Escape

If you want to see a mermaid, this is what you do: Dive down to where the water is no longer blue, where the sky is only a memory, and float there, in the silence. Stay there, and decide that you'll die for them. Only then will they come out, greet you, and judge the love you have for them. If it's sincere, if it's pure, they'll be with you, and take you away forever.

I escape.

All my cares shatter as my body breaks the water. I dive till I feel the pressure grip me. Hearing nothing but the slow thrum of my pulse, I spread my arms and hang there in the stillness. Enveloped by the sea. Caressing me like the arms of a lover, begging me to sink deeper into it's velvety blackness. This is a different world. Up, I see spears of sunlight boring into the void, reminding me where I come from, where I must return. No! I need this. Need to stay here. I see them, hear their voices.

I am dying.

Agony rips me back to reality. Heartbeat thundering like Vulcan's forge, I tear my eyes from this unholy beauty and scale the vertical water-path back to my world.
I float on the timeless sea, and the sun warms my cheeks. Smiling a bitter smile, I know that one day I will be back to stay.