• *Splash* went the long tail, after the moonlight had caught the golden hair and green scales. After the flash on my camera had caught the half-woman, half-fish beauty I got on my bike and pedaled home.
    Running up the steps like a gazelle, an ability I had to learn, I entered my brother's room and woke him up in a harsh whisper.
    "Look, Al! She does exist! There is a sire! I have a photo to prove it!"
    "Mmmm... go to bed, Char, it'll be there in the morning. I need to sleep for crew." he said, half asleep.
    "But this can't wait until the morning!" I shouted, almost waking up my parents.
    "Alright..." Al yawned sleepily then looked at my pictures. "What the heck?" he exclaimed, surprise waking him up.
    "See? It's a siren, the one that has been eating all of the guys recently!" I explained hurriedly.
    "You don't know that. This could be a hoax. We'll discuss it in the morning. Not everyone can be as energetic as you." Then Al promptly fell asleep.
    ***

    The next day at school, I told Kaya.
    "You see, there is a siren that appeared recently and that's why there are so many guys missing recently! Because their song traps and lures them!" I explained.
    "But Char, wouldn't there be bones appearing? I mean, you read the Odyssey. There are bones!"
    "If they have the intelligence of humans, who's to say they didn't bury them at the bottom of the sea?" I counter argued, thus entering school while doing so. "I suspect Alica."
    "Why?" Kaya inquired.
    "Her long, flowing hair, the fact that when she moved here the disappearances started, and how she always talks longingly about the sea. Plus, the guy she has a crush on hasn't disappeared, and he was on the surfing team." I responded.
    For those who do not have much background, this story does not make much sense. Since I'm going to publish this story into a best-seller non-fiction work, I might as well tell you.
    It began six months ago. Johnny was the first to disappear. He was on the swim team. As a coastal town, the team would practice in the Summer for extra training. All of the swim team disappeared. Then the surfing team. Oddly enough, the diving team disappeared as well despite not practice in the ocean due to a lack of diving boards on the shore. Allen was the only one of those three sports who didn't disappear. He's the surfing champion, with spiky black hair, deep brown eyes, and a bit of a teaser but really kind. He was questioned by the police multiple times.
    High School students aren't the only people who went missing. Those from the nearby college disappeared to. Now people from the Crew team are missing, despite the fact that in Winter the Crew team uses rowing machines instead of going on the water. Our school sports are starting to suck.
    Back to reality:
    Putting my stuff in my locker, I went to the library to wait for it to open. Kaya and I are early birds, getting to school an hour before it starts. You won't believe how many times teachers have joked about us living at school.
    When the library did open, I looked up and cataloged the last time anyone saw those who had disappeared. Looking at the pattern that established itself, I gasped.
    "Kaya, the siren is going to strike again tonight... and it goes in alphabetical order by last name. My brother Al will be the victim tonight." I stated.
    "Char, you know how you've been working on it for months. Last time you though you had it correct you had Allen as the next victim, and he's alive." Kaya dismissed.
    "But this is absolute and final. Look! Picks a team, picks them off alphabetical. I'm going to go to the shore tonight and hunt this creature." I stated.
    "I-"
    "Don't think I should go? Think it's not a good idea?"
    "-wish you good luck." Kaya finished.
    "Aren't you going?"
    "Can't. Family business. See you tomorrow, when nobody disappears?" she asked.
    "Sure."
    "Oh, and why have you discounted me from being a siren? I have long golden hair." asked Kaya, her faded jean colored eyes inquired.
    "Because, I've known you all my life." I answered truthfully as my brown hair fell into my eyes.
    ***

    That night, I went to the spot I saw the siren before. She leaped into the air as I threw a stone at her.
    Splashing near the creature, she annoyingly asked, "Hey, what'd you do that for?". Then she swarm closer.
    "Don't hurt my brother you siren!" I snarled.
    "Siren? I'm a mermaid." Alica's face came into view.
    "Then what are you doing on land, Alica?" I asked, confused.
    "As a mermaid princess, I need to go on land and fall in love with a guy who loves me back." she replied.
    "But I thought human and mermaid love was forbidden."
    "Nah, that's the human version. It's practically tradition to fall in love with a human."
    "Then what's making all the guys disappear....." I looked to the small cliff on my right. Outstretched nightingale wings. Sirens weren't aquatic creatures, they just preyed on mariners! Sirens had wings of a nightingale to show their beautiful voice.
    "Well, I guess I've been found out." announced Kaya.
    "You're the siren!? Why did you spare Allen? Where's Al?" I asked, a flurry of questions surrounding me.
    "I hate mermaids. So I figured that by sparing Allen you'd suspect Alica and kill her. Al's safe at home, because I wanted the ruse to continue if you killed her. You know, it would have been so much more simple if you obeyed The Call. But no, you didn't. So now I'm stuck with disposing of both of you. It will be no easy job, because where will I hide the mermaid bones? Ah well." Then she swooped. I dodged.
    "What do you mean? This carnage started six months ago. And what do you mean by The Call?" I asked, hoping to stall her like some villain from TV.
    Her talons on her feet caught me in the stomach. I crumbled up like a rag doll. Alica came up to save me, when Kaya folded up her wings and dropped on Alica.
    "Now that you can't move, I'll explain. I came here six months ago."
    "But- I've know you all my life." I must have cracked a rib.
    "When I met you, you were smart and nice. I liked you. But the carnage had you suspicious. Now, normally Siren songs only work on the opposite gender. By slipping you a drug, though, you could be hypnotized. In reality, I have only been here for six months. In your mind, for 16 years. Then came stage two."
    Alica tried to get up, but was clubbed by Kaya and a near-by log.
    "I also slipped you sudemetaphine. Now, maybe that's a real human chemical. For Sirens, it's the drug that starts to turn people into Sirens." She smirked. "Normally, it would have worked by now. But you're resistant. Possibly because you haven't had..." Kaya pulled out a flower... "Jasmine nectar."
    Walking over to me while I sat up and coughed blood, her hand grabbed my face. Pushing at my jaws, she propped my mouth open, tilted my head back, and started to pour....
    That's when Allan chucked his surfboard at Kaya.
    He ran over to Alica. "Are you alright? I'm sorry I couldn't have gotten here sooner...." he apologized.
    Grabbing my cell from my pocket, I dialed 911. "Help.... at Tankona....... beach...." I hacked in my horse voice.
    Kaya managed to get up, and ran screeching at me. By this time, Alica proved that mermaids weren't complete and utter weaklings. She jumped on Kaya and grabbed the log. Then she hit Kaya squarely on the head, knocking her unconscious. Then I followed Kaya's suit, with everything going black.
    ***

    I was in a clean, crisp, white bed. I looked up at Allen, and saw Alica was sharing a room with me and smiled.
    Al was there, handing me a bouquet. 'Get well soon, and don't wake me up. Love, Al. To, Charlotta.'
    "WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU DOING SO THAT YOU CRACKED A FREAKIN RIB! YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED! WHY WERE YOU OUT SO LATE? DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" yelled Al. "Now relax and enjoy yourself while you're in the hospital."
    Bewildered by the outburst, I stared. "What happened to Kaya?"
    Alica responded. "She.... disappeared. Not to hurt anyone again." The low voice scared me.
    It was only later I found out that the other mermaids executed her for human torture and eating too many. After all, Kaya needed to eat something. It was then I started searching for my own Allen, for Alica had passed the test and Allen found out who she was, and still loved her. Sometimes, though..... I can hear a sweet voice singing. One from my newly regained (or unrepressed) memories. Our town will always live in fear of the chance it could happen again, but I'm not afraid. After all, where there are Sirens, there are Mermaids.