Mermaid

It was about sunset when Robert first saw the mermaid. All the day’s work was finished, or at least his share of it; which meant the sailors were willing to leave him alone. Robert used the solitude, as had become his habit, to gaze upon the endless waters that kept him trapped on the stinking prison of a ship.

The first thing he saw was her beautiful, oddly greenish-tinged hair, fluttering in the wind. Robert wondered if it wasn’t some kind of ocean plant; but then her head popped up, followed by the rest of her. The mermaid’s skin was so pale it gleamed like moonlight in the dusk. Her woman’s torso was wonderfully curvy, with the perfect amount of flesh in all the right proportions. Her tail was a sea green that gleamed almost as brightly as her human skin. The mermaid rose, dove back under, then rose to the surface again and floated on her back. Her head darted back and forth as she took in the ship.

Robert watched the mermaid gamble in the ship’s wake and wondered if he was starting to see things. The sailors frequently discussed men who saw mirages and hallucinations after being at sea for too long. The lack of women on board definitely provided for his current vision, if vision it was. Robert never had any interest in the majority of ways the sailors employed to relieve that lack; and he had resorted to his hand so often that it no longer had any real effect.

I’ll take it, Robert decided. After all, he reflected sadly; if he was stuck on this horrible voyage then he should take whatever little bits of pleasure he could, even if it was from something that wasn’t real.

Robert’s self-pitying reverie was interrupted by a loud splash and a laugh like a tinkling bell. He was shocked to see the mermaid staring straight at him. Even from a distance, Robert knew that the eyes staring at him were dark and glittered with mischief. Her face, practically glowing in the last dying rays of the sun, was that of a young girl; with a perfect blend of exotic features to make it the envy of the finest courtesans. When the mermaid saw that she had Robert’s attention, she caught his eye and quirked her lip in a half-smile that was both wicked and alluring.

Robert leaned over the rail and stared. The mermaid laughed delightedly and beckoned to him. Robert was entranced and leaned further. He wondered if he dared go overboard. The mermaid laughed again and splashed playfully. Suddenly, a loud voice rang out and caused Robert to turn his head; the bosun alerting the alerting the crew that it was almost time for the ship’s lanterns to be put out. When Robert turned back, the mermaid had disappeared.


Robert woke at dawn to the shouts of the bosun, and made haste to get up before he could be kicked to his feet. He still had some painful bruises from the last time that had happened. As Robert joined the rest of the crew in the morning tasks, he tried to ignore the agony from the tears in his hands, and the healing gashes in his back from when he had been whipped for disobedience.

“Well if it isn’t Lord High and Mighty himself.” The words were punctuated by Billy the bosun’s reeking breath in Robert’s face. “I guess you can do honest work after all, you just need the right motivation.” Robert tried to focus on the rope he was tying off and resist the urge to say something or make an obscene gesture. Billy was a cruel man who loved enforcing discipline. Everyone hated him, and nobody wanted to get on his bad side. When Billy saw that he wasn’t going to get a response, he punched one of the wounds on Robert’s back; and walked away laughing as Robert involuntarily collapsed in agony.

Robert was not on the ship by choice. He had been walking home one night when someone snuck up behind him and hit him over the head. When Robert woke up, he was onboard and the ship was already out to sea. Captain John made it clear that everyone aboard his ship, willingly or not, worked. When Robert tried to refuse, it was Billy who happily used the whip. Robert quickly decided that it was easier to follow orders.

Robert frequently found himself wondering if he had somehow died and gone to Hell. He hated the ship; the lack of space, the smell of all the men crowded onto it, the agonizing work followed by the long periods of equally agonizing boredom, the nausea of the first week, and the fact that Billy had taken a disliking to him. Worst of all was the fact that there was no escape from any of it.

Finally, the morning tasks were completed and the men gathered around the galley for their breakfast. Robert’s stomach churned at the thought of the hardtack and salt pork; he had grown sick of it after only a few weeks. Nevertheless, he had learned from hard experience that it was a better alternative than starvation.

As Robert found an out of the way corner and started to force the horrible food down, his thoughts turned to the mermaid. Had he really seen her last night? Would he see her again?


She surfaced behind the ship roughly an hour before sunset. Robert wasn’t sure how long he had been waiting, and was overjoyed to see the mermaid again. She, meanwhile, flashed Robert a delighted smile of recognition when she saw him at the rail.

Watching the mermaid splash and play in the waves below, for the first time in months Robert found himself smiling. I guess that’s one good thing, he thought to himself. Robert hated everything about the ship and what he was forced to experience on it. Still, at that moment; the opportunity to experience what he was currently experiencing almost seemed to make it all worthwhile.

The time seemed to go on forever, and yet passed way too quickly. When Robert heard Billy’s voice yelling that it was almost time to put out the lamps, he knew he had to go. He didn’t want the rest of the crew to find out about the mermaid. When the mermaid saw that Robert was about to leave, she gave him a pleading look and gestured for him to come to her. He smiled and shook his head.

“I can’t,” he said quietly, “not tonight.” From the tilt of her head, she seemed to understand. Robert raised his hand in a reluctant goodbye. The mermaid smiled and returned the gesture.


That night Robert had a wonderful dream. He leapt overboard into the waiting arms of the mermaid. She laughed and took him far away from the ship that had long replaced the fires and pits of Hell in Robert’s imagination.

The details of the dream were indistinct but pleasurable. Robert felt love and desire for the beautiful creature with him. He beheld wondrous vistas he only knew from books and stories. Above all was a sense of freedom; of release from a huge and terrible weight forever dropped. The sudden, hard boot to Robert’s side hurt all the more for taking it away from him.

“Wake up you lazy sluggard,” Billy shouted, “you’ve work to do.”


Aching and exhausted, Robert stumbled to the rail. Over the last few days the work had gotten harder. Worse, Bill seemed to take a special interest in making Robert particularly miserable.

Robert had only two escapes from the agony his life had become, brief and transitory though they were. The first was the wonderful dreams he continued to have, where he received all that he truly needed and wanted. Robert both longed for and dreaded the dreams. He longed for them because they were the only times he was happy these days; but he dreaded them just as much because they made waking up that much more miserable.

Robert’s other brief escapes from mister were the nights at the rail with the mermaid; who continued to follow the ship and show interest in him. As soon as Robert slumped over the rail, she popped her head up and made gestures of joy and excitement at his presence. Robert gave her a tired smile.

“I’m glad to see you,” he said quietly. He began telling her about his day. As usual the mermaid never spoke, but she listened and showed sympathy. The opportunity to tell his troubles to a sympathetic ear made them see less unbearable, if only for a short while. The warning for lanterns out came too soon, and sent a ripple of irritation and despair through Robert.

Pleadingly, the mermaid gestured to Robert not to leave; to jump overboard and go to her. “I’m sorry,” Robert said, shaking his head sadly, “I can’t.” The mermaid smiled sadly and waved goodnight. As Robert settled down on the spot of deck where he slept, he thought about all the miseries of life aboard the ship and wondered why he didn’t do it.


“Will wonders never cease? Is Mr. High and Mighty actually soiling his delicate hands with honest work?” On his hands and knees, Robert tried to focus on scrubbing the deck and ignore Billy’s insults. He knew Billy was trying to pick a fight, and that it would be worse for him if he rose to the bait.

Unfortunately, ignoring Billy wasn’t going to work today. When he saw that Robert wasn’t going to react to his insults Billy kicked his wash bucket partway across deck, soaking Robert in the process. Robert breathed hard to steel his resolve, wiped the stinging suds out of his eyes the best he could, then walked over to the bucket and started scrubbing again without acknowledging Billy.

Billy stomped over and kicked Robert in the side so hard that he rolled across the deck and slammed into the rail. Gasping in pain, Robert pulled himself up. He caught a glimpse of the mermaid swimming beside the ship and made his decision. “I’m done with this shit,” he told himself. Robert turned to face Billy.

“Well now, does the little ponce want to make a fight of it now?” Billy mocked. While Billy’s words were confident, the look on Robert’s face provoked a note of uncertainty in his voice. With a snarl, Robert threw himself at Billy.

Thrown off balance by the suddenness of Robert’s attack, Billy hastily threw his hands up to protect his head and torso. Robert used the distraction to land a kick on Billy’s kneecap. The knee didn’t break, unfortunately, but the blow was hard enough to cause Billy’s leg to seize up and collapse from underneath him.

As Billy fell, Robert followed up with a series of blows to his face. One blow hit his mouth, and Robert could feel the teeth crack; one hit his nose, and Robert felt it flatten; and one blow landed squarely in Billy’s left eye. Billy screamed and writhed, clutching his mangled face. Robert stomped down, hard; once on Billy’s stomach and three times on his groin. Then he kicked him mercilessly until several sailors managed to pile on him and drag him away from Billy. After a struggle and a few bruises from their fists, Robert calmed down.

“What is going on here?” Captain John’s furious voice rang out.

“’e done attacked Billy,” one of the watching sailors answered. The Captain glared at Robert, and the sailors holding him down hesitantly let him get to his feet.

“Billy wanted a fight,” Robert told the Captain in an unusually calm tone, “I merely gave him what he wanted.” The Captain’s expression grew colder.

“Nobody assaults an officer on my ship,” the Captain said. “You will be whipped at dawn as an example. We’ll see where your attitude gets you then.”

“I look forward to it,” Billy snarled through a mouthful of broken teeth. He staggered to his feet and glared at Robert, his one remaining eye burning with hatred. “When I’m through with you, you won’t have any flesh on your ribs.”

The crew went back to their tasks. They didn’t bother to lock Robert up; what was the point? Where would he escape to? Robert was aching and exhausted, but he felt a strange exhilaration as well. Whistling a cheerful tune, Robert walked to the rail at the back of the ship and looked out. Sure enough, there was the mermaid.

With a delighted shout, Robert jumped over the rail and landed in the water. The mermaid enthusiastically swam toward him, and equally enthusiastically they embraced. In her arms as she drew him under the water, Robert felt the happiest that he could ever remember being.

His joyful mood was interrupted when he noticed that he couldn’t breathe. Gently, Robert tried to remove her arms from him so he could swim to the surface, but they wouldn’t budge. Desperately, Robert tried harder, and then with all his strength. The mermaid’s arms were like iron bars and he couldn’t budge them an inch.

Deeper the mermaid took him, Robert struggling to escape so that he could get some air. He could see the blackness of the deep ocean, and shuddered in dread. Suddenly, Robert felt a sharp pain as his lungs exploded from the water pressure. Before it all went black, the last thing Robert saw was the mermaid’s broad grin, revealing a mouth full of fangs. Happily, she began to feast on the corpse.