It was the music that woke me. Not the other crew members’ footsteps as they raced towards the control room or the confused yells. It was the soft echoing song that rose and fell like crashing waves. Haunting in it's sweetness and terrifying in it's beauty. Climbing out of my bunk, I followed the others to the bridge. Captain Elissa was there. She was at the wheel, holding it in a white-knuckle grip. I wasn’t the first there, half the crew was standing before the windshield, watching in silent horror at the sight in front of us. My heart leapt up into my throat, almost choking me. A gaping black hole; a void amid the stars. A black hole. Captain Elissa was steering us straight for a black hole. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that nearly stopped my heart with fear. A long pale green tail. Sirens. They were real. Up until that moment they had been nothing but legends to me. Rumors built off of the tales of missing ships that left nothing behind but SOS signals. Stories of the sirens that lived along the edges of black holes, luring in ships with songs of your greatest desire. And the more sirens there were singing, the less likely the ship was to survive, and if we didn’t do something soon, we would be nothing more than a ghost story.

            Gritting my teeth, I forced my legs to move, made my hands grip tightly to Captain Elissa’s coat and pull. I pulled until her coat ripped and I fell backwards with a handful of the thick cloth. It was then that I realized, the music had stopped. Frowning I stood and turned to look out the window. It was a mistake to do so. There, palms pressed against the glass was the foul beast that had gotten us into this mess. Her blood red lips were smiling cruelly. Her ebony hair tumbled over her shoulders in thick curls, a stark contrast to her pale skin. She almost looked sickly. The long, emerald fish tail that took the place of legs didn’t help much with that. Her vibrant green eyes were wide and almost hungry as they looked to each crew member in turn. When they rested on me, just for a moment, something cold slid down my spine to nestle heavily in the pit of my stomach. Then her gaze moved on and I almost sighed with relief. But I held back from doing so when red lights began flashing through the control room.

            The black hole was pulling us in. It had our ship in its iron grip and there wasn’t much we could do, not with Captain Elissa at the wheel. Unless she wasn't there anymore. My thoughts and my eyes traveled to the guns that hung on the back wall of the control room. They were there purely for emergency reasons. It was a cargo ship, and many galaxies were at peace with one another, we didn't have much need for weapons. But all it would take, all it would take was one shot. Just one quick shot to the head and we would have control of the ship again, we would have a chance at survival. But could I really do that? Could I murder somebody or even suggest it? Or stand by and watch as somebody else killed? Could I really live with that guilt on my shoulders for the rest of my life? Even if it ended up being a short one?

            I shook my head to clear the vile thoughts. I would not be a murder. And if I was to go through with it, the siren would merely hypnotize another to guide the ship deeper into the black hole. Then what? We would all die just as we were about to and I would die with the blood of another person on my hands. A pounding sound echoed through the room and I looked to see the siren had begun banging at the glass, that haunting smile still on her face. Yells came from male and female crew members alike and some of the bravest and strongest of the crew began to break down cry while others I would never think of being so, were the calmest.

            Fighting tears, I sat down on the floor, defeated. We were all going to die, I was about to die. I would never get to play another game of old fashion Monopoly with my little brother. I would never get to hug my father again when he came home from work. Never get to laugh with my mom as we make dinner. None of that would ever happen again. What would happen after that? Would my family know what happened to me? Would anybody ever know?

            There was a sharp snap and a hissing sound that drowned out everything else. The glass had cracked. It didn’t seem possible but the siren’s smile had grown even bigger and she slammed her fist more violently against the glass. I could feel the air rushing past me, the oxygen being sucked from the room. It reminded me of sitting in front of the fan in the summer on my home planet. The windshield was soon merely a menacing spider web of cracks fanning out in every direction across the once smooth surface. The lights were still flashing, alarms blaring out and alerts scrolling across every screen, but none of us seemed to notice it. All eyes were locked on the siren and our coming doom. The ship was on the very edge of the black hole. There was no escape, and we were all slowly suffocating.

            My vision was flickering. I felt…cold. My throat was tight and I was gagging, gasping for air that wasn’t there. I heard the shattering of glass and I was floating, drifting in space. I saw the siren slid past me, placing a hot, scorching hot hand on my cheek and those evil green eyes. I couldn’t move anymore, could barely feel my hands and feet. I was certain I was blue by now, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man drift by, he was already dead; his skin white and frosted over. I was going too. I couldn’t feel, my body had stopped fighting for air. Everything went black, the last thing I saw, was the cruel, mocking face of the siren who had killed us all. The last thought in my head was me wishing I had paid more attention to the rumors of sirens