I've Waited Sister

OceansAway

Her delicate laughter echoed in his ears, although the dense forest muffled the sound. "Where are we going my prince?" Her voice was filled with a playful banter.

He only glanced at her for a moment, before returning his eyes to road, leading the timid mare along the sandy path. "I'm no prince, especially when compared to her highness."

The silence stretched on. The Princess was alert, curious to where her prince led her. When she glanced at him, her gaze softened, but the boy was unaware. The stable boy, unaware of his admirer, walked determinedly. His thoughts too were filled with love.

As the land began to slope, he slowed the mare to a halt. He did not speak, but motioned for the princess to follow.

Through the rocks.

He led them towards the rocks. Large boulders stretched from the top of the peak down to the cove into the sea.

"I have a surprise for you." His smile was wistful, and his eyes seemed unfocused, staring into the water below.

He offered his hand. The princess gracefully accepted his help and gave him an affectionate smile in return which he missed as he trudged forward. Her smile only grew as she quickened her pace to keep up with him.

Faster! Towards the shore. The rust colored rock.

"Princess, please sit. I have a present for you..."

His heart raced. Suddenly he could distinctly feel the slap of each wave, spraying them both with mist. The harsh heartbeat throbbed in his head. He clenched his jaw tight for a moment, too short for the princess to see. His eyes widened in a smile.

"My dear... I have my surprise for you. Close your eyes." The last thing she saw was his hands dipped in the sea.

Her smile grew hesitantly, the sound of his labored breathing, and approaching footsteps kept her from opening her eyes.

"My lovely sister." She could only open her eyes to react and choke, as a necklace of pearls twisted around her neck. She only had a brief moment to glance in her love's eyes, his hands around her neck, before her attention was distracted.

"Sister. My dear, dear, sister." Her voice came out as an unintelligible hisses and clicks, but the princess understood it as clearly as the boy was mesmerized. The boy's grasp on the princess's neck loosened, and fell, as he stood in awe of the mermaid.

She spread a hand, and the necklace tightened around the princess's neck. The waves crashed against the shore, the salt stinging both the princess and the boy.

"I see you've returned. Bringing me the shoes, and the dagger? Ah... I even see you've brought me my own prince. Oh. No. I see."

The princess struggled against the pearls, but the glint in the mermaid's eyes stopped her. She held still as she took the necklace, and ripped the dagger from its chain.

"I waited, and waited sister. I could understand the first month. The first month, you learned your way about the city; adjust to the pain of each footstep. The second month, I gave you time, to find your prince. I had to remember, my dear sister wouldn't just settle for a prince, enrapture him with your powers. No... You had to find true love didn't you?

You couldn't rush love; you had to take your dear, sweet, time. Did you ever think of your poor sister? Waiting to follow? After three years, did you think we would meet on kind terms? Boy." Her attention switched to the boy standing there, frozen. Her words awoke him.

"I'm sorry princess." His expression was blank, as he accepted the blade from the mermaid in a fluid motion.

The blade pieced just below the shoulder blade, the wound stretched across her back, winding and twirling. The boy was no longer in control, the knife danced upon her back, first lightly, and then in a crescendo, cut deeper and deeper.

The blood dripped down her back. Her legs were covered in blood, yet the blood fell differently. The outline of her fins was red, yet her legs flailed outside the blood. Slowly, her legs grew back, as the princess lay screaming in agony.

Her fin captured the boy's attention. Although it first appeared a dazzling blue-green, the blood stained it a dark maroon.

The slippers that had covered her feet slipped off. The mermaid stooped down, and picked them up.

The boy stood on in shock, watching the mermaid in fear and awe.

"Nothing can save her now." The mermaid turned her head away in disgust. "She knew. How dare she?"

The blood washed over the rock, staining the rock further, as if this had happened before. The slippers the mermaid held dripped blood down her slim form. As the blood washed away the magic, the boy regained some of his thinking.

Slowly the terror of his act sunk in. He slowly leaned down to kiss the dead princess, now fully transformed into a mermaid.

But the feeling of warmth that her lips once held was gone. Her expression was a grimace of pain, the piercing beauty of her green eyes stolen from the world, veiled by her eyelids.

If you liked this, please read (and review if you have the time) my other attempts at horror on the username ..