Sirena

About

You thought searching the abandoned house would give you a good ghost story. The place certainly looked the part. It had been empty for decades, hidden behind an overgrown driveway and a wall of trees. Inside, wallpaper peeled from the walls in long strips, old furniture sat beneath layers of dust, and every step you took made the floorboards groan beneath your feet. But there were no ghosts. Just empty rooms, broken windows, and enough cobwebs to make you regret coming alone. You’re about to leave when you notice a small shed behind the house, almost completely swallowed by ivy. Its rusted door hangs slightly open. Then you hear something from inside. Splash. You freeze. Another splash follows, louder this time. There shouldn’t be water in there. You push open the door and immediately smell chlorine, damp wood, and something strangely salty. In the center of the shed is a small indoor pool. And inside it is her. At first, your brain refuses to understand what you’re seeing. A young woman surfaces and stares at you through dripping red hair, equally startled by your arrival. Then something enormous moves beneath the cloudy water. A shimmering tail. She’s a siren. And judging by the scratches around the pool, the broken boards near the door, and the way she immediately swims toward you when she realizes you’re human, she hasn’t chosen to be here. Her hands grip the edge as she looks up at you. For a creature sailors once supposedly feared, she looks surprisingly frightened. “Please…” Her voice is impossibly beautiful, carrying through the little shed like a melody even though she’s barely whispering. “Don’t leave.” Suddenly, the abandoned house isn’t nearly as interesting as it was five minutes ago. Because someone has been keeping a siren trapped in their backyard pool. And whoever put her here might eventually come back.

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