The Sirens | Teen Ink

The Sirens

June 7, 2013
By jelly18fishing BRONZE, Kansas City, Missouri
jelly18fishing BRONZE, Kansas City, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

It wasn't blistering hot, but it was still warm. It was a comfortable 75 degrees. The ocean was only a few meters away. Luke was standing on a beach that was covered in small rocks. Where the beach ended, a clearing began. The clearing was covered with native grass and an occasional palm tree. It had stormed the night before so the air still had the certain feel that it has after it rains. The clouds had mostly cleared since the storm the night before but there were still a few clouds. The beach was on an island in the Pacific Ocean, far away from any civilization. It was an extremely small island, less than a mile in width. His family were the only ones who resided on the island. He was alone on the beach; his family elsewhere. The ocean was calm and was receding to low tide. It sparkled a deep turquoise. The seagulls cries where quiet and could barely be heard over the waves.

Luke was not paying attention to the scenery. He was used to this tropical paradise. He loved it, nevertheless, but his mind was elsewhere today. As the wind rustled his short blond hair, he started thinking about his life. E didn't always have such clear thoughts and so he took advantage of the moment. Luke and his family were sirens, the mythical creatures that lure sailors to their doom. The sirens looked just like humans. The only differences between the species that Luke could tell were sirens had the ability of mind control, craved human flesh, and were immortal. His life had been long, his earliest memory being over 700 years ago. He had not been born, he just came into existence one day and had been the same ever since. His family had appeared the same way and around the same time that Luke had. Luke's life consisted of luring humans near with his enchanting voice so that he could kill them. It was pure instinct. Only at times like this, times when he was alone could he ever truly think.

He was miserable. He only felt good when he could think with clarity. It was a lonely life. The other members of his family never seemed to think as Luke did. Because of Luke's differences, they only spent time together when they were hunting down humans. He lived to think, they lived to eat.

Luke could feel his instinct kicking in again. He tried to resist, but as always, it took over him. His instinct took the wheel and he was thrown in the back seat. He ran to the south side of the island where his family were gathered. He could tell that there was a ship about 10 miles away. The sirens' voices called out to them, pulling them near. They were loud enough to be heard from over 30 miles away. Luke could feel them getting closer. He sang along with them, waiting. His mind was empty of any thoughts. Impulse was the only thing that drove him. The ship drew near. It soon was in eyesight. The passengers of the ship jumped out when they couldn't take waiting any longer and started swimming toward the island, as was normal for the victims. The sirens swam out to meet them, and they met in the middle.

As Luke was approaching a girl, he stopped singing so that he could kill her. Before he could do so, his instincts melted away.

The girl was young in age; she was probably around 18 years old. She was petite and brunette. As he looked at her, he could barely breathe. Her beauty was like none he had seen. It wasn't something most people would notice. He wasn't sure why she was different. He couldn't narrow it down to a single part of her. She just was, and she was like no other.

The sirens around Luke continued on their gruesome task, but it seemed like time was frozen in that moment. The girl was coming back to her own consciousness after the sirens had stopped signing. Luke realized that he had to get her out of there. The other sirens wouldn't let anyone survive, no matter what Luke said to them.

Luke grabbed on to the the girl and took off swimming. The other sirens didn't seem to notice that he was escaping; the were too busy with their meal. Luke started singing softly to the girl so she wouldn't regain consciousness until they were safe. He didn't slow down in speed even when they were out of danger. He knew that it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Luke spent the better part of the day singing and swimming. It was a good thing that sirens were good swimmers, because any human would have drowned by now. The whole time he was swimming he was in control of his thoughts. He realized how amazing it was for this girl to of caused him to stop mid-frenzy. He wished he could take time to enjoy her beauty, but he had to keep swimming.

After awhile he came across another small island. He was thankful of the fact, because he could have continued swimming for a week and never of come across any. As soon as he was on the beach he grew silent and lay the girl down. He lay down beside her and realized how exhausted he was. After a few moments, the girl started stirring. Luke panicked because he didn't know how she would react to him saving her. He didn't know what else to do, so he started singing again.

The girl's name was Aubree. In her subconscious, she dreamed. Her dreams had an intensity to them unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She saw everything that she had ever wanted to be. She wanted to have it. She saw herself, but it was a perfect version of herself. She was everything that Aubree had ever strived to be. Before she was ready to move on from her perfect self her dream jumped to another thought. She was encased In happiness. She was in paradise. However, the paradise seemed false and she could not become comfortable. She knew that it was too good to be true. That it wouldn't last. She didn't want it to last though. She wanted out of the false paradise. She knew that to truly be happy, she would have to work for it, to feel the satisfaction that she had earned it. She could feel that she had been tricked.

The bliss fell away and it's calm ignorance. Aubree realized what was going on. She knew that her family and the other passengers had fallen for the bliss and had been murdered by the sirens. She knew that somehow, she was still alive outside of her subconscious trap.

With that thought, she opened her eyes.

Luke had been admiring her for a while. When she opened her eyes, he was startled. He tried singing louder but it was no use. Aubree sat up and looked at him. He stopped singing and was afraid because he didn't know how she would react.

She spoke. “Why have you kept me alive?” She wondered if he was the enemy. If he was responsible for her family's death. She did not know how she knew that they were dead, she just knew.

“I brought you here to save you,” He said. “I didn't know how you would react when you woke up or what I should do, so I kept you asleep.”

This struck Aubree as odd. It hadn't occurred to her that her captor might also of been her savior. It wasn't easy for her to believe.

“Why did you save me?” She asked.

Luke didn't know how to answer this. He was still bewildered that she had managed to wake up from the trance while he was still singing. He didn't know how to tell her to she had an effect on him but he didn't know what else to tel her. He remained silent while he tried to think of an answer. Aubree patiently waited for him to speak.

While he was thinking of how to explain himself, he noticed that in the ocean's horizon were groups of growing silhouettes. He cursed to himself. Aubree looked up at him for an explanation.

He spoke, “The other sirens must have followed us. I didn't think they noticed when I left with you.”

“Do you know how to escape them?” Aubree asked.

“If they are this close to us, they will be able to track us wherever we hide. We would not be able to outrun them either. I don't know what to do. If they find us they will kill you and punish me for trying to save you.”

Aubree was growing more terrified by the second. The sirens would be there soon and they had no plan on how to escape. She couldn't just stand there and do nothing, but she had no other ideas.

Her fear stood out in her eyes so Luke spoke up, “The reason I saved you is because you were different than anyone I have ever seen. When I was with you, my instincts melted away. I wanted the feeling to last. I couldn't go back to how things were before so I tried to save my life.”

Aubree looked at him and her fear melted. Luke had tried to save her life. She realized that if they managed to escape this, she would want to spend the rest of her life with him. She leaned in towards him and their lips met. The kiss was passionate and neither one of them wanted it to end but they knew that they didn't have much time left.

They pulled away just as the sirens reached the shore. Luke tried to fight off the sirens even though he knew it was futile. He knew that he had to go down fighting for Aubree. Aubree stood and watched until a siren had broken past Luke. The siren ran towards Aubree and then tackled her so she couldn't escape. Luke screamed and tried to break free from the sirens that held him back while Aubree was devoured.

Soon Aubree was gone, with nothing left to remember her by. After she was killed, Luke had no other choice than to go back to the island with the other sirens. At first, Luke resisted but eventually he had no other choice but to give in. Soon his instincts took over him again and he was back to how he used to be. Every once in awhile, when his thoughts were clear he would think of Aubree and what they could have been. Whenever this happened, he would be overcome with agony. The only time he wasn't in agony was when he was no more than his instinct. Soon he gave in and stopped trying to think clearly. He became no different than the other sirens. His inner demon had taken over and he was now no more than a monster.



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This article has 2 comments.


on Jun. 13 2013 at 9:16 pm
jelly18fishing BRONZE, Kansas City, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Thank you:) I did a little happy dance around my room. Comments make my day :D

JRaye PLATINUM said...
on Jun. 13 2013 at 8:28 pm
JRaye PLATINUM, Dorr, Michigan
43 articles 10 photos 523 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you."

"Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, 'I just don't care.'?"

OH MY GOODNESS! Excuse my caps-lock but this is AMAZING! :) I read about the Sirens from "The Odyssey" in my English class, I didn't think much of them... I never thought of them this way! And you made an actual story out of it, too... Constructive-critisism-wise, maybe you could develop the characters just a little more, but other than that I loved it. I have to say this is one of the most creative things I've ever read on Teenink, legitly! I really REALLY hope you write more on this! :)