My name is Cordelia Colvert. I just graduated from Tampa University with a degree in marine biology. After innumerable attempts to get a job at F.T.M Institution, I finally got in. F.T.M Institution is a widespread, private organization that only seems to hire the highly intelligent. The institution offers a wide range of jobs, but it mainly focuses on discovering new species and inventing machines to assist in daily tasks. F.T.M was founded by a retired general from the navy back in the 80s. In just a few years, the institution has grown bigger. Nobody knows how, but they aren’t brave enough to investigate because the institution is so powerful. My father worked for them when I was ten years old. He never spoke of nor mentioned his job as if he was not happy working for them.
One evening, my father came to my room to say goodbye. He told me that he would be going on a long journey to explore the ocean and that he’d be gone only a few months. He gave me a farewell kiss and walked out of my room. Looking at my father’s broad back, an odd shiver suddenly ran down my spine. Looking back, it had been the final kiss I received.
On November 19, 1988, my mother received a call from the institution reporting that my father was dead and that they could not find his body. Though they did not tell us the cause of father’s death, they paid a large sum to compensate our family. However large the numbers, no amount of money could make up for the loss of my beloved father.
The main reason why I wanted to work for F.T.M Institution was that I wanted to look further into father’s case. The day after he died, I always saw him in my dreams. Some would call them nightmares. He would always be standing on a cliff in the earth, muttering strange words and then walking off the cliff. Father was never happy when he talked under his breath, but he smiled when he walked off the cliff. I was not sure why I kept having this dream until I was called to join a discovering crew going to explore the depths of the sea, just like my father.
I worked at F.T.M Institution, but I had not obtained any information about father’s death. While I was struggling to keep up with the idea of finding my father’s killer, I met my father’s old assistant, Dr. G. He only came to check on my family then left, after exchanging a few words with my mother at father’s funeral. He was not very surprised when I introduced myself to him at the institution, as if he was expecting me to chase after this job. He gave me father’s notebook and walked away without saying anything to me. I tried to contact him again through the telephone, but he could not be reached. Perhaps he too wanted to know father’s cause of death, but could not figure it out himself.
I was selected to go on an exploration in the Atlantic Ocean after one of the girls in the main marine biology team got in an accident. This mission was considered to be one of the biggest trips the institution would be hosting. They spent a lot of money on a new submarine and all sorts of shiny new technology. I was ecstatic to be a part of the team, and I was desperate to see why father risked his life to go on an expedition like this.
On November 14, 1989, I departed the U.S. with the team to investigate an unknown species in the ocean. The destination was from Miami, Florida to Lisbon, Portugal. The first day inside the submarine went by swiftly since my teammates were tired of packing their belongings. I was assigned to share a bunkroom with Mary, the navigation analyst. However, she was never in our bunkroom, because her job required her to stay in the navigation room the whole day.
I was exhausted when I unpacked my suitcase. Since this was our first day to adapt to the submarine, the captain allowed us to relax and do as we liked, within reason of course. I decided to spend the entirety of my day in my bunk, to rest and to read over father’s notebook. I flipped through the weathered note pad and all I found were notes about fish. When I reached the last page, a folded parchment suddenly slipped out. It was a scribble of something that I could not recognize. Its eyes were somehow identifiable. In just a moment, I could see people screaming and acting crazy in the eyes. All of them were covering their ears, and they were trying to say something. Like a flash, I saw myself in a small space, trying to escape the madness. I was surrounded by darkness and silence. Then I heard someone yelling for me not to join in the madness.
I awoke the next day puzzling about my dream. It felt so real that I could not tell the difference. The second day on board was hectic. Everybody was working hard. Nevertheless, I still managed to befriend a friendly group of people who called themselves ‘Believers’. Adrian was a chatty marine biologist. Delmar was an ecologist who loved to share everything he found out. Ajal was a silent analyst, though very understanding. Silly Debria was an oceanographer, who introduced me to Loreley, a singer, who was hired to entertain the people on board. They all seemed to be normal people but what was strange was that their parents also used to work for F.T.M Institution and they were the founder of the “Believers”. Finding out more about their group and their motive was impossible.
The third day on board was somehow more relaxing than the second day. Everybody had finished their work early so they were either resting or hanging out in the cafeteria. Of course, I was called to hang out with the Believers in the cafeteria. Adrian started the conversation as usual.
“So Cordelia, tell us something interesting about you or about your family. Did your parents work for the institution as well?” It was odd enough that their parents used to work together but would it necessary for them to ask about my family?
“Well, as all of you know, I’m a marine biologist and so was my father. I followed in his footsteps to work here.” I wanted to lie about my father, but it was hard to.
“Really? What was his name?”
“Colvert. Lemus Colvert.” 
“What?” The Believers gasped in sync. My father has never been particularly famous, so why were they so shocked at his name?
“Your father is Lemus Colvert? The Curse of the Institution?” Ajal never seemed to show much interest in many things, but tuned in from daydreams to speak about my father.
“Yes, Lemus Colvert was my father, but I’m not sure about being a Curse.”
“Wait, don’t tell me that you don’t know anything about your father.” Delmar said. I scowled at him. Of course I know about my father! It was awful condescending of him to say that to me. I opened my mouth to politely retort, but Debria interrupted me before I could spit on Delmar.
“Your father was called to find the flesh of syreni, but not even halfway to the destination, the submarine disappeared without a trace. Many people were to seek him out, but none returned. The Institution had to close the case to prevent government investigation. That’s why they called him the Curse of the Institution.”
I had no idea about this. Had my entire struggle here been a delusion of self-encouragement and illusions to make myself feel better? My brain flooded with questions. While I was drowning in thoughts, Adrian cut in:
“Do you know why we call ourselves believers? It is because we believe in things that others don’t. Your father was also a believer. Only a few people in this Institution know about this group because they are all in the group. Your father, just like the rest of us, believed that if we could eat the flesh of a syreni, we would inherit eternal youth. Your father was terminal. He was crucial to our group as well as the Institution, so the head allowed him to look for the flesh of syreni. The purpose of this trip is to find the flesh of syreni and to look for your father. We believe that he is still alive somewhere.”
I cut off Adrian before he can continue on with his nonsense.“What are syreni? And why do all of you believers want to look for the flesh of syreni even if you know that you might die trying to find a way to live longer?”
Nobody said a word at that moment; but I felt it was as if no one wanted to say anything to me, like I was stupid. I stomped away after the silence grew heavier with tension, and returned to my bunk feeling unsatisfied.
Another day passed, with me staying in my room gathering my scattered thoughts. However, I could not think for long, as all members were called to meet in the conference room immediately. They never called us to meet up unless it was an emergency. Two feet away from the conference room, I could hear loud yelling. I ran as fast as I could to check it out. It was Loreley. She was yelling and throwing punches at random people who tried to come near her. She was fine the day before, what could possibly turn her to this?
I asked the man standing next to me what was wrong. He told me that they heard a scream around four in the morning. They rushed into Loreley’s bunkroom to see Delmar’s dead body in her bed. His ears were cut off and his tongue was gone. They tried to take Loreley out of her room, but Loreley fought back and kept screaming that she did not hurt Delmar, though no one accused her of anything.
“You have to believe me, I didn’t do it. They did it. They forced us to listen. If we didn’t, they would cut out ears off!” Loreley desperately cried, although no one really believed what she said. As she spotted me in the crowd, she pushed through to me.
“Cordelia, you have to believe me. I didn’t do it! You have to tell them that I didn’t do it. They did it!” I had no idea how to calm her down. I was about to say something but then security burst into the hall and took a hold of Loreley, who only began screaming even louder. It seemed like her words were warnings, but only sounded like threats.
“They will kill you. They will kill all of you. Just in twenty-four hours, you will all die!”
Everyone was baffled and speechless. Nobody spoke as we returned to our bunks. But I could not let this go. I needed to find out what happened. Surely, Adrian would know about this. I started off looking for Adrian but he was not anywhere in the submarine. Right before I entered his bunkroom though, I caught a flash of bare skin. Its eyes were familiar. I swore I saw those eyes before. But before I could register what I just saw, it all went dark.
I was in Hawaii, on a cliff my father and I always visited in the summer. I was waiting for him to come out and watch the sunset with me. I heard him call my name from behind me. I excitedly whirled around but he was not there. He called me once again, but this time he was at the edge of the cliff instead of behind me. He smiled at me as if he knew how much I missed him. Then, his face twisted, and he was furious. He shouted three words-- “Do not sing!”
I woke up in tears. I had had this dream, but it was so drastically different from all the others. I could hear what he was saying, echoing in my head. I always imagined that he would say, “I love you,” but that was not correct. It was a warning. Coming to my senses, I realized I was in the infirmary. The nurse helped me get up and told me that I passed out in Adrian’s doorway. Luckily, there was a patrolling guard to take me to the infirmary. The nurse further explained that I was probably stressed out from seeing Loreley go mad, and passed out from the chaos. I thanked her, though still perplexed, and headed back to my bunk.
That was the longest day of the trip. Everything happened so fast that I could not tell if it was good or bad. I sat on my bed, tried to figure out why Loreley had gone mad. Suddenly, I heard a singing through the speaker.
“Come, behold what treasures lie
Far below the rolling waves,
Riches hid from human eye,
Dimly shine in ocean’s caves.
Ebbing tides bear no delay,
Stormy winds are far away.

Come with me, and we will go
Where the rock of coral grows.
Follow, follow, follow me.”
The song kept playing through the speaker. I began heading to the navigation room. When I walked into the hallway, all I saw were people trying to cover their ears. This scene was intensely familiar. A voice in me commanded me to turn off this song before something unimaginably terrible occurred. I rushed to the navigation room to find everyone dead. Their ears were gone, leaving odd stumps of flesh. But that was not the worst scene. Loreley was in the room; singing into the intercom. She did not notice that I was in the room with her. I slowly approached but she turned around before I even reached her.
“What do you think of the song? Isn’t it beautiful? They sang it for me so I decided to sing it for you all.”
Loreley smirked as she slowly approached me, an odd gleam to her eyes. Abruptly, I saw light from outside the submarine. It glowed like a certain type of fish found in deep waters. The little gleam swam its way toward the glass. It carried the shape of a fish though it had a human’s head. I squinted my eyes to look closer. A ghastly face with the same chiseled cheekbones and jawline of my father stared at me through the window. It was revolting; sickening to watch as the face of my dead father shot pass. This shocked me to the core, causing me to sprint from the room, Loreley’s hysterical laughter bouncing in the halls. I could not remember how long I ran, but I abruptly came to a stop before my fellow crew standing soullessly in a dim hallway, looking to me as if they had been waiting. They started singing slowly.
?????
I hide in the storage room. It is dark, but not tranquil. I do not know how long I was staying in there. The crew members are still surrounding the storage room; singing. As time passes by, I slowly lose myself. My father’s voice repeatedly tells me to not sing, but I can’t take it anymore. I’m sick of sitting here; alone by myself. I start to murmur without realizing it. Gradually, it becomes clearer that I was singing. I begin to sing. I want to join them. I want to feel included. I open the door and join the concert as the submarine keeps going.
“Come with me, and we will go
Where the rocks of coral grows.
Follow, follow, follow me.”
(The mermaid’s song, Franz Joseph Haydn)