We stopped a few feet from the water front.
“Wonder what’s on the other side?”, curiosity in his gaze.
“I’d like to find out,” I answered, feeling completely drawn to it. We took a few steps forward and my toes touched the water. It felt warm and silky on my skin.
About five yards in front of us I heard a soft splash and rising from the water was the mermaid I had seen in the sea, her glorious hair shining in the light from the other side. She looked more like an angel. Her hand was up as if to stop us. I felt my body backing up from the water, like a magnetic field was pulling me back, not out of fear, but because I knew that that was what the mermaid wanted and I felt like I needed to trust that. She smiled gently at us and then dived gracefully back into the water and disappeared with the blink of an eye. Peter and I looked at each other.
“Did you feel that?” he said, looking slightly startled.
My heart sank thinking he’d seen how completely beautiful she was and that he was feeling something for her, how could he not, she was shining like an angel.
“What do you mean?” I asked, holding my breath.
“I don’t know, there was something stopping me, in the air, like a force field. Suppose it’s off limits, that place over there.” He pointed over at the other side.
“Yeah, I think that’s what she meant.” “Like who meant?”
I looked at him, puzzled, had he not seen the mermaid? “I…nothing, I just thought I saw something.”
Why had I seen her and he hadn’t?