The room was dim as the last rays of the sun gave way to the lighthouse’s beam outside his window. Despite sitting beside the window, his hunched form was lit more from the blue light of his computer screen. His brows were lowered as he stared at the blinking cursor in the search bar.
Mermaid sighting near Crestway
Luis almost couldn’t believe he had typed such a phrase, but when he pressed the search button, he was overwhelmed at the results. Articles flooded into view, filling the screen with words, pictures, and videos.
Red Tail Labs Shut Down Due to Kidnapping Allegations
Journal Reveals Red Tail Laboratory’s Ill Intent
Real Mermaids? The Truth Behind Red Tail Labs
He read the headlines in mild shock. Red Tail Laboratories was a marine research facility north of town, and news of its closure months earlier had been covered so briefly, he hadn’t given it any thought. He had no idea it could be connected to Liana’s disappearance—and her reappearance as someone, or something, completely different.
He took a deep breath and clicked the first article. A video loaded at the top of the page, and a local news reporter began to speak as yellow police tape flapped in the breeze behind her.
“Red Tail Laboratories was shut down Tuesday morning over allegations that they have been kidnapping women from the Crestway area; and what follows may be difficult for some to understand, or even believe. These women were believed to have been taken and forced into an experimental program to create the first living mermaid. Yes, the mythical half-woman, half-fish creature of storybooks was the subject of Red Tail’s secret project—hidden under the public front of ongoing marine rehabilitation.”
The reporter started to walk as the camera swung to one side to show the oddly shaped gray, red, and blue building in the background.
“The allegations come with the discovery of a journal kept by an employee who chronicled the cold, calculated process that took the lives of almost every woman in the experience. The journal did not give real names, only individual projects named after gemstones, such as ‘Rubye,’ and ‘Emeryld,” purposely misspelled with the letter ‘y’ in the name.”
The camera panned to frame the reporter standing with the ocean as her backdrop.
“According to the journal, only one, Project Sapphyre, was considered a success; but when authorities stormed the facility, no woman, or mermaid, was found. K-WAY-TV has not yet received word if other evidence of this project exists apart from the journal, but we will remain on the story and bring you the most up to date information as it becomes available. For now, curiosity may have us scanning the horizon in hopes to catch a glimpse of the missing mermaid, but it is much more likely that these mystical creatures will simply remain in stories and legends. Reporting live from Red Tail Laboratories, this is Adrianna Bradford of K-WAY-TV.”
His hand was clamped his hand over his mouth as the video cut back to lighthearted banter between two reporters in the studio. Just as Adrianna had said, it was difficult to fathom something like this could even happen, especially so close to home. He had visited Red Tail Laboratories in the past among the other tourists to view the tanks of rescued sea turtles and dolphins. The same caring company turning to experimenting on human beings was difficult to swallow.
While there were no names documented of the women who had been sacrificed for their project, he knew exactly whom “Project Sapphyre” had been. Anger surfaced and his fingers clenched the computer mouse. He opened another article and began to read.
Days before the raid that alerted authorities of Red Tail’s heinous efforts, Tanner Ahote, a laboratory technician who worked closely with Project Sapphyre, had been reported as missing. When his sister gained access to his apartment, she discovered the now-infamous journal that ultimately brought Red Tail’s crimes to light.
Tanner’s full entries were not released, but the pulled quotes were more than demeaning enough. With each one, he cringed as tears stung his eyes.
“It’s hard to believe it, but they’ve done it. After who knows how many girls, Project Sapphyre has survived the process. I know she is in excruciating pain; who wouldn’t be after having bones and body parts fused, grown, and removed... after all, that’s what took the lives of the ones who came before. But this one’s hanging in there somehow.”
“Project Sapphyre improves every day. She has grown accustomed to swimming and using her tail. She breathes underwater with gills on her neck, but has no trouble breathing from her nose above water. A beautiful pattern of markings has covered her body. She is truly an impressive being. But I’m afraid the process has taken its toll on her mind; don’t think she can speak or understand speech anymore.”
“It’s been a month now. I’ve tried to tell them Sapphyre is suffering; she needs stimulation. They claim the damage to her brain is irreversible—that she’s nothing more than a fish merely surviving in a tank. But they don’t see her when we’re alone. She doesn’t trust them, so she refuses to communicate with them. When I’m alone with her, she understands what I say and gives me nonverbal answers. She has confirmed that she cannot remember her life before this one. It breaks my heart.”
“All of my suspicions have come true. They want to market her. Sapphyre will be their ticket to fame. They want to display her as an exhibit, trapped behind glass for the rest of her life. She is restless, and I am too.”
“She cannot stay here. These walls, this glass tank cannot contain her. She needs to be free. If this journal is found and I am gone, it is because they discovered it was me.”
Luis lowered his head to his desk and wept bitterly. He couldn’t bear to imagine the pain—the torture—she had undergone. It gave him hope to know she had survived, but with the words that she could no longer remember the life she had shared with him, he returned to despair.
He brought himself back to the web search and began to scroll through the remainder of the articles. With the same two or three stories reposted across different webpages, and he soon learned why the news came and went without him even realizing it—and without the police attempting to track down any leads for the missing women. A day after the initial report, KWAY-TV reported from a Crestway Police press conference that evidence was found, but it would have to be processed for authenticity. The CEO of Red Tail Laboratories would face the court for the kidnapping and experimenting on women, but at that time, there was no evidence linking any particular woman to the project.
And, since a mermaid was never found, the news stations and websites simply swept the whole ordeal aside and moved on. There wasn’t even an article that spoke of the supposed trial.
He sat back in his chair and wiped his face with his hands. In his window, the gentle sweeping of the lighthouse was all but drowned out by single security light on a nearby pole. It cast the sandy parking lot below in an eerily yellow hue. He held up a hand to shield his eyes, and he looked out into the darkness that coated the ocean beyond its artificial light.
In the months that had gone by since the raid on Red Tail, not one sighting of Project Sapphyre had been reported. Yet, just that morning, he had seen her.
That alone gave him hope.
—
Day after day, he walked along the shore as the sun rose, just as he had when he found her the first time. Sure enough, the day came when he found her in the morning light, seated again on the rocks with her face against the sea.
He stood as still as he could in the sand as the cool water lapped at his feet.
Her blue tail faded to a pale lilac at the fluke, and it lightly curled around the rock. A strip of cloth was wrapped around her chest, and sunlight glimmered on the intricate blue markings that covered the rest of her body. Her dark hair was wavy from drying in the sun.
She opened her lips and began to sing.
He blinked back tears when he heard her voice. Though she was not singing words, her beautiful voice was still the same.
A larger wave drove in, and the softening sand disrupted his footing. He staggered and loudly splashed out of the surf.
The mermaid whipped her head around, and crouched against the rock in defense. Her gaze and posture loosened as he remained unmoved. He wasn’t sure how long they watched each other, but even as far apart as they were, he could almost feel the same old connection—the one when they had first met each other when he moved into the apartment beside her.
Something startled her further, and she dove into the surf.
He turned around just as a policeman on a bicycle peddled to a stop on the sidewalk up the hill.
“Luis?”
Luis blinked. “Jared?”
“Bro, what are you doing down there?” The man waded on the bike with both feet on the ground. “Are you trying to be late to the office every day this week?”
He assumed by Jared’s casual banter that the mermaid had disappeared before he had had a chance to see her. “I just had to clear my head.” Luis started up the sandy hill. “I’ll be there in ten minutes—I promise.”
“Ten minutes? You don’t even look like you’ve showered yet.” Jared’s eyebrow rose when Luis finally joined him near the sidewalk.
The uniformed officer was dressed for duty, complete with a CPD patch on his gray sleeve and “Moreno” imprinted on a metal nametag above his right chest pocket. Jared was tan, dark-haired, and muscular, and being a police officer only heightened his popularity among the attractive cliques of young professionals in town. However, when Luis was hired as an office assistant at the law enforcement center, he quickly realized the officer’s true passions: video games and pizza. Friendship was inevitable.
“Sorry, man; it’s just been a rough couple of days.” Luis admitted, his toes buried in the sand.
“What’s up?”
Luis pressed his lips together. Not even Jared would believe his current fish story.
Surprisingly, Jared was quick to catch on. “It’s been a year, hasn’t it?”
“Hm?”
“A year since your neighbor went missing.”
Luis swallowed and glanced down. “Yeah.”
Jared gave an empathetic nod. “I feel you, bro. Still no word, huh?”
He glanced back at the ocean, unable to answer.
“I can’t believe, in a year, investigative services hasn’t found anything on it. I mean, I didn’t even know her, but it’s not very reassuring that someone from our town can just disappear like that. And believe me, I bother those guys every so often to keep them on their toes, but all I get the typical ‘we’re working on it’ mess. It’s not like that department’s even doing anything right now with spring break over and gone. ”
Luis spaced out during Jared’s tirade. He thought he saw the mermaid’s head peek out from the water, but the glimmering sunlight on the waves made it difficult to focus.
“Anyway, bro, I don’t want to see you get written up—Chief’s not the sentimental type.” He leaned his bike to one side to put his foot back on the pedal. “I’ll distract him as long as I can if you really can be there in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be there,” Luis turned back to his friend. “Thanks, Jared.”
Jared flashed a thumbs-up before pushing the bike into motion. The gentle clicking of the chain faded into the sound of the rolling surf.
Luis sighed and trudged his way back to his own bike, chained to a bench on the sidewalk up ahead. Ten minutes was definitely pushing it, but he could make it—if he could keep his mind off her for that long.
—
Day after day, he continued to walked the shore as the sun rose, but he did not see her. He walked the shore every evening, but he still did not see her. Her absence was beginning to drive him to madness.
He was constantly late for work, struggling with deadlines, and worrying his friends. He fought sleepless nights and exhaustion to find her. He couldn’t bear to think of losing her again, but day after day, the hope he so desperately held to was waning.