The fun about using the senses to describe a scene in speculative fiction is that you can veer from reality. What if a character can smell color? Or hear emotions? Or sense heat like certain species of snakes? So today’s prompt is to describe this fantasy scene using senses, either the five we know or some you’ve invented.
Here’s my inspiration, going with the five usual senses, because my POV character is human:
I knelt behind the swaying fronds of the low palm, the leaves brushing my cheek.
There they were again: the mermaid seeming to enjoy the sunset while that whatever-it-was frolicked in the water around her rock. Third month in a row when the new moon would rise. It might not have been the same mermaid and whatever since I only saw them backlit against the flames of the sunset.
But the scent was the same. A rich, flowery smell with an undercurrent of tangy spice wafted over the murmur of waves caressing the shore of the cove. Did all mermaids have that scent or just this one? Or did come from the whatever?
Wiping my sweaty hands on my cut-off shorts, I stood. My tongue felt dry and stiff, like it’d been left on the beach all afternoon.
Breaking into a huge smile, I waved. “Hello!” I made myself sound as cheerful as a preschooler spotting new toys.
The whatever disappeared beneath the waves. The mermaid’s silhouette appeared to turn in my direction.
I waved again, still grinning like I hoped to split my cheeks.
The mermaid didn’t move. But she didn’t dive into the water.
This prompt is based on a real life incident a friend of mine told me about. Late on a summer night, in the pouring rain, my friend, her husband, and her sons drove home from a restaurant. She lives across from a cemetery. As they passed it, they noticed that someone had parked his car so the beams of the headlights fell on a grave. The person was digging.
