A scream echoed through the rectangle hall, my ears hurt. I could tell they were his, they were Jim's, and he was in trouble.

I dragged myself to that door, the door that woman, his mother, had carried him through as if he were five years old and was just asleep.
Another shrill sounded as I used my seaweed thin arms to drag myself to the door down the hall, my breath coming short and my hefty tail swaying side to side almost toppling me over. I was finally at the door when I braced myself and threw my fists at it, attempting to shout, but no words were coming out, I was so afraid, I lost my voice.

There was no answer, what were they doing?! I needed to see him, I could picture it all, blood, flesh and bone everywhere, and Jim, in the midst of it all, lying motionless. It sent shivers down my spine. Bashing the door again, still no answer. Finally, I peeled back and was about to hurtle myself at the door, I used the ball of my palms to dig into the floor and flung myself at the heavy wood that I felt my left shoulder go numb with pain.

Panting and flinging my hair back, I felt tears sting the back of my eyes, it was horrible, crying wasn't this painful. It stung; maybe the sea salt always soothed the eyes of mermaids that the salty tears didn't affect us as much. But now, my eyes are constantly being dried, the salt water stung like an eel's sting. After what felt like hours, the door cracked open, and I, resting against the door, fell into the room, on the feet of slippery tentacles that I jumped back.

"Good heavens-" Blurted out an animal that sounded above me. Peering up to see snails eyes looming ahead, and zooming in, I shrank back to the far wall opposite the room.

Suddenly, the mother dashed in front of me, her clothing on her waist shielding me from view. "It's just a pet, Dr, Jim bought her this evening." The woman sounded frantic but cool.

Those eyes however, stretched around her to look at me, it was more than unnerving, it was frightening.

"Surely not, she has the upper body of a human!" The thing shrieked, coming around the woman that I scooted the other way, gripping her leg trying to get out of his view.

"She's exotic," She was trying so hard, her voice straining, and she began to push him towards the steps, urging him to go back to his job.

When they were gone, I sighed and looked back into the room, to see something else. It was brown and looked funny, a large nose with large floppy ears and tufts of hair with round eyes that shone.
"Holy Montressor..." He bent at the legs and kept his distance, as if he was trying not to scare me off. "That tail and hair...I've read about you!" His voice was friendly and warm, and enthusiastic. "A siren-Do you sing?" He suddenly shrunk back, and I had a horrible taste in my mouth.

Sirens were our cousins, far off into the middle of the sea. We sometimes had visits off them, and they are beautiful. Hardly any men, but the mass amount of women were endearing and intimidating.

Mine and my sister's closest cousins were Inga's family. Igna was slender, as were all sirens, with an aqua tail. But their tails were adorned with modification of pearls and lost fish hooks and other shiny things. Her hair, hardly any sirens hair was worn up, was a rich brown that flowed to her back with piercing grey eyes and a pointy nose and small lips, their chests bare and covered by their own long locks. Their song was beautiful that it's almost bewitching to us. But we are immune to their pull, and they wouldn't attack us.

But that's what's scary about them. They're so legendary and mythical, that we can't breathe a word of them. Hundreds of years ago, they used to eat humans, and it out right grossed me out. Now, it's just their job to keep up their traditions. Igna has been known to drown over 1500 men. She has 9 daughters and they are all just as fierce.
I shook my head at this animal-man thing, and stayed put, whereas he trotted closer. "A mermaid?"

I slowly nodded and he shook his hands in glee, or paws. The woman came back up the stairs, looking drained with large bags under her eyes and muttering to herself. She took one look at me and dismissed me as if I was just apart the wall behind me, she didn't seem pleased to have me here, but where else could I go?

"Sarah, you knew about this?" This? Is that what I am now? The woman, Sarah, blankly nodded and went back into the room, sat in a nearby chair and dropped her head into her hand while her other played with a locket around her neck.

The animal-thing went over to her with sad eyes, and looked on the bed in front of them, in front of me. I wanted to ask if I could come in, but I had a horrible feeling Sarah would shout and yell for me to go back to the sea.
So mutely, I dragged myself into the room quietly as I could, I kept my eyes on her the entire time, and she looked as if the whole world was against her at this moment in time.

The animal-thing just watched me interestingly. I was at the other side of the bed, it smelled sweet in here, but also mixed with a coppery smell I know all too well from the ocean waves. The smell of fresh blood, it tingled my nose and I couldn't help but gag a little.

I used my arm strength to pull me up on the bed, just enough to braced my elbows on the surface. There he was, shirtless and asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly that I was mesmerized by the rhythmic breathing. But there was something gruesome on his chest. It was bright red with blood but charred black. His wound was sealed shut. Sarah looked up across the bed to meet my eyes, guiltily I looked down.

"He was stabbed." She said bluntly, not taking her eyes from me. "A sword, right through his body, above his lungs..." I didn't know what she expected from me. As if I were magical and could make the cruel mark on his chest vanish? "And I have a feeling none of this wouldn't have happened..." I could not help but look into her stone grey, blue eyes as she spoke. "If he hadn't of found you." Her lips were thin and expressionless and the animal-thing behind her even gasped at her words.

"Sarah-"

"No-Delbert!" She twisted to stare at him with furious eyes. "He was working, he finally started to be good again and then he found this-this-HER!" She shouted, flailing her arms to find the right words, the animal-thing, Delbert, winced at her tone. "If she hadn't of showed up, bloody and scratched, he'd still be fit and working-Instead of having a sword driving in his shoulder."

Tears, again, stung as they slid down my face, it was a weird feeling. They'd normally mix with the ocean in the sea, now they slid and fell off my jaw, one by one, hitting the bed. It was my fault Jim was here, he'd helped me as I made foolish choices.

Now look at him. Bloodied and bruised and unconscious for now. I leapt down as fast as my arms and tail could take me and headed for the door, I found the steps, but to my dismay, they were steep and a load of them. I fumbled my way down, knocking my shoulders against the walls and hurting my fingers and palm all the way down, my tail thumping on each step. At the bottom was a dark hallway, and I had no idea where to go.

I was stumped, until I saw a line of light further down and headed for that. It was a door, the light coming from the crack underneath it, the way the morning sun filtered through the ocean and leaked through our windows. It smelled funny, of different and odd things. It began to smell bitter and then sweet and just horrid and made my nose scrunch up. I fell against the door hard, panting and disorientated.

I pushed it, knocked and pushed some more, I couldn't reach the pulley thing the humans used to open them as I stretched. But thankfully, it opened after a little while, and a draft of warmth hit me. But it was the weird thing, again, with snail eyes and tentacles to act as limbs. Strangely, it was quiet, and glancing past him, I could see a lot of strange things with eyes looking at me, some were hairy, some were huge, some were small, sticky and scary, slimy and shiny, stubby and bone thin, and they were staring directly at me. "You..." The tentacle thing breathed and bent down so fast and harshly delivered a knockout blow upon my head with something in his hands.