The Siren's Song

This is the first draft so let me know of anything that should be changed.

-----------------------------

The dazzling new ship, the Titanic, sailed along the North Atlantic Ocean. Under the control of its world renowned captain, the vessel had seemed invincible. And perhaps it would have been if a different route had been chosen, a route which hadn’t taken the ship through waters occupied by a group of sirens.

The Captain was in the control room, hands on the helm. From what he could see, all was well. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue with not a cloud in sight. Many of the passengers had crowded on the front deck, soaking in the last of the evening sun as it fell down into the water. The ocean certainly wasn’t calm, yet the rhythm of the waves made for a peaceful journey.

As he had admired the view from the helm, the Captain had never once considered that all the splendor and magic of the cruise would disappear in such a short time. But, alas, he was about to find out just how terrible the coming events would be.

It all began when the Captain had spotted an iceberg to the left of the Titanic’s course. At first he had paid no attention to the cold, floating island as it was much too far away for the ship to be damaged by it. He would have continued ignoring it had he not seen the creature which sat upon it.

It was like nothing he had ever seen before. The creature had the upper body of a woman; a handsome face and long, blonde hair which covered her bare chest. Its lower half, however, was that of a fish. She had one long fin coated with blood red scales which appeared sharp enough to slit a man’s throat.

Staring intently at the beautiful abomination, the Captain did not notice the alluring tune until it was too late. As the creature’s mouth moved, a sweet melody flooded into the Captain’s ears. He had felt light, like the magical song had taken away all his worries. Desperate to get closer to the source of this music, the Captain had steered the Titanic to left. Then he thrust back his shoulders, standing straight like a mechanical man, and walked to the door.

He appeared on the front deck that terrible evening, joining the masses of men who were staring in awe at the creature who was half woman, half fish. The ship slowly edged closer and closer to the iceberg, to its doom.

Just before the vessel had joined the sun at the bottom of the ocean, a young girl named Verity had been sitting on a couch with her father. Her eyes were shut as she took in the words of her favourite novel which he was reading to her. Verity had told me that she’d felt completely safe at that moment, like nothing in the world could hurt her. Then her father stopped reading.

She’d opened her eyes to see about the sudden silence and found her father standing against the window, his hands clawing at the glass, whimpering noises coming from his mouth. He never even said goodbye to Verity, he’d just banged one last time on the window and ran out of their room, no doubt to join the others on the front deck.

Verity had awoken her mother, who was troubled in her sleep by nightmares. That’s when the Titanic hit the iceberg and met its end. There was a loud screech and Verity and her mother were thrown to the ground by a violent jolt. The two females had heard a crack, their eyes on the window instantly. It was still intact, but split down the middle. It was easy to see what had caused the damage, nothing except a sheet of white could be seen through the glass and the young girl recalled the room turning very cold. Anyone would have realized that the ship had hit an iceberg.

Except the men had not realized this. Their thoughts focused on the creature upon the floating island, they must have been delighted to be so close to it. The warning bells which were deafening to the females aboard the Titanic could not be heard by the men who were besotted by the siren’s song.

One boy who had stuck close to his father, out of obedience, died first. He was not yet old enough to be allured by the siren and was extremely confused about the events which were unfolding. He walked up to the edge of the ship which was right up against the iceberg. He looked at the creature, pointed, and cried. It pounced on him right that second, its tail thrashing back and forth, shredding the poor boy to pieces. Then it used its human hands to pick up a piece of his shoulder and eat it.

The men did not care, the boy’s father did not even flinch, and they had just stared at the handsome creature before them. And as water flooded onto the deck, crashing against their ankles, their stiff, mechanical bodies walked to the iceberg and began climbing upon it. The siren, having tasted blood, did not hesitate to devour her victims.

Verity and her mother ran into the open air on the side deck of the ship. They had searched everywhere for the lifeboat but, to their devastation, it had already left. Then there came a shout from below in the ocean. Just metres away, floating on the waves, was their last hope. The lifeboat was crammed full of children who were screaming at Verity to jump in and join them. It seems that their parents had given up their own futures so that more children could survive on the lifeboat.

Verity said that she never would have left had she been given the choice, but her mother, after whispering a few goodbyes and I love yous, had picked her up and thrown her into the boat. The children had weaved their arms together to create a net for her. Verity, along with her tears, landed safely. Soon after the lifeboat had floated away as the ship, and her family, met the bottom of the ocean and the iceberg turned red with blood.

When the lifeboat reached the shores of America, no one believed Verity’s story of the Titanic’s death and the siren’s song. And, after receiving treatment for her fantasies, neither did she.