Currently Unnamed Mermaid story: Chapter 1

Ok this is something I have been working on at the moment, just wondered what you guys think of it. Please read and review. If you do I will post more chapters
kthanxbai

Chapter 1

‘Oh come on! Now is not the time to join the mile high club,’ Zoe thought angrily, ’I’ve got to pee.’

Rocking back and forth from the balls of her feet to her toes and back again, Zoe Lawinsky stared up at the light indicating wether the toilets were engaged or not. They were. And had been for the last three years it seemed. Looking over her shoulder she wondered wether she could scramble over the seats or the food trolley that was preventing her from using the toilets at the back of the plane. They weren’t engaged.

‘Maybe they’re smoking in there. Heck maybe they have done it and are now smoking in there,’ she thought to herself.

In all fairness she hadn’t seen two people enter the toilets. Actually she hadn’t seen who the culprit that was now clogging the toilets and she would kill when he emerged was. It would be a he, of course it would. Women are so much more considerate than that. Unless it was that blonde air hostess with the bog boobs. In which case she would have a bit longer as she would have to reapply her make-up before showing her face again.

So lets see. Do your thing would equal, ooh I dunno ten minutes. Maybe. Have a smoke, perhaps another five. Reapply makeup and arrange nonchalant expressions on faces, another ten maybe fifteen minutes. Exchange phone numbers that will be found by respective partners, another two minutes. So by Zoe’s calculations they should be out before they land in Honolulu where Zoe was changing flights to Las Angeles and then flying on to Detroit where she was attending college as an exchange student.

‘Come on Zoe, think about something else,’ she thought desperately. ’Anything. Anything. Any- James Halford. Wow…dreamy James Halford. With his coal black hair, his black eyeliner and stud through his eyebrow. With those sky blue eyes that shine like the sky on a hot summers day. And his creamy white skin that makes Edward Cullen look like he has a tan. James ‘McDreamy’ Halford.’

James Halford had been in her year 12 class at school. He was the new kid in school, he got expelled from his last one. He was so bad it hurt. He smoked at the school gates, leaning against the fence with the cigarette hanging loosely between his pink lips. And those eyes. They simply glowed with contempt and loath which made his damn sexy. Around his pale neck hung a studded dog collar which matched the studded bracelet around his skinny wrist. He wore the school uniform, only because he had to but the second he was out of the gate he would pull on a torn old leather jacket and a helmet before scrambling behind his older brother on the Harley-Davidson road cruiser.

The two brothers were in a band, The Death Peppers. James was the vocalist and Hanson, the older brother was the drummer. Zoe had seen their posters around town and they looked awesome, even more dolled up than he was at school, more leather and just way cool. He dyed his hair last Christmas holidays, Zoe’s parents said he looked like a skunk with its band of pale grey down the middle but Zoe didn’t care. He looked amazing.

Then school ended and Zoe got a job. Just when she thought she would never see him again she did. Yeah ok it was in Snag-a-Bargain the cheesiest, tackiest, crappiest Discount Variety store since the dawn of mankind. Her uniform was canary yellow and scarlet, a mini-skirt with a polo shirt and she had to wear the cap. Didn’t matter if it gave her hat hair, she had to wear the cap. A smile, often, even when customers went off like Icelandic Volcanoes.

Her only saving grace was lunchtimes when she would sit in the food court and James ‘McDreamy’ Halford would saunter out of guitar shop he worked in and buy his lunch. She would watch him everyday, he would dither between KFC and Subway. If he went to KFC he would get a Chicken Deluxe burger with extra mayo and a large coke. If he went to Subway he would get a 7 foot sub on a rye bread roll with olives, meatballs, extra cheese and jalapenos. She liked it when he would get subway because he would stand there with his back to her so she could stare at his taunt backside in those leather pants. Or dark stonewash jeans. But she preferred the leather pants.

He even spoke to her once. Her usual seat was taken so she had to sit closer to the KFC stall. He had ordered subway but then as he was walking past her he looked down that hawks nose and stared into her eyes with those deep sky blue eyes. Zoe felt her heart pound out her control as she realized he was going to speak to her. He didn’t even speak to her at school. The moments felt like years as she watched his pink lips part slowly.

“There’s mayonnaise on your chin,” he said, his voice bored and uninterested.

By the time she had looked down, blushed, snatched up a serviette and wiped it off he was gone. Damn. She remembered hoping that his next line would be ’here let me lick it off for you.’ But no, he was gone swaggering off through the crowd.

After a year of working at Snag-a-Bargain Zoe had earned enough for her airfare to America. That had been the deal with her father, you save up for your airfare and I will pay your college fees. He was American, New Yorker actually which made him cool, and he wanted his only child to attend college in America. Her mother Danielle couldn’t understand why Zoe wanted to go all the way to America but she let her go nonetheless.

Even though most daughters never thought their Dad’s were cool, Zoe did. Richard Lawinsky stood at almost six foot, with jet black hair and grey eyes. Zoe had inherited his height, his hair and his temperament. Richard oozed New Yorker grittiness and yet he was smoother than six year old scotch. Except for his accent which was Cockney New York. Zoe didn’t notice it and her mother loved it, but most people cringed at when he started talking.

Danielle Lawinsky on the other hand was as Australian as they came. Blue eyes, blonde hair and a lithe tanned body. She had met Richard when he visited the Reptile park she worked at and he had passed out when she handed him a snake. Danielle never thought she would see him again but the next morning he was the first customer through the gates. And the next day and the day after that. Danielle knocked him back at first, New Yorker’s were bad news or so her friends told her. But eventually his persistence wore her down and she gave in.

Six months later they were married and three years after that Zoe was born with her halo of coal black hair, glacier blue eyes like her mother and the birth mark on the inside of wrist. The new parents had fretted over the red mark that reminded them of a fishes tail but the doctors assured them it was perfectly normal. Over the years it had darkened but retained its shape. Zoe went through a stage of trying to hide it but in the end gave up.

Zoe still wasn’t entirely sure where she wanted to direct her life. She kicked around ideas of graphic design, interior decorating and the like but none of them really stuck. Zoe always had been artistic, she loved blues and greens. Always. She wore black mostly in a hope James would notice her but always with electric blue or peacock green eyeliner or eye shadow. Or jewellery, she loved beads, bracelets, hair slides and huge cocktail rings, usually in silver with turquoise, ocean blues and forty shades of green.

Even today as she stood waiting for the toilets to open, and they still hadn’t she wore bluey/green skinny jeans that complimented her toothpick legs, a black stretch top and a clique of beaded necklaces that had been designed and made by a boutique jeweller she knew. She loved the one off pieces that she found in markets or boutique stores. She loved the notion that no one else on earth could be wearing this piece.

Her mother loved seeing her in blues and greens, she hated how her daughter wore black to fit in with the Goth crowd she kicked about with. ‘It isn’t you‘, she would say as Zoe walked out the door with her eyeliner and gelled up hair. Zoe didn’t care, she liked both sides, her Gothic side that could listen to Paramore, Evanescence, Green Day and such bands all day while drinking one‘s self silly. But then she would come home, slip into a silk dressing gown that looked like a peacocks tail, take the gel out of lions mane hair and listen to Taylor Swift and not feel even a bit guilty. Besides none of her friends came to her house or knew her well enough to know that the Goth Zoe was just a front.

Zoe stared out the small window that had an orange strap across it and sighed. Friends. She hadn’t had too many of those. Sure she kicked around in a big group of similar, moody youths who drank, smoke, rode motorcycles and listened to hard music. But was there one she would turn to with a personal problem, one she could trust if she passed out somewhere not just leave her there? No. Not one. That had actually happened. They were all stumbling around a parking lot outside a night club when Zoe fell and bumped her head. She woke up in hospital and her parents nearly killed her. She wanted to kill the people she called her friends because it was a passing stranger not her friends who called the ambulance.

But she still hung around them because they were the only friends she had. Oh and because they often came into contact with James and The Death Peppers.

Quite suddenly the light flicked off, the door latch clicked and the Captain stepped out. Alone. He eyed Zoe and the other three people now waiting before shrugging nonchalantly. Zoe glared at him icily as she dived into the toilet.

‘Rotten Captain lucky he’s flying the plane or I would-,’

Zoe’s thoughts and movements were cut off a sudden lurch as the plane seemed to dive from the sky. For a few seconds they seemed to free fall, Zoe’s heart soaring into her throat as the other passengers screamed in terror when they regained altitude with a shudder. Zoe gripped the hand rails gasping for breath. What the heck was that?

The intercom crackled to life. “Sorry about that ladies and Gentlemen. We ran into some unexpected turbulence and-,” Zoe had stopped listened as she could suddenly hear the engines. They had begun to shriek. Not whistle and certainly not the usual dull roar, but shriek like a banshee in a food blender.

The intercom died with a crackle as the plane began to list over, diving towards the ocean as it went. This time Zoe screamed as it began to roll over as she braced her legs against the door. She could hear crashes and thuds as suitcases, Duty Free and things in the overhead lockers soared out. The screams of the passengers filled her head as she clung on for dear life.

An explosion shook the plane as the engines died at the precise moment the plane levelled out. Zoe stared at herself in the mirror, her face pale and her hair dishevelled. This wasn’t happening. It was a bad dream. These things only happened on Air Crash Investigations. She could feel the plane falling from the sky but she couldn’t do anything. She knew that she should go back to her seat but that was in Row 13. It would be carnage out there. And all the while she could hear the whistle of the wind as the air rushed past the falling plane and through the silent engines.

Quiet suddenly there was a crash, for a moment Zoe thought they had found altitude when it was followed by another, a more violent crash that seemed to rip the world apart. Zoe could hear screams and a terrible dull groaning noise, like the plane was ripping itself apart. They had hit the ocean. For a moment she could hear nothing but water lapping against the side of the plane when distantly she heard a mammoth splash as if the rest of the plane had smashed into the water.

Zoe suddenly felt dampness around her ankles as she stared down in horror at the water seeping through under the toilet door. She could feel the cubicle listing over backwards as she tried to pull her jeans up. Its strange what the human mind does under extreme stress, but Zoe could think of nothing except trying to wrangle back into her jeans despite the water now sloshing around her knees.

Zoe unlatched the door but it refused to budge. She leaned against it but as more water gushed under the door, ocean water that she could taste the salt from, it built up pressure against the door and wouldn’t budge. Zoe screamed as the water rose higher and higher. If she didn’t get out she would drown. Panic overrode her mind as she fought feebly with the door.

The water rushed over Zoe’s head as she stared through the blue veil trying so hard to bust the door open. As the curtains of darkness began to envelope her she felt herself falling.

‘This is it Zoe. Your going to drown in a toilet in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,’ she thought.

By the time the door opened she had blacked out so she never saw the arm reach through and pull her out towards the light.

Heres the second chapter.....I thought it might get some comments





Chapter 2

In the depths of her unconsciousness Zoe became distantly aware that she was warm. Really warm. She could hear waves that slowly grew louder and the sound of sea birds calling out. She felt like she was being burnt. Was this hell? Were there waves and seabird in hell? She didn’t know. It didn’t make sense. Why should she go to hell, she did nothing wrong.

Ok so there was the time she let the cane toads loose in the girls toilets at school. And then blamed someone else. Who got put on detention for three weeks. But was that a sin worthy of hell. Surely not.

Painfully she blinked her eyes open into dazzling sunlight, azure blue skies and palm trees. She became aware of hot sand under her fingers and the sound of waves crashing on the shore. Her clothes felt damp but not wet like she had been lying here for awhile.

‘What the hell? I should be dead. I was in a plane crash. I drowned. Maybe I am dead. Maybe I am in hell and this is just a screen saver…..or something,’ she thought. It made no sense.

Slowly she pulled herself upright and sat crossed legged in the sand. The white sands along the beach were almost blinding as the sunlight dappled off the clear blue ocean. Waves crashed on the reef before rolling down and lapping just in front of her feet. Her throat felt dry and sore. Perhaps she had bumped it. In fact her whole body felt like it had been bumped and bruised.

“Your awake!” A voice called out suddenly.

Zoe whipped around and stared, her jaw dropping into the sand.

There was another person on this island. Sorry correction. There was a guy on this beach. And he was naked. Very, very, very naked.

He seemed oblivious of this as he swaggered towards her holding two coconuts in either hand, his long feet sinking in the sand. He was naked and judging by the deep, but not fake tan, had been for a very long time. He wasn’t overly muscular, he had definition and some decent pectoral muscles and biceps but he was what she would call buffed or muscular for that matter. He had long fingers that easily wrapped around the coconuts and as she looked high a very defined, but very sexy Adams apple.

He had an unusual face, a snubbed nose and a very prominent, rounded chin. His eyes twinkled grey blue as he smiled show broad teeth with pointed but not vampire-ish canine teeth. As he drew closer she noticed his front teeth seemed a bit more sharper perhaps that usual. His blonde tufty hair fell in his eyes as he dropped onto his haunches before her and offered her the coconut.

“You took quite a bump in that crash,” he grinned.

“Your naked,” Zoe stammered.

“You feeling alright?” he asked.

“Your naked,” Zoe repeated.

“Yes. I am aware of that,” he sighed.

“Your-,” she began but he jumped in.

“Cold? Hot? Hungry? Tired? Nauseous?” he asked sounding a bit annoyed.

“Huh?” Zoe blinked.

“Drink the coconut,” he sighed sitting down beside her.

Zoe obeyed meekly, relishing the sweet, slightly fizzy fluid. He drank his seemingly in one gulp before nestling the coconut in the sand and regarding her closely.

“What?” she asked. This still wasn’t making any sense. She was on a beach drinking coconuts with a naked guy when she should be floating down to Davey Jones locker in a water closet. It was impossible to make coherent thoughts when there was a naked guy sat right there.

“Now how do you feel?” he asked.

“Ok I guess. Where am I?” she asked.

“A small island about 120km off the coast of Fiji,” he responded promptly.

“Ok,” she said. That made sense considering that they crashed about three or so hours after take off. “How did I get here?”

He grinned, his lips parting over surprisingly white, sharp looking teeth and his eyes glowing brightly. “Your mommy and daddy loved you very much and they wanted to-”

“Not that! I mean this island!” she snapped.

He laughed, he had a silly, almost goosy laugh. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help it. What do you remember?”

Zoe blinked staring out to sea. “I remember trying to get the door of the toilet open as I sank into the ocean and then I blacked out.”

He looked down, the corner of his lips turning into a grin. He looked up at her, his tufty hair falling across the bridge of his nose. “So you don’t remember me pulling you out?”

Zoe shook her head and stared. “You couldn’t have! Were you on the plane? You couldn’t have been I have never seen you until now.”

He was still grinning at her. “Hows that bruise on your neck going?”

Zoe reached up and gasped lightly as she felt a bruise about halfway up her neck. That sat right on a main artery. Which was sore and had two scabs the size of peppercorns at the centre of them. She looked back and remembered his pointy canine teeth.

Zoe scuttled backwards through the sand, staring in horror making a strange gasping, choking noise. “You! You! How dare you! You’re a Vampire.”

“Now that’s a bit harsh. I didn’t drink your blood,” he said, sounding wounded as he got up. “That would be very ick.”

“Stay away from me!” she gasped holding up two pieces of driftwood and trying to form a cross as he swaggered towards her.

“Can Vampires swim?” he asked.

“What?” she asked.

“Can vampires swim?” he repeated slower.

“How should I know! What am I saying? They don’t even exist,” Zoe stammered. She was beginning to question her sanity.

“Ding, ding, ding! Your exactly right. They don’t, but Mermaids do,” he stated.

Zoe stared before bursting into laughter. “Nice try. That’s like a Yeti saying Big foot doesn’t exist.”

“Actually both do they just come from different parts of the world,” he said more to himself than to Zoe.

Zoe thought for a moment. He had rescued her but he hadn’t been on the plane. He had the tan of someone who constantly naked or at least topless and his eyes were the most amazing blue. She shook her head. No. Its not possible.

“What? No. No. Your not a mermaid. You’re a dude for starters!” she stammered.

Shaking his head, he stalked down the beach and dived into the waves. He surfaced a few seconds later, hair wet but no tail.

“Ha! See-,” she began when he almost lazily lifted his tail out of the water. And waved at her with it.

Zoe stared wide eyed. The shape of his fin reminded Zoe of a whales tail but it was translucent and spiny like most ocean fish she had seen in Aquariums. His skin that slid from the base of his tail to his waist looked smooth like skin but she could tell by the way the sunlight glimmered off it that it was made up of thousands of tiny scales. The predominant colour was a rich, almost iridescent peacock green but along the back of his tail ran a row of small dots that eventually faded into his spine that were fluorescent yellow. He had a dorsal fin along the back of his tail that rose up, spiny and beautiful.

Zoe stood slowly and walked over to the waters edge, not for a second taking her eyes off the mermaid, or perhaps merman was the better term. With a lazy flick he propelled himself onto the sand at her feet and rolled onto his back staring up at her.

“I had to bite you otherwise you would drown. By biting you I bestowed you with the gift of transforming into a mermaid like I can. It is a gift that only natural mer-folk can bestow only once in their life,” he explained softly.

Zoe stared at him. Her day was just getting weirder. “Are you saying I can do that?”

A larger than usual wave crashed onto the shore, foaming around his tail and frothing at her feet. Almost immediately she felt pins and needles coursing through her feet. As the waves receded she could see her skin begin to pimple as scales began to appear along her skin.

“Give me your hand,” he said, his eyes glowing up at her.

With a single flick of his powerful, peacock green tail he hauled her into the water with a squeal. She managed to gasp a breath before he pulled her under the surface where the currents pulled them towards the open ocean. Zoe could feel her lungs screaming for breath as she tried to kick to pull away from him. Tried being the operative word as she suddenly realized that her legs felt as though they had been fused together. Wrenching her hand away from him she turned upside down in the water. She had a tail.

It wasn’t as pretty as his, it was a deep maroon with lighter coloured fins. She stared at it, feeling the long, spiny flukes in her fingers. She could actually feel her hands on her tail, like she had nerves in there. It felt real, like it belonged to her. She flicked it cautiously, curving through the water, twisting and diving. She began to laugh when she suddenly realized that she could also breath under water to, through her nose or mouth and then out gills that had slit staring just below her ear-lobe and down past her jaw. She also realized with a slight squeal she was naked, well topless to be precise, her pale breasts hanging loosely.

She looked over at him as he seemed to hang just below the surface with the biggest grin on his face. She didn’t know if that was because she was a mermaid like him or because she was topless. “Don’t worry. Its only people that mess around wearing clothes. We mer-folk are very open with nudity.”

Zoe gasped a trail of bubbles. “You can hear my thoughts?”

His goosy laugh rang lightly in her head. “I have been listening to them all morning but I figured you had enough on your mind.”

“How come I cant hear your thoughts?” she asked. She could hear the current stirring through the sand and the waves pounding on the reef but she couldn’t hear him thinking. He could hear his voice in her head but not actual thoughts.

“Practice. Natural mer-folk are born with the gift but you will just have to practice,” he responded. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

Zoe took his hand as he led her to a gap under the reef. He explained he could jump the reef but she hadn’t been swimming enough. Plus this way was safer. He led her into the deeper water, passing schools of fish that skittered out of the way. Here the water glowed blue, but comforting blue. She noted that he only had to flick his tail occasionally but she had to constantly bat hers simply to keep up. Again he explained that she would develop those muscles in her fins with strength.

After swimming along the sandy bottom they came to another reef. They skimmed just under the surface, dodging the columns of coral that rose up around them in every colour of the spectrum. Fish too darted between the coral, anemones waved in the currents and even Manta rays soared about. Zoe stared about herself in disbelief. Only a few hours ago she was a person, on a flight, headed to college and then she crashed and her life was turned on its head. No actually it was thrown out the window. She then remembered he could hear her thoughts but decided to ignore the grin on his face.

A sudden rift in the ocean floor appeared the corals growing either side. With a powerful flick he dragged Zoe deep into the canyon. The water was cooler down here as they dived deeper and deeper into the rift as everything went darker around them. Zoe could feel the crushing pressure of the water but she could still breath easily. Almost near the bottom he stopped near a small hole.

“Ladies first,” he grinned.

“What’s in there?” Zoe asked staring cautiously into what she supposed was a black hole in the side of canyon.

“Just trust me,” he said patiently.

“That’s the point. I don’t. You bit me and changed me into a mermaid without my consent. I mean is there even an age of consent for being bitten by a mermaid?” she said swimming into the narrow hole.

She could hear his silly laugh as he followed her into the hole. The narrow tube suddenly widened as it opened into a cave. The white sand at the bottom was illuminated by the light filtering through the rainbow spectrum of coral high above their heads. There were Angler fish in here too, the lights on their head glowing like living chandeliers. Zoe stared about her in awe as he swam over and sat on a trunk nestled in the white sand.

“Its amazing!” she gasped.

“Yeah this is my hideout. When I want to get away from things I come here. I was in here when I heard your plane hit the water. That’s why I swam over,” he explained.

Zoe swam over to him. “I suppose I owe you a thank you. You did save my life and you gave me something that you can only give once.”

He seemed to blush slightly. “Why?” Zoe asked.

“Why what?” he stared at her blankly.

“Why rescue me?”

“Why not.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He shook his head. “Come I will show you the crash.”

Zoe followed him out of the cave and back up towards the surface. To her surprise the beginning of the crash site wasn’t that far from the edge of the reef. Like she had seen so many times on telly, bits of plane were littered across the ocean floor. As they swam through it she discovered that the plane had been torn into two pieces, the nose section which included the toilets and then the rest of the plane. The remainder of the fuselage was badly mangled and Zoe could feel the sticky aviation fluid against her skin.

To see the plane lying at the bottom of the ocean; luggage, bits of fuselage, metal, the food trolley, all scattered about filled Zoe with sadness. By the looks of things she was the only survivor and then again that was by default.

“Can we go now?” his voice asked.

“Why?” she said looking around.

“There’s fuel or something in the water and its making my skin feel itchy,” he said looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“Maybe your allergic to it,” she reasoned. “I don’t mind, I feel tired anyway.”

He took her hand as they swam away from the crash. He glanced at her and grinned slightly. “I’m not surprised all this swimming and at depth too.”

By the time they reached the reef that guarded the island, Zoe was exhausted. She wrapped her arm around his and stopped swimming letting him toe her to the shore. He looked down at her smiled broadly. He was all smiles this one. Riding in on a wave and with a single flick they slithered up onto the shore, Zoe rolling into his arms.

High above them, the moon glowed through the palm trees and the stars shone brightly. Zoe stared up into his wide blue eyes as he brushed some of her hair from her eyes. She could feel his powerful tail sweep under hers as his long arms wrapped around her.

“I don’t even know what your name is,” she whispered.

“Josiah,” he smiled softly.

“Zoe,” she murmured just before he leaned down and kissed her.

Promising beginning. Good character intro and description, although a little more physical description would help. Please don't forget to add thoughts and emotions. Spelling and grammar need to be addressed. I feel that Zoe didn't react normally at the meeting of the naked man.

Otherwise, nice job! Keep writing.

hahahah thanks fay
yeah i know grammer and spelling needs work...whats new lol.
When you say she didnt react normally what exactly do you mean? I mean she's in shock remeber from a plane crash and people dont react as they usually do after traumatic experiances

Okey dokey...heres the next chapter

Chapter 3

The sun had just crested over the horizon, the orange and reds bathing the entwined forms of Zoe and Josiah snuggled high up on the beach. Zoe woke with a smile as he dozed beside her, his face relaxed, hair flipped over to one side. Zoe traced his face with her eyes; the bridge of his nose, the way it snubbed at the end, his full pink lips that she felt sure he had stolen off a lipstick model down to his round chin which had a scant halo of blonde stubble. She could feel his arms wrapped tightly around her and the other resting comfortably on her thigh.

Zoe glanced down and realized that they both had legs again. It seemed that exposed to the air, as soon as her fins dried they changed back to legs. This seemed like a practical idea, she didn’t want to spend all her time underwater. Her hair had enough split ends as it was. She had also learnt last night when she went looking for her clothes not to bother. If mer-folk dives into the water fully clothed, it dematerialises, so as Josiah said with a faint grin its best to get out of them first if you want to keep them.

Zoe had spent the whole night lying in the arms of a merman but she realized that from the second her plane crashed into the ocean, her life was never going to be the same. Technically she had started a new life, thanks to Josiah. A new beginning, leaving the old one behind. So somehow spending the night with a merman didn’t’t seem so weird after all. Her former life seemed so far away, like a distant dream washed out by the crashing waves. Her parents, her job, her transfer to America as an exchange student, her bedroom. It all seemed so distant. Already she found it hard to recall the exact locations of things, they were fuzzy around the edges making her unsure. In good time she would forget all together.

When she looked up, his eyes had sleepily opened. Zoe lifted a hand, brushing the tufts of hair from his eyes. “You should think about a hair cut,” she grinned. Actually she liked his hair like that.

“Most hairdressers don’t make house calls where I live,” he mumbled sleepily, his lips pulled in a faint grin.

Zoe felt herself slip deeper into those eyes that seemed to suck her in like quicksand, paralysing her. Zoe had never been one to flippantly giver herself up to any guy. In actual fact she had never given herself up to a guy. Sure some had been interested but Zoe hated the notion of one night stands, which seemed to be all that they were interested in. And partially due to her upbringing, plus her large personal space bubble, Zoe had kept all guys she knew well at bay. Sure she fantasised about James Halford but only because she knew they were just that, fantasies. He would never look at her.

And yet, lying here feeling Josiah’s breath brush across her skin, his long fingers stroking their way down her thighs leaving trails of fire in their wake, his toes brushing the soles of her feet, it didn’t feel wrong. It felt right. Like she had unknowingly knocked back all those guys for this one moment. Like it was-

“Destiny?” Josiah supplied.

Zoe blushed. She forget he could hear her thoughts. “Can you not do that?”

“Listen to your thoughts?” Josiah smirked. “Sorry. They’re so interesting, plus it explains the burning smell around here.”

Zoe gasped, feigning outrage as she tried to hit him. Josiah rolled away and scooted up the beach surprisingly quick for someone who spent most of their time with a tail. For some reason she expected him to be slow, like seals when taken out of the water. Zoe sat up and grinned at him.

“I’m going to find breakfast,” he grinned.

“Ok,” Zoe nodded.

They stared into one another’s eyes for a second before he turned and padded down the beach, leaving Zoe watching his bare bottom wander out of sight. Zoe flopped onto her back with a ecstatic grin. She had never been so deliriously happy in all her life.

After laying in the shade of the palm tree for a few minutes, listening to the whoosh-hiss of the waves crash on the beach, Zoe got bored. Deciding to go in search of Josiah she got up and began to follow the only set of footprints along the beach. They turned abruptly in land where she lost them. The interior was cool and shady, the breeze stirring through the palm fronds that clashed together like distant maracas. Her feet swished through the earthy smelling leaf litter as she suddenly spotted Josiah.

She suddenly spied him, high up in a mango tree which she thought could get painful if he slipped he could knock some bark off and not necessarily off the tree. She couldn’t’t help but smile at the comical and surprisingly nimble way he scrambled about.

“Hey,” she called out.

Josiah looked around and nearly over balanced. For half a second Zoe thought she would have to catch him but he caught himself on a branch. “Don’t do that!” he gasped.

“What startle you?” Zoe grinned.

“No. Well yes. You made me look down,” Josiah carefully braced himself against a branch as he began to make his way to the ground.

“Your not afraid of heights?” Zoe stared up at him incredulously. A merman who had a fear of heights, now there’s something you don’t hear everyday.

“Ever since I was really little. I love climbing trees but it scares the hell out of me,” he grinned sheepishly over his shoulder. “I guess I do it for kicks more than anything. Or breakfast.”

Within a few seconds he was back on the ground with two mangos which he handed to Zoe. After examining it for a few seconds, Zoe sank her teeth into the bitter skin and began to pull the flesh off. The insides were soft and juicy. Josiah made short work of his mango, throwing the pip over one shoulder and wiping the juice from his chin.

Zoe was about to bite into the flesh again when she realized he was looking at her, his eyes wide and a steady smile creasing across his lips. With a flash of cheekiness he dipped his head and pressed his warm lips against hers, Zoe tossing aside her half eaten mango and throwing her arms around his neck. Zoe kissed him, feeling his hands slip down her back leaving trails of fire in its wake. Her heart throbbed, seemingly in her throat making it difficult to breath.

Laughter suddenly rang out through the trees as Zoe pulled away staring about in horror. Up until now they had been alone on the island but as she spotted two figures pushing their way through the undergrowth towards them she realized that this was no longer the case.

The two females stood at roughly the same height with the same pale skin and jet black hair that shone like a crow’s wing as it swept past their waists. Both had lean figures, though the one that looked older had more curves but still paired with a slim body. They didn’t looked anything like Josiah but then Zoe noted their eyes glowed the same grey-blue and they both had the same snubbed nose as Josiah.

It only took Zoe a matter of seconds to make the leap that they must be his sisters even though they didn’t look all that similar they were laughing in the way that siblings do when they catch the other up to no good. Moments after that she made the next leap that therefore they must also be mermaids. This fact seemed to be backed up by the fact that their hair hung dripping wet and tousled and also Zoe had heard no boats so the only way they could had arrived was from the ocean. Oh and the fact they were completely butt naked, bar the hedges which gave scant coverage.

“I cant believe you just kissed him and didn’t upchuck,” the younger one laughed.

Zoe stared blankly from the two girls. “Uhh do you know these two?” she asked him.

He nodded sheepishly. “They’re my sisters.”

“Son! There you are! We swam the seven seas trying to find you,” a shorter, older woman rushed in. She had tufty, dark blonde almost brown hair that fell to the middle of her back and plenty of beads as well. And yes, she was naked too. Zoe had never remembered seeing quite this many nude people in one spot.

“Hey, he’s over here we found him!” yelled a male barrelling through the hedges. He had dark hair, dark eyes and stood taller and broader than Josiah. He didn’t appear to be related by blood to Josiah but she could tell by the way he roughed Josiah up that he was somehow related.

“He is! Holy smokes!” the last to barrel in was clearly the patriarch of the bunch. He entered from the opposite direction to everyone else as Zoe turned and eyed him. He had grey hair that slicked back over his head, sagging skin and grey eyes that eyed Zoe with suspicion. He stalked up to her, looked her in the eye and then at Josiah who looked sheepish. The others had fallen quiet. “Who is that?” he directed at Josiah.

“That’s Zoe,” he chuckled nervously.

“I didn’t ask you what her name was,” he said sharply. Zoe backed away a step, this dude did not seem happy.

Josiah winced and came over. “I….well she was dead and in that crash so I bit her.”

There was an outbreak of contempt as the younger sister rolled her eyes, the older called him an idiot, the other male groaned and his mother she supposed he was merely gave him a look. The older male who she guessed was his father rounded on Josiah and folded his arms.

“You didn’t,” he said flatly. Josiah managed a grin and nodded with a humorous shrug.

“I don’t get it? He saved my life,” Zoe broke in.

“The only way for Mer-folk to attain immortality is to bite a human,” the older sister muttered darkly.

Zoe looked around at Josiah who grinned sheepishly. “He probably only did it because you was an easy target,” his other sister snorted.

“That’s not true!” Josiah broke in angrily.

“Oh right like you love her or something,” the older sister retorted.

“I do!” Josiah bit at the same precise moment Zoe said “He does.”

“Stay out of this land dweller,” his father said not even looking at her. “She is a person. She may have a tail and she may breath underwater but she is not one of us. You will take her to the fifth reef, the people are there looking at the crash. They will take her back to her people.”

Zoe blinked in horror and Josiah gasped. “No father. She is one of us now she has the mark of the-”

“Son. I am aware of that. I don’t want to banish you because your young and your stupid, most of the time. She can survive out of water but you cant. But that doesn’t mean I wont banish you to the land if you push me there,” he said, his eyes dark and his voice deadly calm.

“You cant make me take her-,” Josiah raged, his blue eyes flashing.

Zoe grabbed his arm. “No. He’s right.”

The whole group seemed to stare at her in surprise as Josiah looked down at her. Zoe nodded. “I will return to the land and I promise not to say anything about what I have seen.”

His father looked surprised and somewhat smug. “A wise land dweller. There’s a change,” he mused. He then turned to his seemingly errant son. “You will take her back immediately.”

Josiah nodded in defeat and took Zoe’s hand. Zoe cast a glance over her shoulder at his family stood on the beach watching them leave before looking back at the ocean. The sun had risen into the clear blue sky as Josiah dived in. Zoe followed him and swam hurriedly after him as he led her to the gap in the reef. They swam in silence past his hideout and beyond that reef. Instead of veering to the right where the crash site stood they followed the currents off to the left where one would naturally float to.

After swimming for ages they came to the reef. It soared out of the ocean bed, the waves foaming and crashing above them. The water was clear and blue, schools of silvery fish darting and wheeling through the water. Josiah stopped swimming and looked back at her.

“Why? Why did you let them send you back? We could have done so much together,” his voice echoed in her head, the sadness profound in his eyes.

Zoe shrugged, staring down at his hand. “Maybe they are right. We are two different species and I am from the land.”

“Yes but you could learn. I could teach you so much about the sea,” he said. “Or I could follow you to land and you-”

“Your Dad said you wouldn’t survive,” Zoe pointed out.

“Ok I should explain that. We can live out of water, we just have to soak our skin for at least an hour a day otherwise we do dry up and die. We have to keep really hydrated but we can and do live out of water,” Josiah explained.

“So I could have a mermaid as a neighbour?” Zoe blinked.

Josiah managed a vague chuckle but he still looked sad. “You wouldn’t know any different unless you saw their dorsal marking because merfolks keep their dorsal patterns even without the tail.”

“Will I have to remain hydrated and soak my fins?” she asked.

Josiah shrugged. “Not as much as a true mermaid. You could probably go a few days without having to soak and you would be fine.”

Zoe nodded softly, watching a clownfish behind Josiah dive in and out his purple anemone home. She wanted to stay and learn. But more than anything she wanted to be with him, to wake up on a deserted island in the arms of a merman. She didn’t want to leave but she realized that his family was right. They were two different species. She sighed. His father had a point though and she didn’t want to make trouble for him.

“Once you get up on that rock, your fins will dry and people have been coming through here. They will see you and take you-,” he paused, trying to spit out the last word. “Home.”

“Yeah,” Zoe nodded dully.

Zoe looked at him sadly and then threw her arms around him. He tightly wrapped his arms around her waist as she curled her tail around his. She could feel his heart hammering in his chest as the current rocked them gently. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay in his arms like this forever. Slowly he pulled away and stared down at her, unwinding one arm from around his neck. Gently he ran a thumb over her birth mark, the fishes tail on the inside of her wrist.

“I will always remember you by this,” he said softly.

Zoe leaned up and kissed him passionately. After a few moments she pulled away and despite himself he was smiling. “Forget the birthmark, I will remember you by that night on the beach.”

His silly, goosy laugh rang in her head as he grinned slyly. “Ok. Remember me by that then.”

Underwater, sound carries a long way so they both heard the boat long before it would appear on the horizon. “Theres my boat,” Zoe sighed.

“I’ll give you a push,” he said.

They both popped out of the water just as the boat appeared on the horizon. It was a search boat Zoe noted as Josiah pushed her onto the single rock that jutted out of the water. She could feel the sun hit her maroon fin as the pins and needles spread through her fin. Within a couple of minutes she had her legs back as Josiah stared at her from the water. Zoe rubbed the last vestiges of scales from her calves just as she heard a splash. She didn’t know if it was the wind but she heard a voice say ‘I love you’ just as she spotted his peacock green tail vanish through the water.

Zoe looked up, the boat drawing ever closer. Pulling herself up she waved her arms frantically as the boat slowed. As they drew closer she could see the disbelief on their faces, maybe because they thought there was no survivors or because she was naked. On a rock. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She didn’t know.

She was hurriedly pulled on board, wrapped in towels and given a corn beef sandwich, the only food they had on board. One of the men on board who had a first aid course checked her over and then an hour later checked her over again. They were all in awe as she told them that she had survived only because she was inside the dunny. But instead of telling them she was rescued by a merman because she couldn’t’t get the door undone she simply told them the door had ripped off with the impact and she swam out, clinging to a piece of wreckage until she came to this rock. They couldn’t’t believe at how well she was. No dehydration, no injuries and not even starved.

Very soon her miraculous story reached land. The only survivor of the doomed flight who had survived inside the dunny. It was a bit nerve racking flying back to Australia but her parents were at the airport waiting for her, tears streaming down their faces. They embraced her wildly. They thought she was dead.

The news crews went wild. So far it seemed that it wasn’t terrorism, which always seemed to be the first conclusion that the media drew when crashes occurred, but a mechanical failure. Either way heads were gonna roll and Zoe would prove to be vital in solving the crash. But that would be later. For now they wanted Zoe to rest, recover, talk to the shrink her parents had hired and return to her life. Zoe fell asleep on the drive from the airport to their home in Ipswich and had to be carried inside by her Dad. When she looked on the porch there were balloons, cards, teddies and flowers, some still reading with sympathy but most reading ‘Welcome Home’.

Two of her friends had left messages, mostly saying how lucky she had been with as many expletives as possible. Most of the messages came from work, her old school and relatives. Her mum ordered pizza as Zoe numbly read through the cards and letters. They ate pizza with the telly off, Zoe didn’t’t want to see herself of the news. It would just be weird. After two bits of pizza, some ice-cream and fizzy drinks Zoe bid her parents goodnight and wandered into her room.

She stood for along time just staring at her room. Her black and red bed spread, her throw cushions, her teddies, her white antique stained furniture feeling like she had stumbled into someone else’s life. Had this been her? Had she hung those Evanesece posters? Were those her leather goth boots?

Zoe suddenly realized that for so long she had been living under the shadow of someone who people wanted her to be. And yet a brush with death had changed her mind. No longer would she be Zoe the goth. She would be Zoe Lawinsky. Herself. No one else. Those people she called friends didn’t care about her so why should she care about them?

Flicking the light off, she crawled into her bed and had nearly closed her eyes when she spotted a mermaid snow globe that had been given to her one Christmas. With a sudden rush it all came back. Picking it up, she shook the snow inside and felt tears sting the back of her eyes. Josiah. Was he thinking of her? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she missed him. Terribly.

Your writing gets better and better all the time. Nice job with developing the story, but do watch the spelling. It's coming along very well.

What is a dunny?

You wrote: After two bits of pizza, some ice-cream and fizzy drinks Zoe bid her parents goodnight and wandered into her room.

Did you mean 'After two bites'? I like the way you refer to sodas as fizzy drinks.

Well done. Love to see more. Keep up the good work.

ROFL....I love the language barrier sometimes. Dunny is another name for toilet in Ozzie (also called Thunderbox, Red Back Spider haven, loo, go see a man about a dog....etc etc). And yeah the only soda we call soda is creaming soda. LOL everything else is fizzy drinks

Ok I will post the next chapter


Chapter 4
Eleven years later

“You rat,” Zoe Lawinsky-Hayden thought with a sleepy grin.

He knew the sun crested right over the hedge out the front of their apartment and straight into her room. He knew she hated being woken up by anything before 8am. Just like he knew that she hated him using her coffee mug, or leaving his underwear on the bathroom floor or putting shark ornaments in her tropical fish aquarium in the living room because it scared the fish. He wouldn’t’t know that but she could hear their little voices squealing as they swam around the opposite side of the tank. He couldn’t’t hear it but she could.

Zoe rolled out of bed, ticked the day off on the calendar and blew a kiss to the framed photo of herself and Daniel Hayden, her fiancée that stood on the beside table. “Only six more weeks you rat and we’ll be married.”

He merely grinned out of the photo frame his brown curls tumbling in his dazzling green eyes. He was a general surgeon, gentle and caring, hoping to get into treating childrens cancer later on. She loved him, madly even from the first moment she met him. She had gone clubbing with her girlfriends and he had gone clubbing with his. The two groups ran into one another at a bar in Brisbane’s centre and the pair had clicked right there and then.

Her mother loved him and his Dad thought he was ’a good sort’. And he was. They had dated for six months before he moved into the flat she owned. At New Years last year he had proposed.

Zoe stepped into the bathroom, running water into huge two person bath tub. After she had saved for the deposit for her own home she went house hunting. All the houses and apartments she came across were too old, too bog, too small or just wrong. And then she found this one, saw the two person bath and bought it. Ok, so she never actually shared the bath with Daniel for obvious reasons. Zoe rifled through the clutter of towels and pulled out a bag of rock salt and scattered it into the water.

Looking up in the mirror she told herself that she hadn’t told him her secret for his own good. He didn’t’t need to know. Thankfully he wasn’t the ‘save water, shower with a friend’ type anyway, despite the drought. Zoe unclipped her hair and let it fall well past her waist. Since her time on the island she had never cut her hair, or dyed it for that matter. She couldn’t’t do it, it felt wrong and dye seemed to stop sticking to her hair. Even permanent dyes washed straight out like her hair was waterproof or at least dye proof.

Stepping into the bath she felt the pins and needles course through her veins as the maroon scales rippled along her legs. With a deep sigh she slipped under water and let her tail hang over the edge of the bath tub, gladly breathing in the salty water. She could breath tap water but it felt odd, perhaps due to the chlorine. So she added salt, lots of salt. She hadn’t soaked in a couple of days because she had been so busy with wedding plans and work, so as usual it felt wonderful just to let her skin soak up the fluid. Sort of like moisturiser for mermaids. She had tried that, moisturising instead of soaking but her skin reacted in large red rashes. Daniel said he saw it often in new babies, their skin which was used to being in a fluid environment didn’t’t adjust well to moisturizer. Zoe said nothing, glad he didn’t’t follow that thought any further.

After an hour and a half soaking, Zoe rolled out onto the bath mat and rubbed her fins dry. Once they had changed back to legs she got up and found some clothes before ambling downstairs. Flicking the light on, she glanced over and rolled her eyes. No matter how many times she told him that her tropical fish didn’t like shark figurines in the tank he still did it to annoy her. Dipping her arm in, she fished it out and watched as they cautiously swam back over to that side of the tank. “All gone guys,” she said, deciding to chuck the shark out before Daniel got home.

“Thank you, thank you,” their voices chorused in her head.

“He’s a meanie,” piped up one of her Trigger fish.

“He just doesn’t know any better,” Zoe tried to explain.

“He’s a big smelly meanie,” retorted another. Trigger fish, trigger happy. Always going off at the mouth.

Zoe ignored them, as they continued to natter on in the back ground, their high squeaky voices dimmed out by the coffee machine. She got used to that, Daniel of course wouldn’t’t know but the fish in her tank never shut up. Or the dolphins at Sea-World. That was a touch unpleasant, Daniel by their third date had ascertained that she had an affinity with the sea so he took her to Sea-World and booked a private dolphin feeding session.

The dolphins saw her coming and not for the first time Zoe wanted to know how sea-creatures knew that she was a mermaid. They went nuts, as captive bred dolphins they had heard about but never seen a mermaid. The four dolphins dived and splashed begging her to join them in the water. The trainers were stunned, they had never seen the dolphins take to anyone like her but of course they wouldn’t know why. It took every inch of will power not to dive in with them. She had of course completely forgot about Daniel who stood back and watch this all. She apologized for ignoring him but he hugged her, kissed the top of her head and old her that this was the happiest he had ever seen her.

After coffee and toast, Zoe hopped into her Nissan Micra and headed off to her latest assignment. Two days ago, Zarifa Gorman, the new wife of Australia’s highest selling Author swept into her office with her wavy mass of black hair that fell to her waist and her deep ocean blue eyes. Zoe remembered a chill running down her spine as she gripped her manicured hand but she couldn’t’t explain why. Zarifa was stunningly beautiful, sweet and lovely. But as Zoe drove to the rundown mansion she wanted her to redecorate, she couldn’t help but feel there was something more.

Zoe loved her job. She was aware very few people could truly say that they loved their job, but she did. She was an interior designer and arguably the best in Brisbane despite being only 28. She had already won a swag of awards for her firm for her cool, relaxing interiors that everyone said made them feel calm. And living in the city there were few places that made people feel calm.

When her current project was built it was known as Marlin House, intended for a former prime minister but hardly ever, if ever got used. So it was sold to a mining magnate who also hardly lived in it. From there it had a handful of owners, none who knew the meaning of upkeep or maintenance let alone re-vamp. Then Zarifa’s husband bought it and his new wife set to work with Zoe.

She was stood on the front steps, her black hair held loosely in pony tail and her eyes rimmed in black eye liner. Zoe still couldn’t shake that feeling but smiled as Zarifa hopped down the steps bubbling with enthusiasm. She was tall and lean, wearing tight red skinny jeans and a floaty white top.

“I like it. Its big but not over the top,” Zoe commented as she stepped from her car.

“You have to see the inside,” Zarifa said taking her arm and toeing her to the front door.

Inside the paint was peeling and cracked. The tiles needed replacing and an air of general decay hung in the rooms as Zoe followed Zarifa about. The only room that was decent was the kitchen, even though the tiles like in the entry/foyer area were cracked and chipped. And yet Zoe could see what Zarifa could. Potential and loads of it.

The two women sat at the bench with the stacks of magazines, portfolios and files that Zoe had brought, drinking coffee and laughing about possible asbestos in the wall lining. Zoe knew the house was about ten years to young to worry about that but that didn’t stop the dust bunnies from floating about.

“Oh that’s amazing!” Zarifa oozed suddenly.

Zoe leaned over and smiled at the sample picture of the black marble studded with fossils of trilobites. “I know isn’t it.”

“I wonder if I could convince Russ into making a kitchen bench at least from it,” she grinned before taking a deep swig of water from the bottle that she had carried all through the house.

“I saw a bathroom done with it once, amazing stuff. Cost a small fortune mind you,” Zoe added.

Zarifa flicked through a few more things before looking at Zoe closely. “So what plans do you have?”

“This is your house not mine,” Zoe pointed out.

“Oh yes I know, but you’re a pro. I saw that house you did in Manly. Loved it darling, loved it,” she grinned.

That house had been a pest but Zoe took the beach and brought it inside but in a non-tacky way. It felt like a beach house when in fact it was the family’s 24/7 house. She had loved that house by the time she finished with it even if she had hated its boxy shape when she first saw it. Zoe nodded.

“I have a few ideas but I will get back to you within a week about the prelim plans ok?”

Zarifa put her water bottle down after another swig. “Of course. Take all the time you need.”

Half an hour later, Zoe pulled away from the mansion, her mind spinning with ideas and possibilities. That house had so much potential and Zarifa had given her virtual free-rein. That entrance particularly. She could do so much with that.

A sudden trilling made Zoe look down. Her phone had been quiet this morning, taking one hand off the steering wheel she found her ear-piece and answered.

“Hi,” drawled Madelyn her assistant. She was a nasally, bottle blonde who was just a bit too good at her job to sack. Besides Zoe was virtually never in the office anyway.

“What’s up?” Zoe asked, merging into the next lane. ‘Ooh look there’s a McDonalds ahead. I could do with food,’ she thought.

“There’s a guy waiting for you in your office, says its urgent,” she said.

“Who is he? Wedding related? Work related? Friend? Foe?” Zoe asked. Madelyn could be very vague at times like this.

“He wont say. Says he’s a friend. He’s a real spunk too,” Madelyn dropped her voice slyly.

Zoe rolled her eyes. Madelyn dated tossers, so if she thought he was a spunk he was probably a sleazy, greasy gambling addict or something. “Ok tell him I’ll be there shortly.”

‘More work‘, she thought hanging up. ‘Like I don’t need more. I still haven’t sorted out a caterer for the wedding. And the flowers. And the bridesmaid dresses. Hell lets hang the bridesmaids. Not literally, just in the no more bridesmaids sense. One was Daniel‘s sister who nominated herself for the job and wouldn’t go away and the other was Jess, her half cousin who she also didn’t like that much.‘

The drive from the mansion back to the office took only half an hour and soon enough she was striding through the glass doors, nodding at work colleagues, eyeing of the food cart and thinking about coffee. Madelyn handed her a stack of portfolios she had requested as she strode towards her office. She had completely forgotten about the visitor by the time she stepped into her air conditioned office.

But the second the high backed chair swung around, Zoe felt her heart stop. There, staring at her, with his pink lips turned up in the corners, his grey blue eyes shining and his tufty blonde hair was Josiah. With legs. Dressed in stonewash jeans and a singlet. Very un-naked but it was him alright.

“Hello Zoe,” he grinned.

With a gasp Zoe collapsed, blacking out as Josiah dived and caught her.