The ' A challenged woman's love ' stories, contrary to my Handicapped love series, are fictional. This story is a fantasy I very much enjoyed writing. I hope you like it too.
It was a night of pain. From the minute Ramy, my new caregiver helped me go to bed I knew something was wrong. I was afraid to find out the next morning. What ever ached into my lower body would be a wound the next day, and although I can't feel it like I can feel my upper body, my sixth sense told something was wrong down below. I tried to move, but the few millimeters I was able to correct my lower body didn't make any difference.
I couldn't sleep so I took my tablet and opened my favorite forum. There were new messages in a thread I followed and I scrolled through artistic images of appealing drawings and other artwork. An interesting image of a mermaid lying on the stones in a harbor caught my eye. Seducing a handsome young naked man with the body of a god but hiding a devil's tale. The mermaid's lower body intrigued me. I fell asleep with the image of this half woman half animal and the man who at first sight wasn't what he seemed to be.
1.
The mermaid.
It was a full moon, a beautiful night and I only had to flow on the waves to go to the artificial lights. It was high tide yet I was stranded on the sand, waving my big fin as a wave threw me unto the stones. I knew I could only stay an hour or two before the tide got too low to get back, and that was one of the many things that made my mission almost impossible.
At that time, in that place, with a full moon only the lowlifes, fugitives and criminals were awake and would be near the harbour. But my rescue could only come from one of them. I watched human life go by in the lights of street lanterns. Heard the drunks sing their seamans song, heard wifes swearing and shouting, and street dogs howl. The light of a street lantern slowly faded in a slow walking cadans as a man came down the path toward the harbour. He had a harpoon on his back.
"Please don't kill me, i am Evi and i can make you the happiest man on earth."
"Who are you and what makes you think I need happiness? You make a great bait for my bear traps in the woods. That's what makes me happy."
"I am half a queen, half a fish. The moon sent you down here tonight to find me. Now it is up to you to liberate me. But it takes courage, ruthlessness and strength. You, my dear, are the chosen one. Now the tide is going down, I have to go, but in a month I'll be back and you can show me how brave you are."
"Wait, you expect me to let you go now and come back in a month? Why do you trust me?"
"You have been chosen, it is not up to you or me. Bring a big macheted, you have to cut me in two."
A wave came up to the stones and I took a dive into the cold dark water. For a moment I was afraid I was wrong and an arrow would pierce my back. But as I looked back he stood on the quay, fearless, a silhouette in the light of the lantern.
2.
A moon circle of hope.
The moon fell and rose slowly the following weeks. It was the season of storm, thunder and death. Fishermen, often driven by hunger, stayed out too long, unable to get back ashore and died in the cold water. I went down to their dead bodies, took them to their seaman's grave and sent out a message to their loved ones, about the loss of these brave, hard working men. I heard the screaming of the wifes, the crying of the children and the desperation of the city when yet another member was lost in the waves.
On the day of full moon the clouds opened up, yet the wind was still strong and the waves high. It was a risk to get to the harbor cause I could smash into the stones. But a wave lifted me up and put me down gently on the stone nearest to the steps. On the top, overlooking the sea stood with reverence my poacher, my savior.
"I only believe in myself, why should I believe you? It is you who wants something from me, and as regards I get happiness? I need food, beer. Do you even know how hard times are around here?"
"Look at my body, I bear the pain of this village. The storm, the thunder, the turned current that made the fish go further south. It is all because of me. You have to cut out my demon of the sea and plant the god of the land into my body."
"You think I am, or have in me some kind of a god? Look at me then in return, I am a fugitive, sentenced to death. I only live in the dark, in the twilight."
"You are the chosen. But you only have a few minutes to find the good in yourself. If you do find it, take your manchete and cut my fin lengthway in two. Then plant your seed into my wound and my split fin will turn into legs. You only have 5 minutes before I'll bleed to death. As a reward for giving me the ability to walk my dear, I will make you the king of my land Harless."
3.