What If

Jim Hawkins walked along the edge of the shore, kicking a small rock into the water in frustration. Things in his life were not going well. He had just suffered through another lecture from his mother about his dropping grades.  

He didn’t mean for his grades to be so low, but he just didn’t see the point in school anymore. Nothing really seemed to matter. The only time he felt there was any meaning in life was when he was solar surfing. Unfortunately, he was grounded from using his solar surfer at the moment, so he had to find another way to escape reality. Walking along the shore of a secluded beach was somewhat peaceful, and it gave him a chance to think and clear his mind.  

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a noise up ahead. He couldn’t really identify what it was, but it sounded like something, or someone, was struggling. He thought he heard a girlish whimper.

He cautiously walked towards the source of the noise, which was blocked from view by a cluster of rocks. He peeked around one of them and gasped.  
Within the semi-circle of large rocks, someone was trapped within a fishing net. But this was no ordinary person.  

This girl had a fish tail.

Jim came to the shocking realization that she was a mermaid. He couldn’t help but stare at the poor girl as she struggled to free herself from the tangled net. But the more she struggled, the more caught in it she became. Jim wanted to do something to help the girl, but he wasn’t sure how she would react to him. She would probably get scared and might lash out at him. He had heard tales of mermaids drowning unsuspecting humans. He didn’t think she could drown him in her current state on land. But if the legends were true and she could pull a strong sailor to his watery grave, she could surely injure him.

I can’t just leave her here, Jim thought.

He stepped out a bit, intending to help her, but drew back quickly on a second thought, hoping to think of a better plan.  

But it was too late; she had already seen him. She froze in her struggling and stared at him. Their eyes met, and Jim’s mouth opened slightly in awe. Her large beautiful blue eyes seemed to stare into his very soul. They almost seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. But she regarded him with fear, which broke Jim out of his momentary trance.  

He stepped out from behind the rocks so that she could see him fully. Her eyes never left his. He tried smiling at her, but this seemed to frighten her more, since she attempted to shrink away from him.

“Hey, I won’t hurt you,” Jim said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.  

Her expression didn’t change, but she stopped trying to back away.

Jim slowly walked towards her, ready to stop should she become more afraid and possibly attack him. He got down on his knees next to her and smiled again. She flinched slightly, but she didn’t attack.  

“I’m going to help you get out of this,” he said.

Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out a small switchblade knife. When the mermaid saw the blade, she began to struggle again. Her tail swung back and forth, trying to hit Jim in the legs, but she couldn’t quite reach them.  

“Woah, calm down, I’m just gonna cut the ropes. They’re too tangled to try and undo,” Jim explained, holding his hands up where she could see them.  

She stopped struggling and regarded him warily. Jim slowly brought his hands towards the net near her stomach and carefully started to bring his knife across the ropes. It was slow going, as his small pocket knife was not meant to cut through thick, sturdy rope. But eventually, he cut through one of them, allowing her to move her hand which had been caught in that particular section. He repositioned himself and started to cut another rope, this one closer to her chest.  

He glanced at her again and realized that she was not wearing a top. Her long strawberry blonde hair was covering her chest, blocking most of his view, but Jim still blushed all the same. He quickly looked away, focusing on the rope he was sawing at. He hadn’t realized it until now, but this girl looked to be about his age, maybe a year or two younger. Her large innocent eyes made her look much younger, but she had the body of a young women. The mermaid girl’s face showed confusion at first, but she must have realized what had caused him to blush, since she brought her arms up to cover her chest as best as she could, being all tangled up as she was.

“So, umm,” Jim started, clearing his throat. The mermaid looked back at his face. “How did you get stuck in this net?”  

She didn’t reply, only shrunk back and further tried to hide herself from him.

“Okay then,” he muttered, though the girl could hear him clearly at this proximity.  

Jim continued to cut the ropes upwards until her upper body was completely free. Then he moved down to her tail. It was tangled up far worse than the rest of her body.
 
This will take a while, Jim sighed.

Then he noticed something he hadn’t before. There was a red stain in the sand under her tail near the fin. He placed his hand on her tail, intending to move it to see what was causing the stain. She was not expecting that and thrashed her tail around in panic. This caught Jim off guard and he fell back when her strong tail hit him square in the chest, knocking the breath out of him. It took him a moment to get his air back, but when he did, he saw that she was trying to reach for the knife he had dropped. He quickly retrieved it seconds before she did. She immediately shrunk back in fear.  

“I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to make sure you’re alright,” Jim explained.

He moved back towards her tail, keeping his eyes locked with hers. He slowly placed his hand on her tail again. She drew in a sharp breath and squeezed her eyes shut, but she didn’t attack again.  

Jim looked away from her face and rolled her tail over so he could see the underneath. Sure enough, there was a large, deep cut on her tail just above her fin which was slowly staining the sand below a dark red.  

“You’re injured,” Jim stated. “Does it hurt?” he asked, turning to look at her.  

She stared at him with large fear-filled eyes and just barely nodded her head.

“Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you,” he reassured her.  

He continued to cut the many layers of netted rope wrapped around her tail. It was a long and arduous task, but eventually he was able to pull the rest of the netting off her fin. The red stain on the sand had grown larger.  

“You can’t go back in the ocean with this cut. It needs to be treated properly first. Let me help you. I’ll take you back to my home and fix you up. I promise I’ll bring you back though,” Jim said sincerely, urging her to trust him with his eyes.  

Her expression as she searched through his eyes was clearly confused. He was a little perplexed himself; he normally wasn’t one to help total strangers. But something about this strange girl, whose very existence was supposed to be impossible, was bringing out a different side of him. He watched her slowly soften and melt as she beheld the genuine worry in his face. She swallowed, as though she were making a huge decision that she wasn’t completely sure about, and nodded her head.  

Jim took off his large dark brown jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She clutched it around herself so she could cover her chest. Jim slid his hand under her tail and placed his other one under her lower back. He lifted her up and adjusted his hold on her. He had expected her to be much heavier, but she was surprisingly light.  

He looked down at her tail and saw a drop of blood fall onto the sand. He didn’t know how long she had been there before he stumbled upon her, but it had taken at least an hour to saw through all that rope, and the cut was still bleeding quite a bit. A normal person probably would have passed out from that much blood loss, but she seemed fine. Still, Jim was alarmed. He started to briskly walk back towards the Inn. He needed to patch up her tail, and he didn’t want anyone to see him carrying a mermaid. Someone would surely want to take her away and study her, or possibly even kill her and mount her on their wall. He gripped her tighter at the thought of someone wanting to harm this beautiful young girl.  

He looked down at her and saw she was staring at him, a blank expression on her face, though her eyes were somewhat inquisitive.  

Jim smiled at her.

“Name’s Jim, by the way,” he said, introducing himself.

She didn’t answer him. He was starting to wonder if she could even talk. Maybe she’s a mute.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be back in the ocean in no time,” he reassured her.

Her large blue eyes stared back into his, searching for something. She must have found it, because Jim got the feeling that she finally believed him.  

When they made it to the Inn, Jim went through the back door to avoid any customers, and hopefully his mother.  

“Jim, is that you?” his mom called from the kitchen when she heard the door close behind him. He could hear her cleaning the dishes. The girl tensed at the sound of another person’s voice.

“Yeah,” Jim replied. “Hey mom, where is the first aid kit?” he asked.

“Why? Are you hurt?” Mrs. Hawkins asked, concern etched in her tone.

Jim was afraid she would come investigate. While this wasn’t the first time he had brought home an injured creature, this girl was far from a helpless little kitten or other alien pet. No one knew anything about mermaids, other than what legend said. And according to legend, they were extremely vicious and dangerous. His mother would not react well.

“No, I’m fine. I just need it to help a…friend,” Jim replied quickly. The mermaid looked at him questioningly.

“Okay. There’s one in the cupboard in your bathroom,” she answered.

“Thanks,” he said.  

Jim carried the girl upstairs and placed her in the bathtub in his bathroom. Her tail hung over the edge, completely useless in the small tub and on dry land in general. Jim released the water from the faucet so that she would be more comfortable. He explained to her how to turn the different knobs to make it hotter or colder so she could adjust it to a suitable temperature.  

Jim turned around and locked the door before searching for the first aid kit. The girl took off Jim’s jacket and placed it on the floor. He was thankful because he didn’t want the water to ruin the leather, but he hadn’t wanted to say anything.

He pulled the first aid kit out from the cupboard under the sink and searched through it for anything that could be used to clean and bandage the large cut. He found a bottle of iodine, gauze, and strips of cloth. He read the instructions, and unfortunately they weren’t waterproof. She would have to stay dry until it was healed enough. Jim was not looking forward to explaining that to her.

He brought the supplies over to her and examined her wound. It was still bleeding slightly, but not as much as before. Blood was no longer dripping off her tail, thankfully. Jim wasn’t sure how he would have explained a stain on the floor to his mother.

“I’m gonna put some iodine on it to clean it so that it doesn’t get infected. It’s gonna sting a little,” he warned.

He poured the iodine directly onto the cut. He would have rather dabbed it on with a paper towel, but the size and depth of this cut meant it was better to do it this way. She hissed as she inhaled sharply through her teeth and her body jerked a bit as she tried to draw away, but she had nowhere to go.  

“Told ya,” Jim chuckled a bit. The cut bubbled and sizzled, which is how Jim knew it was working. The girl was staring at it in horror though, biting her lip and trying to ignore the burning sensation. He gazed at her sympathetically. Once it had done its job, he wiped the excess iodine from around the cut with a paper towel and put the bottle back in the kit. Then he pulled out a gauzy cloth square and some cloth bandage strips. He placed the gauze over the cut so it could collect any more blood that might ooze out and started to wrap the cloth bandage around her tail to hold it place. He tied it off with a knot so that it would stay in place.

“Now unfortunately, these aren’t waterproof, so you’re gonna have to stay in here for a few days while it heals,” Jim explained.  

The girl looked alarmed.

“But I promise it will only be a few days!” Jim quickly added. “And I’ll check on it every day so that you can go back as soon as it’s healed.”

The girl still looked unsure, but she didn’t look so afraid anymore.  

“Would you like something to eat?” Jim asked.

She didn’t answer. She just took a strand of her hair and started to play with it as she stared at the water in the tub.  

“Alright, I’ll bring you something anyway,” Jim said.

He picked up his jacket from the floor and unlocked the door. He was halfway out of it when the girl finally said something.  

“Raphaelle.”

Jim stopped and stared at her.

“What?” he asked.

“My name. It’s Raphaelle,” she repeated.

“Raphaelle,” he replied, testing the name out on his lips. “That’s pretty,” he smiled.

And for the first time, she smiled back at him. Her whole face seemed to light up when she did, and her eyes sparkled once more.

Jim closed the door and stood there holding the doorknob for a moment. He stared at the door as if he could still see her through the wood. He started to walk to the kitchen to get her something to eat. He unknowingly smiled to himself when he thought about her and her beautiful smile.