Seafolk were myth across the entire world except in a small fishing village just off the coast of the mainland. The village was tiny, the sort of place where you knew everyone by name and seafolk were a little more than myths. Apparently, they were real.

The tales had started centuries ago. A young fisherman had caught no fish for weeks and the village was starving. He had been sitting in his small boat, casting his net out again and again. That's when a fin had broken the water and he saw the eyes of an old woman and a young girl peer up at him from the water. The man had panicked, thinking the two were drowned, long lost at sea. But then, the two dived under the surface and his net slowly grew full of thrashing fish, tossed in by the two people. The man had thanked them over a hundred times and the young girl had decided to climb up onto the boat. Instead of legs, she had the large tail of a dragonfish, the frills rippling in ruby pink and pale peach. She put one more codfish in the net before going.

When he got back home, he told his village all about the curious old woman and young girl in the water, the fish and the young girls' condition. People were sceptical, but then more people insisted that they had seen people with fishtails for legs sitting on the rocks that surrounded the island. Soon, seafolk and mermaids were a part of everyday life. Fishermen were unfazed by hands tossing fish into nets and they never feared wide eyes staring up at them from underwater.

In tribute of the young fisherman who had first met the seafolk, the village had made its' own holiday. On the day of the fisherman's' birthday, every year, the people of the island took a day off work. Everyone relaxed, everyone rested and every household would cook. Then, the festival would begin at dusk.

Multi-coloured lanterns that hung from houses and fences were lit and would be the only other source of light other than the candles on the beach and the stars. The village people would dance through the village to songs praising the sea, the moon and the people of the ocean. And then, the tribute would be paid.

All the food that had been cooked by the people would be laid out on taunt plates of seaweed and large oyster shells, and then it would be pushed out to sea once the moon was in the middle of the sky.

The festival was called, 'The Feeding Of The Sea,' and had been mandatory for six hundred years, back when the young fisherman had still been young. Even though the seafolk had stopped appearing two hundred years ago, the people still celebrated them. Everyone still believed they were out there.

Except for Roman.

Roman used to believe stubbornly and he had searched every cove for the seafolk since he was old enough to walk. But, over time, the lack of discovery and made him lose interest and had turned him bored of silly little tales. He was no longer interested in stupid people with fishtails, his village was wasting their time.

And 'The Feeding Of The Sea' happened to be his least favourite day of the year. What a shame it happened to be his birthday and his friends insisted he joined them in the festival activities.

"C'mon, Roman!" Whined Patton. "You haven't been to a 'Feeding Of The Sea' festival since you were six and you're eighteen today!"

"Patton's right, Roman," Logan said, siding with his boyfriend, as usual. "Even if no mermaid has been seen in two centuries, we can still pay tribute to them. They've saved the village after all."

Roman sighed loudly. "Guys, those stories are made up. Seafolk aren't real and this is wasting my time."

Patton gasped. "This isn't a waste of time!" He whimpered sadly. "It's fun!"

"Seriously, Logan, you can't actually believe this is real!" Roman tried.

Logan shrugged. "I do, actually. My grandmother says she saw one, once, as a little girl."

"Yeah, but your grandmother's ancient, she's probably mad anyway!" Roman said, ignoring Logan's' step back in surprise. "We're eighteen, we can't believe such stupid tales."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "You know what, Roman? I've put up with this for too long. Enjoy spending your birthday alone, I'm going home, my mother probably needs help cooking for the festival." And he spun on his heel and marched away.

Roman stared after him in surprise and turned to look at Patton, who glanced away shamefully. Stunned, Roman looked back at his retreating friend and he felt something odd in his stomach. "Logan!" He called. "Lo, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

Patton put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Roman, just give him a moment..." Roman sagged with a sigh and Patton's' gaze turned apologetic. "I'll talk to him, okay? Go enjoy your birthday, try to forget about tonight. I'll see you before it starts."

"Yeah, sure, Pat..." Roman sighed and smiled tiredly at his friend. "I hope you enjoy your festival, I'm gonna go to the arcade."

Patton nodded calmly and let Roman walk away as he began to chase after his boyfriend.

Roman sighed again as he began to pace the streets. The old village had barely changed from how it had been six hundred years ago. The streets were still cobbled, almost every house was made out of wood and even the new additions seemed old, just like the arcade. The arcade was Roman's' favourite place to be, for it had almost everything he wanted. Retro arcade games, a bowling alley, consisting of four different lanes, a cafe and a bar, and more modern games.

Roman entered the arcade and instantly heard someone yell out, "Hello, stick-in-the-mud! Happy birthday!" Roman smiled. Remy.

Remy stood behind the bar, wiping the surface clean. He had a cocky grin plastered on his face and wore sunglasses, even though he was indoors. His friend lounged across the bar, smirking.

"Anything you want, non-believer?" Remy drawled.

"Are you seriously planning on calling me that forever?" Scoffed Roman, walking over to the bar. "It's not my fault I'm the only one here with sense. What are you even doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be off work for your silly festival?"

Remy shrugged. "Yeah, but I talked to the boss's' son, said I'll stay working in the arcade if I get paid for the hours I work."

"You talked to the boss's' son?" Roman said, raising an eyebrow. "Do you mean you got Emile against the wall, made out with him and persuaded him to get his dad to pay you if you worked today?"

"Yeah, sounds about right," Remy smirked. "But, hey, it's not my fault, Emile's an adorable little dork and he likes me anyway."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Remy, you're a bitch."

"Aw, thank you!"

The pair laughed and chatted for a bit until the unavoidable question got brought up. "So..." Remy said slowly and cautiously. "Are you going to 'The Feeding Of The Sea'?"

Roman narrowed his eyes. "No, I'm not. It's stupid."

"Well, what are you gonna do?" Remy asked, exasperated. "I heard that your mom's gonna force you out of the house today, there's gonna be nowhere you can hide."

Thinking for a moment, Roman shrugged. "I'll go to a cove on the far side of the village, away from all the dancing and stuff. Just stay there for the night and go back when it's over."

Remy tilted his head. "Yeah, but what are you gonna do?"

"I dunno. Sing Disney songs at the ocean and pretend I'm not hiding away from the worst day of the year."

Remy snorted and nodded wisely. "Sounds like a solid plan, princey. And if a mermaid turns up?"

"Then I'll be hallucinating," Roman drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Seafolk aren't real."

"Alright, but just be careful," Remy warned. "You don't want to attract a siren."

Roman huffed loudly. "Okay, Jesus. I'll be careful of made up fish-dudes. I'm gonna go, now, and get ready to hide from my mom."

"Bye, you heathen!"

"Bye, caffeine bitch!"

~'^'~

Roman carefully climbed down the rocky slope that led into the Singing Cove, listening to the small crashes of tiny waves that filled the cavern with a mystic purr, holding a bowl of strawberries he would eat for snacks.

The Singing Cove was Roman's' guilty secret, if he was honest. The only people who came here were little children, looking for seafolk behind the rocks and in the water, and not a single person in the village would believe Roman even if they saw him down here with their own eyes.

It was just so peaceful down here and no one visited during 'The Feeding Of The Sea', because they were too busy with their festival. That meant it was free for Roman to use.

The Singing Cove sat under the island, a smooth, short, wide tunnel leading straight out to a moon bathed ocean, a small pool of water flooding down deeper inside. It was illuminated by the reflections of the water, especially at night, and made the whole place shimmer and squirm, just like the still, dark water. At day, it wasn't much and no one had been here at night. Except Roman, every now and then. Despite being a regular nighttime visitor, Roman had never come during the festival because he'd always hide at home.

Roman pushed his way past a small veil of murky vines and then jumped back again.

"Holy shit," He whispered, feeling his heart pound in his chest.

What had he just seen? Honestly, he wasn't sure. Roman risked looking through the vines once more and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

It was just some guy, perched lazily on the side of the pool, dangling his legs into the still water and silhouetted against the moon. Roman peered carefully, trying to see if he could recognise them. He couldn't and, oh, crap, that was not a human! Oh shit!

Whatever it was, Roman watched in horror as it turned its' head to look out at the moon and large, large flaps that ran across it's' neck up to its' ears were finally seen. They seemed pricked and excited and Roman watched in terror as this person moved a webbed hand to brush along his hair.

Then, it began to sing. It sang in an enchanting way, captivating and melting. The words were soft yet sharp, and Roman could hear every word as the creature sang.

"This could be perfection," It purred. "Or venom dripping in your mouth. Singing with a siren," It raised its' arms above its' head, pressing the back of its' webbed hands together as the creature slowly dragged them back down, almost like a snake, as it sang, "Love me while your wrists are bound. You've been seeing me in your dreams, but I'll be there when your reality-"

Roman had accidentally knocked a pebble out of place. It fell to the ground and clattered noisily against the wet stone. He paled as the thing snapped around to face him.

"S-Sorry," He whispered. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

The thing watched him and then it slowly slid down into the water, keeping him in sight, most likely as it pushed gently forwards. It said nothing, staring at him as it remained just a darkened shape against the bright glow of the moon.

Roman stood silently and then looked down at the bowl in his hands. "D-Do you want a strawberry?"

It nodded and Roman picked up the biggest, reddest one, passing it over. The creature nibbled at it, hesitated and then began to devour it quickly, making something splash behind it.

"Did you like it?" Roman asked softly, kneeling carefully opposite the creature. In response, it reached out greedily and snatched another, munching away on it as it propped itself up, on its' elbows. Roman tilted his head and asked, "What are you?"

The creature didn't respond for a while as it finished the second strawberry. "I told you."

"You did?" Roman asked, taken aback that the thing seemed to not only understand him but also could speak.

"Yeah... I'm a siren," it said.

Roman blinked, very slowly. "You're a siren?"

"Yes."

"I'm a human."

"I know." They sat in silence, and Roman watched in awe as the siren finished off the entire bowl of strawberries. "Do you have any more of these?"

Roman shook his head. "This is all I have for now, but I can bring you more tomorrow?"

The siren's' head moved to look at him. "I'd like that. I'll see you here tomorrow, human.." And then it vanished into the black water.

A few seconds later, Roman saw dark shape flit across, under the water  before diving down deeper, gone. 

"Woah..." Roman whispered, a breathless smile on his lips. He wasn't telling anyone.