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She vanished right as the year plunged into blustering January.&nbsp;The glare of Zachari’s television washed over his room in flickers of smoldering white as New York Times Square rang in the year with popular celebrities and overzealous crowds.The camera switched to a couple, the man wearing a confettied suit and large 2025 spectacles. Side-by-side was his lady, who wore an equally matching sprinkle dress. Eyes alit, their smiles were as explosive as the fireworks lunging over building tops. Their hands held tight to a papered sign, written in bold glittery-golden letters: SHE SAID YES!!!Scowling, Zachari snatched the remote from his nightstand and switched off the TV. His heart sank as he tugged his comforter a little tighter around his shoulders and turned against the wall. Closing his eyes, he traced his fingers along the cold sheets. It was only yesterday that Bridgette had laid in the bed with him. She had knocked on his door the exact moment the sun rose, vouching that they do everything they loved together: binging survival dramas and filling their stomachs with specialty pizzas, competing at a ruthless game of Mario-kart, and then kissing whenever time called for it, which was often.The bed had been warm after she left. He savored that warmth, aching with the knowledge that it would be the last thing he’d ever feel of her.&nbsp;He had had five months to prepare—five months to accept that the girl he so wildly adored had a foot in one world and a tail dipped in the next, her life split into two halves like light and shadow.“I have to be home before midnight,” Bridgette had said, kneeling next to a sandcastle they'd built together. She shrugged one shoulder, the gesture slow and heavy. “Sorry, Zachy, I guess I won’t be your New Year’s kiss this year.”“Do you have to go?” Zachari pressed, “Like, actually? You can stay here, you know.” He leaned, laid a hand atop hers, and prayed the gesture was enough to change her mind.But she only shook her head. A breeze weaved through her chestnut ringlets. “My family isn’t here.” Her eyes settled on the ocean; its murmuring waves. “It’s there.” Sunlight reflected off the surface of the waters and lit Bridgette's front in fiery gold. Her expression softened, as if the ocean exchanged to her a beautiful secret— a glimpse&nbsp;of the rich things to come in her life ahead.&nbsp;&nbsp;Zachari’s chest tightened. "Marry me!” He found himself saying, “I….I can be your family.”&nbsp;###Bridgette’s father had been her only family up on the surface. But after he passed away, her visits to the ocean had become more frequent.&nbsp;Then one day, after she'd emerged from the black waters–hair heavy, skin moonlit—she rolled onto her back and faced the stars as she whispered, “I want to live alongside the merfolk.” Her voice was airy and full of wonder. “I want to know more about them. How to live as one of them. . ..”&nbsp;Later that night, they’d screamed classics into a karaoke machine and declared a tie, agreeing that they were both equally awful. It was when the moment was light and the air was still tingling with some little hope that she explained everything, and whatever hope had been left before evaporated completely. “I need to enter the water before I turn 18,” she said. “If I turn 18 and I haven’t yet, I’ll be stuck on dry land forever.”&nbsp;Zachari pulled her closer, ran a hand through her coarse hair. “That’s not a bad thing.”“To me? Yes, it is.” She sighed, laid her head against his shoulder. “I have to be there before January 1st.”&nbsp;“But why midnight exactly?” He said, “You could’ve been born at noon for all you know.”Bridgette breathed a soft laugh. “A merfolk’s internal clock is strange that way. It doesn’t care if we're born at four in the morning, or four in the afternoon. Just that we must decide whether we want to live on dry land or water for the rest of our lives.”&nbsp;###Zachary had lowered to one knee, his fingers entwined with hers. The waves roared on.Ever slowly, Bridgette retreated from the touch. Her hand lingered a moment, fingers brushing his, then slipped away forever.&nbsp;&nbsp;Her eyes gleamed. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”&nbsp;A knot formed in Zachari's throat as he lowered his eyes to the sand. “I love you. "He couldn't breathe.“I love you so much,” he sobbed. Burying his face into his knees, he waited for Bridgette to turn and flee from the pitiful, blubbering boy in the sand.&nbsp;What she did instead was even more cruel. She knelt next to him and pulled him in tight and close, promising that everything would be alright someday and that, although she loved him very much also, that this was for the best&nbsp;&nbsp;Zachari lost it. He melted into her arms, sobbing in full. He hated it, how much he yearned for her; she made it impossible not to, for her love was an anchor tied in five-knots around his ankle, pulling him into the deep end. And each time he tried to detach himself, to surface, he sank faster, deeper, until the shadows swallowed him whole.&nbsp;###Time dragged along in the days after Bridgette’s departure. On a whim, Zachari had made up an entire schedule for the next several months ahead to keep his heart at bay. He’d registered for the Hockey Club, picked up a hobby of gathering litter from the beach and walkways, and even managed to finally fall asleep earlier than three on most nights.&nbsp;All of this wouldn’t last, he knew this. Over the years, it'd all fade away piece by piece until something else gathered in the space left behind. But just like the girl he once loved so dearly, he focused on what he had in the present. The future was oceans away.&nbsp;His heart would heal.&nbsp;Still there were times where he'd comb the beach, and his eyes would search for the golden tailed girl among the waves. And If he let himself linger there for long enough, he swore he could hear her somewhere in those far away shores.&nbsp; I’m so happy with where I am.I hope you are, too!

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LeannaDolin

Leanna Dolin

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