I wake up at five am. I barely slept. I feel sore. Everything hurts. I feel mad at Layla but at the same time I feel guilty. I yelled at her and tried to force her to believe that I saw a mermaid. I feel stupid. I decide that playing the What If game is only going to stress me out so I try to distract myself. I tried my hobbies. They usually give me comfort and joy when I feel uneasy. They take my mind off the rough times that life throws at me. But nothing seems to be working at the moment. It's only 5:30, but I'm anxious to go back to the ocean. Something about the shimmering, grey water fascinated me. I loved to stare at it's vast horizon as the waves would crash against the smooth, sandy shores. I loved it there, even though it had become a dangerous and feared place. 

I grab a flashlight and a few granola bars and begin my walk to the ocean. I don't have a plan and I have no idea what I intend to do there. I'll probably end up looking for the mermaid again. Which means I'll get wet. I shiver at the thought of being drenched in cold water at such an early time of day. But there wasn't really any other way of finding anything out. I would have to swim far from shore again, I would have to find the mermaid again, and this time I would have to stick around long enough to learn more about what was going on.