Raining Humans

"Aqua! Don't go too close to the land. Stay away from humans. They're nothing but terrible creatures who destroy anything they don't understand. If they see you, swim to the bottom of the ocean as fast as you can and don't look back."

To this day, Aqua remembered her mother's words. Unfortunately, the old mermaid was severely injured by a crazy orca and passed away several years ago. Aqua only had her mother growing up. The lady taught her everything she knew, from hunting to astrology. She was still grieved thinking about the horrible day. However, the young mermaid knew that life had to go on. She might not have her mother with her but remembered everything she was told.

The deep sea came with a different set of dangers. There might not be many humans in the deep sea, but there were sharks and whales that loved to eat merfolks. Aqua’s village was wiped out by a school of hungry whales, and her mother escaped with baby Aqua in her arms as her father and brothers fought valiantly. Compared to humans, the young mermaid thought whales were scarier.

Hence, Aqua learned to swim in shallower waters even if it was riskier. She had several close encounters with humans, but they weren’t as fast as whales or sharks in the water. To dive as deeply as Aqua did, humans had to wear strange black suits that covered their entire bodies. There was also a heavy rock on their back that carried air. Aqua learned how humans needed air, or they would die. It was a rather odd way to die, but it would explain the black suit and funny tails they had to wear whenever they dived. Her mother might be wrong. How could these weak creatures possibly destroy anything?

Hence, the young mermaid spent many years swimming near human piers to observe them from the water. The water was unclean with many strange pollutants, such as oil and trash. The oil bothered Aqua, but the trash was interesting. It became her hobby to collect discarded trash in the water to examine them. There were many food wrappers with strange pictures and symbols on them that Aqua had no idea what they meant. However, she started seeing patterns. Sometimes, humans would toss food into the water, and Aqua would curiously taste them. Her favourite had to be the sticky brown blobs because they made her smile. It reminded her of coconuts that would sometimes float from beaches. They were sweet.

Unlike mermaids, many humans often worked during the day. Some worked at night, but they were few. Unlike merfolks who preferred the night, humans seemed to disappear from the piers almost completely when the moon was high in the sky. Occasionally, there would be a few loud and sleepy humans walking back along the pier, but they would never see Aqua hiding by the rocks.

Once, the young mermaid became brave enough to snatch one of the sleepy human’s bags when he fell asleep by the bridge to see what he had. She returned his things without him noticing, even after she returned to the sea. It was the closest she had ever been with a human, and nothing happened. They weren’t scary like orcas and whales or sharks.

Just like that, Aqua spent her days dodging boats, teasing seagulls and studying humans. She had a favourite spot to spy on them under the bridge where fast-moving machines passed over. According to the humans, those were cars. Aqua had no idea why humans needed cars when they had legs. If mermaids could swim and humans could walk, why did they need to invent cars? Humans were rather strange, after all.

It was a new moon, and the tides were rough. Aqua gave up remaining hidden beneath the waters. There weren’t many boats in the harbour, so she decided to swim to her favourite bridge and sit on the rocks to enjoy the cool sea breeze.

According to the stars, Aqua would have a fateful encounter tonight. She had no idea what to expect, but she was excited. Could it be that she was finally meeting another merfolk? Ever since her mother passed away, Aqua had never met another merfolk. It was lonely. She wished for someone to talk to from time to time and laugh like the humans.

…

Pricking her ears, Aqua froze. There were humans above the bridge!

Quickly slipping back into the waters, Aqua kept only her eyes above the waves and listened. The humans above sounded as if they were having a disagreement, even if Aqua could not hear what they were saying. It wasn’t uncommon for humans to shout at each other. It happened very often whenever they drank from glass bottles.

Bang!

The loud sound frightened Aqua so badly that she ducked beneath the water and hugged her tail. What was that? It was even louder than the horns of cars during sunset. However, there was nobody else around.

Splash!

Something heavy fell into the water, and Aqua was immediately on high alert. Were the humans throwing things down the bridge? She should probably swim away before the whole bridge came down above her head.

However, before the mermaid left, she smelled something she did not think she would smell again. It was the smell of blood, and it triggered memories of her mother’s gruesome injury. Although she had no idea why the humans were fighting above the bridge, she knew that one of them was hurt.

Even if they were different species, there was no way Aqua could leave a wounded person to die. Hence, she swam towards where the heavy human was sinking and wrapped her arms around him, bringing him up to the surface. Before checking his injuries, Aqua had to bring the injured human to the air, or he would die quicker than the bleeding. Humans were inconvenient with their funny feet and their need for air.

Pulling the injured man up on the rocks, Aqua realised he was much heavier than he looked. The man was bleeding from his stomach beneath a black shirt, so Aqua shredded it with her webbed fingers. She needed to reach the wound to save him.

Mermaids were creatures born from the magic of the ocean, according to Aqua’s mother. On the nights of full moons and new moons, they can use an ability to save a life for a price. Unfortunately, it was not a new moon or full moon when she was severely injured by the orca. Aqua remembered crying until there were no tears left. However, she could not call upon the magic of the moon to save her mother.

Tonight, she could finally use her ability to save someone.