Stars and the Sea (Collab with Starry M)

"Oh honey, what are you drawing?"

I turned to look at my mother, who was standing in the doorway and holding her phone in one hand. I lifted up the large sheet of paper in my hands and explained, "Well it's a Mermaid! I really hope to meet one someday."

"Uh...Honey, I don't think that'll really be possible. You won't ever be able to-"

My father's voice had managed to cut her off, making me jump out of my skin. "Mermaids aren't real Mabel, and they never will be real. Why don't you just forget about them?"

I stared at the phone and gripped the piece of paper, but not enough to ruin it. I couldn't destroy this or anything else I made, even if I was a bit upset...

"Don't lie to me, I know that Mermaids are real! I'm going to prove it to you."

"No you won't, now grow up."

***

Let me ask you something, what do you think happened? Did I grow up and stop believing in Mermaids and every other Creature? Nope. Well, I did literally grow up over the years, but I never stopped believing in any of them.

Would you believe me if I told you that I was hanging out with a Mermaid? I doubt that any of you actually would, but I don't care that much.

"So what do you humans usually do up here for fun?" The Mermaid (who I eventually learned was named Maddie) asked me. Oh boy, where do I even begin?

While there was a ton of things that I usually did, I attempted to list all of them to her, "Well I sometimes listen to music to help me with things, I like walking my dog...well more like he just drags me along with him. I probably should go take him on another walk soon...and oh don't get me started on my parents, they are really-"

Maddie inched closer and covered my mouth with both of her hands, unluckily before I could finish telling her everything. "Do humans usually talk this much? Or is it just you?"

I carefully moved both of her hands away from me, and then explained with a small laugh, "Heh well there are just humans who either don't like talking that much, and there are other humans who love to talk a lot. You know, you kind of remind me of...oh no, here I go again...I'll shut up."

"Oh...um...would you maybe want to learn more about Mermaids? I could tell you anything, ya know since I am one after all." I heard as a hand was set on my shoulder.

"Yeah, sure I don't see why not, this is like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to even talk to you. I just hope that I won't end up forgetting this and a few other things, man my Memory has just always been so t-" before that could be finished, I quickly covered my mouth.

I turned back to look at Maddie, who was staring back at me with an eyebrow raised. She had this look on her face at the moment, but I couldn't tell what it was about. Did she not like me? Did she hate me now? Did she even like me to begin with? Oh gosh...

"Are you alright? Why do you keep doing that, is that a normal human thing to do?"

"It's nothing...can you just tell me some stuff about Mermaids now?"

***

I stood in front of my father, who was watching some sort of old-timey-movie on the tv in the living room. "Come on dad I'm just saying that you should take me there at some point! It would be so amazing and then maybe in the future whenever I'm older, that could be my job and then I would be able to-"

"Will you shut up, Mabel?" He mumbled though he didn't take his eyes off of the Tv screen. Wow, that must have been a really great movie or something, but it seems a bit stupid if I'm being honest.

Why would I have to do that? This is something really important, and he needs to know. Mom would probably be way too busy to even try and help. "Come on dad, please? If you could just take me there then I would be able to do so many things. I'm not sure what I would exactly do when I'm even there, but maybe I would be able to just help all of the-"

That's when he finally stopped looking at the movie and turned to look at me as he stood up, towering over me. "I told you to just shut up!" I watched as his hand went up into the air, and then I felt a sharp pain somewhere...

***

"Uh hey, are you even listening to me? I've been telling you some stuff for about ten minutes." Maddie asked as she then shook my shoulder a bit.

"Yeah yeah I've been listening and that's all really interesting..."

I took her hand off of my shoulder while she then proceeded to ask, "So what's your family like? I already told you...some of mine during that whole explanation...if you were even still listening."

I tried my best to explain everything while trying not to make it long, "I don't have any siblings, wish I did. My parents are...um...well they are..."

"They are what?"

"Well if I ever told them that I still believed in Mermaids and everything, at least one of them would be like "Oh come on your eighteen! Stop believing in that crap and grow up!"...oh that was long again, I'm sorry..."

The two of us sat there in silence for a few moments before Maddie started to head back into the water. "I should probably go back home now, I don't want my dad to start worrying."

She's probably going to say 'no' but it's worth a try, right? I don't think she even really likes it here. "Wait! Could you please come and visit again?"

We both sat there in silence again for what seemed like ages, until she began to smile. "Sure, I don't see why not. You didn't really hurt me...goodbye for now."

Once she vanished into the water, I sat down on a rock nearby and looked above me. As I stared up at the stars in the sky, I wondered what would happen next time she visited. If she visited.