I remember that it hurt. Looking at an empty coffin hurt. My best friend disappeared months ago, and there is no trace of her until now. The authorities canceled the search and an empty coffin was buried in his name. Olivia´s parents insisted on holding a wake, as if deep down they were certain that she died. We were in a room full of her favorite flowers, the lotus flowers. Everybody was suffering as much as I did, but I´m sure no one there could understand my feelings. I was surrounded by sad people with confusion in their gaze and trembling hands, but I still wondered why did they give up the search so fast.
The night Olivia got lost, their parents and brother were at home. Curiously, they didn´t noticed her absence until the next morning. She left no clues or messages. Her room was tidy and all her belongings in place. The environment was dense, and no one said a word. I started visiting Olivia´s family frequently, so they knew they could count on me. They always treated me as if I were part of the family, because they knew that I didn´t have one. So the loss was as their as mine.
My best friend´s older brother is called Andrew. We had never talked before. I remember him treating Olivia in a rude way since we were little, so I never felt confident with him. After his sister disappeared, we started talking a little bit more. As the days went by, we became friends and made a couple of plans together. I suppose it was the pain of losing his sister what brought him closer to me. It looked like Andrew´s parents were happy to see us together. We got along so well.
The days passed and it had been around four months since Olivia disappeared. Andrew and I had planned to go on an adventure together. There is a lake two hours away from home, and we wanted to go fishing or camping. The day of the plan came up and we drove to the Bermuda lake. We sang and shouted until we couldn´t anymore. In that moment I realized how happy we felt when we were together. But I realized how much we missed Olivia as well.
The first day of stay we arrived in the afternoon, so we just had time for eating and looking at the starry night. On the second day, we were supposed to cross the lake in a boat. I was drinking a cinnamon tea that Andrew made for me while we were sailing on the lake. Suddenly, I started watching everything blurred and lost consciousness. I don´t remember how much time passed till I woke up with a throbbing sensation in my head. I opened my eyes and my hands and toes were strongly tied. I felt lost and desperate and couldn´t calm down. I was trying to understand what happened, with Andrew sitting in front of me. Then, I realized: I have been here before. I must have been smarter. I should have suspected about him. He told me that the rocks and ropes were to improvise an anchor if it was necessary, and sillily I trusted him. He didn´t say a word and I even couldn´t ask something. Straight away, he pulled me out of the boat with the stones tied to my body, so I started drowning.
Little by little, the oxygen that remained in my lungs was running out when I saw her. I saw Olivia. She was tied at the bottom of the lake just like me, but she had a beautiful mermaid tale and a lotus flower in her hand. She was waiting for me. I was about to die in the water when she made me eat that flower, so I could breathe underwater. In that moment, I couldn´t explain how happy I was to see her, but how scared I was of being there.
That was the greatest act of friendship I have ever done in my life. I chose to accompany my best friend until the end of the days. I had nothing to lose, but a lot to win. And my loyalty provided me a space in the mermaid kingdom. Olivia thanked me for keeping her secret safe, but I couldn´t stop feeling confused. I never knew how did Andrew discovered me. We planned the scape taking care of every detail. How did he know that I was the one who dumped his sister´s body to the lake? I wish I could explain them all that Olivia had been a secret mermaid all her life, but there´s no way back home. There´s no way to tell them that I wasn´t a murder. They would never know the truth.
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