Ocean Feels Like Home

Have I dreamt of being a mermaid, or am I a mermaid dreaming of being me?

I don’t remember when I started falling for the ocean, for it’s been in my heart even before I learnt to speak. Water-it soothes my soul like none other. I don’t just get happy when I visit the beach or go swim in the ocean, even drinking a glass of water makes me feel so much alive. When I sat down to write my next story on Medium wondering what to write next, the picture below caught my attention. It reminded me of my grandpa and the story he often told me when I was a kid.

There was once a young fisherman who lived in a shack on the beach. Every day without fail, he woke up as early as 2:30 am and went out into the sea. He had to wake up this early in the morning because this was when the wind blew from land to the sea making it easier for him to sail. His age belied his experience in fishing. He was used to going out into the sea with his father and grandfather from quite a young age. He always knew exactly where he could find plenty of fishes, often aiding the other fishermen as well.

One day, it so happened that his friends had to cancel their plans to go out to sea with him. So he set out alone, unafraid and determined to catch his prey. That day, he planned on catching a few John Dories — “a predator fish that was just as skilled as he was at catching a prey even at dawn”. He felt as a John Dory himself, stalking and catching the fish. That’s exactly how they preyed as predators as well.

When he had finished fishing for the day, he wrapped up his net, rolling it into a neat bundle, tucked it carefully inside the boat. He was all set to go back home when a shimmering light shining brightly on a nearby rock caught his attention. The sun was not up yet, so he couldn’t figure out what it was in the dark. He lit his torch and rowed the boat forward towards the rock to check out what lay ahead.

What he saw upon reaching the rock left him baffled. He stood there for a minute or two helpless, rather confused, or perhaps both. With the help of the sharp beam of light from the lighthouse nearby and the dimly lit torch in his hand, he caught a clear glimpse of the girl lying on the rock in front of him.

“Help me, please,” she said. Her bloodied right arm stretched straight at him, tightly holding on to a small bundle close to her chest with her left.

Some creature had badly attacked her. Streams of blood oozed out of her head and ear, flowing through her arms, drenching her in blood. He bent down immediately to lift her up when he noticed the bundle she was holding. It was a fish… No! With a closer look, he realized what it was. It was a baby mermaid. His mind was brimming with questions. Questions like who attacked her; how was she alone here in the middle of the sea at this time of the hour; and most importantly, how on earth did she find a baby mermaid?

He wanted to ask her a million questions, but seeing her brutally injured, he decided against it. Right now, she needed help, and he was determined to help her. As he helped the injured girl to get onto his boat, he noticed her shiny green tailed lower body. That’s when he realized, she was no ordinary girl. She was a mermaid.

He rowed the boat as fast as he could to reach the land. On reaching the shore, he called his most trusted friends nearby to come help him, as he didn’t want the other fishermen on the island to know about her, not knowing how safe an option that was. They took the girl and the baby to the village healer, who took them in for treatment. The healer stayed just a few huts away from him.

Standing outside the healer’s hut with his friends, he couldn’t help but feel betrayed by the sea. Sea was his second home, yet nothing felt real anymore. He always thought he knew the life at sea more than land. He couldn’t believe a creature thought to be a mere telltale actually existed.

Moments later, the healer called the men in. The fisherman and his friends walked in, one after the other, into the healer’s hut. All of them stood in silence as they looked at the mermaid’s lifeless limb lay flat on the bed.

“I am sorry, I couldn’t save her, but the baby lives,” said the healer, walking to the fisherman giving the baby to him.

This was the story my grandpa often told me.

“Did the fisherman ever find out who the mermaid was or how she was attacked, grandpa?” I had asked him at the end of the story.

To which my grandpa had replied, “No.. Nothing at all. No one knew what attacked her or how she came to be there on that rock, that night.”

“What happened to the baby,” I had asked him next.

“Oh, that’s just another fairytale, isn’t it? What ending would you like to have?” he had asked me in return.

“I want the baby mermaid to live happily ever after,” I said, smiling.

I vividly remember the blissful smile that crossed my grandpa’s face when he pulled me closer, embracing me in a warm hug, and said, “And so she lived happily ever after.”

That’s the story I wanted to tell you all. I hope you all liked it. Next time I’ll tell you how my friend said she can’t actually breathe underwater. That was something that shocked me when I was a kid. How on earth can humans not breathe underwater? I remember telling it to my grandfather once. To which he said that not all humans had the ability to breathe underwater, some did, and some didn’t. Sad isn’t it? I think all of them should have this ability. How else will we appreciate the beautiful life underwater? My grandfather couldn’t either, but he loved that I could. I always told him about my visits to all the beautiful places I saw underwater, every time I went for a swim.

©Aswathi Ashok 2021. All Rights Reserved.

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