SIREN STORY SURGE continues! You can read about how it started here.

Please welcome our 5th SIREN AUTHOR, J. Luis Licea, a YA writer who began writing poems and is now working on a full-length novel. J. Luis Licea writes about magic, curses, strange creatures, and tamed zombies. He is allergic to the smell of orange. He loves to laugh and laughs as he smiles. WAIT! His favorite element is water. But he can't swim. He is also scared of cows.

Photo by Leslie June

Siren Story NUMBER 5 by J. Luis Licea

Zombie or Siren

I’d like to think of myself as a human, but that’s a sin in the eyes of my mother.

I’ve to love myself more than I do anything else. That was, until I saw him: the creature—the perfect lover. We can’t be together—if we could—my nature wouldn’t allow it.

I sit at a bank of the river as my long purple tail turns into human feet. The feet are a lie; they’re an illusion seen by all who look upon my fish tail. I’d to learn how to do it, but I can’t do it well—the big toe on my left foot looks like a fat otter, the one on my right like a twig.

“Come, Selina, you must eat,” I hear my mother sing in soft echoes.

Thinking about food makes me sick. Food makes me sick. Not all food, just our food—siren’s food. Being me has a curse. I want to leave this lake. But I can’t—not until I eat some brains. Human brains. My stomach vomits as I think about it…

I see him. He’s back! The human boy! His boat’s coming my way. I quickly brush my hair with my fingers and concentrate on making my tail look like feet—stupid otter!

His golden hair—his sharp nose—his squared chin—his long arms, red lips—kissable.

He waved at me! Shit! I stand up—darn, how it hurts. I sit back down.

He’s in front of me. “Good day to you lass, slurping the sun, I see.”

My heart beats. I have a heart? Oh, yes, I do now!

“Good day—handsome,” I reply and frown. Handsome? I sound too frantic.

He knits his eyebrows with a smile and reaches for my hand. “The water’s cold, don’t you think?”

He’s the one desperate; if he only knew…

I stretch my hand to him and feel the warmth of his fingers. It hurts like hell to stand on my tail, but I manage. He holds on to my hand and I to his; in a quick blink, I’m on his boat.

“Kiss me now…?” I ask. That’s everything he wants. My beauty has him confused.

He closes his eyes, puckers his lips, and leans forward. He is such a handsome boy. I lean forward to meet him. Our lips touch—hot and cold in harmony. He pulls back but my two long fangs are already holding his upper lip.

This is my chance; I can slurp out his brain, eat it, and be free from this lake. I can’t! I won’t! I want to see him more. I’m in love. I love him!

I pull out my fangs from his lip. I didn’t do it. He lives!

Oh, wait! Shit. Ew! I take a pale, tiny, ugly thing out of my mouth. Is this his brain? Yuck!

I look at him. He looks back at me and then falls to the side. Dead.

I guess I’m not human after all. But I’m free! FREE!

Thanks, boy!

P.S.: This is the 5th Siren Story. If you want to indulge in more sirenness, here is Siren Story NUMBER 1, Siren Story NUMBER 2, Siren Story NUMBER 3, and Siren Story NUMBER 4.