<div style="text-align: justify;">She hung frozen in the water, one hand still held out in front of her where he had previously stood. Despite his words, she was a hundred percent certain that it was her. Of course it was. While he might have needs similar to hers, at least his life didn't depend on it, as far as she knew. Hell, she didn't even look normal! She gritted her teeth, crossing her arms resolutely in front of her. She had tricked herself into thinking that ordinary attraction had been something more; something instinctively on a deeper level than either of them could understand. Yes, that was how it was. <br/><br/><span style="color: #4080FF">"<span style="font-style: italic">Your</span> kind?"</span> She shot upwards and hovered above him, staring hard at him. <span style="color: #4080FF">"<span style="font-style: italic">Your kind?!</span> How <span style="font-style: italic">dare</span> ya! I am your kind! We're both complete freaks of nature! Don't ya dare even for a second as much as <span style="font-style: italic">think</span> that you're the only one with problems here!"</span> She was dangerously close to downright screaming at him in a voice colder than the Arctic. She whipped down in front of him again. <span style="color: #4080FF">"Oh, you're sah-ree,"</span> she sneered, mocking his accent. "But you're right, ya shouldn't have asked me to come with ya. We only. Just. MET!" Alannah wished she was able to stop thinking about his eyes. His beautiful, beautiful eyes, at the moment hurt and confused. <br/><br/>She pulled back at the last second as he moved forward. The teenage girl inside her was howling in frustration over the impossible feelings she had, while the sensible Daniel-part was enthusiastically applauding her. <span style="color: #4080FF">"I have to stay down here,"</span> she said after a brief moment of dead silence. <span style="color: #4080FF">"But ya should go. Take care, Dimitri. I have to admit, meeting ya was... an experience. But ya right. It won't work."</span> With those final words, she turned her tail on him and fled to deeper waters. <br/><br/>Mermaids couldn't cry. But Alannah thought she was probably the one who had come closest.</div>