Melusine

Sarah sat at the edge of the weathered dock as the moon cast silver light across the lake, her bare feet brushing the top of the water. She didn’t dare breath as Michael leant in, his breath warm against her face. Their lips met. The lake rippled behind her, but Sarah saw nothing of it as the world around her faded.

As Michael pulled away, Sarah’s eyes opened slowly as if waking from a dream.

 

“I should go,” Michael whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

 

“See you tomorrow?”

 

Sarah nodded silently. She didn’t quite trust herself to form words just yet.  She watched him walk away back down the path through the forest, his silhouette blending into the shadows of the trees that surrounded the lake house. When he was gone, she turned back to the lake, finally allowing herself to breath.

 

The surface broke.

 

A woman emerged from the deep, water flowing across her dark hair as her pale face and shoulders rose from the inky water.

 

Sarah scrambled backwards, pulling her feet quickly away from the water’s surface.

 

"What... who are you?"

 

The woman stared silently at Sarah for a moment, the water matting her long hair around her face and shoulders like seaweed glistening in the early evening moonlight. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft like the ripples of the lake around her.

 

“My name is Melusine. And I am your mother.”

 

Sarah stared in disbelief, not able to move further. She shook her head slowly.

 

“No. That’s impossible. My mother died when I was a baby.” She stuttered.

 

Melusine moved slowly but purposefully forwards until she was level with the dock, her dark eyes never leaving Sarah’s.

 

“A lie. Told by your father no doubt.”

 

“You’re not real,” Sarah insisted, as Melusine rose from the water gracefully, taking a seat on the dock facing her.

 

Melusine reached out a hand, water dripping from her fingers, a sad smile playing her on her lips.

 

“Take my hand if you don’t believe me,” she offered tenderly.

​

“You’ll find I’m very real. I’ve watched you grow from afar for all these years and now you’ve known love’s first kiss, it’s time I showed myself to you. To explain the truth.”

 

Sarah hesitated, then slowly extended her hand towards her mother’s. Melusine's touch was cool and slick, like polished stone beneath a running stream.

 

"What truth?" Sarah asked, her low and cracked.

 

Melusine's eyes darkened, like the sky above them.

 

"To warn you, my daughter. To protect you from the fate that befell me. Your father was not the man you think he was," Melusine began, her voice low and hypnotic.

 

"He was charming, but beneath the sweet words was a cold heart."

 

Sarah listened, as Melusine told her tale. Of how she fell in love with a mortal man, how she trusted him with her heart and her secrets. How he betrayed her, using her power for his own gain and exposing her true nature to the world.

 

"He swore to keep my secret," Melusine said, her voice thick with pain.

 

"But promises are as fragile as reflections on water. One careless word, one moment of weakness, and everything is gone."

 

Sarah thought of Michael, of his warm smile and gentle touch.

 

"But not all men are like that," she protested. "Michael would never–"

 

Melusine's laugh was bitter. "They all say that. Every young girl believes her love is different, special. They are not.”

 

"You're wrong," Sarah said, anger flaring, the feeling of the kiss still so real on her lips.

 

"You don't know Michael. You don't know me!"

​

"I know the pain of betrayal," Melusine countered, her eyes flashing.

 

"I know the agony of watching the man I love desert me. I've spent years alone, bound to this lake, all because I dared to love a mortal man."

 

Sarah stood; her fists clenched.

 

"Is that why you abandoned me? Left me to grow up without a mother? Because you were afraid?"

 

Melusine recoiled.

 

"I never abandoned you. I've watched over you every day of your life. But the curse, "

 

"Curse?" Sarah scoffed.

 

"The only curse I see is the one you've placed on yourself. Hiding away, bitter and alone, too scared to trust anyone."

 

"You don't understand," Melusine pleaded, reaching for her daughter. "I'm trying to protect you."

 

Sarah stepped back, shaking her head.

 

"No, you're trying to control me. To make me as miserable and distrustful as you are. Well, I won't let you. I'm not afraid to love, even if it means risking getting hurt."

 

“My daughter, please.” Melusine began.

 

“No.” Sarah said simply, turning back towards the house.

 

“You know nothing of me. You are not my mother.”

 

Melusine watched as Sarah’s form retreat into the shadows. As her footsteps faded, she slipped back into the cold embrace of the lake.

 

Emotions swirled in Sarah as she stomped back to the lake house. The kiss was something she had wanted for so long, why did her mother have to take that from her? But the hurt in Melusine’s eyes haunted her, a reflection of the pain she’d felt for all these years.

 

Sarah paused at the porch steps, looking back at the now-still lake behind her.  Why was her mother kept from her for so long? Had her father really been capable of the things Melusine had told her he’d done?

 

As she reached for the door handle, she hesitated, her mind conflicted. Melusine’s story was behind her, but it was also her story. Perhaps, in time, she could help her mother write a new ending.