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Rumi hadn’t always feared the ocean. But she didn’t know this. All she remembered were vast valleys of blue that could claim you at any moment. Her mothers knew, though, that there was once a time that their precious girl was not so afraid. They were also aware of the day that all changed.
The trio set their belongings down on the warm sand, blue skies meeting the deeper hue of the water. Celine lays a blanket down, weighing it down with their bags so it doesn’t blow away in the wind. All the while, Miyeong helps a five year old Rumi apply her sunscreen. The young girl runs her hands through the grains of sand, giggles erupting from her wide smile. Rumi loved going to the beach with her moms. Those days were her favourite.
The moment Miyeong is finished with the sunscreen, Rumi slips off her shoes and jumps to her feet, energy radiating from every inch of her lithe frame, unable to stay still for a moment longer. “Can I go play in the sea now please?” Rumi looks towards the sound of ocean waves crashing against the shore, still smiling when she turns back to her moms.
Celine looks up, already seated on the blanket she placed, eyes soft. “Of course, ma petite étoile.” She quickly takes her daughter’s hands in her own before she can run off. “Just remember, don’t go too deep. And stay where we can see you.”
“I know, maman!” Rumi runs off full of giggles, arms in the air as she makes for the waves, staying close to the shore just as Celine told her to. She turns back to her parents, giving them an eager wave which the little girl is happy to see returned before turning back to crouch down, letting her hand wade through the shallow tides.
A big wave soon crashes in, soaking the majority of Rumi’s small body and the young girl squeals, falling back onto her bum as she laughs, shouting out to no one in particular. “It’s cold!” As Rumi continues to giggle at the sea’s antics, a larger wave forms. It was special, but not the good kind of special the young girl was so used to hearing about. It consumes Rumi’s body where she sat in the shallow waters.
And takes her.
The poor girl never stood a chance. One minute, she’s playing in the shallowest of waters, in perfect view of her maman and eomma. The next, she’s surrounded by blue.
Rumi was taking swimming lessons. She knew to kick her legs and try to find the surface, but five year olds can only hold their breath for so long. And Rumi is still underwater. Her big breath is nothing more than a mouthful of salty liquid filling her lungs.
She panics.
Her little limbs flail, kicking and swinging in all directions with all the desperation she has. But nothing helps. All Rumi wants to do is get back to her moms. She needed her maman to read her another story. Needed her eomma to lift her in her arms and play with her until the sun set. Where were they?!
It’s then that something grabs her by the wrist. A girl. A fish? She looked like a girl Rumi’s age. With long pink hair that flowed gracefully behind her in the open water, lime green eyes filled with worry. Her irises were slits, not circles like Rumi’s own. And her hands were webbed. Rumi, if thinking clearly and not panicking, would’ve said they reminded her of duck’s feet.
And she had no legs. Instead, a beautiful tail covered in scales that faded from a colour similar to the girl’s hair at her hips, to a much lighter pink by her fins.
The fish girl, a mermaid Rumi thinks, forms a small circle with her lips as the purple haired human continues to flail and panic. She blows, and a single bubble forms, travelling in Rumi’s direction. And when it pops right at her lips? She can breathe. The little girl takes one big, gasping breath before she begins to cough.
It hurts, her throat burns, so do her eyes as tears begin to fall, but the sea hides it well. Her eyes widen as she realises she’s breathing, but not on land. The young mermaid seems shocked it worked, too.
Holding onto Rumi’s wrist, the agile little mermaid pulls Rumi up to the surface, quickly vanishing out of sight as soon as the human girl was safe, beneath the safety of the ocean blue.
Rumi manages to pull herself up onto a small rock, her pale face void of expression. Too many emotions ran through her at once, too much to process. Panic. Fear. Relief. Curiosity. It only took one word for a single emotion to overpower the rest.
“Rumi!”
Miyeong rushes over the moment she spots a familiar purple swim suit by the rocks, lifting her daughter into her arms refusing to let her go. Celine was right on her tail, by her wife’s side a second later. The panic was visible in both of their eyes. “She’s okay?”
Miyeong nods in reply, not having seen any visible injuries on the little girl. “You made us so worried, aegi. Please don’t ever do that again.” Her voice was soft, relief flooding through her that Rumi was okay, she wasn’t missing.
That broke Rumi. Fear overtook her as she wraps her arms tightly around her eomma and sobs, wailing into Miyeong’s shoulder. The sheer power in her cries had the young girl coughing once more, struggling to get her words out. “I- I want… I wanna go home! No beach! Eo-eomma~!”
Both women’s hearts break simultaneously. Never had their little girl been so distressed, so fearful about anything. Miyeong runs a hand through wet locks, placing a gentle kiss to her daughter’s temple as they walk back towards their things. “Okay, we’ll leave now, darling.”
As her eomma stops walking, Rumi dares to crack just one eye open, lifting her head from where it rested in the crook of her eomma’s neck. The sand was still there. She clings on tighter, small fists grasping at the light material of her mother’s shirt. “No beach!” Rumi screeches as her tears and sobs return from their quietened state. “Eomma, no more!”
“Go.” Celine says softly, eyes fixed on her daughter, filled with concern. “I’ll pack up and meet you at the car.”
~
Rumi didn’t tell them what happened. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she was still too afraid of the memory she now had.
But they found out soon enough.
Rumi awoke in the middle of the night with a blood curdling scream no child should be able to produce. Her door was thrown open in seconds as she shot up ramrod straight from the nightmare, her mothers quickly seated either side of her on the bed as she trembled.
Rumi throws herself into Celine’s lap, clutching at her sleep shirt with cheeks already adorned in rivers of tears. “Don’t let it take me again! I don’t wanna go! Please, maman, please! I don’t want it to take me!”
Miyeong runs a gentle hand up and down her daughter’s back in an attempt to soothe her, but little seems to help Rumi calm down. “What’s trying to take you again, aegi?”
The young girl sniffles, still clinging to Celine, her sobs slowing into little cries and small streams of tears. “The sea.” She whines at the memories, dreams and reality morphing in her mind. “It dragged me again. But I stayed in the little bit of water I promise! I did, eomma, but it took me!”
Celine speaks this time. “It won’t take you bébé. We won’t let that happen.”
~
The nightmares didn’t stop. They got worse. When Rumi refused to even take a bath, her parents took her to a psychologist.
They found new places to take their daughter on days out. She refused the playground because the sandbox reminded her of the beach. And the park was off limits ever since seeing that large lake had Rumi petrified.
So they adapted. Together.
The nightmares never stopped, but they slowly became less frequent over time.
As Rumi grew, her fear of the ocean and the open water stayed with her. That memory was always vivid in her mind, regardless of how much time passed by. Well, most of the memory.
She didn’t remember the pink haired mermaid that saved her. Rumi’s mind, in all its generosity, only remembered the worst of that day.
In the present day, Rumi’s wide-eyed shock was directed at the ocean, though now in a new light than her usual. “Marine biology? You? Jinu, you’ve never been into that.”
Her best friend shrugs, eyes gleaming with mischief. “I’m interested in those rumors, though.”
They’d been friends since childhood. Rumi was glad she had him. Jinu never questioned her sudden fear of the ocean all those years ago, when everyone else called her weird and hurled insults. Jinu thought Rumi could be weird, sure. But never for that.
“Rumors?”
Jinu smiles, nodding once. “Apparently Morewood University has a creature there that shouldn’t even exist. Marine biology students get to study it. I simply plan on seeing if the rumors are true.”
Rumi rolls her eyes. Of course he would pick a course based on something as baseless as a rumor.
“What did you choose?”
“Nursing.” Rumi replies. “Like-”
“Like your mom. You’re so predictable.” Rumi shoves him with her shoulder, smiling nonetheless.
She hums, eyes wandering at the shops surrounding them. “You’ll have to tell me if the rumors are true. If it’s real, I wanna know what it is, too.”
Jinu raises his brows as they walk, his tone playful. Teasing. “You, little miss scared of the ocean, wants to know about the mysterious sea creature now?”
“Shut up.” Rumi mumbles. “I can be scared and curious at the same time, you know?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jinu drawls, but he’s still smiling. “But I promise. If it’s real, I’ll tell you what it is.”
Rumi nods once. “Thank you. That’s all I ask.”
The conversation ends as they open the door to the cafe, the strong aroma of coffee beans filling their senses as the machine steams, and idle chatter settles around them. They order their usual, an americano and caramel latte, this time accompanied by a cake slice thanks to Jinu’s insistence.
They find a table and sit, Jinu immediately reaching for something in his bag the moment he hits the wooden chair. He pulls out a small wrapped box, holding it out towards his friend. “Happy early birthday. Since you’ll be with your parents tomorrow.”
Rumi takes it, a small smile on her face as she looks at the small box now in her possession. “Thank you, Ji. You didn’t have to get me anything.”
He tuts. “Of course I did. I’m your only friend.” Rumi shoots him a look, eyes narrowed at the remark. He repays it with an unbothered smile as Rumi unwraps the box. As she lifts the lid, her eyes soften.
A new charm for her bracelet; a little 2D silver cat posed like its walking. She immediately takes off her bracelet, adding the new charm to her growing collection, placing it beside the cubed silver present charm her eomma bought her last year. “Thank you. I love it.”
It was the next day, on her eighteenth, when things began to change.
The meal with her moms was lovely. That wasn’t the issue. It was what happened that evening that was different.
The whispers.
And it wasn’t Celine, nor was it Miyeong. Rumi knew their voices like the back of her hand. No one else was around. But still, she heard it.
“Rumi… come and play. Rumi…”
No matter how much Rumi tried, she couldn’t drown it out. Not with three pillows over her head, not with her hands covering her ears. It was in her head. It torments her until exhaustion wins and she passes out into a peaceful sleep. In comparison to the last few hours, at least.
The whispers faded for a while. At least until she had to travel anywhere. Even if Rumi couldn’t see the coast as she drove, the whispers would return.
“Rumi… We’re waiting for you…”
And if Rumi wasn’t near the coast? Silence. At least until the next full moon since her birthday appeared. Things changed again then.
It was like the sea was within her, trying to claw its way out. Pull Rumi closer. That scared Rumi more than whispers ever could.
The very thing she feared, the thing that tried to take her life all those years ago, was begging her to return.
She refuses to leave her room, clutching the covers of her bed tight between white knuckles until her grip loosens with sleep. But sleeping was a mistake. Her unconscious mind listens to the pull. To the whispers. All of it.
Rumi leaves her room, feet dragging as an unknown force guides her out of her dorm building and away from campus.
“Rumi?”
There’s no reply. The sleeping girl simply continues on her path. Jinu turns to his friends, concerned. “I’ll, uh, catch up with you guys tomorrow.” He turns on his heel to catch up to Rumi, that girl walked with some speed even in sleep.
With a grunt, Jinu lifts the dead weight of Rumi, slinging the sleeping girl over his shoulder, finishing his walk back to his dorm. The moment they make it back and Rumi is set down on the bed, she tries to leave once more. Jinu doesn’t let her.
When Rumi wakes the next morning, it isn’t to familiar walls lined with family photos. Instead, she’s greeted with a blank canvas of white. She blinks once. Twice. Sitting up, confused, until she spots a familiar face.
“Tell me you’re awake this time.” Jinu begs. “Please, for the love of God-”
“Jinu,” Rumi rubs her eyes, still not awake enough for whatever he was saying. “What?”
Jinu turns to face her, leaning against his dresser, arms folded across his chest. “I found you just off campus last night. Sleepwalking. Wherever you were going, you were determined. I was ready to barricade the door to keep you inside.”
While Jinu chuckles to himself at his last remark, Rumi freezes. Okay. So it was already serious. Already inescapable. The only question she had was why? Why did it call to her so strongly? Why did part of her want to go, despite everything? Why-
“... Rumi?”
Rumi shakes her head, plastering a thin, anxious smile on her face. “Sorry.”
Jinu studies her, sees the anxiety written across her features. The genuine concern at what she had done that night. He knows without it being said. It meant something. “You wanna talk about what that was?”
Rumi sighs, almost laughs. Almost. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
“I chose my major based on a rumor.” He deadpans. “Try me.”
Rumi does laugh this time. A breathy little thing that escapes before she could even attempt to stop it. Then she nods. Serious. “So, I’ve been having these… feelings. It’s like- I don’t know how to explain it.” She pauses, trying to gather her thoughts.
Rumi inhales, lets the breath out slow. Then continues. “You know I’m afraid of water, yeah? Like the ocean.” Jinu nods. “Well, I’ve been feeling this ache, I guess? In my chest. Like the ocean is calling me and it-” her voice lowers, barely audible. “It whispers to me. Sometimes.”
Silence fills the room as the confession settles. But Jinu doesn’t judge. He never did. No matter how wild it may sound. “Do you think it’s linked?” Rumi stares. Confused, trying to find the missing piece her best friend seems to have. “To the accident, I mean.”
“Linked how?”
Jinu shrugs. “I dunno. Just trying to think of an explanation.”
Rumi hums, legs folded criss-cross on the bed, watching as Jinu gets ready for class. “Hey, do you mind if I stay here today? I don’t really feel like dealing with… normalcy. I guess.”
Jinu nods, sympathetic. His eyes carry a gentleness laced with understanding something he couldn’t comprehend. “Yeah, of course.” A playful smirk emerges. “Just try not to go for any naps while I’m gone.”
Rumi rolls her eyes, laughing quietly as she leans back against the blank wall. “I’ll be fine, doofus. Go to class.” Jinu smiles, eyes giving a final check that she really is okay, before heading out for the morning.
~~~
When Jinu gets back, he all but bursts through the door, panting as though he had run the entire way back from the classroom door. The force of the door slamming open with a thump startles Rumi from her mindless scrolling, phone clattering to the floor as she jumps. “Jeez!”
“It’s true! It’s all fucking true!”
Rumi shakes her head, heart and mind still racing from the dramatic entrance. Confusion paints her features. “What?”
“The rumors!” The smile on Jinu’s face is wider than any Rumi had ever seen. “Unless there was a mass hallucination back there I’m telling you-” He pauses, the disbelief still rolling through his own mind at the memories. “I can’t believe it… Rumi, there’s a whole ass mermaid just chilling in a water tank on campus. A fucking mermaid.”
Rumi narrows her eyes, studying his expression. Jinu didn’t exactly have a reason to lie, but it could still just be something he said to try and cheer her up after that morning. “You’re lying.”
Jinu sets his bag down by the door, walking over to sit beside his friend, voice calmer, but serious. “Rumi, I swear it’s the truth. Go check for yourself if you don’t believe me. Through the door at the back of the classroom.”
Rumi stands, arms folded over her chest. If this was true, she was determined to solidify the statement with proof of her own. “Maybe I will.”
Jinu’s eyes go wide as Rumi begins to walk for the door, jumping back to his feet in shock. “Wh- Right now?!”
Rumi rolls her eyes to herself, pulling the door open with a quiet sigh. “No, not right now. Jinu, I’m obviously gonna wait until the professors have probably all left. I’m curious, not stupid.” She shoots him a smirk, halfway out the door when she calls back, one hand up in the air as a goodbye. “I’ll let you know if your whole class is crazy!”
~
Her steps were silent as she walked, quietly taking the same route she would to meet Jinu after class. Only this time, her intentions technically involved breaking and entering. Rumi tried not to think about that part too much.
She checks her surroundings once. Twice. With no one there, the door luckily open, she swiftly enters the room. She moves quickly in the direction of the second door, away from the glass panes that could give her away to anyone passing by. She stops, holds her breath.
Her hand hovers just above the handle, staring at the solid wood as if she could see through it. Through the door that held the key to rumors and secrets.
One deep breath in. Breathe it out.
She tries the handle. Locked.
That made sense, if Jinu was telling the truth. Rumi pulls a small hairpin that held back her loose whisps of hair, bending it just the right way. She had locked herself out of the house enough times to be able to pick a lock quick enough.
She jiggles the pin this way and that, until she hears a click. Bingo. Slowly, she pushes the door open.
The room was huge, maybe an old classroom no longer used. Forgotten. And there, at the very back, sat a huge tank. It spanned from wall to wall, filling the back wall with glass and water. To the right was a platform atop of the tank, casting dark shadows on the clear water beneath. Stairs ascended on the same side, providing a way up to said platform.
Rumi approaches slowly, eyes focus on the unmoving water, where the stillness made it simply look like a big pane of glass rather than a body of water.
“You are new.”
Rumi startles, body tensing up as her eyes grow wide finding the source of the voice. There, now sat on the platform that was vacant when she first arrived, sat a human. A human with a tail. A mermaid. Of every thought, everything Rumi could’ve said, she settles on, “You speak English?”
The mermaid nods once, eyes holding a hint of sadness. “I am here long enough to collect some phrases.”
Rumi casts her eyes down, hands joined in front of herself. A guilt that was not her own washing over her. “I’m sorry. That they keep you here, I mean. It isn’t right.” Rumi wasn’t sure why she didn’t feel more shocked, or even afraid. But there was a sense of familiarity there, in an unfamiliar, unexplainable way.
The mermaid felt it too. She could tell this human had been around others before, though long ago. There was a scent. A tell. Rumi’s was faint, but it was still there. This one felt trustworthy, unlike the others who studied her. And so, she finds herself asking, “Do you have a name?”
Rumi chuckles softly, a smile on her face. She felt completely at ease despite this girl’s home being something she feared. Felt safe in the room despite the amount of water present. “I do. Rumi. What about you?”
“Zoey.” Came the reply. Rumi hums in acknowledgment.
“Why are you here?” Zoey’s words were blunt, but held no ill intention behind them.
Rumi shrugs. “I’m not sure. My friend takes this class and told me you were here but…” Her words trail off. A light bulb goes off in her mind with a single thought. Maybe, just maybe, Zoey knew what was going on with her. “Maybe you could help me with something?”
Zoey’s eyes widen, one webbed hand turning to motion at herself. “Me?”
Rumi nods once. “Yes. Um. When I was young I almost drowned and I’ve been afraid of the ocean ever since, but… I’ve been hearing whispers. Like something is calling me there. To the ocean. There’s an ache in my chest telling me to just… go.”
“Oh.” The sound was quiet, hardly loud enough to reach Rumi from where she stood below. Then, louder, more direct. “You might want to come up here. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen.”
Rumi hesitates, fingers twitching at her sides. Then again, if anyone could stop something happening to her in the water, surely it’s a mermaid. Rumi walks towards the steps slowly, climbing with her hand tightly gripping the safety rail. She reaches the top unharmed, sitting cross legged a few inches back from the platform's edge.
Zoey stays right ahead, arms resting on the dry platform, shifting until her bottom half is submerged beneath the calm tank water.
“So,” The mermaid starts. “When you almost drowned, do you remember who saved you?” Rumi shakes her head. Zoey nods. “I think, it was someone like me.”
Rumi’s eyes snap down to meet Zoey’s in an instant. “A mermaid?”
“If you don’t remember, isn’t it possible?”
And so Rumi thinks about it. Hard. She didn’t see her mothers again until she was out of the water. It wasn’t them. She was missing something, and Zoey might have found the key to unlock it.
Rumi’s eyes lower to the water distorted green and blue hues of Zoey’s tail fin and tries to remember that which has been forgotten, blocked out by her mind. Her eyes remain fixed, focused. Until something clicks. The lack of a struggle. At least for a moment. “I could breathe. I think. Under water.”
Zoey’s eyes briefly widen, by millimetres, as the revelation sinks in. She pulls herself up onto the platform. The gills lining her ribs close, breathing through her nose as she looks at Rumi. “You won’t like what I have to say.”
The purple haired human gulps, pulling her knees in, hugging them close to her chest.
“The call won’t go away. If you don’t go to the ocean, you’ll get sick. You can’t avoid this. I’m sorry.”
Rumi’s breathing practically ceases with each word spoken. Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out. The ocean wanted her. For real this time. No one could save her like all those years ago. It wanted her again. Because a mermaid saved her.
She clears her throat, her voice still sounds small. Timid. Afraid. “What kind of ‘sick’?”
Zoey shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before. But we’re always told what giving our breath means for humans.”
“Giving your breath?”
Zoey nods. “It’s how you could breathe under water. We can gift your our breath.”
“And that’s why I’m drawn to the ocean?”
Zoey nods. Silence follows. Zoey looks to Rumi, to the tank she had been confined to, slipping effortlessly back into the water. “Do you want to try and come in? You’ll be called to the ocean soon, but I can keep you safe here.”
Rumi stiffens, grip around her legs now tighter. But it wasn’t from the offer, not fully. Just at the reality of her life. That this was the second mermaid she had met, even if she didn’t remember the first. That she was fated to return to the very ocean that had already tried to claim her once before.
Reluctantly, she nods. She shuffles further back, away from the edge, before standing. Rumi slowly removes her top, jeans following soon after. Her eyes find Zoey’s. “You promise you’ll stay by my side the whole time?”
Zoey nods, her eyes expressing how serious she was about keeping this human safe. “I won’t leave. I promise.”
Rumi sits back down, chewing her lip nervously, slowly shuffling towards the edge of the platform. Cautiously, she lowers her legs, her feet and calves slowly becoming submerged in the water. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and whispers. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
As slowly as she can manage, Rumi lowers herself into the water. Her eyes widen in fear as water splashes her face, arms ready to start thrashing, but Zoey is right behind her, holding her steady. “I have you. You’re okay.”
And eventually, despite being in the worst place, her mind was at ease with where she was. Even in the water, her body responded to the call, not her fears. Her body, her heart rate, remained calm.
Rumi manages to whisper. “I think I’m okay. Please don’t let go, though.”
Zoey smiles. “I won’t.”
~~~
When the next full moon hit, Rumi felt it. Her chest was tight. The whispers were no longer whispers. They shouted, begged. They took over every corner of her mind. Her body shook with the force of it all. But she goes against it.
Not completely. She wasn’t strong enough. No one was. But just for a moment, she could force herself through.
She fights against her own body and mind, grunting with every step she took towards that room. Towards Zoey. She fights until the moment she all but falls through the door, landing on her hands and knees with a thud, panting.
“Rumi?”
“Please…” She begs. Breathless. “It wants me. I can’t- can’t go alone. Please, tell me you can survive a car ride for, for twenty minutes.”
Zoey does survive the drive. A miracle they both did with the way Rumi was sweating, fighting voices and pulls when roads guided her away in order to bring her closer.
She parks up in the parking lot above the beach that started it all, slinging a bag over her shoulder and carrying Zoey bridal style down the beach right beside the wooden pillars of the pier.
She sets Zoey down, Rumi’s full body shaking. She could hear it so clearly now, being so close. She could feel it. The urge to just jump in, run straight into the open waters. She quickly searches through her bag, retrieving a pair of handcuffs.
She cuffs herself to the fence post. Looking up at Zoey, her eyes plead with the mermaid sat in the sand. She holds out the key to the cuffs. “Find who saved me. Please. I have to say thank you, before whatever is going to happen.”
Zoey takes the key, nodding once. She crawls forwards towards the ocean until the waves swallow her whole. Which left Rumi alone, struggling against the oceans call, tugging at the cuffs that dug into her skin as her body urged her forwards.
Rumi waits for hours. Sweat falling in small streams down her forehead, across her cheeks from the effort of restraining herself against the call. The cuffs left angry red marks from her futile attempts to move closer to the waves. Tears stung her eyes from the mix of fear and desire she held for the ocean.
Then Zoey returns with a pink haired companion.
Rumi gasps quietly, her eyes fixed on pink as the two approach, shuffling towards her across the sand. “That’s her?” Her voice is rough, tired.
Zoey nods. “Her name is Mira.”
Said mermaid stares back at Rumi in equal astonishment, speaking in a language Rumi couldn’t understand. “Tu esar vise… Ve tu livar brai?”
“She’s glad you survived.” Zoey offers. “And you lived a good life?”
All Rumi can do in response is nod. Her eyes fixed on mesmerising pink and the language that fell so effortlessly from her. It flowed from Mira like a song.
Rumi’s cuffed hand jerks forward, another attempt to break free. Her time was limited. She closes her eyes, lips pursed from the pain where the metal dug into her skin. With a slight waver in her voice, she turns to Zoey. “How do I say thank you? I want to th-thank her. For saving me.”
“Palack.”
“Palack, Mira.” Rumi echoes. And the pinkette bows her head in reply. Mira turns to Zoey, more of that beautiful language spoken to the mermaid once held captive.
Zoey nods, holding the key out in front of herself. “Are you ready? We'll both be right here. Mira didn’t know what she was doing, back then. Whatever happens, she wants to help you too.”
Rumi looks out to the waters that once tried to claim her life, finally back to claim its prize. She shifts her gaze to look between raven and pink, then nods. “Whatever happens, thank you. Both of you. For everything.” She takes her phone from the bag she had placed beside her, sending Jinu a pre-written text.
The phone falls back into her bag. Zoey unlocks the cuffs. Together, they head towards the ocean.
{Ru 19:03}
Jinu, sorry I’m telling you this through text, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. It would’ve made it too real. It turns out, all those years ago at the beach, a mermaid saved me. She was my age. She didn’t know helping me would damn me to one day return.
If I don’t go to the ocean, I’ll get sick. How ironic, that I’m destined for the place I fear. If you’re reading this, it means I’m gone. Tell eomma and maman I love them. And if I somehow survive, and I now live in the ocean, please bring them to me. Let me see them until time says ‘no more’.
I love you all. I hope I see you again.
-Rumi