Hello, welcome to Stories Podcast. I'm your host Amanda Weldon. This week we are presenting

the Proof of Mermaids, an original story by Daniel Hines. To support the show and help

us keep releasing new episodes, please visit patreon.com slash stories to make a donation

or leave us a great review on iTunes. Thanks, enjoy the episode.

Hi, I'm Landon Wittsen and I host an episode of Who's Amazing Life, a Wondery Podcast

for Kids and Families. In the Plant Doctor, you've always loved plants, but when you leave

home in search of new opportunities, you discover that your passion for bulbs and blooms can

help others, and maybe even change the world. Listen to the Plant Doctor and other incredible

stories from Who's Amazing Life on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Proof of Mermaids, the shipwreck journal of lone survivor Haruki Haru. This morning

I lay on my raft of rough wooden planking, letting the warmth of the new donning sun and

the gentle bob of the ocean waves lull me into a half-dose. It felt good to rest. My

night sleep had been all but completely ruined when a pot of dolphins had caught up to a

school of fish directly underneath me. I think dolphins are cute or whatever, but all

they're splashing and chattering gets old real quick when you're trying to get some

shed eye. Strange though. By the end I thought I could maybe understand what the dolphins

were saying to each other. Then again, maybe I'm just going crazy.

After all, I've been lost at sea for 20 days now. Alone. I realize now that the word

alone is bigger than it used to be. More complicated. Alone used to be having no one to eat

lunch with at school. It meant missing my friends and family on a rainy day at home. It

meant a quiet night of homework while the wind sighed through the cherry blossoms and

you were alone, but somehow not lonely. This is completely different. Alone at sea is

...