A Sirens Future

The Devastating Truth

Lyris

I feel the change come over me, prickling its way through my body from the tip of my fins to my waist. The change is painful and unpleasant. At first it is like an entire limb that has fallen asleep and no matter how much you rub it, it won't wake up. Then it gets worse.

My tail splits up the middle painfully, a dull tearing sound of flesh and scales echoing faintly around the cave I'm now sitting in. I don't make a sound as my tail rips apart. I learned to bear the pain of the Change at a young age, just like every other Siren. When we are old enough we are forced to Change between our Siren form and our human appearance, withstanding the pain in wave after wave of torturous ripping flesh until the pain is, not gone, but a simple fact of life.

I watch as my scales slide from my now divided tail, dropping off the sides in tiny piles of blood and shimmering scales. Underneath lay pale human shaped legs, long and slender and still covered in blood. I wiggle my toes and bend my knees, making sure the Change is finished, then rinse the blood in the water next to me.

Rising and scanning the rest of the cave quickly, I spot my mother laying in her bed. I cross the space between us, pausing to grab a robe that is tossed across the back of a chair along the way. I sit next to her on the huge bed and place my hand on her forehead. Her pale skin is warm to the touch, but no more than usual. Her eyes flutter open and look unseeingly out at me.

"Lyris?", she croaks out, her voice raspy.

"Yes, mother, it's me," I say as I stare back into her pure white eyes, long blind from age and mental strain.

Sirens rarely go blind and we never get sick. Not physically. There are a few things that affect us, though. Age, for example, can bring blindness, as we do live well into our thousands. Our bodies can be harmed by weapons, though we do heal fast. For a Siren, though, the worst possible thing that could happen is losing a soul mate.

When Sirens find their soul mate, it is branded into each half, burned into their very souls, and joining them together forever. Only death can break the bond. When a Siren loses their soul mate, especially under brutal circumstances, over time their psyche can crack, and this is what has happened to my mother.

Although nobody knows who her soul mate was exactly, she lost him long ago, before I was born. The story she has told me since I was young is that when he saved her from a hunter they fell in love and formed the soul mate bond. Shortly after the same hunter killed him, breaking the connection that my mother and him shared, nearly breaking her. She found out she was pregnant with me a few short months later. She was an amazing mother, strong and wise, standing against the pain of the broken bond for years. But as time passed and I grew older, the pain began to chip away at her. Peice by peice.

For the most part she is the strong vibrant mother I have always known, but occasionally, and currently more frequently, she is bound to fits of irrationality. She flies into rages, harming herself and those around her, shifting between her forms too quickly, ripping her skin to shreds. Sometimes she will simply cry uncontrollably, or stare mute for days. Eventually, her sight started to fade, then disappeared completely. Now her eyes are completely frosted over in white and sightless.

I can tell by the bandages wrapped around her legs, exposed by the thin sheet she has kicked off in her sleep, that today has been a particularly bad day.

She looks up towards me and gently pats my hand that is still on her face.

"I'm alright now, Lyris," she says tiredly. The worst has passed, I believe."

I nod, knowing she can't see me but not trusting my voice. I turn and grab a brush, old and heavy, with beautiful designs carved into its wooden handle, off of her nightstand and begin to gently brush her long black hair, shot through with grey streaks. She sighs contentedly and begins to hum.

When I'm relaxed, I set the brush aside and take a deep breath. My mother stops humming and looks in my direction, sensing the change in my mood.

"I need to tell you something," I start after another deep breath.

"I would do this another day, but it's important."

She waits for me to finish expectantly, but I'm too nervous to continue. I'm suddenly afraid of what she will think. Will she be disgusted? Will she think I'm a freak of nature, not possibly meant to be her daughter?

She continues to wait patiently, automatically knowing that I'm struggling and will either tell her whats on my mind or not.

I squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself for her reaction.

"I found my soul mate today," I pour out, barely above a whisper, and I feel the bed shift as she leans closer, "It was a human man."

The silence is so loud it hurts my ears. As the silence continues to fill up the space, surrounding us in its soundless echos, my heart begins to drop. Then I hear my mother sigh, and speak words that cause it to stop completely.

"I was afraid this day might come," she whispers.

Nikolas

I don't even know what I'm doing here, like doctors will have a clue why a tattoo suddenly burned its way onto my chest. They will probably just think I'm crazy...or high.

I shake my head and step out of my car, pausing to lock the doors, and head into the big building in front of me. The giant red letters glow above me as I walk through the sliding glass doors into the brightly lit waiting room of the hospitals emergency center.

The nurse sitting behind the long desk that takes up the middle of the large room looks up and smiles, making the skin around her eyes and mouth wrinkle. I walk toward her and smile back faintly.

"Hello dear, how can I help you?," she asks kindly. I pause for a moment, not sure exactly how to answer.

"Um," I start, making up something quickly, "I got a tattoo a few weeks ago, and its been bothering me. I just want to make sure there is no infection."

The nurse nods and smiles again, and after taking the pen and clipboard she hands me, I turn to go sit by the big glass windows in one of the uncomfortable green chairs. I start filling out the papers tiredly, and wonder again exactly why I'm here. The slight quick flare of pain in my chest reminds me and I sigh. I finish with the papers and walk them quickly back to the nurse.

"Thank you, dear, now you go have a seat and when the doctor is ready for you, I'll give you a call," she says in the same kind voice.

I nod and head back to my window seat. I sit down and lean my head back against the cool glass and close my eyes, trying to ignore the burning in my chest, and avoid thinking of anything.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know I'm back on the beach. I immediately know I'm dreaming. Its daytime now, and windy, like a storm is blowing in. I can smell rain in the air. I look around, noticing I'm in the same spot on the beach as the day with Larrissa. I automatically look towards the small island, the cave barely visible through the rough waves crashing around it. I head for the small snaking peice of land that connects the beach to the island, determined to find what is so important about this cave and what I saw there, that is appears even in my dreams.

I reach the thin peice of land and start walking carefully across. Halfway to the tiny island, I am hit with a huge gust of wind that almost throws me into the cold crashing waves. I look around again. I was so fixated on getting to the cave that I didn't even notice how the weather was changing.

Black clouds are rolling over the sky, ready to drop rain at any second. The waves around me are higher, pushed in all directions by the bitter cold force of the wind. A bad storm is coming. I start walking again, reminding myself that this is just a dream. A few more steps and another gust of wind hits me. This time I lose my footing, slipping into ice cold water.

I start to pull myself out quickly, but I'm hit from behind by a large wave and it drags me backwards. Im pulled under the surface of the dark water, then pushed violently upward by the relentless churning of the waves.

My head breaks the surface, and I have just enough time to gasp in a deep breath before I'm slammed back under by another dark wave. I spin in the water, confused now, not able to find the surface. I start swimming blindly but I can't make out anything in the pitch black. I know this is just a dream but I feel myself start to panic. My chest is burning from the lack of air, my arm and legs feel rubbery from trying to fight the rough waters.

The mark on my chest suddenly gives out a searing pain and I cry out. Water rushes into my mouth, choking me. Im terrified. I know I'm drowning now, and I stop fighting, willing myself to wake up. My eyes slip shut.

From the darkness I hear the faintest hint of a whisper, almost like a hiss and it sends chills through my numb floating body.

Mine, it says.