OCEANIA ( by EVA GÓMEZ MARTÍNEZ, 4º ESO )

 

I was surprised by the stunning and luxurious objects that surrounded me in the cabin. I remember the smell of salt water that permeates the air, as well as the sound of the laughs of my brothers in the other room. It was almost midnight when I heard something like a lullaby. My parents were captivated by that music that they got ready to leave the cabin and have a look. My mum told me that she would feel better if I stayed near her so I feel compelled to go with them.

All the passengers were unware of what they were doing. All were throwing from the ship and drowned by the captivating song that some beautiful women were singing amongst the waves. I begged for my life and they conceded me to live but only like them, only like a mermaid for 100 years serving Oceania and then I could be a human again. When all is said and done, there will be no memories of my time before becoming a mermaid, and no memories of my time serving Oceania.

I could not speak to humans because my voice was lethal for them, my voice would make them suicide. I could not grow old until I turned 100 years serving Oceania.

80 years later;

Time passed and every time I become more friendly with my sisters, the mermaids who saved me. Their names were: Padma, Elizabeth, Miaka and me, Kahlen. My sisters and I spent to much of our time as sirens trying to either forget the pains of our past or desperately grasping at happy memories that continue to float away.

 

I was very nervous in my first day of college. I could not speak to anyone because as I have said my voice was lethal for them. I was Reading In the shade of a tree near the university when suddenly a handsome boy started to talk to me. As I could not answer to his nice “Hello” he discovered that I was not able to speak but it seemed that he did not care he was comfortable speaking to me with no answer, I assumed he needed someone to listen to him and I was perfect for that.

 

His name was Akinlli and every time I liked him more and vice versa. We travelled together all over the world. But I could not live that fairy tale dream, he would realize that I would never grow old but he would grow older. Whom I wanted to deceive? My love story could never work.

 

 

I decided to stay away from him and that was not a good idea. We both got sick on the verge of death. I did not know what was happening to us and I asked my sisters but they did not know anything. I was desperate, I wanted to be the rest of my life at his side but I guess my life was not a fantasy.

 

 

My sisters went to talk to Oceania but she did not know what was happening to me either. We did not stop thinking about a solution. Padma my mermaid sister had the idea of becoming me a human again. The 20 years left that I had to serve Oceania would be shared between them and in that way, I could become a human again and I would recover from my sickness. But if I returned as a human I would not remember anything of my life as a siren, I could not remember my sisters and I could not remember Akinli.

 

 

 

The next day, I woke up in a house of a stranger, but they all seemed to know me. I was out of place, someone called Akinli kissed me on the lips but that did not return my memories. I remember that he told me that he would do everything he could to make me fall in love with his smile, just with him.