The waves soothe my aching body as I float in the cool water, the crisp salty air revitalising me. Seaweed curls itself around my long hair, gently caressing my bare shoulders. I tilt my face up towards the sun allowing its warmth to release the knots from my muscles. Tranquility floods through me, this feeling is almost worth the bitch of a day I had at work yesterday. Almost.
Deftly I flip over onto my stomach and begin to swim, determined not to let the past seep into the present. The sea, aquamarine from a distance, is translucent and I dive down towards the sand. The colourful shoal of fish beneath me, rush past like an aquatic carnival.
Surfacing I groan as I see Jenny, my boss, heading towards me. ‘Tamsin, a boat’s heading this way, we need you.’
‘Uh uh,’ I protest. ‘It’s my one day off, do you know how hard I worked yesterday?’
‘I appreciate that but,’
‘I don’t think you do,’ I interrupt. ‘There were 15 sailors on board that trawler yesterday. 15 and I drowned 6 of them alone. Have you any idea how exhausted I am?’
Without waiting for an answer I swish my tail and swim away from the chief mermaid. Nothing is going to spoil my serene Sunday.
Written for Sunday Photo Fiction, inspired by the photo prompt.
fabricating fiction 
And I thought the life of mermaid was all fun. I guess the grass is not always greener or should I say the seaweed. Great story.
Thanks Maryann, I guess sitting on the rocks brushing their hair gets kind of boring after a while!
That was a twist I didn’t see. Excellent story. Love it.
Thanks Al.
You’re welcome 🙂
You lured us onto the rocks with this one! 🙂
That’s their job 😉
Fabulous! I wasn’t expecting that at all! Mermaids – just don’t trust ’em!
Me neither!
Great story!Nice twist at the end.
Didn’t realize mermaids were evil. Neither did Walt Disney!
Tee hee – would give a few little girls nightmares.
My 4 grandnieces have all sorts of Ariel stuff — if they knew this story, I think all the mermaid stuff would leave the house, lol
It’s a hard life drowning sailors. Mermaids are so under-appreciated!
Over worked and under paid.
No sardines for her.
A criticism if I may. You tell us in the last line you are mermaids. The rule is “show, don’t tell”. Your reader can deduce from the first two paras that you are mermaids. If they don’t, let them puzzle.
Hope this doesn’t spoil your “serene Sunday”.
Thanks Patrick. Always appreciative of constructive advice. I did wonder on this point. Being reading up on show don’t tell articles. Thanks.
I see where Patrick is coming from, though I didn’t until he pointed it out. You could have omitted “from the chief mermaid” and the reader would still have known your character was a mermaid. But unlike him, I didn’t know until the end that she was anything other than an ordinary woman.
Great story! 🙂
Thanks for the comment.