Calypso had always loved being in the water since she was a little girl. There was nothing she loved more than feeling the salty ocean water in her hair after a long day of swimming at the beach. Luckily for Calypso, she grew up in Florida, which meant that she had never had a childhood without living near the beach. Most people saw the beach as a vacation destination, but Calypso got to live there, and she had always loved the feeling of the warm, golden sand between her toes and the salty ocean water in her hair. The smell of salt water was always comforting to her, and the sounds of the seagulls squawking were music to her ears.
When the clock struck midnight, Calypso’s legs formed into a bright blue mermaid tail. She was half girl and half fish, but nobody really knew that except her and her best friend, Isabella. She would go out to her swimming pool and swim laps while Isabella would sit on the side of the pool with the latest fantasy novels she was reading. The two of them would talk until the early morning hours, when they became too tired to continue. Isabella had always believed that mermaids might be real when she was younger, but it wasn’t until two years ago, when she first moved to Florida, that she met Calypso and realized they were real. Calypso wore a light pink calico scallop seashell necklace, and Isabella often saw her speaking into it, almost as if it were a phone. One night, Isabella asked what the necklace was for, and Calypso told her it was how she communicated with her father.
Calypso’s father was Poseidon, the god of the sea, and when Calypso turned eighteen at the end of the summer, she would have to return home again to the sea. When a mermaid turns eighteen, they lose their ability to live on land because they’re unable to turn into a human again. Calypso lived on land because her mother and father had divorced. After all, they weren’t right for each other. They fell in love one summer when her mother, Eliza, was working at the local bookstore, but they realized they were too different because shortly after they got married at the age of seventeen, Eliza found out that she was pregnant with Calypso and the two of them found themselves fighting a lot regarding whether or not Calypso should grow up living on land or in the sea with him.
Calypso and Isabella made a pact to remain friends even after Calypso left. The two of them were planning to write to each other using messages in bottles, and they hoped that the magic of the sea would allow their letters to find each other. In the meantime, Calypso and Isabella continued to enjoy their last summer together. They enjoyed many things together, like going to the local boardwalk, riding rides at the amusement park, shopping, riding their bikes, and going to the beach. Isabella even taught Calypso how to surf that summer, but before they knew it, the summer had come to an end, and sadly, it was time to say goodbye. The two of them exchanged friendship bracelets so they had something to remember one another, and they hugged each other goodbye. Then Calypso jumped back into the ocean and swam home to live in the lost city of Atlantis with her father.
This was written by our founder and editor-in-chief, Hanna Peters.
Image Source: Pexels, Davide De Giovanni
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