looked around once more. At first he couldn't see anybody, but then he saw her.

She was young in her teens about 14 or 15 or so, had long flowing red hair going past her waist, wore a lavender seashell bra, bright blue eyes, and had a green scale colored fish tail with light green fins. She sat on top of a rock staring wistfully up above her. Sebastian immediately knew that he had found Ariel.

"Ariel! Dere you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" he said.

"Oh Sebastian it's you," said Ariel.

"What are you doing all da way out here?" demanded Sebastian. "You do realize that you're late for rehearsal?"

"Sorry Sebastian," said Ariel. "I was just-"

"Staring at the surface again?" cut in Sebastian. "Listen to me girl, how many times do I have ta tell you not to ditch rehearsal?"

"Oh Sebastian. Don't be so crabby," said Ariel. "You're gonna get wrinkles if you keep being that way."

"I wouldn't be so smart young lady," said Sebastian. "Especially since you're going ta be fifteen soon."

"Speaking of which Sebastian," said Ariel. "Will I really be allowed to go up to the surface on that day?"

Sebastian clawpalmed his face and sighed. "Ariel must we go through dis again? You know as well as I do on your fifteenth birthday is de one and only day dat you will be allowed to go up and visit de surface. I understand dat what you will see up dere will be spectacular, but every mermaid who rises above de sea must return and-"

"All merpeople, men and maids, are forbidden to come into contact with human," cut in Ariel. "I know Sebastian. I've heard you and my father tell me this before."

"Good. As long as you understand," said Sebastian. "Now come along we have ta get you to rehearsal."

"I know. I'm coming," said Ariel as she and along with Sebastian swam back to the palace.

As she swam back toward the palace, she couldn't help but take one last look towards the surface. Aside of being a mischievous mermaid and missing rehearsal, Ariel was highly curious about the world above her. She wanted to know everything about the wonderful things the surface had to offer, but she had little to go on. However she would soon get her chance, for her birthday was coming up in a few months and she would soon find out for herself what the surface was like.

"Ariel! Are you coming?" called out Sebastian noticing that Ariel had stopped swimming.

Ariel shook her head getting the cobwebs of her dream out of her head. "Yes I'm coming!" she called as she swam after him.


Back in the real world, Garret was lying down in his room reading a book. He had just finished reading a chapter of the book he was reading and had now closed it putting it on his desk. His current attire comprised of a pair of black shorts and a white shirt.

"Well that takes care of that," he said to himself. "Took me a while, but I finally managed to get it done."

He then stood up and let out a satisfying grunt and then went over to his dresser to get dressed for bed. As he did he happened to come across a picture on his desk.

Upon seeing that picture he couldn't help but let a small frown appear on his lips.

It was a picture of himself and a young girl. He then picked up the picture and took it with him as he sat on his bed looking at it.

"Casey..." he murmured to himself.

All the memories of what happened a year ago as well as his childhood between him and Casey returned into his mind.

When he was little, Garret was a shy young boy who had a soft spot for fairy tales and also had a dream of finding a girl and living happily ever after. The kids in his school would often tease him about it. Except for one little girl which would be later known as Casey. The two eventually became fast friends and they stayed best friends for many years. As time went on, Casey and Garret had become teenagers and Garret started developing feelings for Casey falling in love with her. However the love was one sided. Casey unfortunately had no feeling for Garret at least in that way and because of that Garret was crushed.

And things only got worse from there. On the day after Casey had turned him down, Casey had moved away without ever saying goodbye to Garret or telling him where she was moving to. Ever since then Garret's heart turned bitter and he never believed in happy endings since then. He also stayed far away from the people in the school burying his face in books. The only time he ever was ever in a group was in class projects and other group assignments. During the lunch period, he would sit by himself either reading a book or listen to the other boys and girls talking.

The girls would talk about boys, nail polish, make up, and other girly things and the boys would talk about girls, skateboarding, football and other boyish stuff. Whatever they talked about, Garret paid no attention. There was hardly anything that he would be interested in. Pretty much at this point, Garret was now nothing more but an outcast.

Garret sighed and put the picture face down on his desk and lied down on his bed staring up at the ceiling.

"Geez. How depressing can this get?" he muttered to himself. "I've gotta try and forget about that. That's want I want to say but I just can't help myself."

Then he remembered his father's words in his mind when he showed him the mirror in the attic.

"Someday, you'll understand that true love exists as well as a happy ending."

Garret let out a little scoff as turned to his side.

"Yeah right. Like that's ever gonna happen," muttered Garret as he closed his eyes.

He breathed slowly in and out trying to get his breathing rhythm. He was just about to fall asleep when suddenly he heard a strange noise causing his eyes to open. But it wasn't just any ordinary noise. It was the same noise that Garret heard in his dream before. The sound of a girl singing.

"That voice...!" thought Garret as he immediately sat up. "It's just like the one from my dream! But... why am I hearing it now? Am I dreaming right now?"

He sat up and looked around down the hall. The hall was very quiet. Figuring that the rest of his family was asleep, Garret quietly stepped out of his room and listened. He could still hear the singing, but it was very faint.

"What is that?" he wondered as he quietly tip-toed down the hall. As he ventured further into the hallway, he heard the singing grow slightly louder meaning that he was getting closer. Eventually he followed the singing till he came to the middle of the hallway. The singing was now coming from above meaning that it could only be coming from one place. The attic.

Garret looked around and then went back into his room and got a flashlight. He came back into the hall and pulled the ball on the chain pulling down the ladder. He climbed up it and when he was in the attic, he turned on his flashlight so he could see in the dark. He looked around trying to find the source of the singing, but the attic was very quiet as he shined the light over the various objects there. It was as if the singing had disappeared completely.

"That's weird," thought Garret. "I've could have sworn that I heard the singing in here. Either that or I'm probably just dreaming or hearing things."

Just then the singing came again causing Garret's heart to leap in his chest. The voice was even louder than before meaning that he was close to the source. He didn't think he was hearing things now. Although he felt a little scared.

"H-hello?" he called out nervously and whispering. "Is anyone there?"

There was no response. The singing just continued. Then Garret turned around. In front of him was the door to the room where his father had showed him the other day where the mirror was. The singing was even louder than before meaning that whatever was singing, it was coming from behind the door.

"No... it couldn't be," said Garret as he walked up to the door. "Could it?"

A little part of him wanted to walk away and get out of there, but a bigger part of wanted him to open it and see what it was. He slowly reached out towards the knob of the door and touched the knob. He turned it and then after taking a deep breath, he opened the door and looked inside. At the moment, the singing had stopped. There was nothing, but silence.

The silence was really starting to give Garret a bad feeling making him feel like going back. Then his eyes happened to fall upon a shadowy figure a few feet away from him. Garret then felt his blood freeze and bit back the urge to scream as he took a step, but then he realized that the shadowy figure took a step back too. That was when he realized that it was the mirror. The same one that Tom his father had recently shown him earlier.

"Good grief," he muttered to himself. "I almost got freaked out by a freaking mirror. What am I a scaredy cat?"

He moved towards it and his reflection moved close as well as if it wanted to greet it's parallel counterpart. Garret then inspected the mirror trying to see if there was anything by it that was causing the sound, but he couldn't find anything.

"This is so weird," he said. "I thought for sure that the singing was coming from here. I'm sure of it."

Garret put a hand to his chin trying to figure out what was going on. Then he looked back at the mirror shining the light on it. He placed the hand on the surface on the glass and sighed.

"Come on Garret. You were probably just imagining it or something," he said to himself. "Why'd you even come up here in the first place?"

He shook his head as if he was shaming himself for going on this pointless search party. Not to mention his memories of Casey returned into his mind.

"I'm probably going insane from all the grief or something," he continued running his hands on the surface of the mirror. He let out a sigh and then looked up at the teal gem that rested above the head of the mirror. "I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but... I wish I could go back to being a happy person again. At least that way I won't be brooding on this whole thing."

He then turned around and was just about to walk away, but then suddenly the beautiful singing voice was heard again causing Garret to stop. This time Garret could hear exactly where it was coming from. The mirror itself.

"No way...! It's that singing again," he said. "And it's coming... from the mirror?!"

Garret slowly turned around and looked at the mirror. He was expecting to see his reflection in the mirror, but this time it was different. The glass with now murky and cloudy so he couldn't see his reflection. It waved and rippled about as it was made of water. Seeing this as well as being entranced by the singing, Garret felt himself being pulled in by the mirror.

He walked up to it and staring at the murky surface of the it. He slowly reached out until he eventually touched the surface. When he touched it, the surface rippled and it felt wet like water. Garret retracted his hand and looked at it. He definitely felt the wet surface, but for some reason his hands were dry. Then suddenly the teal gem on the mirror began to glow bright blinding him.

"Hey! What the heck is going on?!" he cried as he shielded his eyes.

Then from the mirror something shot out from it and began to swirl around him. Thinking it was a snake of some kind, Garret instinctively flailed his arms trying to fend it off, but when he touched it he felt something wet again.

"What the...! Water?!"

Sure enough it was water. A large rope of water to be exact. It swirled around him going faster and faster enough for it became a dome of water. Then Garret felt himself slowly being lifted up from the floor causing him to levitate.

"Hey! What's going on here!?" he cried.

The water continued to make Garret levitate until it slowly pulled him towards the mirror and before Garret had a chance to scream for help or react, he was swallowed up by the mirror and disappeared without a trace.