Chlorine

by Jade Song

I was unbalanced from alcohol and the heady sense of hormonal youth at unsupervised parties. Though I abstained from alcohol during the swim season, I did enjoy drinking, the way it cleared my head of pain and made me stop thinking about the copper rod in my body, the mermaids, my mother alone in our house without a father to keep her company while I partied and swam. My body was flushed with Asian glow, causing Cathy to call me her siren. The nickname made me blush harder, adding to the redness of my skin. Cathy meant a siren like those on top of police cars, but I secretly nourished the idea that when she called me a siren, she referred to the Sirens in Greek mythology, who lured sailors to their rocky, watery deaths with their haunting songs.