A/N: I am getting VERY angry… can't tell you why. Nothing to do with you reviewers though, so don't worry.

6

I sat at the foot of the bed reading a book called Half Human, a new book I had just gotten. It actually wasn't just one story, it had varieties of them. Like a girl with snakes for hair, a boy with wings, a man who used to be a tree, a mermaid, and much more.

When I read the story of the mermaid, it was pretty amazing and interesting. I liked the other one's too, but not as much as the mermaid one.

I closed the book as I finished it and heard Mina come in with a smile across her face. She held a bag of groceries and placed it on my bed.

"Coral look what I got! A pack of Starburst, Skittles, and—"

"I don't care, " I sighed.

"But I thought you liked them." She said.

"Did you ever know the meaning of 'leave me alone'?" I scolded.

Her smile faded and she took the bag of groceries and placed it over to her bed. She silently open a bag of Skittles and started to eat watching me silently.

I grabbed another book off the shelf. I looked at the cover, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Boring. I used the love that book when I was little, my father always read it. Now I'm not sure I wanted to read that ever again since it reminded me of my father so much.

I looked through the shelf one by one, no book seemed interesting. I only had eleven books after all. I read all of them practically three or four times.

I sat back on my bed and stared through the window and realized that it was already dark. I looked over at my sister who continued to eat her Skittles.

I was bored, very bored. I looked at the alarm clock and it read 7:46. Still too early to go to bed, but the time didn't matter to me. I was actually tired, so sleep sounded good to me.

I went through the drawer finding my nightgown, and went to the bathroom to change which was just down the hall. As I finished dressing and returned to my room, I noticed my sister was gone.

I looked and saw the grocery bag still remained on her bed and the bag of Skittles. But there was no sign of my sister.

I frowned; I hadn't heard my sister leave. I went to check the living room, not there, only mom sitting on the couch fast asleep with the TV on. I entered the kitchen, no Mina.

I frowned, why was I looking for Mina anyway? Just let her be.

I started to head back to my room; I passed mom's bedroom and stopped. I saw my sister there looking at something.

I walked over to her and knelt down. "Mina, what are you doing here?" I asked.

She didn't reply, but continued to look through some pictures, it appeared to be an album. I peaked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

My eyebrows furrowed, she was looking at a picture full of mermaids. It appeared as if an artist drew it. I also noticed that the mermaids were wearing no top. I gasped and grabbed the book away from her.

"Hey!" She cried out in surprise.

I stood up and glared at Mina. "Why are looking at pictures like these?" I scolded.

"It's mine give it back!" She stood up and made a grab for it, but missed.

"Answer my question first."

"That's none of your business!"

"You're too young to look at pictures like these." I said.

"So? You look at them too!" She yelled.

I snarled at her, what a liar! "I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!" She screamed.

I covered my ears as she made a high pitch scream, I heard mom running towards the room.

My sister gasped as she heard mom staggering in and grabbed the book from my hands. I got surprised at how frantic she seemed when she grabbed the book from me.

Mina hid the book inside a drawer piled with clothes. I glared at her angrily but soon mom walked over to us.

"Wha-what's wrong with the… two of you?" She held a beer bottle in her hand.

"Coral was looking at nasty pictures!" Mina yelled.

I gasped, why was my sister blaming me for what she did?

"Huh? Looking at what?" Mom said.

I clenched my fists and turned around to face my mother. "I saw Mina looking at pictures she wasn't suppose to see. I took it away from her but she wanted it back." I replied as calmly as I could.

"No I didn't! She did it! I saw her, I really did mommy!" Mina argued.

Mom rubbed her forehead trying to clear out things, she walked closer to me and I could smell her sour breath.

"Tell me the truth Coral, did you do it?" She asked.

I stared wide-eyed at mom. She couldn't honestly believe Mina, could she?

"You believe her? But I didn't do it, I swear!" I protested.

Mom just shook her head, "Enough garbage, go wash the dishessss."

Mom turned around and left while I stared blankly as she leaved. That was it? Wash the dishes? She used to give me worse punishments before, but maybe she was too drunk to care.

I turned around to look at my sister; she stared at me quietly.

"Why did you do that Mina? Why'd you blame me for it?" I asked.

"All you do is wash dishes," she replied.

I shook my head at her, "It doesn't matter how I get punished, the point is why did you lie?"

She stared at the floor and didn't say anything.

"Answer me Mina! Why?" I insisted.

"I don't know." She mumbled.

I snarled, "Next time you better not blame me for what you do!" I turned around and left.

"Idiot." I muttered under my breath. I entered the kitchen to go and wash dishes when I noticed there weren't any to clean.

"Hm, strange." I replied. Mom had probably forgotten she had already cleaned the dishes.

I decided to just go to bed and sleep. I looked at the grandfather clock in the living room and saw that it was eight o' clock. Still too early, but who cares.

I went back to my room and lay on my bed pulling the covers over me. I stared at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come, but it took a while. I kept on thinking why my sister would lie like that.

I remembered the look on her face as she stared at those pictures in awe. I thought maybe because the mermaids' chests were showing, but for some reason, I don't think it was that. Maybe she seemed fascinated by those mermaids. Her expression was something no one can tell.

And there was something else… remembrance? I don't know, but she had such a strange expression, who knows what she was thinking about.

I started to get drowsy soon and eventually I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I fell asleep.

I dreamed another nightmare, but this time my father was in it.

I was on a boat, my father's boat. I was crying hard and the boat was out in the middle of the ocean, far from land. And I kept on riding my boat farther away wanting to get away from everything. I watched my nightmare as if I was staring at a TV.

I saw myself screaming and keep on saying, "Why did she die?" Or "Why did she do it!"

The clouds overhead turned dark, the wind grew cold, and the waves rocked hard on the boat. Soon it started to rain eventually becoming a storm.

The boats engine died away, probably lost fuel. I saw myself panic and look through the boat trying to find a paddle. There were none, I was about to cry out in defeat when I saw something in the water. No matter how dark the water was, I still could see something glow in the water.

I walked to the side of the boat and stared down. I squinted trying to see what was causing the water to glow.

The waves hit harder on the boat and I nearly lost my balance. My hair was soaking wet along with my clothes from the rain. But my gaze did not leave the water.

I noticed the glow had faded a little causing a form to appear. I gasped and realized who it was; I was staring right at my father!

"Daddy! Daddy it's me, Coral!" I screamed. I saw myself smile with excitement, but soon the waves grew angrier. The boat nearly flipped over and I screamed. I lost my balance once more, but this time I fell into the water.

I was frantically trying to make it back to the surface, but the waves kept on pushing me under. My arms wailed and the water grew hot. Soon it started to boil causing my skin to turn beat red, my insides were screaming out; I was losing air fast. My heart was slowing its pounding.

I heard a voice in my head and it sent me chills. Come, it said, Come to where you belong. It kept on repeating itself over and over again.

Come.

My lungs screamed for air, my vision was turning dark and I saw red dots before my eyes. But I wasn't going to give up. I continued to make my way to the surface using all my will, but instead I somehow was pulled deeper. I was getting tired and I soon realized I wasn't going to make it, I was in the water too deep and the pressure of the seemed to be squeezing me tight.

I let the darkness overcome me, but not before I saw the delight as I glimpsed a pair of cold black eyes staring at me.

I screamed as I woke up from my nightmare. I continued to scream until my sister started to shake me on the shoulders.

"Coral! Coral stop it! It's just a dream!" My sister yelled.

I stopped screaming and shot up in bed, I was breathing hard and sweat trickled down my forehead.

"Coral what happened, are you okay?" My sister asked.

I looked at her, my vision was a little fuzzy and it soon cleared.

"Coral?" Mina said.

"It's nothing Mina, just a nightmare." I closed my eyes trying to calm myself down.

"Oh I've had those before." My sister turned around and left the room continuing what she was doing before as if it wasn't important if I had a nightmare or not.

I looked out the window and realized it was already morning. The sun was up and the day looked great as ever.

I sighed, the dream felt so real, again. I started to realize it was the same dream I had before. Except, there was more to it. Like my father for one and me on the boat. Then I remembered something else; the pair of black eyes staring at me watching me drown. I could still see the delight across its eyes. It seemed so familiar; I think I had seen it before.

I shivered, the room wasn't cold but the thought was frightening. Could my dream mean something? Was that creature I had seen earlier before dangerous? It did try to drown my sister after all.

I sighed and got up from bed to look for what I had to dress. I looked through the drawer and decided to wear a green shirt with blue shorts.

I headed to the bathroom to the take a shower but found it occupied. My sister was singing a song I had never heard of, and I heard the sound of water running from the shower.

I groaned, my sister would take forever! I decided to just dress and then take a shower some time later.

I went back to my room and put on my clothes. As I finished I decided to call Sara to see what she would think about my dream when I tell her.

I took the phone from my night table and dialed her number. It rang once, twice. The third ring her mom picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. McKinley, it's me Coral, is Sara there?" I asked.

"Oh, hold on." She replied.

I waited for a minute until Sara picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi Sara it's me."

"Hey Coral! How's it going?"

"Fine, sort of." I said.

I heard Sara sigh, "It must be hard what happened to your dad, I know I would go crazy if—"

"It's okay Sara, I don't want to talk about that now."

"Oh, okay."

"Listen I called because I wanted to tell you about a dream I've been having."

"A dream? Why?" She asked.

"Well I know I should have told you before, but I keep on seeing this thing. Almost every time I go to the beach I see these black eyes staring at me and—"

"Oh it's probably just some fish Coral, you know how they have black eyes." Sara stated.

"No it's not a fish! Well, half actually—"

"What? Half? You're kidding right? We're not talking about mermaids are we?"

"Merman actually." I replied.

I heard Sara laugh, "Are you sure? It's probably your imagination, mermaids—or merman's whatever—don't exist! Their fairy tales and a myth."

"But I saw it! Really I did! He almost drowned my sister! He has a black tail and these scary looking black eyes."

I heard her sigh, "Coral, it's not real okay? It's your imagination, I would've believed you if I was five since I used to pretend to be one, but not anymore."

"So then what did drown my sister?" I asked.

"Probably caught herself on some seaweed's, that's it! Look I'm sorry for not believing you but it's just not true."

"But I keep on seeing him when I'm drowning! Well, in my dreams though—"

"See? You see him in you dreams. Not in real life."

I didn't reply, but I clenched my teeth. My own best friend doesn't believe me!

"I'm not asking you to believe me, I'm only telling the truth," I said through gritted teeth.

"Look I'm sorry, I really am. But maybe we could go to the beach or something and have a little swim you know?"

I slammed the phone down hard. I didn't want to talk to her, or see her. I was telling the truth! I could've sworn I saw that thing! And my dreams do mean something.

But what if it was all my imagination? What if I imagined seeing that thing drown my sister? And the dream was just part of my imagination?

But I couldn't believe it, I couldn't! I wasn't seeing things!

I know I haven't put down the part where Coral goes to find the mystery of how her dad died. But don't worry! I'll probably put that mystery in the next chapter.