Silent Siren
“Evangelia, please just let me hear it again.”
I shook my head.
Will begged, “You don’t understand, I need it. Just one more time. Then I’ll stop.” His hands were shaking. Withdrawals.
Singing was a mistake. It changed everything. Years of carefully planning my escape from this life gone with a couple music notes.
I turned to walk away. He grabbed my arm. “Please.”
I shook my head again. He dug his fingers into my arm. I gasped, trying to pull out of his grip. He latched onto me like I was his lifeline.
“Sing!” he yelled, throwing me into a wall. I knocked a picture of us off the wall. Glass shattered.
It dazed me. I was used to having people obsessed with my song, but not on dry land. In the water, I transformed. I was quicker and could breathe in the water. But, on land, I couldn’t pull him under the water to finish my magic. He was superior here.
“No,” I said. He swayed on his feet. The magic pulled at him through my voice. Crap. He was too far gone. There was nothing I could do. Unless…
He pulled me closer to him, stroking my hair. “Don’t stop, please.”
“I’m so sorry Will. I should have left you as soon as I realized I love you.”
“I love you too Eva. Sing again.”
“I can’t do it,” I said, tears streaked my face.
“If you really loved me, you would sing.”
I kissed him. A long, slow burning kiss. It was my last chance. Maybe our love could save him.
He pulled away. “Please, just sing for me, babe.”
“Why did you come home early? I was just singing in the shower, now I have to say goodbye to you.”
He paled. The shaking intensified. Will lowered his voice to a whisper, “No, you can’t go.” He held me too tight. “You’re mine. Sing.”
“You’re addicted to it.”
“No, I’m not addicted. I can stop listening whenever I want. I just don’t want to stop right now. Sing, just a little bit.”
I shook my head no. He clenched his jaw and slammed his fists into the wall beside my head. I jumped. His hands were bleeding, but he didn’t seem to feel it. He put his hands around my neck and squeezed. I gasped for air, clawing at his arms for a sip of oxygen.
“When I let go you’ll sing, or we’ll keep doing this longer and longer until you sing for me!” He let go of my neck. I headbutted him in the nose. He ignored it and went for my throat again. I ran.
If he killed me, he would suffer so much. Withdrawals were a bitch for mundane things like drugs and alcohol. Magic was so much worse. Magic didn’t stop until it completed its purpose. People go insane searching for it. Or they just can’t take it anymore. I couldn’t let my William suffer.
I stopped and faced him. In that instant, I sang. I sang the sad song of my people dragging sailors to their deaths to sustain their own lives. A melody that would take the essence of the man I love from this world and transform it into the sadness that I would feel for the rest of my long loveless life.
Photo by Biscarotte 
