• Vol. 04
  • Chapter 08

Home: Cathode

Those courageous, indomitable and valiant men who set their lives to the course of the sea had little regard for the dictates of chance. Their bodies have grown old, decayed and withered away. Yet their spirits haunt the old sea with their unceasing persistence in knowing the myths and legends of the ancients. They could never find me. How would they? For I exist!

They call me the mermaid because I hardly resemble one. My bottom is of a fish and my top is as heavy as an ape. I am no creature of God; neither was I made by mere men. I am a daughter of the ocean whose depths no mortal can explore.

I do not advise you to heed my words; the consequences will hardly be of any worth. But if you should listen to my voice, you shall only hear me scream. Not in pain, sorrow or any agony. No! I do not feel sorrow! I do not know happiness! I just exist, you see.

Do not be deceived by the clever expressions on my face. I am not deceptive like those human beings. I desire to swim and hide from the sunlight whose very immensity hurts my tender eyes.

My friends wait for me down below. The whales hum, the dolphins sing but I am closer to the octopuses who poison, sting and hide from the great despisers of their bodies! They will save me from this space. They have promised to keep me from this place.

And then arrived the fateful day when the man who came from an island finally caught a glimpse of me. I stared into his eyes as he did mine. What a tragic time to know what it means to be alive!

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Home: Cathode

The faint light of his torch beckoned my curious fins to surface and thus had my fate been sealed. The waves of my old Mother could not resist his aggressive net. She bid me an abrupt goodbye. I was trapped and taken away.

I longed to see the fire burn the scales on my skin. I had been with Mother for far too long! I longed a different sort of warmth. I wanted to surrender to the silent echoes of those hapless cries from before. I was eager to gaze into the abyss of those black eyes to help me cross into the netherworld! But they never came, and I remained cold.

The captain of this ship was gone I was left free with a new home. In it is the most comfortable throne which I sit on for those days, weeks, months and years that simply do not end. I was kept alive and became a trophy inside my Cathode. I sleep, sing, pray and hum to pass my time. I touch to feel my hair falling sometimes. I look at those who come to see me. I can hear nothing, like no one can listen to my screams.

This is the strangest life I've know.

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