Chapter 17 The mermaid and the boy
Author's note; Summery: Annie and the others deal with the aftermath of Ava's downfall; In character's past, a human boy sees mermaids.
Portland Oregon, 1982
"Wow dad," said a young boy. "Are there really mermaids in the sea?"
"Of course, George," said his father. "They're many legends about the sea. There are lots of people who've claimed they've seen them."
Arty Clemons was a fisherman at the harbour. He was interested in myths and legends of the sea and loved to tell stories about them.
"I hope I'll see them one day" sighed George. George was seven years old, and like all kids his age, he was imaginative and believed in legends. He would come to work often with his father.
"Come on," Arty chuckled. "Let's get on board."
…
The day after defeating Ava, Annie went to school feeling confident that her life would go back to normal without having to fight anymore supernatural beings.
For the whole morning everything went by well for Annie. That afternoon in the cafeteria the other girls noticed Annie so cheerful.
"You're looking so happy today, Annie," said Toni. "What's going on?"
"Oh, um," stammered Annie. "It's just been a good day so far to me."
"I'm going to be having a sleepover on Friday," said Amelia. "You and Rachel are invited Annie."
"Thank you, Amelia," said Annie kindly.
The girls then looked over to see the drama club's table. They saw Irene bragging to the others.
"I've been going out with a boy these past few months," she boasted. "His names Sean."
"I've never seen him around here" said a girl from the drama club called Kristina Davidson.
"He doesn't go to this school," said Irene quickly. "He has a rebellious personality, but he's still very attractive and he loves to swim."
Trish and Kelsey nodded in confirmation.
"I didn't know Irene had a boyfriend," said Toni.
"He'd have to be made of gold and be attractive to get Irene" retorted Muffy.
"I can't believe any boy would go out with Irene" added Jasmine.
"Rachel and I have met him," said Annie. "He seemed nice; Irene had bit of a soft spot for him."
Annie's last class was history with her dad. When the last bell rang, Alex called out a reminder to the class that they're reports on the French revolution were due on Friday.
Annie stayed behind with a minute.
"I'm going to be here a bit late tonight, Annie," said Alex. "Will you be fine to get home on your own?"
"I will dad," said Annie smiling. "It's only five minutes away. And Amelia's having a sleepover this weekend, can I go?"
"Of course, Annie," replied Alex. He was glad to see his daughter having fun with her friends.
Trish was outside waiting for her mother; she looked across the street and saw a silver car. She had never seen that car before. Nobody was going over to it to get in. she then saw the driver get out.
She couldn't see the driver's face as it was dressed in black. She felt as though the driver was starring at her.
"Trish!" called a voice.
Trish turned to see Elaine walking up to her. She looked back to see the driver had gotten back in the car and was driving off.
"What's wrong?" asked Elaine.
"I thought I saw something" muttered Trish.
Mrs. Callahan soon arrived and they drove off and they went to pick up Cat.
Later Trish was in her room looking through a book when Elaine and Cat stepped inside.
"What's going on with you lately Trish?" asked Elaine.
"What are you talking about Elaine?" asked Trish.
"You don't do family activities with us much anymore," said Cat. "And you've been trying to avoid water. And when that man who was in the car crash a while back, you said you and your friends were hiking. Since when would Irene go hiking?"
Trish looked down with guilt, she didn't like lying to her sisters, they had a bond like most sisters do.
"Look," she sighed. "My music class is having a test on Vivaldi on Thursday, so I have to study."
"Whatever," sighed Elaine somewhat annoyed. "When your ready to talk come find me."
Elaine and Cat left the room. And Trish went back to her book about Vivaldi.
…
March 21st, 1982
It was late afternoon, when George went with Arty to the harbour. His mother was going out with friends that night so George had to go with his father for his night shift on the fishing boat.
"This is going to be so much fun," said George excitedly. "Maybe I'll see a mermaid tonight."
"Maybe son," said Arty chuckling. "But remember fishing can be more dangerous at night then at day, so be careful."
"I will dad," said George.
When the car arrived at the harbour. They climbed out and went over to the boat.
"Hey Arty" said one of the crewmen. "How you doing tonight?"
"Doing great," said Arty. "I've brought George with me tonight, my wife's gone out for the night and won't be home till super late."
"That's great" replied the crewmen.
George and Arty walked aboard the boat.
Meanwhile underneath the water, a mermaid swum into the cave of her pod.
"Asanna!" she cried. "I saw a boat heading for our territory!"
"Thank you, Courtney," said Asanna. "I will have this looked into."
"It looked like a fishing boat" Courtney added.
"Those humans are fishing in our territory," said a merman annoyedly he had albino skin and curly blond hair. "It's time we keep them off the territory."
"We can't go to the surface while the boats are there Leo," said Melora in a hard tone. "They might see us."
"The humans are a threat to the ocean," declared Leo. "Stealing the fish and harming the reefs with their boats. We should send them away."
"Last I looked Leo," said Asanna firmly. "My husband is the leader of the pod and he put me in charge while he's on patrol. If we don't attract any attention, they'll leave us alone."
Leo didn't argue with the leader of the pod, he just swum under the water and out of the cave.
He decided to take matters himself.
He grabbed his trident and swum off.
…
Irene was in her room reading a magazine. She had been talking to Trish about the incident with the driver of the car at school and Irene admitted that for the past couple days she thought she'd seen the same car near her house too.
"Irene!" called Lydia. "Come downstairs please."
Irene set down her magazine and walked downstairs. When she got to the kitchen, she saw Lydia talking to a lady she'd never seen before. She was a middle-aged Asian woman, she wore a crimson wrap-around top, black skinny jeans and leather jacket and a teal Asian scarf.
"This is Yuria," said Lydia. "She's George Clemmons's girlfriend. You remember the man from the car accident."
She turned to face Yuria.
"It's nice to finally meet you," said Lydia. "Vivian's been telling me about you."
"It's nice to meet you too," chuckled Yuria. "And your daughter is so beautiful."
"Thank you" replied Lydia proudly.
"Annie's mentioned me to you too," said Irene awkwardly. "We go to school together we're frenemies."
Irene went to the tv and watched the wedding date while her mother talked.
"I have a welcoming present for you," said Lydia. She handed a bag to Yuria. "Some natural oils from one of my stores. I'm in the all-natural business and a lot of my products are homemade recipes."
"I'm sure they're very lovely," said Yuria kindly. "Tell me Lydia, does Irene have any hobbies?"
"She's president of the drama club at school," replied Lydia. "She dreams of being a model or an actress one day."
"Does your daughter like to swim?" asked Yuria curiously. "I mean I couldn't help but noticed you have a pool outside."
"My daughter has had pool parties a lot in the warmer seasons," admitted Lydia. "Not so much these days."
"You must love the ocean if you're living in costal towns" said Yuria humorously.
"We have lived in a lot of costal towns over the years," replied Lydia admittingly. "My late husband was a cook; he owned his own restaurant. He died when Irene was young."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Yuria sympathetically.
"Thank you," replied Lydia appreciatively. "Would you like to join us for dinner Lydia?"
"It'd be my pleasure Lydia, but I do have to run," said Yuria picking up the bag. "It was nice to meet you."
And with that Yuria left the house.
…
On Friday, Annie and Rachel walked over to Amelia's house for the sleepover. Amelia's house was at the end of the street from Annie's house. Annie wore pink and blue pajamas, and Rachel wore lavender pajamas with red polka dots.
They walked up the walkway and knocked on the door. Amelia opened the door wearing a white night dress.
"Hi guys," she said excitedly. "Come in."
Muffy, Jasmine and Toni were already there in their night clothes listening to music in the living room.
Annie and Rachel stepped inside and said hello.
The girls spent the evening watching tv, Amelia had the second season of Glee on DVD. They watched a couple episodes and then ordered pizza. The pizza man brought two large pizzas. One had pepperoni and the other had mushrooms, peppers and bacon.
"You know," said Annie as she ate a slice. "I overheard Irene and Trish saying they feel like they're being stalked."
"What do you mean?" asked Toni.
"Trish mentioned that she's seen this car these past few days and feels like the driver is watching her," explained Annie. "Irene mentioned she's seen the car too at night parked in front of her house. And her mother said she found foot prints in the garden. I've haven't told my dad or Vivian yet, but I think I've been stalked too."
"You have?" asked Jasmine sounding surprised.
"I've been feeling uncomfortable in public lately," said Annie gravely. "Like someone is watching me."
"Now that you mention it," Rachel jumped in. "I've felt like that too at times, and I have noticed footprints in my family's garden too."
"Like spooky much" said Muffy disgustedly.
"It's okay," said Annie trying to sound reassuring. "It's nothing we can't handle."
The girls watched a couple more episodes of Glee, it was getting dark. The other girls were talking, Annie looked out the window and saw a car parked in front of the house.
"Hey Rachel," whispered Annie. "Look."
Rachel got up and looked out the window with Annie.
"What's wrong?" asked Amelia.
"I thought I saw something," said Annie.
The other girls got up and looked out the window.
"Amelia," asked Annie. "Do you know if any of the neighbors have that silver car?"
The blond girl shook her head.
"Why?" she asked.
"Well it looks like the car Trish mentioned she saw" said Annie.
"It followed us" muttered Rachel.
"Why would it do that?" asked Toni.
"Come on Rachel," said Annie. "Let's check it out. The rest of you stay here, we'll be right back."
Annie and Rachel put on their coats and headed out the door.
"Be careful!" called Muffy.
…
The boat sailed through the calm ocean night. The moon stars were sparkling in the sky. George watched the sky excitedly while his dad and the others worked.
Nobody noticed Leo surfacing with his trident.
He held up the trident. Bolts of lightning shot up at the sky. Dark clouds started appearing in the sky, thunder rolled in. One of the crewmen looked up at the sky.
"It looks like we're in for a storm" he called.
George looked up to see big drops starting to pour down.
"Go inside George," said Arty. "It'll be safer for you."
"Yes dad," said George obediently and he went inside. Lightning flashed the sky and the waves were big! The boat rocked, George was in the cabin huddled in a corner. He heard the engine banging. Curiously, George got up and went downstairs to the bottom deck to investigate.
In the engine room, he saw sparks flying and the floor was flooding. In the dark he could see a man in the room. The man looked very attractive and although it was dark, George could see he had a blue fish tail!
A mermaid! He thought to himself.
Before he could take a step forward, he heard a voice.
"George! George!"
George turned around and saw Arty coming down the stairs behind. Arty saw the room flooding and the engine steaming and banging.
"Come on," he said worriedly. "We have to go."
But then he noticed the man in the shadows.
"Who's there?" he called.
The mermaid didn't answer.
Arty stepped into the water and walked closer to the man.
"Give me your hand," he called. "Come on."
Leo held up his trident. A blue lightning bolt blasted the engine. Flames burst; George stepped back in terror. Arty flinched, Leo swung his trident and the boat began to shake. George quickly turned to run up the stairs.
Suddenly there was a big bang and flames shot up. The boat was on fire! Workmen were scattering around in all direction, shouting and jumping overboard. The boat leaned to the side and George slid along the deck and over the side.
George kicked and splashed in the stormy water trying to stay on the surface. He grabbed on to a piece of wreckage from the boat. He saw the merman in the water raising his trident in the air unleashing lightning bolts up at the sky.
Just then a female mermaid came along and put her hand on Leo's shoulder.
"Leo!" she cried. "This has to stop!"
Leo looked over at Assana in surprise.
"Please," she begged. "There's a child!"
Leo looked over at the boy clinging onto the piece of wreckage and lowered his head in shame. He lowered his trident and the bolts stopped. The storm clouds faded away and the sky became clear again and the water calmed.
The last thing George could see before he fell unconscious was the mermaid reaching her hand out.
…
Annie and Rachel walked down the porch and across the driveway. They bravely walked up to the car. It was dark and didn't look like anyone was in it.
The two girls walked closer and Rachel peeked inside.
There was no one there.
"Rachel look!" cried Annie.
Rachel turned her head around to see a person dressed in dark clothing standing on the side of the house.
The front door opened.
"Hey!" called Amelia's voice. "Quit stalking my friends! My sister's gonna be home any minute. She's a cop!"
The stalker ran down the sidewalk. Annie and Rachel followed. The snow on the sidewalk was all slushy, so Annie held out her hand.
The slush started to turn into gelatin substance and formed on to the shoes of the stalker. The stalker struggled for a moment and jumped out it's shoes and ran into the car and drove off.
"He'll follow us anywhere" sighed Annie.
…
The next morning George woke up to see the wreckage he had clanged on to had floated up to the harbor. There on the dock were some policemen and his mother.
"Oh George," sighed Mrs. Clemons as she and an officer helped him out of the water. "Are you okay?"
"I-I think so mom," moaned George.
"Oh sweetie," she said sadly. "The officers were patrolling and your father didn't make it. They found his body in the water this morning."
Tears formed in George's eyes.
"It was the mermaid," he cried. "I saw the mermaid!"
"Kid," said an officer kindly. "It was just a bad dream."
George looked out at the sea.
I will find the mermaid that killed you father he thought to himself. I will find it someday.
…
At the inn, George and Yuria were in their room. George was sitting on the bed looking at a laptop and Yuria was grabbing her gloves.
"I'm heading out now George," she said kissing her boyfriend. "You've got the pictures?"
"I do dear," said George. "Head office is going to love these. Soon we'll find the mermaids and be promoted to new council members."
On his laptop were pictures of Annie, Irene, Rachel and Trish.
Author's note; This chapter is based of the episode of Once upon a time episode Welcome to Storybrooke. George and Yuria are based of Greg and Tamara because the characters are similar to each other.