Tears cascade down the plains of the girl's face as the salty wind whips her long hair. She stared out at the tossing waves over the cliffside, the turbulence of her heart in perfect synchrony with the white capped tides. The horrible feeling consumed her whole; she coughed violently as fresh sobs raked her frail body once more.
She lost everything. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. It was all in vain.
At first, she felt anger and cursed her love, her luck and her life; but that feeling was swallowed by a black abyss of hopelessness. There was a huge hole in her heart and it hurt to breathe. It hurt to live on. This never ending void offered liberation and rest. She was too drained to think.
It whispered to her, luring her with a sweet cold embrace. The cold is foreign and unnatural. Something still vaguely human in her tried to reject it as it burned her throat and stole her tears. Her protests were gone before it was silenced with the gentle lull of the sea. Those feelings that were choking her... where did they come from? She couldn't recall. The sea is all there is. It's infinite and endless as is she. She calls to the girl singing a song so mesmerizing that the girl begins to sing it and hasn't stopped since.

CALLIE Moretti scrunched her nose as she read the introduction to the story she was writing. The girl described was experiencing a loss of love so great she chose not to feel at all; instead, she gave her soul to the ocean thus completing her metamorphosis into a mermaid. Callie had never been in love and so never experienced the pain of a true heartbreak. She was worried her inexperience would make the words seem hollow.

Then again, the story is about mermaids and she has never experienced swimming with a fin either. She tried to draw inspiration from the town she now called her home, a coastal town in Queensland, Australia called Royal Reef. Its white beaches, palm trees, and tropical weather made it a popular tourist spot. But she wasn't here for vacation. She was a college student attending the Barrier Reef Institute for Marine Science.

The piece was for her summer online literature class. It was supposed to be an easy project. She based it on one of her favorite pictures she took years ago of the mermaids of Daydream Island. That was her true passion: photography. The picture that became the subject was one of the first pictures she took that ignited her all-consuming hobby. Her and her dad stayed on the resort during one of his research expeditions when she was thirteen years old.

She remembered everything from the trip: the virgin pina coladas that her dad had her believe contained alcohol, the parasailing and scuba diving, the dolphins she got to swim with, the little pink camera her dad gave her to capture the memories, and the mermaids. They were three statues off the coast on the northeast tip of the island. She remembered a resort worker telling her their names were Serenity, Aphrodesia, and Infinity representing the mind, body, and spirit. They're not there anymore. Unfortunately, the cyclone in 2017 washed two of the mermaids out to sea and the third off her perch making the picture she had all the more special to her.

A loud crash grabbed her attention. The storm wrestled with the waves outside the beach house. She walked out of her bedroom to the main living space. An open floor plan greeted her, only an island counter and bar stools separated her oblong kitchen from the couch and wall-mounted HD smart TV. Beyond that was a clear view of the beach, literally. It was just a large glass wall and glass door to her back patio. On most days, it was breathtaking. But on a day like this, it was unsettling. She often dreamed of a strong hurricane shattering it.

She looked up the stairs stationed by her bedroom door. No, she would not run upstairs to him. This is her place. She walked over the soft carpet to turn on the TV flipping on the news channel. The storm did not warrant an evacuation.

She saw a big piece of debris--a surfboard?-- fly through the air. Luckily the wind decided to be merciful and lead it on down the beach away from her glass barrier. She felt tempted to go hide in her windowless room and let schoolwork distract her from the fear creeping into her mind.

The door then opened at the top of the staircase and her dad's voice hollered down. "Hey, otter! Wanna do a movie night? I've got popcorn a-poppin'! Get up here before I eat it all!"

She smiled with relief, powering off her TV before climbing the steps. "Don't you dare!"

Yes, she lived in her dad's basement. When she announced last year she was going to move out and live in Royal Reef by herself, he was not having it. And with her being a legal adult, there wasn't much he could do to prevent her from doing just that except offer an alternative. He bought this beach house and gave her the basement, with a generous rent. They worked it out where she stocked her own fridge and had to pay a portion of the water and electric bill. Other than staying on his cell phone plan, she was completely independent.

She agreed to all this as long as he treated the basement as his neighbor/tenant. The arrangement worked nicely this past year. She didn't have to pass through the main house at all unless she wanted to visit her dad. When leaving, all she had to do was walk out the glass door and around to the concrete steps on the side of the house to get to her parked car.

And of course, she appreciated her dad's willingness to settle down just for her. Not that it came as a surprise. It was always just the two of them.

🐢🐢🐢

The next two days, the destruction from the storm was evident all along the coast for miles. Callie drove the cherry red ATV over the beach at a steady pace, careful on the shifting sand and watching for hazards. Her walkie talkie beeped, signaling the need for a battery.

She slowed the vehicle to shield the screen from the sunlight to better see the time displayed. It was after one which meant time for a lunch break. She was a lifeguard, which required way more than what Baywatch would have you believe. Like, for instance, beach clean up after a storm! Fun!

"Oy, Callie," Adam's voice came over the walkie talkie.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"You wanna meet at the Crabby Shack in ten? Eat lunch together?"

"Umm---"

"C'mon! You need to eat! And I know you want to." Callie could almost see the suggestion in his eyes though he was miles away down the beach in his own ATV.

"What have I told you two about flirting on the job?" Their supervisor, Karen, interrupted the channel. "Callie, where are you?"

"I am approaching Lily's Gulf..."

"Alright, circle around when you're through there, then you can go on break."

"Yes, ma'am."

She wanted to correct the misunderstanding over the talkie but Karen seemed to be in a foul mood. They were not flirting or atleast Callie was definitely not. Adam wasn't bad looking and wasn't a horrible person either. He just seemed like one of those jock-type blockheads. His interest in her was strange and ungrounded, in her opinion. Besides that, he didn't know when to quit, claiming that "he knows she likes him".

Having a persistent admirer was something Callie had no experience with, so she mostly ducked her head and ignored it. Her life traveling with her dad and being mostly home schooled equipped her with many life skills. Social interactions with kids her own age was not one of them.

The ATV maneuvered around the large rock formations skirting the little gulf, the wheels dipping into the waves. The orange sea arches were picturesque and they enclosed the gulf on the other side. When the tide was high, there was no shoreline. But now that the ocean had receded, there was a slice of land visible. She parked and got out a large black trash bag and a flexible pick up tool.

She began to clean up the beach of garbage and anything that wouldn't look nice on a postcard. The beaches have to stay pristine or else the town loses some big tourist bucks. It's always about money... and if it helps the ecosystem, bonus!

The claw of her picker upper grabbed onto what she thought was just some dried seaweed, but it was too heavy to pick up. She tried again only to realize it was a foot.....

....

...

...

...

She stood there stunned, not knowing if she was supposed to scream. Was she in shock? She slid her gaze up slowly removing the seaweed.

Oh, please be a whole body...

And there was. A whole body, covered in sand and seaweed, was half hidden behind a barnacle-infested rock. It was a young man with a large tattoo that spread from his neck down his right arm to the elbow. Apart from the bulky pendent wrapped around his neck, he was completely naked.

Her lifeguard training immediately kicked in. Kneeling down beside him, she shook his shoulders. His skin was icy cold to the touch.

"Hey! Are you okay? Sir?"

She felt for a pulse and looked for chest rise. The pulse was there but it was weak, thready. He was breathing, though as shallow as the water that licked at her heels. She checked for any injuries and found blood on the side of his head. Rising up, she raced back to the ATV kicking up sand only to find the walkie talkie dead. And she had left her phone back at the life guard station charging before she set out this morning.

A little irresponsible but she was up late last night reading Wattpad and fell asleep before she could place her phone on the charger. Curse you, Wattpad. First unrealistic expectations of romance and now this?

She shook her head trying to think of the most appropriate thing to do. He needs more medical attention than she is capable of giving. It'll be a while before anyone notices Callie hadn't gone back to take a lunch break. Can she move the body? It's not a crime scene... well, hopefully... and she doesn't think his neck or spine are in critical condition.

Callie always prided herself on being decisive. Making a decision, she leaped into action. She first backed up the ATV as close to the body as she could, then opened the back trap. After lowering the lift down to the sand, she rolled the boy gently onto it. She once again became aware of his nakedness and avoided touching or looking in that area.

I am a professional. I am a professional. I am a professional.

Her hand rubbed up against something slimy and jagged on his arm. She looked to see if there was another injury. But it looked like a fin hanging from his forearm. As soon as she touched it, it dissolved into sea foam erasing all evidence of its existence. Did she imagine it?

Shaking her head, she blamed the sun for frying her brain all morning. She secured him best she could with a bungee cord then lifted him into the back thankful this ATV had that mechanism. She secured a tarp around him to cover his nudity, sure that he would appreciate that... if he lives, that is. Who knows what brain damage he might have sustained? After making it out of Lilys Gulf, she drove as fast as she could back towards the station. This drive gave her time to think.

What was this guy doing out here? Clean up couldn't even touch Lilys Gulf yesterday because the tide was too high. Did he fall from the bluff? Or was he swimming in the storm on some foolish dare? He didn't appear to be a drowning victim, so more than likely, he must have passed out there just this morning. What happened to his clothes?

The fin that may or may not have been there tugged at her mind like a taunt fishing line. No pun intended.

She pulled up to the station and directed someone to call 000 to get an ambulance there quickly. The seasoned lifeguards took a look at the half grown man in the back of the ATV as she reported to Karen what had happened.

When the ambulance came, she volunteered to stay with him until his family could be contacted.

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