Chapter Text
When Maya Bishop was born a storm was raging over Forks, Washington. Her mum had wanted a home birth originally, but the storm warning and complications had forced her to drive the hour from her home to the hospital. She was alone, because her husband was out with his fisher boat, but she was used to it.
Lane Bishop didn’t meet his child until she was five weeks old and then only for five days until he had to leave again. They were back in their little town, a quiet place in the north west of Washington called Neah Bay. Maya’s father was born and raised here, he met her mother during a trip to Port Angeles. Since he didn’t want to move away, she gave up her life in the city and moved to the town.
Once Maya and her mum were settled in their house, they got a lot of visitors. Especially their next door neighbour, a woman called Marla, came over every day to help. She brought food, helped in the house and took either Maya or both Bishop women on walks. It came to no surprise to anyone (except Lane Bishop), that Maya formed a close relationship with Marla.
When Maya was three years old, she spent most of her time at Marla’s house while her mother was at work and her father out at sea. Marla told her stories about the woods and the sea and magic. It was Maya’s favourite time of day.
When she was four years old, her brother Mason was born. Her father was over the moon to finally have a son and even took some time off work to spend time with him. Maya was over at Marla’s house a lot more during that time and even slept there every now and then.
One evening Maya heard the woman fight with her parents. She could only hear bits of the conversation, but there were a lot of raised voices and she hurriedly went back to bed, clutching her bear and hiding under the blanket. She pretended to be asleep when the door creaked open and a bit of light came in through the crack. The door closed again and Maya let out a sigh of relief.
After that her parents seemed to make more of an effort to spend time with her. Still Maya was happiest when she was at her neighbour’s house.
She was seven years old when her father took her out on the boat for the first time. She enjoyed it a lot until her father made her help him. From that point on she helped him every Saturday when he only went out for a day.
Now that she was older, she loved running around outside in the forest. Sometimes she was joined by her brother Mason, or the friends she found in school, Andy and Vic. But she also found friends in the nearby Makah village of Waatch. They went on adventures together, building forts in the woods and exploring caves.
She also loved sitting at the beach around fires and listening to old stories. They were similar to the stories Marla had told her as a child.
“Ever since the first people settled in this area, there have been rumours about humans living in the sea. Their upper bodies look like an ordinary human, but instead of legs they have tails like a whale. They called them ča'ak ła∙ x uk or ča'ak xad'ak, which means waterman and waterwoman. Until now there are sightings of ča'ak ła∙ xuk and ča'ak xad'ak in this part of our land. They know to stay away from the fishing boats and it has been hundreds of years since the last one was tangled in a net. We have coexisted since the very beginning and we’re keeping their secret.”
Maya has promised to never tell anyone about them, not even Andy and Vic.
When she was 12 her father decided that she should stop running around like a wild child and start taking some responsibility. He was disappointed in Mason, who had been sick a lot as a child and was seen as weak by his father. So instead he put all his hopes in Maya. He had also started drinking, or maybe Maya just noticed it more, now that she spent so much time with him. His temper was a lot shorter and Maya learned quickly to obey his orders immediately. Fishing with him was not a lot of fun and when Lane told her that she were to join him for the entire summer season, she was equal parts mad and sad.
Mad, because she had plans with her friends.
Sad, because there were so many better things to do with her summer than being stuck on a boat.
She asked her mother to talk to her father, but she did nothing. She was quiet and didn’t want to start a fight. She did everything her husband asked of her, no matter what. They all walked on eggshells around the house when he was home and Maya had secretly longed for the periods when he was gone. And now she was supposed to accompany him. Spend 24/7 with him on a tiny boat.
The first week wasn’t too bad, the alcohol intake was minimal and Lane was actually patient when he explained everything to Maya. She was even starting to enjoy it.
It was in the second week that they started pulling in a net that seemed heavier than usual.
“Do you think we caught a mermaid?” Maya asked excitedly, peering over the rail.
“Mermaids don’t exist.” Her father said gruffly, pulling her back.
“But Paul said…”
“It’s a fairytale. Nothing more.”
“But…”
“Enough! Stop this nonsense. They don’t exist. Have never existed and that is the last I want to hear about it!”
Maya really wanted to believe her father was wrong, but after all he had spent a lot of time on sea and never seen one. And she did too now and never caught as much as a glimpse. So he was probably right, there were no mermaids.
The rest of the summer was going much the same. Still, whenever Maya found the time, she went swimming in her favourite bay and walked around the ever changing forest that she probably knew better than most.
From that year on she was joining her father on his fishing boat every summer holiday. His drinking habits got worse over the years and soon she was doing a lot on her own, while he was somewhere under deck sleeping, or else puking over the railing if the sea was a bit rough. Maya didn’t mind though. If she was alone, he wasn’t yelling or throwing stuff at her.
Maya now preferred autumn and spring, when she was free to do what she wanted. She went over to Marla’s house a lot, especially in winter. Sometimes she was joined by Mason and they enjoyed her cookies and hot chocolate.
Another thing she really enjoyed was swimming. She went out for a swim nearly every day and was getting really good at it.
She figured that if she had to be on a boat during the summer, being a good swimmer was a good thing.
When she was 14 they went out when there was a storm warning, but her father wanted to go out anyway. Every other fisherman in Neah Bay told him not to do it, but Lane Bishop was nothing if not stubborn.
So they went out while the water was calm and the sky was clear.
But it didn't stay that way.
They were out for two days when the storm hit. Lane was under deck, he had started drinking an hour after they left port. Maya was alone on deck, trying to find a safe passage, preferably back home. There was no way their little boat would be able to be safe here for much longer.
The storm was raging with strong winds that brought heavy rain from the side, thunder and lightning and waves as high as the railing. Maya tried desperately to secure everything, yelling for her father to wake up, knowing he wouldn't come. A wave crashed over the deck, the boat was moving from side to side and Maya was hit full in the face.
She was trying to cling on to something, but her wet hands slipped on the wet metal and she fell when the ship moved in the other direction. Maya desperately tried to get a hold on anything, but she slid over the slippery deck and into the crashing waves.
She tries to fight, tries to get back to the surface, but the water is too strong.
The last thing she sees before she loses consciousness is someone swimming quickly towards her.