Timeline of a Fallen Hunter — Part Four
By Gunnar De Winter
Sirens always come in pairs; did you know that? Some people say they're always born as twin sisters. Hairless, slick grey skin, beady bottomless eyes, and a large round mouth full of pointy razor-sharp teeth.
Swinging a sword underwater is tedious, shooting a harpoon gun much less so.
When the siblings sank, I saw her, the mermaid. If not for the fishtail, she'd have been the stuff dreams are made of. Long, wavy maroon hair and proportions ancient sculptors would envy. She saw the harpoon gun and was understandably suspicious of this interloper that breathed bubbles through the contraption in her mouth.
I think… I know this will sound weird… I think she tried to talk to me. It was all bubbles to me, but there was a regularity, a pleading to the sound. I…
I don't know why confirmation is still pending. Doesn't matter, I've got a fin clipping. Can't deny that.
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Alt-text: A piece of silvery fishtail in the palm of my hand.
Why am I dreaming about her? Her? Focus, Liv, it's 'it', not 'her.' Mermaids are quite rare. I'm sure no one suspected she… it was down there, or it'd have been tallied long ago. Or did she… it, dammit… appear only recently? Is the Skein unraveling? Can't be; the council would know.
I still smell the fucking seawater.
Gunnar De Winter is a Belgian biologist who works as a science writer and storyteller. He has studied bacteria wars, social spiders, little fish, running lizards, and robot behavior. His fiction has appeared in, among others, Heartlines Spec, Future SF Digest, and The Deadlands.
Copyright © 2025 Gunnar De Winter