Mermaid

I still think about them.
Not every day...
But often enough that the memory feels like a tide that never fully recedes.

They were just newlyweds, bright, excited, and glowing with that kind of love that makes you believe the world is still capable of gentle things and empathy.

They came to me for a honeymoon photo shoot, said they had seen my work before and wanted me to help set up something whimsical.

Something that matched the wife's lifelong obsession with the ocean.
She told me she had dreamed of being a mermaid when she was a little girl. Wanted me to fill that void for her. So she can have that beautiful dream and memory.
So I arranged the perfect spot.

I knew of a nice quiet little rocky cove just off the main beach. Close enough to swim, but far enough from the crowds to feel like a secret place carved out just for them.
And the water there was usually calm. Almost unnaturally so. But I knew it was the perfect spot for the shoot. Especially in the morning.

The rocks formed a natural frame around the cove, and when the sunlight hit the water at the right moment, everything beneath the surface turned shades of blue and silver.
It was perfect.

At least, that's what I thought.

The husband helped her into the mermaid tail, and their whole vibe was perfect. It was beautiful. Shimmering blue fabric covered in tiny reflective scales that caught the sunlight every time she moved.

She couldn't stop laughing.
She splashed him.
He splashed her back.
And for a few minutes, they were just two people completely lost in each other.

Then he climbed into the small wooden boat we'd rented, which was his part of the shoot.

Essentially the,
"land-dweller discovering a mythical creature."

I got my set up and stood on the rocks with my camera, adjusting the lens and checking the light. I remember telling them to just forget I was there.

"Make it feel real."
The wife looked at her husband.
He smiled.

Then she slipped into the water, she was so graceful, so happy even with the tail.
She floated on her back for a moment, staring up at the sky. Anyone who would've seen her would've believed she was an actual mermaid.

Then she rolled over and started swimming toward the boat, with her arms gliding through the water, the tail moved behind her in long, graceful motions.

She looked like something that shouldn't have existed outside of a fairy tale.
Her husband leaned over the side of the boat and reached his hand toward her.
She reached back.

I raised my camera.

I remember thinking:
This is going to be the best shot I've ever taken.

Then the water changed.
Not dramatically., not at first.
Just a ripple.

A strange disturbance beneath the surface and I almost ignored it.
I thought maybe a current had shifted.
But then I noticed something.

The ripple wasn't coming from the shore.
It wasn't coming from the boat.
It wasn't coming from her.

It was coming from behind her, from deeper water.

My camera was still raised, but I stopped taking pictures.
I watched something move beneath the surface.

Slow, heavy and with Purpose

A shadow passed beneath the blue.
I couldn't tell how deep it was.
I couldn't tell how large it was.

Then it disappeared and for a second, everything was still and the wife kept swimming.

But She didn't notice anything.
Her husband did.

I watched his smile disappear as he leaned farther over the side of the boat with his eyes locked onto the water behind her.

Then he looked at me.

I don't think I'll ever forget his expression.

He wasn't confused anymore.
He was terrified and shouted her name.
She turned around.
And that's when the shadow rose.
It was enormous.
The water bulged upward behind her.

The wife screamed and the ocean exploded.

A massive surge of white and gray erupted from the water.

The force rocked the boat so violently that her husband nearly went over the side.

But Her body vanished beneath the surface so quickly that the mermaid tail was the only thing I could still see and her husband didn't hesitate.
He jumped in after her.

He disappeared beneath the water for several seconds but nothing happened.

Then the water began churning violently.

The boat slammed against the rocks.

I dropped my camera and I remember grabbing it again off the rocks,
I don't know why.

Maybe because I didn't know what else to do.
Maybe because some part of me still believed I was documenting a rescue.

Then I saw something beneath the surface rising, a flash of blue.

It was her mermaid tail and the churning stopped and everything became still.

Not gradually.
Instantly.

The boat drifted in a slow circle and there was no sign of either of them.
No movement, nothing beside the boat itself.

I was frozen on the rocks, stuck whether I could've done something or not. Everything happened so fast it was like as if it was their fate. Like if the universe had that planned for them and I had no control of anything except their witness.

My camera was still recording.
The only sound was the gentle lap of waves against stone.

I still have the footage, still havent watched it because the reality of it was way worse.
But il never forgot what the camera caught before I dropped it.