Remembered Happiness This story was originally started by Janette Oakman

Beginning of an Interactive Story From Frustrated Writers Online

With heavy skirts hitched up to reveal her delicate slim ankles, Lottie walked eagerly towards the frothing white surf. Loving the feeling of the cold salty water as it caressed her ankles, before drawing the sand from beneath her small feet, only for the next wave to come back to splash icy water against her perfect feet, as seagulls hovered close by watching. Vividly, Lottie remembered the days of her childhood, when she would have swam in the cool Atlantic with her sister, much to their parents annoyance. Exceptionally warm for June, with even the strong Cornish winds quiet today, Lottie sighed, how she would have loved to swim in the inviting ocean, how restricted her life was now, since her father had died. She was grateful for her uncle who had allowed her to stay in her home, along with his wife and son. Just thinking about Sebastian sent a shiver down her spine, she hated the way he stared at her and the way her uncle was always hinting that one day they should wed. With her mind faraway, Lottie hadn't noticed the larger wave coming towards her, until it had soaked her skirts. Lottie laughed whilst walking back to the rocks, surrounded by tiny little rock pools, that perhaps only a few years ago she would have gone investigating in. 'Why shouldn't I!' she thought to herself as the ocean called her again. Seconds later, clad only in her thin shift, Lottie ran into the cold salty water, which sent a spray dropping like diamonds in her dark auburn hair, as she swam out into the emerald sea. Until her previously tensed muscles ached, she floated atop the water like a flower tossed into the ocean, letting the hot sun bake her body, totally unaware that she had drifted further out of the secluded bay. Idly Lottie day dreamed of a life of happiness and love. When a seagull cast a shadow over her oval face, Lottie opened her eyes in a start and realised just how far from the land she had drifted. With her aching muscles, Lottie eventually made her way back to the beach and was totally unaware of the stranger watching her from afar... Like a stranded mermaid, with her long hair falling past her shoulders in a mass riot of curls, he was unaware of his own sharp intake of breath, as he watched her from afar. Her shift was clinging to her like a second skin. Spellbound, his mermaid, threw her head back suddenly and he could hear her melodious laughter carried by the wind. Even though he could quite easily see by the rise and fall of her full breasts, that she wasn't a child, her laughter reminded him of his cousin, that he hadn't seen for two years. They had come to this particular beach many a time when they were young.

Part one written by Janette Oakman

next part written by Gaynor Owen

Sebastian watched from the cliff-top while the mermaid dressed, he had never been so captivated, so taken aback. In London he had had his pick of women, beauty was no stranger to his arms, but this chestnut haired creature seemed to mesmerize him. He smiled to himself as his mermaid skipped along the beach, heading for the rock pools, her laughter carried to him on the gentle breeze. "Yes". He told himself, her laugh was similar to that of Charlotte, but this creature was definitely not his sulky little cousin. No girl could grow so quickly, or become so beautiful, in only two years. Charlotte had been so wraith-like, nothing to look at, and her tongue had been so cruel. He sat down on a rock, remembering a summer not unlike this one, the summer Charlotte and Josephine had first visited the manor. They had come with their parents, the Marquis and his wife, and had stayed all summer. Sebastian had been twelve or thirteen, Charlotte eight, and raven-haired Josephine eleven. He and Charlotte had never got along well, Charlotte had been way too outspoken, way too opinionated. Josephine had been much more fun, a quiet and delicate little thing, totally unlike her sister. He smiled to himself, thinking of the shy little boy he had once been, how his cousins had teased him mercilessly. Charlotte had always been the instigator, Josephine had followed her lead like a puppy dog, the pair of them as close as twins. They had loved it at the manor, especially Charlotte, she had treated the place as a playground. She had learned to swim on this very beach, climbed these very cliffs, much to her fathers disapproval. The Marquis had often sworn that Charlotte ought to have been born a son, she had been wild since her birth, and had inherited her mother's cruel streak. Sebastian gazed down at his mermaid once more, remembering those long, sunny, summers. Who would have thought such a tragedy, would befall the family, leaving only Charlotte alive, it had been devastating. And now his sulky cousin was living in Ireland, with her mothers elder sister, a reclusive widow. He wondered how she was, whether she was well, how the deaths had affected her. She had always treated him badly, always thought him the fool, but he didn't like to think of her suffering.

He remembered, once, when Charlotte had been around twelve, he had been asked to take her into the village. The whole trip had been a nightmare, Charlotte had spent the journey into town making fun of him, the whole time in town ridiculing him to his friends. He had been so upset, he had felt like striking her, he hadn't spoken to her for the rest of the summer.

He could laugh about it now, but it had been no laughing matter then, for a shy seventeen year old. He stood up, preparing to leave for home, taking one last look at his mermaid. He could not believe how beautiful she was, how wonderful she looked peering into the little rock pools, like an excited child. He was loath to leave the cliff-top, fearful that he might never see her again, he would have liked to have joined her on the beach. But he was already overdue at the manor, he had been expected hours ago, his parents had recalled him from London