I warn ya, this story is gonna be kinda sad....
I sighed, trying and failing not to remember what had happened to me and Natalie all those years ago. Sami turned her head. Her eyes were gleaming hopefully. Natalie’s hand brushed mine.
“Tell them… I can’t…” she whispered. I nodded, took a deep breath, and started to speak.
“We… we’ve known each other since we were… five, was it? Yes. I was five, Nat was six. We were in the same school. Then, when we were… 10 and 11, we were on a trip with our class… abroad. But… on the way home…” I bit my lip, glancing at Natalie. Even thinking of it was painful. I saw that her eyes were sparkling with tears already. She nodded wordlessly, her eyes telling me to continue. I took a deep breath.
“On our way home… both engines exploded. We only survived because the plane fell into the sea. Most people had stopped breathing…” I felt the tears brimming in my eyes, and spotted a stray tear rolling slowly over Natalie’s cheek. Her sister had been on that plane. I took another deep breath, feeling myself shuddering, the salty droplets in my eyes escaping and sliding down my face.
“Natalie was still alive… unconscious, but alive. I was a mermaid, and we were trapped in a plane, slowly sinking. I… I did the first thing I could think of – grabbed Nat, smashed a window with my tail and swam to the surface…” My voice broke. There was one last thing. Something I had never told anyone. Natalie turned her head, slowly, crying openly now. I stared back, our blue eyes meeting.
“I tried to rescue her, Nat. I tried…” My breath caught. I had been too late to save Natalie’s sister. I was too late to save the only other person on that plane who hadn’t been killed by the smoke or the heat of the roaring flames. The guilt washed over me again, strong as when I looked into Nat’s eyes, seven years ago, and told her that her sister was dead. I stared into the campfire, still crying. Natalie sniffled quietly beside me, and I hugged her.
“We’ll always have each other,” I promised in a whisper. Natalie nodded.
“You are like a sister to me now,” she replied, equally quietly. I smiled into her hair and sniffled. We broke apart, wiping the tears off of our faces, and looked back at the others. Ali was clutching Prim even tighter to her chest, and Sami looked horror-struck. Cass’s amber eyes were closed, and her eyelashes were damp.