• The skies had been threatining to rain all day. Gwen rested on the rocks above the shore line. Hee short, cherry red hair was being messed by the almost violent winds that blew across her face. She shivered as she pulled her knees closer to her chest and adjusted her hoodie. She sighed and her blue eyes met the oceans again.

    "Come back," she murmured softly. The sea began to stir as the clouds got heavier. Gwen's eyes sfotly lightened, as if the sea was answering her prayer. But instead, the sky began to cry it's heavy mourning tears.

    "Gwen! Hurry back inside!" her father called from the door. Gwen surpressed a groan and ran back inside, glancing over her shoulder as if the ocean was going to pull her back. But it didn't. It never seemed to answer her prayers. Never seemed to obey her calls. But then again, she thought sullenly, the ocean is a wild place.

    *~*~*~*~*

    The morning sunlight and gray streams of sky seeped through Gwen's window. She grumbled and sat up, her hair like a mangy rat's nest. "Ugh, not enough sleep," she groaned as she stuffed her face back into her pillow. The storm had kept her up late that night with it's constant murmurs and roaring words and lightning and thunder. To keep it simple, no sleep did Gwen get.

    She slumped down the staircase into the living room of glass walls. She looked out at the ocean. It was much calmer than the night had been to her. She smiled. She slipped her boots on over her bare foot and one sock and pulled her hoodie on over her baggy T-shirt. She opened the door ever so slightly, and just the smallest whiff of sea-air filled her senses with joy.

    She walked down to the edge of the rocks and looked over the little shore that she held dear. As she looked more cloesly at it, she noticed something had beached up. She hopped down closer to the shore and looked at it closer. "I really need glasses," she grumbled, squinting at the thing on the shore. Suddenly, it became more clear. It was a person!

    Gwen's eyes went wide and she stumbled down towards the body, begging God that whoever it was would be alive still. She tripped over the rocks and stumbled onto the cold, morning sand and suddenly dropped down next to the person laying halfway in the water. Gasping for breath, Gwen checked the person's pulse. "Still alive," she sighed in relief.

    She looked closer at the person. It was a young man, not much older than herself, with almost blue, abnormaly colored skin. He was slender, as if he hadn't eaten anything. His hair was silky, a dirty snow white color, with strange spikes that felt hard to the touch. "Could it be?" Gwen shook the feeling and grabbed the boy gently underneath both arms and hoisted him out of the water, dragging him onto shore.

    When she set him down, a great surprise met her. A large, multi-blue colored fin had replaced human legs and other lower areas. She stared with her bulging blue eyes. "A mermaid?" she gasped.

    "Actually, we male prefer merman," gasped the boy. Gwen jumped backwards slightly and looked at the merman. His eyes were just barely open, showing crystal blue eyes that shimmered like aqua gems. Although his magnificant eyes were barely open, they showed a great amount of pain, struggling pain. "Could you please help me out of this net? I got caught in it during the storm last night," he explained.

    Gwen looked down at his body once again. She hadn't noticed the tangled net that held his body togther and that cut into his strange colored skin. Gently, she tugged at the netting tangled around torso, trying hard to make sure it didn't cut into his back, which it probably already had done. She didn't want to hurt him, or damage the beautiful creature before her.

    "You know, it's alright. Just tear it all off. I won't mind being hurt." She looked down at the merman's serious eyes. 'What is he, a mind reader?' she thought. The merman chukled softly. Gwen rolled her eyes. 'Obviously,' she thought dumbly. She remembered his words, but still cautiously ripped the netting off of him. He winced from time to time as she struggled to tear the net from him, but she managed to do minamal harn to the creature.The merman sat up, leaning back on his forearms and smiled at Gwen.

    "Thank you for helping me," he said as he began to crawl back to the sea. Gwen's eyes became lonely again. She looked away, plastering a fake smile onto her face.

    "Okay," she murmured. The merman looked at her puzzlingly and tried to read her thoughts. He was blocked from them. Clouds of darkness seemed to shroud over them. Although he wanted to stay, for some strange unknown reason, he couldn't. 'Humans can't be trusted,' he remembered, slinking slowly back into the ocean.

    Gwen stood up slowly and leaned against one of the tall rocks pointing up from the sandy grounds. "I guess I'm even bad at making friends with mythical creatures." This made a slight, but horrible, pang in her heart. She clutched her chest, in hopes that panging pain would stop. Tears began to burn inside her eyes. She shook her head, trying to let the feeling slide, but it didn't. It kept burning the inside of her heart and soul.

    "By the way, my name is Levern!" came a voice from a distance. Gwen's eyes went wide. She looked out towards the sea and saw the merman waving back and smiling at her. The burning sensation stopped and a new feeling, something she never felt before, flooded over her. The merman smiled and called "What's your name?"

    For the first time in a long, long time, she smiled. "My name is Gwen!" she called back, smiling a smile of happiness.