Romance with the Cursed Siren

CHAPTER 20. Belong Nowhere

“No, Gabriel! You can’t do this to me!” Rachel hysterically argues when their supposed to be a steamy night becomes cold when suddenly Gabriel decides to leave.

“Of course, I can. You think you can already control me, now that we’re officially engaged? Well, you’re wrong.” Gabriel started the engine while Rachel couldn't stop stomping her feet because of annoyance and just watched the man steering away from her again.

“Ugh! That Crystal is such bad luck as always! This is supposed to be our first night as an engaged couple!” she irritatedly muttered with gritted teeth.

“Lady Rachel, your grandfather is already waiting for you,” Jack announced, just as when he appeared from behind her. 

“What does the old man need from me? Do you know how far is this from the city and how stressful it is to drive from there to here? Why doesn’t he stay at his mansion in the Creekwood instead of here?” She complained unbelievably while Jack just stayed silent while leading her to the elevator.

“Damn that Gabriel! Why does he keep on rejecting me,” she muttered behind Jack while waiting for the lift to arrive and open to where her grandfather is.

“Jack, don’t you have any idea why he is calling for me this time?” again, Rachel inquired the butler.

“I apologized, Lady Rachel.”

“Ugh! Just don’t dare him to scold me again,” she whispers in a hostile way, rolling her eyes, and just a moment later the lift opens. 

Jack continued leading her way and opened the door of the study room, and when she entered inside, it surprised her to see that her father was there also with her grandfather, whose face was expressing wrath, looking between them.

“Dad?”

*****

“How are you feeling now?” Pearl asked worriedly, handing Crystal a bottle of water.

“What should I do now? Why did she deny me?” Crystal repeatedly asked herself. She felt crushed to the core and horrified by thinking that she’s been wasting a lot of time trying to find help to rescue her parents in danger.

“Don’t you have anything to prove that you truly are the daughter of Christian Alonzo?” Pearl inquired, but the lady she is talking to only shook her head negatively as a response.

“I can’t believe this. I tried searching on social media but it shows nothing about his family. There is no single information all over the internet. Why is that?” she incredibly added as she keeps on scrolling on her phone. 

They halt at the seaside boulevard to let Crystal breathe some air after her excessive crying. She is facing the ocean while Pearl is leaning her back on the waist-high wall that separates the road from the seashore, facing the opposite direction. 

“Thank you so much for helping me, Pearl.” suddenly Crystal mumbled, wiping her tears out.

“Crystal, would you care to tell me what is happening? If you really are Christian Alonzo's daughter then why did you show up just now? Why does Rachel deny you? And there isn't any information about you anywhere, it’s like that your family never existed.” Pearl continues asking. However, the person she was talking with was only gawking at nowhere beyond the dark ocean.

“Sun will rise soon, yet I have no one to help me to rescue my parents. If she only allows me to see grandpa, I’m sure they will be saved,” she muttered lifelessly, as she only had less than two hours before her switch started.

“Gabriel.” She suddenly spoke up while her eyes widened, remembering her father’s last words.

“Right! Gabriel! I need to see him before the sun rises!” She hurriedly cried.

“Who’s Gabriel?” Pearl inquired.

“Gabriel Anderson, my father told me to find him before we got separated.” She explained.

“Are you sure? Is that Gabriel knows you or you might only get pushed away again?”

“Yes! He stayed at the island, there’s no way that he can’t remember me!” A grin formed on Crystal’s face as she felt another batch of hope.

“Alright, but first let’s check him out where we can find him.” Pearl started typing on her phone.

“Gabriel Anderson, isn’t it?”

“Yes!”

“Is this him?” extending her hand with the phone to show the screen with a picture on it.

“Yes! It’s him! Do you know where we can find him?” Crystal excitedly asked.

“Crystal, this is insane. He is Rachel’s fiance, and they just got engaged tonight. Look!” again, showing photos of Rachel and Gabriel together at a party with wide smiles on their faces. 

“No, this can’t be.” Crystal disappointedly muttered.

“So? Are we still going to pursue seeing him?” 

“I don’t know.” again her tears started rolling down her face.

“They’re telling the truth about him, he’s engaged and never coming back to me again. He broke his promise. Why?” But before Pearl could speak again, Crystal suddenly jumped off on the other side of the wall and ran into the water.

“Crystal! What are you doing!? You’re not allowed to get there!” She quickly stopped her but was only ignored by the lady.

“Why are you doing this to me!? Why do you have to punish my mother, who only fell in love with a human!? Are you not satisfied yet for cursing me and pushing my mother away? Why do you have to keep on giving us hardship? My parents always told me you have a good heart and cared for us, but this? Just take me instead and spare my parents!” Crystal furiously cried, looking up to the sky that is now showing a bit of light while half of her body was dipped in the water.

“Please, Spirits. I’ve been a good siren and human, right? My parents keep on proving themselves to you. Every day in their lives they kept on serving you. They never get tired of trusting you. Please, I’m begging you, save them and I will serve my complete life to you too.” She pleaded continuous sobbing while her hands clasped together in front of her. 

“Crystal! Get back in here!” Pearl followed her but only stayed on the rocky shore. Crystal didn’t obey.

“Pearl, thank you so much for trying to help me, but you can go now, just leave me here.”

“What? No! I am the one who pulled you out of the water, remember? You are my responsibility until you’re safe.” 

“No, I will never be safe anymore. No one will accept me as my parents do, and from now on, anywhere I go will always be grief and death, but I’m ready to embrace it now.” she sadly mumbled with weary eyes.

“That’s not true, I’m here. Just tell me everything and we’ll see. I will help you.” Pearl kindly argues.

“Even if I tell you, you will never understand, and just like Gabriel, you will only turn your back on me, because I’m not like you, I’m different. I don’t belong in your world, not even underwater. I have no place and now, I have no home anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Pearl became even more confused, but Crystal didn’t respond and just turned to her back again facing the wide ocean. She stayed on her spot, like waiting for something until it’s time. She moved her hands under her dress, holding her underwear’s waistband, and pulled it down. Pearl had furrowed eyebrows while watching her, thinking that she may have totally lost her sanity already.

“What is she doing?” she whispers to herself and gasped when suddenly Crystal’s body dropped on the water while enduring a kind of pain that is visible on her face.

“Hey! What’s happening to you!?” it terrified Pearl to watch her every move. She started taking some steps forward closer to Crystal when suddenly she abruptly stopped midway with widened eyes.

“Who-Wha-what are you!?” She fearfully asked with a trembling body.

“I’m Crystal, the cursed daughter of Christian and Aya Alonzo. Now, can you tell me where I should belong?” The siren asked Pearl who suddenly lost her words, staring at Crystal’s green shiny tail that was swaying underwater.

“So, I guess you don’t have the answer either.” Crystal lifelessly muttered as her tears continued falling into the water that turned into hard round pearls before she moved away and dived into the deep part of the sea.

Pearl cannot believe what her bare eyes just witnessed, and froze in her spot while her eyes glued to where she last saw Crystal before she disappeared. 

“Crystal,” she whispered her name, and suddenly her eyes darted to something that sparkled in the water. She bent and reached for it.

“Pearls,” she whispers, rolling it between her fingers.