Tales of Tyde

Chapter 1: The Encounter

Tyde lived on the outskirts of a little town with her uncle and his family of three, as her father went missing while away at war and her mother died when she was a baby. Tyde spent her days doing chores around the house, reading books, or sitting on the shores dreaming of being somewhere else. 

She tried her best to avoid the house when her uncle wasn’t home as her aunt Mel wasn’t very fond of her and never failed to let her know when they were alone. Her uncle Arthur loved her dearly as she was the most precious thing to his older brother Fynn who spared no efforts all his life to make sure he was ok. 

One day, while Arthur was at work Tyde, decided to visit the old abandoned church. She often visited the area whenever she wanted to be alone as it was quiet and a good place to read. However today was different, today when she got to the old church she could hear voices; at first, she thought the wind carried the sound as she couldn’t see anyone but the voices kept coming as if people were nearby talking. 

At first, she was going to head home as she wanted to be alone, as she was about to leave she noticed a pathway that she had never seen before. It was lined with sand which meant it led to the ocean and being the adventurous soul that she was she decided to take a quick look, as the only dangerous thing to ever happen in her town is rough tides causing fishermen to go missing.

The more she walked the closer the voices got and the clearer their words become. She started to notice that they were voices belonging to a boy and a girl. Tyde made her way until she got to the opening and stumbled on an old dock, but to her surprise, there was no one there. Suddenly she heard a big splash, so she ran to the end of the dock to have a look. 

Before she got to the edge of the dock there was another big splash but no one came back up so she thought it might have been dolphins and decided to stay awhile just in case they came back. While there she noticed a faint sound coming from behind the rock nearby. Not sure it was anything she ignored it but as the sound continued Tyde decided to take a look. 

When she got there to her horror she saw a girl tangled in a fisherman’s net struggling to free herself. At first, she thought it was strange and wondered how someone could get caught in a net but didn’t say anything, she just ran to try to help her.

When she got closer, the girl yelled hysterically “Go away! … Don’t come near me!”

To which Tyde replied, “Don’t be afraid I won’t hurt you.”

“Don’t come near me! Go away! … leave me alone!” she screams continuously.

Tyde being confused by the realization that the girl was more afraid of her than being stuck in the net replied “Why are you chasing me away? I just want to help you.” 

By then she was close enough to see that the girl was tangled from her shoulder down in the massive net. She proceeded to approach her and managed to free one of her arms at which instance the girl pushed her away and hurriedly freed herself and dived into the water, leaving behind nothing but a big splash that caused Tyde to shield her eyes from the saltwater.

After clearing her eyes she looked around for any sign of the girl but not even the net was in sight, she yelled hello until she got tired and started to question her sanity wondering if loneliness had caused her to imagine someone had been there, after all, what normal person could disappear into the water without ever coming back up for air and taking along such a massive net with them, never leaving a trace.

On her way home she reflected on the events of the day and thought it might be best she got some rest and not dwell on it again. That night she dreamt about the incident but in her dream, she imagined the girl with a tail as she dived into the water. At which point Tyde woke up to the shocking realization that she wasn’t dreaming she was remembering what happened.

“She had a tail!” Tyde muttered in a state of excitement and shock. 

Coralia’s P.O.V.

I could’ve sworn that human spoke to me like she could understand what I was saying. It’s almost like she was responding based on what I was saying, but it must be in my head after all humans can’t understand us.

“Coralia! … Coralia!” yelled Sym before asking “How did you manage to escape?”

“I was lucky I guess besides, it almost seemed like the human wanted to help me.” Said Coralia 

“What do you mean… their kind has never been helpful, I’m sure that if it was trying to help it’s because it thought you were a human,” said Sym.

“I think this one was different Sym, it’s almost like she could understand what I was saying,” said Coralia. 

“That’s crazy! To them, we sound like dolphins, and I’ve never heard of any human that could speak our language so let’s say you imagined it in the scare of the moment. After all, you were almost caught and who knows what would’ve happened if you were.” said Sym.

“Either way I think I’d like to keep an eye on her just to be sure; I mean it won’t hurt.” Said Coralia

“I’m guessing you want me to go with you.” sighed Sym. 

“You know I can’t do this without you, so it’s settled then we’ll go back tomorrow and hope she comes back.” Said Coralia

“Fine!” said Sym annoyingly.