Once upon a time, amidst the deep blue ocean, there was a ship heading to a beautiful land called Vivus Island. The view was breathtaking, birds would fly around and fishes could be seen dancing in the clean water.
Nevertheless, Gabriel couldn’t be less excited about this family trip. He scrolled through his timeline as his grandfather would ramble about all his youth stories to his younger sister Anna for the 10th time.
“Is it going to take long for us to arrive? My battery is dying” he asked already sounding bored.
"Yes, we are almost there” his grandfather answered calmingly. “Although I do think you should get off your phone and take in this beautiful scenery”.
“Not interested” he says nonchalantly.
“Come on, Gabe, why are you always so distant?” Anna whines trying to get his attention off the shining screen with no success. Until she has a brilliant idea. “Hold on, is that an outdoor of your favorite anime girl on the island?”
“Huh? Why would there be an outdoor-“ Gabriel turns to the direction she’s pointing, but the sudden movement makes him lose his balance and… SPLASH! His phone falls from his hands into the sea, and all he can do is watch as it drowns deeper and deeper. “ANNA WHAT THE HELL?”
“It’s not my fault! You weren’t listening so I had to come up with something…”
xxx
The boy walks back and forth with his eyes on the sand. How would he survive a week on that island without a cell phone? He certainly would die out of boredom!
“Come on, Gabriel” his grandfather calls. “We can buy you another phone when we get back home. For now, listen to an old man’s advice and enjoy the present.” He gives a warm smile as he puts his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You used to love coming to Vivus Island when you were younger, don’t you remember? You’d play on these waters all day. I bet Anna would love to play with you” he gave a small laugh with nostalgia as he reminisced about those times.
“I don’t remember a thing. All I know is I won’t be able to spend the resin on my game for a whole week” Gabriel laments picturing how many virtual resources would go to waste. Maybe he should ask for his sister’s phone, but she probably wouldn’t comply.
Defeated, Grandfather sighs as he heads to the inn leaving Gabriel lost in his thoughts. The boy decides to sit by the docks resting his head on his hands. He stares into the vast ocean that has devoured his beloved cell phone.
“What a joke…” he murmurs to himself.
Suddenly, a female figure emerges from the water right in front of him. “Gosh, you gave me a scare!” His eyes widened as he tried to understand where that girl came from.
The beautiful red-haired girl smiled at him. Her skin seemed to be glowing under the sun and her freckles looked rather… familiar.
“Gabriel! It’s you, isn’t it? I missed you so much!” She celebrates as she rests her hands on the dock to get closer to him. “Wow, it’s been so long since I last saw you on the island!”He slightly blushes at the sudden proximity. As he was about to ask what on Earth was going on, he felt some water drops on his face interrupting his thoughts. Something strange right behind the girl in the water caught his eye.
“W-why are you half fish?!”
“Half fish?” The girl gives him a questioning look, waving her green-scaled tail. “I gotta say I prefer you calling me Miss Mermaid as you used to in the old days”.
They stared at each other for a few seconds as he tried to process what just happened. Did mermaids exist in real life? And why was she talking as if they were old friends? Although she did seem familiar, he couldn’t remember exactly who she was…
“Uh… Sorry, I don’t recall meeting you before…“
“Huh? Did you meet that many mermaids during this whole time?” The half-fish lady covers her mouth with her hands seeming genuinely surprised.
“No, I- I didn’t even know this type of thing existed. I mean, this is no fairy tale.”
“Oh… I see.” The mermaid is taken aback in disappointment.
She should have seen this coming, her family warned her about how often humans would forget about their encounters with those of her kind once they grow up. However, she did have hopes for him to remember…
The mermaid shakes her head moving those thoughts away. She forces a smile and gets closer to Gabriel again, shaking his hand.
“We can restart then. I’m Stella, a mermaid from Vivus Island. You… saved my life once! And after that day we started playing nonstop in the sea when we were both kids. I’m sure we have a lot to catch on. How is your grandpa doing?”
This couldn’t be a mistake. How many boys named Gabriel would come to this island with their grandfather? The amount of new information almost made him not notice how she mentioned something about him saving her life once.
“Uhh… Grandfather is fine. He also brought my younger sister with us this time.” Gabriel answers with confusion and still a bit aloof.
“You have a sister now?” Stella raises her voice pitch with surprise and happiness. “Aww, you should introduce me to her, she must be lovely!”
“As if. She scared me and made me drop my phone in the water.” He pouts giving the blue sea a sullen look. “Now I’m stuck on this island with nothing to do.”
“You know, having nothing to do isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Stella tries to cheer him up, taking a look at the beautiful scenery in front of them. “You could gaze at the clouds in the sky, take a bath in the water…” She pauses, and then playfully pokes the guy’s arm. “or maybe you could greet the marine creatures with me! You must miss the sea after such a long time!”
“Forget it.” He cuts her off, standing up. “I think I’m hallucinating from being away from my game for so long. I should go and convince Grandfather to take me back home.”
He starts walking away, certain he should get out of that place ASAP. But the red-haired girl’s sweet voice interrupts him.
“I might know a way to get your phone back.”
Gabriel stops in place. He slowly turns to the mermaid again, arching an eyebrow. “You sure you do, half-fish girl?”
She smiles in victory. “If it fell into the sea, then that’s my field of expertise. I know some tricks to get it back to you looking brand new.”
“I’m listening.”
“I’d rather show you. C’mere.” Stella proudly extends her hand to him.
He hesitates. In the end, there’s no other choice, extreme situations call for extreme measures! He reaches out for her hand, and she pushes him into the depths of the ocean.
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