Between Two Worlds

A two year old boy was thrown into a river by kidnappers after his parents couldn't pay their

debt. As he sank deeper, a mermaid spotted him and pulled him to safety.

She couldn't let him die, so she took him to her hidden cave beneath the water.

For thirteen years, the boy lived with her, learning to hold his breath longer

than any human, speaking her language, eating raw fish. The mermaid became his mother,

the river his home. But at fifteen, curiosity pulled him back to land. When he emerged,

everything felt wrong. The air burned his lungs. Clothes felt like

chains. He couldn't understand why people didn't share food or why they feared water.