Chapter 1

(My silly ass accidentally deleted the prologue part while editing and adding pictures resembling our two lovely main characters and locations - so I edited it and added it here because apparently, Wattpad doesn't have the undelete feature. Apologies, and please enjoy)

Prologue

Sometimes, death is not at all what it's made out to be. It is not dark. It does not come in the form of a frightening shadow that instantly and unfairly yanks you away from everything you love.

No. Sometimes, though rarely, when one is lucky enough, death comes in the form of a familiar face, and just as rarely, it is a welcomed relief. Its cruel nature, as portrayed by the grieving, is, in fact, kind-when the bereaved are absent from the picture.

Sometimes, death is a savior. It represents the end and, sometimes, though still rarely, the beginning. In this particular case, however, there was no sign of a new beginning. It was the ultimate end of a sad, miserable, and lonely life, Allison Dupree thought.

She knew she surprised death by welcoming it with a smile, but death, as she was going to learn, was not always so compassionate.

"Aren't you going to try and run?"

She had tried, but every time she thought she had succeeded in her failed attempts, she'd been found. Now, she looked out into the dark, furious sea and thought it resembled the flames of hell awaiting a feast.

"What for? So that you can find me again?" She asked, hopelessly and carelessly tossing her arms aside.

"Ally, my beautiful rebellious Ally. I never thought things would end like this," Shawn, her husband, said.

"I always hoped you would die first, but as you can see, my luck is about to run out."

He scratched the back of his head with one hand while the other aimed a gun at her. "I've always berated myself for never having succeeded in taming that tongue of yours. I guess it's true what they say: the end does justify the means."

"You talk too much, old man. Are you going to end this or not?" She wished he would just pull the trigger, because death was going to offer her the solace and liberation she had so candidly sought after.

The luxurious yacht rocked under the strong forces of the waves, which signaled a gathering storm. It was the dark of the night, and they were both standing near the hull of the yacht amidst stormy clouds, angry waves, and an amassing rain.

She could see the impatience and anger on Shawn's aging face. She had always resented her deceased father for having forced her to marry him in an attempt to save her from herself.

Duncan Davidson, her father, had been her only surviving relative, and as fate would have it, Shawn had been his best friend.

Some might have said that at twenty-five, she was too young to die, but her husband, who was thirty-five years her senior, obviously didn't think so as he waved the gun from side to side in indecision.

She had been married to him for three years, and that period of time had felt like a lifetime because of the misery, the abuse, and the humiliation she'd endured at his hands.

The yacht rocked again, knocking Allison against the hull, and Shawn tightened his grip on the frame as the rain continued to pour down hard on them.

"I knew you were a lot of things, Shawn, but I never thought you were a murderer. If you let me walk free, I swear you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars."

At the threat, he barked his henchman's name, and a large man with snow-white hair and an unsightly scar over his forehead walked out.

Allison knew him because he had been her bodyguard. She had always thought he resembled a gladiator, what with his massive build and unwavering stance, but at that moment, none of those thoughts crossed her mind.

She was thinking about how surprisingly clear everything became when death was so near. She'd been married to Shawn for three years, and until the moment she'd witnessed him take another man's life, she had not thought he was capable of murder.

What reason would he have to kill? He had money because Duncan had left Allison his entire fortune. But then again, she couldn't rule out all possibilities. After all, with everything Shawn had put her through, it was more than obvious that he was capable of anything.

Shawn had taken control of her father's company shortly after Duncan had died, so Allison had never questioned his business dealings. She hadn't, until she'd seen him shoot a man between the eyes.

She hadn't heard much. The dead man had been confronting Shawn about something to do with drugs. The conversation had been vague, so she couldn't tell what the drugs had to do with Shawn killing the man. And at that point, she realized she wasn't about to find out.

When Shawn had discovered that she'd been standing outside the room and had witnessed the murder, she had known what he was going to do.

They were in the middle of nowhere, so even if she wanted to run, it would have been of no use. With the storm, the waves, and the engulfing darkness, she would have drowned had she attempted to jump into the sea.

"Shoot her and dump her body in the sea," Shawn ordered, walking back toward the deck of the boat.

Owen, the henchman, aimed the gun at her, and Allison closed her eyes, preparing herself.

A thunderous noise bellowed from the hostile sky as a bolt of lightning sparked to life, creating rioting waves as the storm grew in force and velocity.

Allison thought it was ironic how dramatic death could be, even for a person who welcomed it.

The waves knocked the yacht off its course, and at the same time, the loud, boisterous sound of a gunshot deafened her ears as a bullet tore through her flesh.

The surprising intensity of the bullet had her staggering back, and before she knew which part of her body the bullet had hit, she was falling overboard while Owen struggled to keep his balance.

The one thing that is true about death, however, is that your entire life does flash before your eyes. That feeling of emptiness is suddenly gone, replaced by childhood laughter, finally making you complete as you embrace your fateful demise.

CHAPTER 1

.... STARTS HERE

"Alanna, not so far," Holly yelled after her eleven year old niece.

Madison, Alanna's younger sister followed closely and loyally after her.

Heeding her aunt's words, Alanna turned and started slowly walking back.

Holly looked out to sea. It felt like a lifetime had passed since she'd last been on the white sandy beach. The azure sky still remarkably resembled the blue in the sea and the deep rich scent of the breeze still tasted as deliciously as she remembered.

She had thoroughly enjoyed the simple pleasures of taking long walks on that beautiful beach and she found herself nostalgic as the feel of the sand gently massaged her feet.

"We should have brought Chip along with us," Maddy said.

"Chip shouldn't exhaust himself, remember?" Holly said, recalling the condition the poor pug was in.

"It's your fault he's sick," Alanna accused.

"It is not!" Maddy retorted.

"It's no one's fault that he eats everything he gets his paws on," Holly said, settling the sibling argument before it heated up.

Watching Alanna and Maddy fight over something so trivial reminded her of countless childhood fights with her own siblings, Michael and Cassie.

Having been the last born in the family, she'd been picked on the most by the two older siblings. But despite their differences, their bond had always been strong even after her fruitless attempts to disassociate herself from her family.

"Do you want to keep on walking or do you want to go back?" Holly asked the two beautiful sisters who had taken after their mother, Cassandra.

"Keep on walking," Alanna answered.

"Keep on walking," Maddy mimicked.

Holly admired the way Maddy looked up to Alanna. They were in a close-knit family and Holly hoped the innocence of their relationship would never fade away.

Holly considered herself the black sheep of the family. She was so different from Cassie that sometimes she wondered if one of them had been adopted, but their family resemblance convinced her otherwise.

While growing up, she'd often gotten more into trouble than either one of her siblings. The fact that she'd grown up in a ranch had not helped, that was partly why she'd been happy to leave when the opportunity or rather, the circumstance had presented itself.

The Mackenzie Ranch was one of the largest in the small, developed but old fashioned town of Reedsdale, Texas, and was conveniently located along the coastline.

Holly had always thought it was the worst place to grow up, but after having disappeared for half a decade, occasionally but briefly visiting her family, she'd come to realize how much she'd taken that life for granted.

As a cool breeze blew past her, making the tendrils of hair dance across her face, she inhaled the rich scent of the sea and walked towards the sturdy rocks deeply rooted near the shoreline.

She took a look at the girls to make sure they were safe and turned her attention back to the sea. Apart from the soothing hum of the waves, the beach was clear with no form of life or movement in sight.

She'd always wanted to live in the big city and had therefore moved to New York. Despite her long stay, she'd managed to communicate with her nieces and had managed to stay close to them.

It was just a couple of weeks now since her return to Reedsdale. Not the presence of her family or the solitude of her home could make her forget why she'd left and worse, why she'd come back.

Since her return, she'd taken up countless chores at the ranch and had learned to bury herself and her thoughts in her daily duties.

This was the first time she'd come to the beach, and she was enjoying being there with Alanna and Maddy. She was going to miss them because it was the last day before school started.

Cassie was busy shopping for going-back-to-school items for the girls and Anthony 'Tony' Calloway, Cassie's husband, was a doctor with his own private practice and his commitment, duties and responsibilities to his patients were too crucial to put aside.

He was a loving and gentle husband to Cassie, and a wonderful father to both Alanna and Maddy.

"Aunt Holly, who will take care of Chip when we go back to school?" Maddy asked.

Holly turned to face her. "Chip will be fine, honey. Don't worry about him," she reassured Maddy. "Alanna?" She called out to the little girl who had gotten closer to the shoreline. Her attention seemed to be stuck on something.

Holly got up and went to find out what held her attention just to make sure it wasn't some sort of sea creature that could harm her and stopped in shock, unsure of what she was looking at.

"Get back, honey," she said cautiously.

The object of Alanna's fascination had her stepping closer, as Alanna obediently stepped back, giving Holly room to inspect the concealed creature. It quickly took form when Holly moved closer into position.

Momentarily shocked as her brain refused to fathom what she was staring at, her heart started pounding as thoughts turned to action.

"Oh, My God!"

"What is it, Aunt Holly?" Alanna asked.

"Stay back," she warned and quickly moved the seaweed from the form, to reveal a pale face of a woman.

"A mermaid! Cool," Maddy said.

Holly was now bending near the unconscious woman lying on the shoreline in wet, tattered clothes and seaweed covering her legs from waist down as the waves slightly licked the heels of her feet.

"Hello?" Holly said.

"Is she really a mermaid?" Alanna asked.

When Holly got no response from the woman, she tilted back her head to clear the airway and leaned over her nose to check for any sign of breathing. Realizing there was no response, she quickly started administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

"Is she okay?" Alanna asked.

Holly continued with the ventilations. After a moment, the woman coughed out a large gulp of water and her chest started rising and falling, though with great difficulty.

"I don't know," she said and checked to see if the woman had any injuries.

"She's really pretty," Maddy said, leaning forward to touch the woman's long dark hair.

Her skin was pale white, which must have been from the effect of the water, but Maddy was right. The woman was quite fetching.

"She's bleeding," Holly said. "We need to take her to the hospital and I want you two to help me carry her to the jeep, can you do that?" She asked, and removed the seaweed from the woman's feet, revealing her long slender legs before she took off her jacket and covered the woman.

"I need you to lift her legs and help me carry her to the jeep, can you do that?"

The girls nodded.

She securely hooked her arms around the woman's chest and the two girls lifted the legs. The woman was light so carrying her to the jeep was not a tiring task.

After they managed to get her on the back seat, Alanna and Maddy climbed on to the passenger seat and Holly quickly drove away, heading to Tony's medical practice.

"Is she going to be okay?" Maddy asked.

"I don't know, honey."

Holly drove faster than she usually would have. Being a Sunday, she was glad for the lack of traffic because they arrived at the practice in half the time it would have taken them. "Go call for help," she told Alanna, who quickly got out of the car and ran inside.

Moments later, a nurse and an attending walked out with a gurney and a few minutes later, the injured woman was being taken to the emergency room.

"What's going on?" Tony asked.

"Daddy!"

The two girls ran to his arms.

"We found a woman at the shore," Holly said.

"She's a mermaid!" Maddy said.

"She was covered in seaweed and her clothes were all torn up," Holly said.

"I'll go take a look at her," he said.

Holly took the girls and went to sit in the waiting room.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Alanna asked.

Holly looked at Alanna's sad but hopeful expression and couldn't bring herself to answer. She was still a little bit unsettled and was trying to make sense out of the situation. "I don't know, honey" she said.

"Is she really a mermaid?" Alanna asked.

"She has to be," Maddy said as though it was the most exciting discovery she'd ever come across.

"But mermaids don't have feet," Alanna said.

"Ariel from The Little Mermaid had feet," Maddy argued. "Maybe she fell in love with a prince and wanted to leave her sea kingdom and then someone hurt her." Maddy's imagination knew no bounds.

"Maybe," Alanna said.

Holly listened to the girls.

"Aunt Holly, do you think we'll have to teach her how to be like a real person?"

She turned to Maddy at the question and said softly, "I'm sure she knows how, sweetheart."

It felt like they'd been waiting for hours when Tony finally came back. The girls ran to him, asking a question after another.

"She's going to be okay," he said, handing the kids a couple of dollar bills to go get some snacks from the vending machine.

"Her arm is lacerated and she has some scratches, but because of the amount of time she must have been submersed under the water, it's hard to identify the cause. The air to her lungs was obstructed and her body temperature was very low. We're going to keep her under observation for a while."

"Is she still unconscious?" Holly asked.

"Yes, she's in delicate condition. If you hadn't gotten to her on time, she wouldn't have made it."

She exhaled, realizing she'd been holding her breath. "How do you suppose she ended up at the shoreline?"

"She doesn't look local, so maybe she was on a cruise and fell overboard. I think we should report her missing," Tony said.

Holly was against the idea because of something the kids had said. "What if someone tried to hurt her?"

"We don't know if someone did. You didn't find any form of identification on her. Someone could be looking for her. If she has family out there, they need to know."

"Maybe we should wait until she's conscious."

"Holly, we need to notify the police," he said.

"I know, Tony, but please let's wait until she regains consciousness. She could be in trouble."

He seemed apprehensive and Holly didn't blame him. It was protocol to report this kind of incident to the police.

He nodded just as the girls came back.

"Can we see Mermaid?" Maddy asked, munching on a chocolate bar.

"I'm afraid you can't see her right now, honey," he said, picking Maddy up in his arms.

"I should take you guys back home," Holly said.

"But what about Mermaid?" Alanna asked.

"Your dad will take real good care of her."

"Will you, Daddy?" Maddy asked.

He kissed her cheek. "I promise," he said. "Now, you better go with Holly. Don't forget you have school tomorrow and you need to prepare." He kissed Alanna's forehead and Holly took Maddy from his arms.

"Can we come see her again?" Maddy asked.

"Yes, we can," Holly said.

She took the kids back to the ranch and found Cassie there waiting for them. They were so excited about what had happened, they sat everyone down and told them the story.

Joshua and Lori Mackenzie, Holly's parents, sounded concerned for the young woman's condition but Holly's concern was based on the peculiar circumstances under which the woman had ended up at the shore.

"We better get going, it's getting late," Cassie told the kids later on when the excitement died down a bit.

They hugged their grandparents' goodbye and after kissing Michael and Holly, Cassie took them home.

Cassie stayed a few miles away from the Mackenzie ranch on a beautiful three bed-roomed house. There were beautiful flowers outside the house and a yard for the kids to play surrounded by a white picket fence.

It was a lovely place to raise a family but the kids loved the ranch because of the animals so on weekends or whenever they were out of school, they were always there.

"Holly, won't you have dinner with us tonight?" Lori asked Holly on her way out.

She'd grown up in the large beautiful house with her family. It held so many pleasant memories but for some reason, she felt like a stranger to it now; a stranger to those who lived in it.

That was why she was living in the one-bedroom cottage a short distance away. Because it felt more familiar than the very surroundings she had once called home.

"No, I'm not very hungry," she said.

It had been a relaxing day, spending time with her nieces, though it had ended on an unsettling note after finding Mermaid washed up on the beach.

"Are you worried about Mermaid?"

Since the girls had come up with the name, everyone was adjusting to it seeing as no one knew the woman's real name.

"Yes," she said, but the real reason why she didn't want to have dinner with her family had nothing to do with anything that had happened that day.

"I'm sure she'll be fine."

Her mother's confidence was reassuring, though she wondered what Lori would've said had she seen the poor physical state they'd found the woman in.

"I'll tell Adele to bring you something to eat," Lori said.

Holly slowly made her way to the stables. She remembered how much she'd loved growing up in the presence of so many farm animals and wondered why she'd changed so much.

She'd only been home for a short period of time, but it still felt like she couldn't fully embrace it. She knew her family was concerned about her and knew they wanted to know if she intended to stay, but she wasn't ready to disclose that information to anybody quite yet.

Being in the stables around the horses had always calmed her down. She'd loved riding in the dark, even though her parents had always expressed their disapproval, stating it was dangerous, which it was. But she was an experienced rider and thought they should've had more confidence in her.

She knew every inch, curve and pattern of the ranch and had never gotten hurt before. She'd always known where to lead the horse, always known how far to go despite the disadvantage of being in the dark but the adrenaline had always given her such a titillating rush.

She wondered if she could still do it now, but was too tired to want to try so she headed back to her cottage.

She found Adele, the Mackenzie cook and home caretaker, warming up the dinner for her. Adele was like a second mother to the Mackenzie siblings. She'd been with the family since they'd been kids.

"Hanna came by to see you today," she said.

"What did she want?" Holly asked.

"To see how her childhood best friend was doing, I would assume."

Holly took a seat on her two chaired dining room table and Adele served her.

"Maybe she'll have some luck figuring out what happened to you."

The remark made Holly turn to look at her.

"Are you ever going to tell us?" The concern in her voice was evident.

"I went to school, you're already aware of that." She reached for a folk and a knife, trying to indicate she wasn't in a mood to chat.

"You were not supposed to be gone so long," Adele said.

"Adele, I've had a long day."

She put an end to the discussion. She could feel Adele watching her, and a moment later when the woman walked out, Holly exhaled, suddenly feeling as though she'd lost her appetite. She got up and went to take a bath, blocking everything out in the process.