Journal Entry – August 17, 2024
Location: Mikonos, Greece
Writer: Enrique Demetriou, Age 23
Field: Music student, Athens Conservatory
I'm writing this down because no one's going to believe me.
Hell, I don't believe me.
It started on the night of the fireworks. My cousin's birthday.
We were out on a boat—nothing fancy, just the family's old fishing cruiser with a Bluetooth speaker and too much retsina.
Dancing, laughing, blasting terrible Europop under the stars.
Fireworks went up from the shore—red, green, gold, all bursting over the bay like the gods were drunk and showing off.
I remember turning to the water, just for a second, and thinking I saw something.
Not a fish.
Not a dolphin.
Eyes.
Huge. Bright. Not glowing exactly, but reflecting the sky in a way I've never seen.
They disappeared before I could call anyone over.
I told myself it was wine and moonlight.
Then three nights later… I saw her.
I was just sitting by the seawall, eating souvlaki after a gig. Alone.
It was quiet—just waves and the occasional scooter buzzing past the port.
Then I noticed her walking barefoot out of the shadows.
She was… strange. Beautiful, but off.
Tall. Lean. Her hair looked wet but her skin was bone dry.
She wore a light blue sundress, no shoes.
Moved like someone learning how to be.
Like walking was optional. Like her whole body was still listening to something else.
I asked if she was alright.
She said, "I am very yes."
That should've been the first clue. But I thought maybe she was foreign. A tourist. Or high. Or just… eccentric.
Then she said she was looking for the place "where hearts are kept."
I laughed. Said hospital?
She said no.
"Your heart," she said.
"I saw it before. It was full of light."
That hit me in the gut.
Because… for a split second, it made sense. Like poetry. Or music.
Like something pulled from a dream you forget until someone sings the right note.
But then she reached out. Fast. Like she was going to touch my chest.
I flinched. Of course I did.
She stopped. And then she said—dead serious—
"I want to mate."
I wish I could say I handled that well. I didn't. I laughed. Loud and stupid. And then I noped the hell out.
I walked away, didn't even look back.
But I couldn't stop thinking about her.
Something in the way she stood there, confused and exposed, like she had no armor.
Like a creature that didn't know how to lie.
And her eyes. God. Not just pretty. Alien.
Like they didn't blink right.
Like they'd seen things under miles of water I couldn't imagine.
I went back the next night. Same seawall. Same time.
She wasn't there.
And now I'm asking myself questions I probably shouldn't be. Like:
What if she wasn't human?
What if I met something older than we are, and I laughed in her face because I was scared?
What if she came to the surface just to see what love looks like here… and I showed her fear instead?
I don't know if I'll see her again.
But I think I want to try.
And this time, I won't run.
Even if she's not what I thought.
Even if she's something the sea forgot to warn us about.
Because for one impossible moment, I think someone from another world looked at me…
…and wanted to understand.