Forbidden: A modern-day retelling of 'The Little Mermaid'
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Muse: Pearl Jam
I waited by him singing him my song, until he awoke.
“All the thoughts you never see
You are always thinking
Brain is wide, the brain is deep
Oh, are you sinking?” (Unthought Known by Pearl Jam. Imagine it with a girls voice)
I starred at his beautiful face the entire time I sang. He was extremely handsome; smooth, tan skin, shaggy blonde hair. He looked around my age but I could be wrong since we age differently.
He was still for awhile; I didn’t know how to revive him. I had never dealt with humans, and was unsure as to what to do.
The minutes passed slowly, but they passed; was he asleep? What am I supposed to do? Hit him? What was wrong?!
I sang more; afraid to try and help just in case I ended up making him even worse. The sixth time around my song he began to stir. I sang the final line of the song,
“What ya giving?” His eyes still closed, he began to sit up—I dashed away.
Why had I been running away though? Why didn’t I just remain where I was; let him see his savoir. I’m a coward. And a hypocrite.
Hadn’t I wanted the humans to see me? Had I not thought that the land-walkers should see me? Why should this be any different for the man I saved and could quite possibly love?
Yes, possibly love, as in not-already-in-love-with. But seeing how that I’m a reasonable girl and reasonable girls do not fall in love with a man they’ve never talked to. They don’t.
He had a strong face though, defiantly worth loving. Although, I had never heard him speak; with his good looks he could quite possibly be like my sister, Ruby.
Good looks destroy some people. It makes them cocky and arrogant; they think they are above all and the best. That’s just not the kind of thing I’d want in a husband.
Of course, if I fall in love with him we will get married; its tradition. Unless, he does not fall in love with me we shall not get married.
I swam back to the sea kingdom, for it was nearly time for me to come home.
The swim home was depressing because I knew he would never love me, mermaid or human. What was to love? We were complete opposites.
He was tan, I was pale. He had light hair, I had dark hair. He obviously couldn’t swim well, I could. And most important; he was human, but I was a mermaid.
The last was defiantly the most apparent and important difference of all. Different species cannot fall in love with one another. You never saw dolphins and birds having their flying fish together.
There was only one thing I could do; I needed to become human. But I suppose the ultimate question is how? My father has the amount of power to transform a mermaid into a human, but he would never even turn his worst enemy into one, let alone his own daughter. So asking my father, the sea king, was out of the question.
The only other merman I could think of with that sort of power was the sea witch. She had an eel’s tail, but was so beautiful for someone so old. She was nearly six hundred years of age and she looked only a bit older than my father.
She had dark hair and pale skin like me, but she wasn’t as innocent looking. You could take one look at the sea witch and know that she had something sinister on her mind. I had only seen her but six times in my entire life. The most recent was nearly a year ago.
I knew where she hid; in a large sunken ship.
I was still contemplating my choices when I went to go see my friends, Ondrea and Phebe. I had planned on meeting with them and telling them all the events that had transpired since I’d gotten home.
I could trust them with everything, they were my best friends.
On my way to their home—they were sisters—I passed Diamond.
“Hello, faire sister, I need to go see Ondrea and Phebe, if you do not mind could you tell father I have arrived back to the sea?”
“Well of course,” I began to swim away but she grabbed my arm, stopping me. “You can at least talk to me for a few moments; it’s not as if someone was dying.” She laughed. I didn’t even crack a smile; I was too impatient to see them, to laugh with my sister.
“How was it?”
“Marvelous. Dear, Diamond. I wish to speak with you, but I mustn’t waste time. I need to see Phebe and Ondrea.” She looked slightly taken aback at my abrasive tone so I calmed my voice. “It’s extremely important.”
“It’s fine, Jade. Enjoy yourselves, and I will make sure to pass your message along to father.”
I smiled at her in appreciation.
I swam quickly, needing to get this all off of my chest so that I can move to the next step: Talking to the Sea Witch.
I know it was probably a bit irrational to be thinking ahead without congregating with my friends first, but I knew what I had to do.
“Jade, how was your trip above the surface?” Ondrea was the younger of the sisters at sixteen years; Phebe was eighteen.
“Wonderful!”
“I’m so glad to hear that Jade,” Phebe squeaked. She had a childish voice but it was so adorable that I couldn’t find it irritating.
“I saw a human, I saved him,” I blurted. As close my friends and I may be it was still a tad bit odd to be talking about humans with them; we never had before.
“What!” They shouted in unison.
“I think I'm falling in love with him.”
The next few moments were filled with silence; the strength of my previous comment hanging in the water; it was awkward to say the least. They both were very verbal and the fact that I had put them into a silence due to shock was…shocking.
“Did you speak with him?” Ondrea asked quietly.
“Well…..” I was unsure as to how to answer that question; if I say ‘no’, they would probably dismiss the possibility of my falling for someone. But… if I say ‘yes’ they would tell me it was ‘too risky’ ever speaking to a human.
A dolphin giggling at a bird’s chirp.
“No, but I saved him. I feel as if I know him!” They looked at me as if I had grown a second head, “I'm not saying I love him, I'm saying that I could love him.”
“Jade-“
“No,” I cut Phebe off, “He could love me too.”
“But how?” She shouted.
I answered by telling her and her little sister the plan I had conducted on the way here.
“Jade! No! That’s a horrible idea” Phebe cried.
“I can’t let this slip through my fingers, Phebe. I need to go someone else, where I could be happy. I'm just not happy here!” I lowered my voice, “I love you all very much, but for once I need to take care of myself. No one needs me here anyway; I'm just taking up space. I need to see him, I need to know him.”
And I did need to meet him—officially. I felt a strong pull when I was near him, and I still felt the pull. Only instead of it pointing me to the gorgeous blond man, it was taking me towards the Sea Witch.
And instead of fleeting as I did earlier today, I listened to that pull.
Muse: Pearl Jam
I waited by him singing him my song, until he awoke.
“All the thoughts you never see
You are always thinking
Brain is wide, the brain is deep
Oh, are you sinking?” (Unthought Known by Pearl Jam. Imagine it with a girls voice)
I starred at his beautiful face the entire time I sang. He was extremely handsome; smooth, tan skin, shaggy blonde hair. He looked around my age but I could be wrong since we age differently.
He was still for awhile; I didn’t know how to revive him. I had never dealt with humans, and was unsure as to what to do.
The minutes passed slowly, but they passed; was he asleep? What am I supposed to do? Hit him? What was wrong?!
I sang more; afraid to try and help just in case I ended up making him even worse. The sixth time around my song he began to stir. I sang the final line of the song,
“What ya giving?” His eyes still closed, he began to sit up—I dashed away.
Why had I been running away though? Why didn’t I just remain where I was; let him see his savoir. I’m a coward. And a hypocrite.
Hadn’t I wanted the humans to see me? Had I not thought that the land-walkers should see me? Why should this be any different for the man I saved and could quite possibly love?
Yes, possibly love, as in not-already-in-love-with. But seeing how that I’m a reasonable girl and reasonable girls do not fall in love with a man they’ve never talked to. They don’t.
He had a strong face though, defiantly worth loving. Although, I had never heard him speak; with his good looks he could quite possibly be like my sister, Ruby.
Good looks destroy some people. It makes them cocky and arrogant; they think they are above all and the best. That’s just not the kind of thing I’d want in a husband.
Of course, if I fall in love with him we will get married; its tradition. Unless, he does not fall in love with me we shall not get married.
I swam back to the sea kingdom, for it was nearly time for me to come home.
The swim home was depressing because I knew he would never love me, mermaid or human. What was to love? We were complete opposites.
He was tan, I was pale. He had light hair, I had dark hair. He obviously couldn’t swim well, I could. And most important; he was human, but I was a mermaid.
The last was defiantly the most apparent and important difference of all. Different species cannot fall in love with one another. You never saw dolphins and birds having their flying fish together.
There was only one thing I could do; I needed to become human. But I suppose the ultimate question is how? My father has the amount of power to transform a mermaid into a human, but he would never even turn his worst enemy into one, let alone his own daughter. So asking my father, the sea king, was out of the question.
The only other merman I could think of with that sort of power was the sea witch. She had an eel’s tail, but was so beautiful for someone so old. She was nearly six hundred years of age and she looked only a bit older than my father.
She had dark hair and pale skin like me, but she wasn’t as innocent looking. You could take one look at the sea witch and know that she had something sinister on her mind. I had only seen her but six times in my entire life. The most recent was nearly a year ago.
I knew where she hid; in a large sunken ship.
I was still contemplating my choices when I went to go see my friends, Ondrea and Phebe. I had planned on meeting with them and telling them all the events that had transpired since I’d gotten home.
I could trust them with everything, they were my best friends.
On my way to their home—they were sisters—I passed Diamond.
“Hello, faire sister, I need to go see Ondrea and Phebe, if you do not mind could you tell father I have arrived back to the sea?”
“Well of course,” I began to swim away but she grabbed my arm, stopping me. “You can at least talk to me for a few moments; it’s not as if someone was dying.” She laughed. I didn’t even crack a smile; I was too impatient to see them, to laugh with my sister.
“How was it?”
“Marvelous. Dear, Diamond. I wish to speak with you, but I mustn’t waste time. I need to see Phebe and Ondrea.” She looked slightly taken aback at my abrasive tone so I calmed my voice. “It’s extremely important.”
“It’s fine, Jade. Enjoy yourselves, and I will make sure to pass your message along to father.”
I smiled at her in appreciation.
I swam quickly, needing to get this all off of my chest so that I can move to the next step: Talking to the Sea Witch.
I know it was probably a bit irrational to be thinking ahead without congregating with my friends first, but I knew what I had to do.
“Jade, how was your trip above the surface?” Ondrea was the younger of the sisters at sixteen years; Phebe was eighteen.
“Wonderful!”
“I’m so glad to hear that Jade,” Phebe squeaked. She had a childish voice but it was so adorable that I couldn’t find it irritating.
“I saw a human, I saved him,” I blurted. As close my friends and I may be it was still a tad bit odd to be talking about humans with them; we never had before.
“What!” They shouted in unison.
“I think I'm falling in love with him.”
The next few moments were filled with silence; the strength of my previous comment hanging in the water; it was awkward to say the least. They both were very verbal and the fact that I had put them into a silence due to shock was…shocking.
“Did you speak with him?” Ondrea asked quietly.
“Well…..” I was unsure as to how to answer that question; if I say ‘no’, they would probably dismiss the possibility of my falling for someone. But… if I say ‘yes’ they would tell me it was ‘too risky’ ever speaking to a human.
A dolphin giggling at a bird’s chirp.
“No, but I saved him. I feel as if I know him!” They looked at me as if I had grown a second head, “I'm not saying I love him, I'm saying that I could love him.”
“Jade-“
“No,” I cut Phebe off, “He could love me too.”
“But how?” She shouted.
I answered by telling her and her little sister the plan I had conducted on the way here.
“Jade! No! That’s a horrible idea” Phebe cried.
“I can’t let this slip through my fingers, Phebe. I need to go someone else, where I could be happy. I'm just not happy here!” I lowered my voice, “I love you all very much, but for once I need to take care of myself. No one needs me here anyway; I'm just taking up space. I need to see him, I need to know him.”
And I did need to meet him—officially. I felt a strong pull when I was near him, and I still felt the pull. Only instead of it pointing me to the gorgeous blond man, it was taking me towards the Sea Witch.
And instead of fleeting as I did earlier today, I listened to that pull.
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