Sea N Stars

She walked out for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was just like every other time she walked out. The water went from being ice cold on her arms, back and fin to warm and comforting on her shoulders, chest, legs and feet. She loved this part of each day. She wished she was able to come up more often but there was so much going on in her mother’s home and her queendom. Taya was responsible for keeping the young ones in line while they were learning about their developing fins. 

Taya was named for the greek goddess Triteia, a water nymph. She loved being a mermaid and wouldn’t trade it for anything but sometimes she just liked getting away from everything down below and being on her own, even if for just a short time. 

Taya walked down the white sandy beach to where she kept the fabric that the sand walkers used to cover their breasts and their lower bodies. The sand was warm beneath her small, bare feet. She loved the feel of the sand beneath her feet. She didn’t care for the fabric covering her body but she had learned that the sand walkers did not respond well, on the rare occasion that she came upon one, to her being without the coverings. She watched from a distance, the sand walkers, swimming and playing in the water. They rarely knew she watched them or that she was even there. She was far away from the hustle of the growing crowd of beach-goers but she could see that the sand walkers were having fun with each other. It didn’t seem like they had any cares in the world and it sure didn’t seem like they had to watch after each other. The smaller sand walkers, like the young ones in the queendom, they just ran and ran all over the sand; it didn’t seem like anybody was watching over them, not like she had to watch over the young ones. 

She loved those little merbabies and teaching them how to use their bigger fins but sometimes, just sometimes, she wanted to know what it would be like to be free from responsibility. The way these two-legged sand dwellers didn’t have any responsibility, or so it seemed. 

She walked farther along the hard sand, close to the water’s edge so that with each step the water tickled her toes. She was only able to walk on the sandy land just before the sun went down for the night and only until the stars first started to show in the sky. It was her favorite time of day. She waited each day for the sun to start its slow descent into the horizon and dreaded how quickly the stars made their appearance each night. The time went so quickly but she cherished every moment. 

She suddenly came across a sand walker lying in the sand, face-down. Taya bent down to check on the sand walker. It appeared that this sand walker was a girl, just like her. Taya reached out and touched the girl’s back. The girl was very cool. Taya knew that this wasn’t right. She knew that the girl should be warm from lying in the sun. Taya moved the girl’s hair away from her face so she could see her eyes. The girl’s eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly open. Taya put her face close to the girl’s face and said, “Hey!” The girl did not open her eyes or move. Taya pushed on the girl’s arm, hard. The girl still did not move. Taya shook the girl but she still didn’t move. 

Taya stood up and ran down the beach towards the crowd of sand walkers. She didn’t even think about it, she just took off running. She wasn’t sure what she should do but knew that she had to bring someone back to see the girl. Taya wasn’t sure if moving this fast would be okay, she had never ran down the beach. She had never really run anywhere. 

She came to a group of tall, sun-drenched boy sand walkers and yelled out to them, “a girl, a girl. There’s a girl sa..I mean a girl laying down and I can’t get her to wake up.” One of the boys stopped and looked at her, “are you ok?” 

“Yes, I’m ok. I’m not laying down with my face in the sand over there. It’s one of you, not me.” Taya replied excitedly.

“Ok, ok. Let’s go see.” the tall boy took off running down the beach from where Taya had come. Taya took off behind him but quickly caught up with the boy. He looked over at her and smiled as they ran toward the girl lying on the sand. 

They ran down the white sandy beach towards where Taya had left the girl lying. The boy asked her, “Where is she? Are you sure this is where you left her?”

“I’m sure. She wasn’t moving.” 

The boy walked further down the beach, Taya followed moving her head back and forth searching for the girl that she had left.

Taya caught up with the boy. 

“Well, it looks like she isn’t here anymore. Maybe she wasn’t hurt at all and was just really deeply sleeping. Maybe you woke her up and she left while you were down getting help.”

“I guess but she sure wasn’t moving when I touched her and when I shook her arm.”

The boy looked at Taya intently and noticed that she wasn’t like the other girls in town. There was something different about her, something...special.

Taya felt the boy looking at her and wondered what he was thinking. Had she done something wrong, was something about her normal self showing. She tried so hard to be like the other girls so that no one would notice that she wasn’t like them. Could he tell that she was different?

“Well, I guess I’ll go back now since no one appears to be in danger.”

“Oh, well, ok. Thank you for coming to help me even though it looks like maybe I didn’t need help after all.”

“Oh, it's no problem. I’d much rather come down and find nothing than to come down and find a big ole mess.” The boy said ironically. 

“My name’s Derrick, by the way” he said casually.

“I’m Taya” she said.

“That’s a, um, pretty name but very different,” Derrick said.

“Is it? There are several girls where I’m from with some kinda spelling of my name.” she told him shyly. 

“Really? So, where’s is this place with the pretty girls and unusual names?” Derrick asked playfully.

“Oh, it’s not too far but I’m sure you’ve never been there before. Perhaps close but never really THERE.” Taya told him. She couldn’t believe he thought she was pretty, she looked just like all the other girls.

“Hmmm, mysterious. I like that.” 

Taya smiled up at him, he smiled back.

“Well, Taya. I really do need to get back to my friends before they think something’s happened to me, too. Ya know, like your strangely missing girl.”

“Ok. Thanks again for coming to help. I really don’t know what happened to her.” Taya said to him.

“Like I said it was no problem. I hope to see you around here again, mysterious Taya!” Derrick said as he trotted back down the beach towards his friends.

Taya watched him go and realized it was getting close to dusk and time for her to head back home. She walked farther away from the place where she had first seen the girl, back towards where she keeps the fabric to cover herself when she comes out each evening. She slowly walked down the beach removing the fabric from her waist and then from her breasts, allowing it to trail behind her by her fingertips. 

She gathered the fabric together and hid it in a small box that she buried behind a large rock close to the water’s edge. Then she slowly walked into the cold warm letting the water lap over her toes and ankles. Twilight was settling on the shore as she walked far enough into the deepening water to be able to quickly sink under the surface of the water and allow the transformation to complete itself. Her fin was back but she wasn’t so much ready to be back, not tonight. Not after speaking to that boy...Derrick. He had seemed nice. And he was very cute, even if he didn’t have a fin. 

Taya floated back up to the surface of the big, salty ocean and looked down the beach to see if she could catch one more glimpse of him. Maybe she’d see him again one day when she was taking her nightly walk along the sandy shore. 

Taya lay on her back and watched as the stars began to shine. 

Thinking...hoping...wishing...