Siren

It's the same scene night after night. Scene, vision, nightmare - Serena can't decide, because the things she sees in her dreams are a combination of all three.

It's a scene so vivid that she can recall it in detail. Impossibly tall, dark as midnight waves racing to swallow her coastal town whole. The waves engulf everything in its path - businesses on the main street, homes scattered across the region, even devouring the mountains that surround and protect her town. The water is not discerning - human life or not, it asserts its dominance against all that stand its way. Serena's town was no match against Mother Nature's vengeance.

Despite this, it's not what she sees that is the most concerning, but what she hears. She can hear the devastation in her dreams - the cries of people stuck in their cars in a futile attempt to leave town, the wailing of her mother as she holds Serena and the rest of her siblings in a bone-crushing hug, her father's deep sigh as he huddles close to her mother and her siblings, knowing that there was nothing he could do to protect his family from their impending doom.

She always wakes up startled. Her heart is always beating fast, and she blinks her eyes in a daze. She never understands why she wakes up this way, until she remembers. It's a recurring dream, and it's been a recurring dream for some time now.

She can't stop seeing the death and destruction of her hometown. And deep down, she knew there was nothing she could do stop it.

-

Serena's mornings usually start off with her getting her siblings ready for school. She's thankful her parents start their days early to catch fish, so she doesn't interact with them first thing in the morning. She'd rather hear the innocent ramblings of her younger siblings than hear the harsh words of disdain from her parents.

"I think our daughter is a witch. Is she foretelling a curse? A curse on this family?"

"Can you be levelheaded? Our daughter needs a psych ward. She's clearly not right in the head."

"She keeps seeing things in her dreams. That's not normal! She's been trying to tell the other kids at school that we'll all be dead because of the waves! Can you believe that?"

Serena is already used to the name-calling and teasing she endured as a child. She tried to tell others what she saw, and thought it right to warn others. Unfortunately, going to school in such a small town meant that the scrutiny intensified a thousand fold. Every laugh, every snicker, every name calling in the book - freak, witch, devil, fortune teller thrown at her felt magnified. Her only home, her haven by the sea, managed to be the only place she couldn't outrun.

Serena cried until she had no more tears to cry, and came to the realization that there was no use in trying to change the minds of kids (and adults) that refused to listen. She did her part, and no longer felt shame at disregarding their presence in the classroom. The least they could do was leave her alone.

But to hear such thoughts being expressed by her parents? It hurt more than she wanted to. It was easy to disregard classmates from school, but was even more difficult to ignore her own parents. But as she grew up, she too, realized that her parents wanted to avoid her as much as she wanted to avoid them, their witch of a daughter.

The only reason she was still tied to this place, to their little house on the edge of town, was her three beautiful younger siblings - Mare, Caspian, and Luna. Their parents are seldom home, fishing as a source of additional income to support their family. Serena developed a bond with each of her siblings while their parents were away. She adored them, despite the chaos they wrecked across their house. For every stern moment Serena enacted as caretaker, her siblings loved her fiercely for being their calm amidst chaos.

"Sea levels are rising to new recorded heights", a newscaster announced from their TV. "Expect flooding and massive outpours of-"

Serena immediately shut off the TV, not wanting to start the day with erratic weather reports. It would make her too nervous.

"Caspian, Luna, why don't you play by the window while I get Mare ready for school?"

Her two youngest siblings heads' popped up and nodded furiously at her suggestion. They stumbled onto their feet and made their way to the pile of toys waiting by the window. The sounds of their giggling and sounds of make-pretend play filled the living room as Serena stepped into the kitchen to place breakfast onto the table.

"Did you have another bad dream Serena?"

Serena breaks out of her daze, placing their modest breakfast of toasted bread and fruit down as Mare climbs into her seat. She sat next to Serena, her curious brown eyes innocently glancing up at Serena's.

"Yeah. Same dream. But you know how it goes." Serena mutters, tearing off the crusts of her overdone toast. She pushed the remainder of the toast towards "Mom and Dad don't really like to listen to what I have to say."

Mare looks at Serena as she silently eats her breakfast, noticing how her older sister purposefully made her self smaller at the table. Fingers never extending beyond anything out of reach, hunched over her plate with pieces of her long, dark hair falling into her face.

Mare then reached into one of the pocket of her navy blue jumper, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to pry something out of her pocket. Her eyes widened in discovery and placed an object by her sister's plate.

"Look what I found the other day by the beach. Mama said it's a piece of mermaid glass." Serena's eyes softened at the sight of a translucent piece of glass, no bigger than a quarter. It reflected an aquamarine and teal hue as Serena held it up to the light. Mare looked over at her sister excitedly, happy that her sister was finally looking somewhere else than down at her feet.

"I brought it home for you." Mare continues, jumping out of her seat to perch on her older sister's shoulder. "You always look so sad when you wake up. Maybe it will protect you from the bad dreams."

Serena was touched by the gesture. She rarely experienced kindness from their parents, let alone the people in her town. But when she peered into her younger sister's eyes, she knew her heart to be genuine and pure. She pulled Mare into her arms and the younger didn't hesitate to hug her older sister tighter.

"Thank you Mar." Serena whispered into her sister's hair. "I love it. It's so beautiful, just like you."

"Exactly!" Mare agreed, breaking away from her sister's hug with a big, toothy grin. Perhaps not too toothy though, as Mare had a couple of pieces of missing front teeth. "It's pretty like me. Pretty things will make the ugly go away, right?"

Serena scoffed and pinched Mare's nose. Oh, how Serena desperately wanted to believe that the horrid things she see could go away at the presence of a pretty object. "Whatever you say, Mar. I think the size of your head is getting is getting too big for your body!"

"I think the size of my head is just right, thank you very much!" Mare shot back. "What does that even mean anyway?"

"Nothing love." Serena laughs, ruffling Mare's hair. "Finish your breakfast so I can drop you off at school."

-

Most days after dropping Mare off at school, Serena takes her other siblings down to the beach. They walk a little ways from the lighthouse towards the sound of roaring waters.

Once she makes sure that her brother and sister are situated (and within eyesight), Serena turned to talk to the ocean. She never thought, even in her wildest dreams, that the ocean would talk back to her. Whenever the dreams are overwhelming for her, she runs down to the beach and begs the ocean to do something. Anything.

"Please," Serena whispers, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "Please don't let my family die. They don't deserve to die this way. Just-please."

"Child," a silvery, bell-like voice spoke. "Why do you think you have power over your family's death?"

"I don't." Serena answered simply, looking over at her two younger siblings that were attempting to build sand castles. "I know I can't do anything to stop it. But what about my siblings? It's not fair to them. They have an entire life to live."

This time, it was a different voice that spoke. It was much more serpentine in nature, and the words were drawn out. "Some people born on this earth master their lessons faster than others, such as your siblings. Their hearts are good and true. Soon, it will be time for them, as it will be for you, to go home and reincorporate the lessons learned."

Serena's sat up straighter. She didn't understand such cryptic words. "W-what do you mean go home? This is our home."

There was a pause, and the only sounds that filled the air were the crashing of waves and the combined laughter of Caspian and Luna. Serena wasn't sure if she'd get a reply. The ocean chooses when to respond to her.

"Serena." A third voice finally spoke with finality. "As above, so below. If it's your time to go, it's your time. In due course, you will understand."

Serena didn't have the energy to ask more questions. The ocean waves, too, didn't say anything else for the entirety of her stay.

-

As the days pass, her town and the surrounding areas are riddled with flash floods and rising sea levels.

There is water everywhere as far as the eye can see. Serena sends Mare off to school in rainboots, and Serena herself has to carry an umbrella everywhere with her as she travels to and from the main part of town. It becomes difficult to get errands done when many businesses are shuttered up due to the weather.

On one particularly unrelenting day, Serena, Caspian, and Luna seek shelter at one of the shops in town. Serena is displeased at the thought of staying in town longer than necessary, but she's at a loss when her siblings are much too small to trudge through heavy rainfall.

The three siblings took refuge in a jams and jellies shop ran by an elderly couple. Serena doesn't care for the old man. She's heard him mutter witch under his breath one too many times, but his wife is much kinder to her. Every time Serena visits the shop, she exchanges few words with his wife but is always greeted with a smile.

"I know it's not much, but you're welcome to wait out the storm in here." The elderly woman spoke, placing a small tray of baked goods next to a pot of tea and an assortment of mugs that were also brought out. "I hope these will keep you all warm in the meantime."

Caspian and Luna eagerly dug in, their small, grubby fingers ripping into pieces of croissants and scones. Serena smiled at the elderly woman with gratitude.

"Thank you. We appreciate your kindness."

The elderly woman smiles back, but Serena noticed that the smile isn't quite reaching the woman's eyes. She settles on the fact that she might be looking into things too much, so Serena starts pouring herself some tea when the woman spoke again.

"This town could use a bit more kindness." The elderly woman sighed. "At least, those that are remaining."

Serena tilted her head. "Remaining? What do you mean?"

"Most, if not a majority of the town, has packed up and fled. Half of the street's businesses are shuttered. The ones that left think some type of tsunami is coming, based on the weather we've been having."

Serena felt an ice-cold jolt run straight across her back, one she knew that had nothing to do with the weather. She struggled to find the right words.

"People are beginning to leave?"

The elderly woman let out a sigh. "The people here haven't seen this type of flooding in generations. It's the type of omen that brings chaos and destruction. I guess some people don't want to be left behind if it really gets worse around here."

Serena's eyes flittered down to her mug of hot tea. She doesn't know how to feel, hearing that her dreams are actualizing.

"Yeah, I guess so."

-

After coming home that night, Serena waited until the entire house was quiet. As soon as she confirmed it was safe to leave, she ran down towards the beach and wept.

She knows she should feel more fear. More anxiety. She's shocked that the things she's seen in her dreams are actually real, and that it was the worst possible prophetic vision to ever materialize. She didn't even care whether or not the townspeople left because of her previous warnings, or found it in their own best interest to leave. If lives were able to be saved, then that's all that mattered to her.

But she knew her family to be a different case. It was best to flee the town as soon as possible, and each day that'd pass would lessen their chances of successfully leaving. Serena's family had no means of transportation, aside from their fishing boat. The roads would be packed, and her family would effectively be trapped within town. Their only option would be to find shelter up on the mountains - even then, Serena had forseen that would be devoured by the ocean too.

She didn't know where to go, yet she found herself drawn to the ocean once again.

The waters were as menacing as ever, every crash on the shore intimidating and unrelenting. There was no moment of calm, nor the pulling back of the tides. The ocean was restless.

"It's soon, isn't it?" Serena spoke to the waters, voice barely audible above the sound of the waves.

A moment passed, and a voice answered.

"Yes, my child. You will be home soon enough."

Serena stood up, her fists clenching. "What home are you talking about? And what lessons was I even supposed to learn? What was the point in anything if I'm going to die soon anyway!"

"Do you think your life wasn't worth living?"

"And what life was that supposed to be?" Serena cried out. "I've been ostracized from the entire town. I've been called names my entire life. My parents resent me and think I'm a freak. Does that sound like a life worth living to you? Whatever you are?"

Serena couldn't help the tears that were flowing from her eyes. She didn't think it was ever possible to weep from the depths of her soul.

"Check your pocket child, and you'll understand. Take only the lessons learned here in preparation for your next life. You'll understand why life on the surface was worth living, and you'll understand your mission."

Serena checked her pockets, and pulled out the piece of mermaid glass that Mare had given to her. She laughed softy, and tears of happiness started to overtake her.

It wa a simple act of love and kindness that touched her heart deeply. It was the same type of kindness shown by the elderly woman who let her and her siblings take refuge in the shop. And it was certainly the same type of love shown by Caspian and Luna, happy to be led on a cross-town adventure by their strong older sister. Such precious moments were irreplaceable. Iridiscent. A treasure that can never be fully replicated or encapsulated.

Despite the cruelty she's experienced, life was still worth living if it meant experiencing the radiance of unconditional love and kindness. Serena grasped the mermaid glass in the palm of her hand firmly.

She now understood what it meant to live.

-

It didn't take long after Serena's last conversation with the ocean for her dreams to finally come into fruition.

She wakes up and hears her mother's panicked sobs. She peers through her window and sees the waves coming. It almosts sounds like thunder, Serena thinks, the way the waves are racing towards the shore.

Serena hangs her head down, knowing that this would be the last moments alive with her family. She walks out of her room to join the rest of her family, exactly the way she's always envisioned it: her family is huddled around the center of their living room, her mother sobbing uncontrollably as her father looks on inconsolably. Between them are her siblings, clutching desperately at the legs of her mother and father.

Serena joins them silently, and her parents reached out to her and held her tightly. Her siblings soon joined suit, and too grasped at her legs. She felt her mom caress the top of her head, breaking away from Serena in order to brush strands of her hair away from her face.

"Serena," her mother whispers, eyes boring into Serena's. "Serena, I'm so sorry. I-"

"It's okay mom. I know. And I forgive you. Both of you."

Her mother sobbed even harder. Her father was at a loss for words, and could only hold Serena closer to him in response.

Serena can still feel the imprint of the mermaid glass digging into her palm from that night at the beach. She's at peace. She's not afraid anymore, even with the waves racing closer and closer.

As above, so below. She thinks to herself, for the last time. As she closes her eyes, and the darkness of the water consumes her, the last thing she sees is the glimmer of mermaid scales.