Sinking Woman || Yandere!Siren X F!Reader

Blood in the Water

You couldn't sleep that night. Whenever you turned off the lights, you imagined Jenny's detached torso laying on the floor in every dark corner.

So you got up early, in the wee hours of the morning, and started to pack. You wanted out of Paradise as soon as possible. This cottage once held such happy memories for you. Now they had all been dashed against the rocks of the jetties.

You tried to relive some of them, put a record on the phonograph and cranked the handle, just as you had seen your grandma do many times before. A man -Bobby Darin, the record said- began singing an old tune. "Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me, my lover stands on golden sands and watches the ships that go sailin'."

Once you were done packing everything of yours, you began packing Jenny's belongings as well. It would be too cruel to ask her family to come down to the beach where she'd drowned to retrieve her belongings.

You wanted to call Jenny's family, give them the news yourself. Maybe it would hurt less if it wasn't coming from a stranger. Then again, they probably blamed you for not keeping a closer watch on their daughter. Ever since you'd become friends, you'd always had each other's backs. She was a bad influence on you, but you were supposed to be a good influence on her.

It didn't really matter, though. You couldn't call, even though you wanted to. Your phone was at the bottom of the marina, and your grandma's cottage hadn't had a homeline since she died.

It wasn't good for you, though, going through her things. You broke down crying on the sandy bathroom floor, clutching a tub of hair mayonnaise. Then another time when pouring the slushie you bought her down the kitchen sink drain. Then again as you took her swimsuit down from the clothesline.

In summary, you cried almost the whole time. Everything's going to be alright, you tried to convince yourself as you stroked your own cheek. It wasn't working, so you closed your eyes and tried to imagine someone else, your mom or grandma, doing it for you. The night is always darkest before the dawn.

Somehow, someway, you got through it. All the bags were packed and ready to be dragged out to the cars. You'd be taking Jenny's Cadillac back home to drop it and all her stuff off at her family mansion. You and your mom would come back from your car.

It was noon before you noticed anything amiss. You walked down to Gavin's Store to ask if they had a resort phone you could use. The store appeared to be open... The door was unlocked and the lights were on, but there was no one behind the counter. You waited for a while, thinking the cashier had to be in the back, but several minutes passed and no one came out.

So you gave up and walked back to the cottage. You noticed the ice cream truck you patronized throughout the week in a ditch on your way back. The driver side door was open and the engine was still running, as if the ice cream man had bailed out of the vehicle while it was still in drive. Weird. Why would he do something like that? You wondered with a furrowed brow.

You noticed something else was amiss when you went out on the beach to collect your chairs and other paraphernalia. It was prime time in the day for beach activity, but there wasn't a single person on the shoreline as far as the eye could see.

That's when you heard it: a warbling note off in the distance. It was so faint you had mistook it for a humming in your ears at first. That's impossible, you thought, smothering your panic. Seren only came out during the nighttime. She was nocturnal. Still, your feet carried you towards the marina.

The song got louder the closer you got to its source. It resonated somewhere deep in your chest, sent a tremble down your spine like you were in the car blasting the bass.

You recognized the tune. It was the same one playing the night Jenny disappeared. "I'm A Fool to Want You." You were the one who taught it to her, gave her one more weapon for her arsenal.

In the water surrounding the dock was everyone at the resort, up to their shoulders in water, vacant expressions on their faces. The sight of them incited you.

"I know you're here," you yelled across the waters.

The waves lapped steadily at the posts of the dock, as if keeping time for the song. No one came out of the water, but you knew she was listening. She was a predator, always watching and waiting for the perfect time to pounce.

Goosebumps rose on your skin from fear and anticipation. You watched as a head of dark, wavy hair peeked out of the water.

"Seren," you whispered, looking at her massive aquamarine eyes. She was as beautiful as the first time you saw her, and she was aware of that fact.

You received a shark-like smile in return. You tensed at the sight of those teeth. You knew the damage they could wrought, seen it first-hand. Those massive pieces of flesh missing from Jenny's body. You could only hope she was already dead when Seren first bit into her.

"I'm a fool to want you..." She crooned, "I'm a fool to want you... To want a love that can't be true, a love that's there for others too."

"You took everyone at the resort." You almost couldn't believe it. How could she be that powerful? How could her song carry that far?

She snorted, wrinkled what little nose she had. "I sang and they came. It's not my fault they don't have the same resistance you do."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why do you think?"

You inhaled sharply. Only one answer came to mind. "You're blackmailing me. You're leaving me no other choice. I come with you or all these people die."

"You always have a choice, dear heart." But then she let out a high note, and everyone took a step further into the ocean, until the water was lapping at their chins.

"Stop!" You shrieked. You couldn't live with so many deaths on your conscience.

Seren closed her mouth, and the people stopped in their tracks. There was an expectant look on her face. She wouldn't wait forever.

You took a deep breath to calm yourself before asking, "If I go with you... Will you let them go?"

"Of course!" She chirped, looking excited as a child that was promised a new toy. Then she stretched a clawed hand up to you in invitation.

You weren't giving up. That was for certain. You would fight this, fight her, until your last breath. But you had to protect these innocent people first. You could save them where you couldn't save Jenny. You brought this upon them, after all.

Without another thought, you closed your eyes and jumped off the dock and into the waters below.