Have I told you I’m a mermaid? She said, the words falling like liquid from her mouth. I laughed at the absurdity. She laughed too, her voice melodic in the way it rose and fell. Her blue eyes reflected the shoreline in the distance. Her laugh sighed into a wave and was silent after. Later that week, she walked into the ocean to be swallowed by the waves. I like to think she was telling the truth, that she swam off towards that horizon she so often stared at, but I know better.