Deaf--Kylie

She had lost track of how many days it had been since she'd last seen one. Sometimes she wondered why she drew them in, why she killed, but the thought typically did not reside long in her head. It was in her nature, so she did not often question it too long. Besides, the only time she ever really thought about it was when there wasn't any around, for unlike other times, a new group quickly emerged from the billows of sea.
She perched high on her rock, starting her song. Each of them were affected to different degrees; they drew away from the berth and towards the bow, itching to get closer. Some jumped over the edge, making themselves easier targets. She normally choose those to end personally, the ones so seduced by her song that they swam towards her. The rest went down with the ship, as they should. She'd never experienced any form of pity. She never really sought them, except the ones she drew close. They had their own corruptions to blame.
All of them were drowning in her song, making her feel like the sea goddess she thought herself to be. This moment was her favorite, the feeling of utter importance and power. The feeling that she controlled everything, controlled everyone. Absolute power over everything she could see.
It was then that something particular caught her eye. All of them had drawn towards her from all parts, except one. One lone man frantically attempted to grab the attention of his friends

as the boat sunk. For a moment she stopped her song, aghast at this unknown occurrence. Then, quickly realizing he must have not heard her, projected her voice. He still, however, stood oblivious to the source of disarray of his fellow shipmates. He looked around, panicked, as the boat turned about uneasily. Without men manning their stations, the boat had started to turn with the shifts of waves. Recognizing that it was going to go down soon, he hastily tried to wake his shipmates from their dreamlike trance. Curiously, she noticed that he never once opened his mouth to call out to them, instead he shook them vigorously.
This, of course, was a new feeling for her. Never had she felt very curious about anything. Every one of them she’d come across had all been the same, all acted the same, all succumbed to their desires. Her curiosity quickly turned to frustration, how was it that this man could avoid her song? It had to be impossible, for it had never been done before, but then, it couldn’t be because he was doing it. If this ship was to go down, she wanted to have control of everyone o n it. She stopped singing, slipping into the depth of the murky water below.
For days, she followed, watching the ship to understand the man. She never once saw the man interact with anyone, never once converse with anyone. Though she watched for days, she still could not understand how he was immune to her song. He mopped decks and hoisted sails, for several hours she did not see him as he worked below decks. This became her obsession, though she did not consciously realize it. She abandoned everything that had been her before, obsessing to understand this complexity. She lost interest in simply singing, taking down ships, the thing that was all that she was.
The days turned to weeks, the weeks to months. She followed the ship relentlessly, the need to understand so great. She no longer wanted to draw any man in but him, but she knew she

couldn’t. He never talked to those around him, unknowing to the noises around him. Once, a man fell overboard, the entire ship burst out in yelling as the rest of the men unsuccessfully attempted to save him from the swallowing tide. She watched the immune man, who took several counts to even notice anything had gone wrong. He did not react until he noticed the people around him in a panic.
After what seemed like an eternity, the ship came to dock. At first she kept her distance, knowing the danger of coming too close, but as time passed she found herself drawing closer. When the sun finally started to come down, the men filed back onto the ship. She watched each man walk on, looking for his face. Finally, the gangplank was pulled back up and she started to go into a panic because he had not come back onto the ship. Hoping she had made a mistake, she followed the vessel, carefully watching the post he normally attended. It did not take her long to see that she had not been wrong, that he never came back.
Once again, she experienced a new feeling, a deep pain in her chest. She couldn’t identify it, for she never felt it before. The pain tore heavily in her chest at this realization. What was she to do? Soon after this, she felt something familiar... annoyance. Months she had spent chasing this man, trying to learn how to make him fall to her song. She would never make the mistake again of losing what she was, letting herself fall out of her nature. She looked up at the ship, starting to sing her song.
This time, as the men jumped over into the sea, she smiled. She watched as the entire ship went down, collapsing into the sea. She’d thought before she felt like a goddess, but that feeling was nothing compared to how she felt now.