I would love to say that the perpetual swaying of the ship made me nauseous, but it was doing more, much more, than that. It had gotten to the point that my headaches had evolved into migraines, then had become a buzz that gave me a sweet sting that numbed the pain of my stomach howling and took my mind off the beatings that the guards gave me. My blood seemed to synchronize with the Atlantic. I was now one with it. No, I belonged to it. Even when we dock in the New World, I will sway with the ocean’s motion. At night, when the moonlight shone through my bars, I could swear I heard the ocean sing to me. In a sweet melody, it whispered, “Don’t leave me.” It is slowly and softly killing me, but I love it.

Tonight seems to be different. The full moon has been starring me in the eyes for hours, and still no singing. Did I imagine the Atlantic’s voice? Did the conquistadors beat it out of me? Another hour passed. It is gone. My only companion on this ship fell silent. Wait, what’s that sound?

A woman emerged from the shadows outside of my cell. I’ve never seen her before, but she looks vaguely familiar. She is dressed in a long, pure white dress that brightens up my cell. Blue rings, blue bracelets, and blue necklaces are lying on her perfect, golden skin. Her hair is wrapped up in a white scarf. Her eyes, green as Spain’s greed. She is holding a golden wine bottle. She calmly opens my cell’s gate and walks in. She uses her teeth to tear off the cork, and places the bottle up to my lips. It is warm and sweet. It taste as if an angel and demon have respectively captured love and lust in a single bottle. I close my eyes, lost in the heat of the moment.

As soon as I finish the last drop of wine, I feel the boat shake. The woman, the bottle, and the moon are all gone when I open my eyes. The sky is covered with clouds. My only source of light is the lightning that the clouds have provided. The waves of the unexpected storm are now violently shaking the boat. A white lightning bolt blast open the top of the cell. One of the flying debris manages to cut my chains. Another blinding white lightning bolt blasts open my cell door. The boat’s violent shifting makes a cask of wine spill open and roll in my direction. The wind blows the barrel into the air, and my natural misfortune makes it land on top of me. The wood sends a hard blow to my head. Everything becomes black as I hope that this cask is not my casket.

When I open my eyes, I am yet again chained. This time, the chains are golden. My barrel is gone. My chains are wrapped around a golden anchor. The mysterious woman in the white dress is sitting comfortably on the anchor. My floating prison is nowhere in sight. As I sink deeper and deeper into the water, my eyes start to sting and the taste of the wine that the woman gave my sits on the tip of my tongue. I begin to black out.

“Eusebio Castro de Rubio,” says a beautiful whispering voice. I open my eyes in response to my name. I am under water. It is the woman from the boat, but she is different now. Her scarf and jewelry are gone. Instead of hair, the tentacles of an octopus sprout from her scalp. A fish tail replaces her legs. Blue rings cover her golden scales and skin.

“¿Cuál es su nombre?” I ask. It would be rude not to ask for my savior’s name.

“Atlántica,” she replied. As soon as she finishes speaking, she lays a kiss upon my lips. I can feel my body become numb with a mix of pleasure and pain. The pain becomes sharper and stronger. It begins to overcome the pleasure. She is a siren! I have fallen for her artifice! I have no doubt that she will kill me. With minutes left of my existence, my life flashes before my eyes. I relive all of the mistakes of my life, including the crucial mistake that got me on that boat. I regretted all of them. Well, almost all of them.

“’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
-Lord Tennyson and other old people
“Whatever.”
-The Youth