Chapter 1
“There is a legend about a woman who lives in the ocean. She was very beautiful, with the upper body of a woman, but her lower half was the tail of a fish. It was a truly beautiful sight, but because of her tail, she couldn’t live on land. If she left the water excruciating pain would run through her entire body. She believed that she had nowhere she belonged. All creatures in the sea where either scared of her, or would try to attack her.
She searched everywhere in the ocean, hoping to find someone like her, but hadn’t succeeded, it truly seemed she was alone.
Because of all the creatures being scared of her, she also lived alone. She lived in a dark cave, the only company the crabs or barnacles living inside the cave. She didn’t bother them, hoping they would stay, craving any type of interaction with another living creature. One day as she was lying on the sandy bottom, hidden in seaweed, she heard a strange noise. A noise none of the animals in the ocean could make. She turned in a circle, trying to find where the noise was coming from. She swam out of the cave, getting closer to the surface where the sound was the loudest. She knew if she tried to leave the water she would be in great pain, but she desperately wanted to know what the noise was.
Poking her head out of the water didn’t hurt, as long as she stayed wet with the ocean water. She strained her ears, trying desperately to pin point the noise. After a few minutes, she noticed the noise was coming from land. She swam towards it, getting closer and closer. When she got close enough to the shore she hid behind a tall rock, covered in barnacles and star fish.
Looking around the rock, she saw him. A man who held a strange instrument. She’d seen one before lying on the ocean floor, but never knew it could make such a beautiful noise.
It was a stringed instrument, and he seemed to be dragging a stick across it. As she looked the man over, hoping she’d finally found someone like her, her eyes stopped on his legs. She had been entranced by the sound, and hadn’t noticed. ‘He doesn’t have a fin like me’,she thought. She was incredibly dissapointed and let put a small noise. The man heard and stopped playing, turning to her quickly. She tried to hide, but was to slow. He had seen her, and started to come closer. She was to shocked to move, and stayed still for a moment, not knowing what to do. He had gotten closer, and she finally snapped out of it, diving into the water and started to swim away, but to late the man had grabbed her tail.
The man stared into her eyes, shocked by her beauty. “What’s your name?“, he asked her, wanting to know everything about this woman. She just stared at him scared and confused. She didn’t understand what the noises coming from him meant, she’d never heard them before. The man waited, before realizing she didn’t understand.
He pointed towards himself, wanting her to understand, “I’m Edward.” He paused pointing at her, “You’re...” He trailed off, hoping she understood. She opened her mouth to speak, “E-Edward.” She managed to get out, sounding proud of herself. She thought the man wouldn’t do anything, he seemed kind. He laughed happily. “So you can speak. That’s great”, He said to himself.
He got up, And pointed to the ground, “Stay?” He asked, seeing if she understood. She nodded slowly, showing she knew what he wanted her to do. As he turned and walked away, glancing back at her to see if she would really stay, she smiled. ‘She’s very intelligent.’ He thought to himself. The man thought that if he could teach her the language and other things, she would not only be able to understand him, but he may be able to keep her with him.
So day after day, they met in a cave a little way off. It was half submerged so she could stay in the water and he could stay on land. everyday he would come and teach her. He was right when he had called her intelligent, she could already hold conversations with him in just a month. She knew the language, history, and math in just three months. She was smarter than most of the people the man knew!
The man and the woman had grown feelings for each other and wanted to stay together forever. The man went to her and he didn’t bring books, but a ring. The ring had a beautiful pink pearl that glistened in the sunlight. The pearl sat in the middle of a yellow gold band, “I love you.” The man told her, “I want to be with you forever, won’t you spend the rest of your life with me?” The woman of course answered yes, crying salty tears. When the tears hit the ground, though they turned into diamonds, pearls, and roses. The man saw this and his greed overtook his love.
He took her tears, and never returned. But the woman waited, days turning into months, months turning into years. She had moved to the rock where they had met, hoping he’d show up. She had lost track of time and continued to wait for years. legend has it she’s still out there, waiting for her lost love.”
