The wind was blowing the sails perfectly and the Mary Celeste was floating on the top of the salty sea in timely rhythm. The starry night sky was shining down on the blue waves lighting a path in the water.
C.G. Parker lay holding onto the shrouds staring out at the ocean in front of him. He held this position like he did every night. His left hand on the rope his right hand on the back of his neck, and his eyes looking out in front of him. His thinking stance that told the rest of the crew this was his time to be alone as he was each evening.
One of the crew men gave Parker a firm pat on the shoulder, “Night Sailor.”
Parker only nodded in the direction of the pat and then turned back to watch the sea as he listened to the fading footsteps of the man heading back to the crews cabins.
C.G. Parker listened to the time of the waves hitting the hull of the ship. It reminded him of his father.
When he was just a boy Parker’s father had given him a little toy boat that he could float on puddles and play with in the water. His father had patted him on the head and said, “You better get used to the sea boy. It’s the only thing that will truly love you in life.”
Parker didn’t know what his father had meant then with his old saying. He had simply thought that he would never get married, and that he was fine with at the time. Parker now understood that his father, a sailor like himself, was only making another sailing joke.
Parker had loved his father very much. Even if he did go away for very long amounts of time leaving C.G. with his grandmother because his mother had died in child birth. His father had tried his very best and that was all that mattered to Parker.
But not that his father was gone, there was only one other love for him.
A mermaid she was. Clarise. She was a beautiful creature with long dark hair and piercing green eyes that matched her seaweed colored tail. Her skin had a tiny twinkle to it and the bright smile that was almost always lit up on her face made you feel warm inside.
Parker had met her on a night like this one. He had been thinking, as usual when he was interrupted by a sharp cry of a female from down below. Parker had ran to the side of the boat and peered down looking for the sign of struggle. When he saw her she was fighting to grab something that was stuck on the hull of the boat. She was reaching for it but she could quite grab onto it.
Parker pulled out a line and threw it down the side of the boat, “Grab hold!” He had yelled down to her as the rope hit her on the head. She looked up confused but then reluctantly grabbed hold of the line.
Parker started to yank on the rope from up on the ships deck.
The mermaid from down below was slowly rising to the ships deck, on her way she grabbed what she was reaching for.
The mermaid grabbed hold of the ship and hauled herself up onto the damp deck of the ship. Her tail was shimmering lightly in the moonlight, “I’m up, thank you.” She said in a soothing lovely voice.
Parker had turned around and almost fell back at the sight of the fish like creature.
This woman had been a mermaid.
She giggled out loud at his surprise and then held up a glowing shell, “Thank you. You helped me find my good luck shell. It shows me wherever good luck wants to take me.”
Parker had only nodded at her.
“I’m Clarise. I’m a Mermaid of these waters. And you?”
Parker stuttered a little, “I’m C.G. Parker. Sailor of the seas.”
Clarise had then smiled at him. That smile started a whole relationship that Parker could have never imagined.

Parker smiled at even the slightest memory of her. He stroked his fluffy brown beard and chuckled quietly to himself.
She was a beautiful thing. It’s a wonder she could love someone as rough and scraggly of a sailor that he was.
“Parker!” C.G. ran to the side of the boat and looked down to see Clarise. She was smiling up at him with her pearly teeth.
Parker threw the line and started pulling like he did every night since the evening they first met. It was a lot of hard work pulling her up alone but he would do anything to be with her. Anything.
Clarise flung herself over the railing and sat up straight on the edge of the boat. She smiled and held out her hand to Parker’s face. He came closer and she stroked his scruffy cheek with her salty hand, “I’ve missed you.” She said.
Parker smiled back and rubbed his fingers through her wet hair, “I’ve missed you too.”
Clarise giggled, “I only get to see you at night. We always have to be secretive. Won’t you come to the sea with me Parker? Come and become like me? Stay with me forever?”
Parker went silent. How badly he wanted to be with her forever. He would love her for all eternity. Why not spend it together?
But then Parker thought of his father and his toy boat. He glazed his hands over the ships railing and sighed. He loved being on a boat. He loved this boat. He loved his crew.
“Clarise, why don’t you stay with me? You can live on the boat with the crew and I?”
She frowned, “But the sea I cannot leave Parker.”
He sighed, “I cannot leave the Mary Celeste.”
She gasped, “Who is she?”
He chuckled, “This ship my love. I do indeed care for this ship.”
A look of surprise came to her eyes. She mumbled quietly, “The Mary Celeste? The Mary Celeste? The Mary Celeste.” Her face lit up, “Parker! I know this ship! My sisters of the sea have spoke of it before! I must inform them!”
Parker looked confused, “Do your sisters have need of this ship?”
Clarise shrugged her shoulders and smiled, “I will think of you until I see you again. And only then will I stop because we will be together.” Her eyes sparkled. She touched Parker’s hand lightly and then dived down into the water below.
C.G. Parker heard the splash. He went to bed that night with curious thoughts. What would the sisters of Clarise want with the Mary Celeste?

“All hands on deck!” The captain shouted. Parker grabbed hold of his station and tried to focus his mind on his shipping duties.
He couldn’t focus.
All he could think about was Clarise and her sisters. What would they be wanting of the Mary Celeste? How could they know of the ship and why would they care about it? Was the ship some sort of use to them?
All these questions he couldn’t answer. He could only wait for Clarise to come back. She would answer everything.

Just then a glowing shell flew up onto the ship and hit Parker on the chest. It stuck to his shirt and he smiled. He pulled the shell off and quickly went to the edge of the ship.
Clarise was floating in the water waiting for him to come. He threw the shell out into the water near Clarise. She dived in after it and came up only a few seconds later.
She yelled up, “Parker, come down into the water! I must talk with you!” She wasn’t smiling as she usually was. Parker knew something was wrong and he wanted to talk, but he couldn’t leave the ship.
“I cannot! My ship duties Clarise!” Parker tried to yell quietly hoping that no one would hear over the hustle and bustle on the ship.
“Hand me a line then!”
He shook his head. He couldn’t leave, she couldn’t come. It was too dangerous.
Clarise frowned, “C.G. Parker I need to speak with you!”
C.G. sighed and looked around the ship. This was important.
Parker turned his back to the edge of the ship and pulled himself up onto the side. Then when no one was looking he fell back off the boat.
It was a painful fall into the water but Clarise helped Parker up to the surface and then pulled him towards the boat that was slowly moving past.
She tried to hide herself in the waves while she spoke, “My sisters will come for the Mary Celeste. They will destroy it and everything on it. You must come away with me.”
Parker’s mouth dropped open, “What do they want with the ship? Why is it of use to them? What about my crew? Can I not warn them?”

She placed her salty hand over my mouth to shut me up, “You must not speak of my sisters! They would be uncovered and so would I. You are the only one who should know of this! You are in danger. I cannot help your crew. But if you do not leave them,” She paused, “You leave me.”

Calls came from up above on the ship, “Parker! You alright?” They tossed a line down to him and he took hold. Clarise hid herself in the waves, “I will come at nightfall to gather you. Make your choice then.” She looked hurt as she buried herself in the sea.

Parker nodded to the men above as he was hauled up onto the deck.

The crew gave him water and let him off his duties for the rest of day. They were such a nice crew. They were good to him.

Parker loved his crew in a way. But he also loved Clarise.

The last of the crew members were heading off to their quarters to sleep. The last man patted Parker on the back, “Night, Sailor.” Parker nodded and listened to the footsteps fade behind him on the deck.

C.G. clung to the shrouds of the boat and stared off into the distant dark sky.

It was hard for him to make this decision. He had not yet decided.
He heard the sweet call from down below and he cast a line down to Clarise. He yanked on the rope until he saw Clarise’s sad face. She sat on the edge of the boat and stared at him with innocent eyes, “Have you decided Parker?”

Parker gazed at Clarise’s face. She was so beautiful. He loved her so much.

He thought. Should he leave his crew and go with the one who loved him the most? What would happen to his crew if he didn’t say anything? What would happen to his love if he did say something?

C.G. Parker’s mind wandered. He imagined the Mary Celeste floating along on the dry desert ground. The ship was pushing along through the cracked earth and the sun was beating down. He imagined himself holding on the shrouds and looking out off the ship.  The sweat was dripping off his forehead. He peered off the side of the boat and saw something lying on the dirt. It was Clarise. She was laying there drying up in the sun without her water supply.

Her eyes slowly shifted towards Parker on top of the Celeste. Her hand lifted towards him and her face showed pure struggle. Parker slowly lifted his hand in the direction of hers as the boat continued to roll past in the dirt. A tear fell from Parker’s eye as Clarise’s hand fell to the ground and her eyes went cold.

Parker blinked himself awake from the thoughts and looked deep into Claries’s sea green eyes.

He would go with her.
He would leave his crew, save himself, and be with his love.
Parke gave a grim smile and Clarise laughed with joy, “I knew you would come with me!” She grabbed C.G. Parker’s hand tightly and turned to jump off the boat. She nodded at him.
He looked back one last time at the ship, took a deep breath and dived down into the water.
Clarise helped Parker up from under the the waves and took him by the arm.
Parker swam a little but Clarise mainly helped him swim away from the boat.
“What do your sisters want of the Celeste?” He asked between breaths.
Clarise’s face grew a frown, “They will destroy it because of what the ship is.”
“What is the ship?”
“The ship is a danger to these seas. It is destined to find something very special.”
“What?”
“The Mermaids Treasure is spell bound to that ship. At some point in that ships life it will find that treasure. My sisters and I, as mermaids are to keep that treasure safe and from no harm.”
Parker pulled it together in his head, “So they want to destroy the Celeste to keep it from finding the Treasure?”
“Exactly, Parker. And that is why I needed you to come with me or you would die as well.”
Parker was silent for a while. Clarise turned to him after a few moments of nothing said, “I’m sorry about the Celeste and your crew Parker. But I could only save you. My sisters forbid anyone else.”
Parker lost himself in her words and began to think.
The Captain of the Mary Celeste had once said to the crew before they had taken off to sea that the crew was like a family. The crew should stick together always. The words of the Captain came back to him, ‘If one abandons ship, we all abandon ship! If one sails, we all sail.’
Parker realized he had been wrong to leave the ship.
“Clarise! Take me back! I need to go back to the ship!”
Clarise looked surprised, “What? Go back to the ship? Why?”
Parker turned himself around to go back towards the ship, “I can’t leave my crew like this! It’s wrong!”
Clarise frowned, “You cannot leave me here! I saved you for a reason and I will not help you. Do you not love me enough to stay?”
Parker’s eyes lifted, “I love you very much. I must go though. You must see that this is wrong?”
Clarise glared, “I am not going back. My sisters will be approaching by now. It is not safe for you.”
Was she on his side? Did this Mermaid really love him? Was she against him like her sisters, or with him like the crew and the Mary Celeste?”
Parker grabbed Clarise by the shoulders, “Then I will swim back alone. If you will do nothing to help me, I cannot help you save yourself from your own cold heart.”
Parker took heavy breathes, taking in all that he had just said. How could he have told her this?
Clarise looked genuinely hurt. Tears began falling from her face as she pushed herself under the salty sea and hid herself.
Parker sighed and started pushing himself back towards the ship. He could still see the faint outline of the ship in the moonlight far away. He pushed himself to go faster.

C.G. Parker’s libs were tired and stiff. He wanted so badly to stop where he was and to sink himself under the sea. But he knew he couldn’t. He must keep going to save the ship and crew.
The morning light was coming up over the horizon and the ship was becoming more and more clear on top of the sea.
Parker kept swimming until he reached the ship. He hollered up the best he could.
Luckily, one of the crew members was up. He slowly looked over the edge to find Parker waving wildly.
A line was thrown and Parker was hauled up onto the ship. He was breathing heavily and he tried to calm down to explain. Just as he was about to open his mouth and tell the man of what was to come a loud noise rang out over the ship.
Parker took a deep breath.
They had come.
Parker picked himself up off the deck. The crew member who had helped him looked frightened, “What in hell blazes was that?”
Parker rushed to the side of the ship and looked below to the sea. The water below was bubbling around the ship and figures were slowly grabbing hold of the ship.
It was Clarise’s sisters. They were grabbing hold of the ship with sticky sea creatures that made it easy to climb. They were all so beautiful it was hard to look away. Parker realized the evil smiles on their faces and woke himself to the reality of what was happening.
The Mary Celeste would soon go under.
Parker yelled, “Get everyone up! The ship is under attack!”
The crew member stroked his beard in confusion. Parker shoved his head towards the edge of the ship and the man took a look at the mermaids. Parker then flung him back towards the deck and he raced off to the crew’s quarters.
The Captain came sleepily out of his quarters, “Parker? Are you giving orders?”
Parker took hold of the captains shoulders, “I am sorry sir. It is not my place but you must hurry to a life boat!”
Parker turned around and took the Captain’s arm leading him towards a lifeboat but then something tugged back.
Behind him a beautiful sea woman slithered across the deck and knocked him off his feet and then began dragging him towards her. The captain hollered and yelled. In astonishment C.G. Parker let go of the Captain and watched as the mermaid threw him off deck and he hit the waves. She smiled victoriously at Parker. She came at him.
Parker thrust a bucket at her face and then ran towards the other crew members who were scattering out onto the deck, “Save yourself. Kill if you must.”
Parker was then handed a knife by one of the crew members. He grasped the handle firmly and then raced to one of the  lifeboats on the ship.
He helped load several men onto the lifeboat. They were all struggling to get on because of the fierce attacks of the mermaids.
They were vicious.
They destroyed everything in their path.
Chaos was going on all around Parker. As he tried to hold off one more mermaid he took a look around him.
A few crew members bodies were bloody on the ship and mermaids were busily throwing them off deck and down to the other sisters below. Only half of the crew was left on one of the lifeboats.
He turned to climb aboard the lifeboat when it snapped and fell into the mermaid infested waters below. Mermaids from every direction of water took hold of the boat and started clawing men under the waves.
Parker turned to where the rope had snapped. A mermaid held the rope in her teeth for a few last moments.
No one was left but him.
One of Clarise’s sisters slithered up to him and screeched loudly. She grabbed hold of Parker’s leg and pulled him down to the ground.
C.G. struggled for a moment and then remembered the knife that was still firmly held in his hand.
He lifted it quickly and jabbed it into the back of the mermaid who stopped immediately.
Parker had killed the mermaid.
Blood ran down his fingers as he still held the knife in his hands. He had never killed someone before. He heard no noise from above him. He looked up.
There She was, watching him. She was laying out on the deck of the Celeste looking at him with sorrowful eyes.
Clarise.
She could not believe what Parker had just done. He had killed one of her beloved sisters. Her family. She was heartbroken.
Parker managed to pull himself from shock and hurl himself over the ships edge and swim away from what had happened. He didn’t stop swimming until he was far away from the ship.
He had lost his crew and the Mary Celeste.
He had lost his love. He had lost Clarise forever. How could she love him now? Who was he to her?
The only person who had loved him with all their heart. The only person who wanted Parker more than he wanted himself was now forever behind him.
Parker’s heart sank. He began breathing heavily and darkness overtook him. He passed out in the waves.

Clarise then came rising from the sea and held Parker up on top of the water.
Parker did not know it but she truly did care for him still. No matter what he said or did, her heart still belonged to him.
So she pushed him along until they reached land. She moved him up onto shore and let him lay there on the sandy beach unconscious.  
Clarise touched his heart and let a tear fall from her eye.
She could not be with him any longer.
Clarise swam out to sea and didn’t look back.

Parker’s eyes swung open and the memories came flooding back into his mind.
He still had little belief in what he had done. But he sulked in his thoughts. How could he even be human? Who was he? How could he have betrayed Clarise when he loved her so?

Parker soon realized he would eventually have to get off the beach. He pulled himself out of the sand and started the trek back to civilization.
He must have been washed up on shore only a few miles away from the dock that the Mary Celeste had left from. At least that was a bit of luck.

It was several months later when Parker left the abandoned house on the outskirts of town. Parker had settled there because he had had no where else to go. With what food he managed to get he survived in cobwebs and his own tears.
He was a grumpy old man with a constant frown. But he had no reason to smile.
As the many days past he had only himself and his own broken heart.
The only way Parker could come to his senses again was to return to the sea. He had nothing left on land, nor had he ever had anything on land. He would find a new ship to crew on and try not to think of Clarise or the crew any longer.

Down by the dock the Caribbean waters were sparkling in the sun and Parker breathed in the sea air that he had been away from so long. He sighed a breath of relief. He was going to be heading home soon. Out at sea was where he belonged.
Then he saw it.
It was her.
It was the Mary Celeste. It was being hauled in with another ship to the dock.
Could it be the ship? Could that be the very ship that the Mermaid’s attacked?

Parker frantically looked around. When a newspaper stand caught his eye he ran over quickly and grabbed it from the boy who was sellings hands. He read the front cover:  January 3, 1885. Mary Celeste ship Found abandoned.
Parker kept reading: Out at sea, the Mary Celeste was found by the Dei Gratia in the Atlantic. The ship was said to be sailing towards the Strait of Gibraltar. No members of the crew were found aboard the ship, even the Captain. Two operational pumps had been disabled, there was only one lifeboat left, and the ships clock and compass were not working. A mysterious torn rope hangs from the ship, may have been used by the other lifeboat. Six months worth of food and supplies still remained on the ship.
There has been no sign of any survivors.
No one is quite sure what exactly happened to the ship but there will be further studies.

Parker took in deep heavy breaths. He handed the newspaper back to the boy and started walking towards the dock despite the paperboys complaints.
The Mermaid sisters of Clarise had cleaned up their dirty work well, hiding their identity while destroying a ship at the same time.
But what they didn’t see is that other ships would sail by on the same track to the Strait and find the Mary Celeste. That is what brought the ship here. Which meant the sisters of Clarise still wanted it gone.

Parker stopped in the middle of a crowd for a moment and took a good look at the Mary Celeste. People moved around him in the hustle and bustle of the day. He stared at the ship.
Then he realized.
It was the ships fault all this had happened to him. If that Mary Celeste hadn’t been cursed with some magic Treasure destiny he would still be floating on the sea, he would still be Clarise, and his crew would still be alive.
Everything that he had gone through was because of that cursed ship.
He hated that ship.
An idea struck him.
If he went to the Mary Celeste, destroyed it even, Clarise might come back to him. If the mermaids are searching for the ship they are sure to find it and if he was on it, he wouldl see Clarise.
The thought of seeing Clarise made his eyes wet. He loved her with all his heart. He would do anything to see her again.
Anything.

Parker ran towards the dock where the Celeste lay. He hid in the barrels and waited. He would take this ship down.
He took a good look at the ship and addressed what would be good for his mission. He would wait until nightfall and then he would attempt his ship murder.

When the skies were turning dark blue Parker returned to the dock. When everyone was leaving the seashore, Parker lay waiting behind the barrels again.
Some time passed before Parker thought it safe enough to come out of hiding. He paced around for a while trying to decide if it was worth it and then decided for it and hurried down the dock.
Starting the ship was a lot of hard work on his own but after a few hours he managed to get it going.

C.G. Parker had his mind set on only one thing.
Clarise.
He would see her again he was sure of it.
As the Mary Celeste hit the Rochelais Reef, Parker searched everywhere for Clarise. There was no sign of her in the water anywhere.
The boat caught itself up in a tangle and it shook the deck. Parker fell to his knees. From the floor Parker scrambled to the edge of the boat and looked over.
There was no movement in the water. He could see nothing at all. Not a thing.
Parker was furious. How could she not come? Why did he think she would come?
Wait, there was something in the water.
There she was.
She was coming out of the water. Parker met her eyes.
She had not aged a bit. She was still gorgeous and her sea green eyes still sparkled the way they always did in the moonlight.
Parker could not help but cry at the sight of her. Tears rolled down both his and Clarise’s cheeks and she waved. Parker could not bare lift up his hand, he did not have the strength.
Then he heard hollering.
C.G. cocked his head to the side and saw a group of men from the dock yelling.
They must have seen the boat hit the reefs. They would be coming very quickly and it wouldn’t take long to get here since the ship hadn’t made it that far. He had stolen and crashed a boat. Who knows what they would do to him?
Clarise shouted to him, “Jump Parker! Jump!”
Parker followed her command and threw himself into the evening waves.
Clarise’s touch brought his eyes open and she swam him through the cold waters.

When they reached shore Parker sat in the tide and Clarise laid her tail out behind her and looked up at Parker, “Why did you try to crash the Mary Celeste Parker?”
C.G. smiled for the first time in a long time, “I had to see you.”
Clarise began to cry and she buried her face in her hands, “Parker can you not see what this does to me? I love you. Seeing you makes the situation worst.”
Parker rubbed his hand through her hair, “No, it’s better. I thought I was dead to you. I thought you could never love me again and I thought that-”
“Stop!” Clarise shouted and Parker shut up, “I cannot love you for the best of things. We do not belong in the same world C.G. Parker. I belong at sea with my sisters and you on land.”
“I can live on a boat at sea! We can still see each other.”
“You do not understand! You are forbidden. I can no longer speak with the human kind. I am blamed for the death of my sister Hanaku.” she paused, “The one you killed.”
Parker lost his breath, “I want to-”
“I’m sorry Parker. I must go.” Clarise took Parker’s had and held it to her mouth. She kissed it for a long moment and then left with her tears still rolling down her face.

Parker sat on the shores until sunrise. He did nothing but sit in the sand and stare out at the waves. He did not think, he did not cry, he barely breathed.
The sun peaked out over the early morning waves and created a slight glare in Parkers eyes.
His heart was torn and broken and could never be fixed. He knew this.
The waves. The sea. The salt.
Thats what gave Parker hope for another day. Thats what calmed Parker. Thats what made the pain go away.
The only one to ever love him was the sea. The ocean and its waves.

Parker dragged himself to his feet and took one last breath before he dived into the shiny ocean water.
He would be loved only by the sea.   

Wow, that was pretty sad.  Thanks for the read!  You are an amazing writer.  Keep it up!

-Mr. C.