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Tangled Seaweed
Toes
I had blacked out from lack of air-or maybe the fear- before Damien had made it to the surface. All I could find floating though my mind was the fact that this wasn’t right. Everything was wrong, I should be able to breath in the water and swim on my own. I shouldn’t have a cold feeling on my tail, and I shouldn’t be totally useless.
I’ve heard of this happening in the old folklore, and it hasn’t happened since one of the first generations of mermaids. The story was that the mermaid shared her first kiss with her mate, and was changed into a human as a curse. This was not because of her actions, but the actions of her mate. He had done something that had broken one of the ancient laws of the mermaids. But we shouldn’t be able to be cursed with this anymore, the laws have been changed…every law except one…do not reveal our secret to the humans. Could Damin have possibly done that? Could he have just done something irreversible?
I awoke to sand underneath my body, and his sweet voice speaking rapidly in the human language. This is the thing about mermaids and humans, we could understand their language but they couldn’t understand ours. Our voices normally just sounded like a clicking tongue to them, and we couldn’t change that because we were forbidden to talk with the humans. But Damien was speaking clear human, and I didn’t understand why.
My leaf green eyes opened slowly, blinking a little be with the shock of the polluted air. But I still found the shining stars in the dark blue sky, and the soft roar of the ocean. Those were both two comforting things, I don’t know what else to believe in anymore. How could Damien have done something against the mermaid law? How could he get us into this mess? What kind of mess were we really in?
I tried flicking my fin but only felt coming wiggle quickly, and when I leaned into a ball to find out what it was I just about screamed. Instead of my tail, I had a pair of pale skinny human legs. They were coated in some of my dead scales that I was supposed to shed, and they just stayed on when my tail disappeared. Not only did I find my scaleless legs, but I found Damien. His tail was just barely in the water, and his body was resting next to my legs. Ever so gently picking off the dead scales. His eyes met mine when he realized I was awake, but he kept talking to the human. Finally I tuned into the conversation.
“You’ve got to know something, Fin. You use to be a merman.” Damien demanded, forcing his body into a sitting position. He looked worried, like he knew this might never be reversible. Or maybe he was starting to realize that he was going to be alone in the sea, without each other we could very well have a panic attack. “You’ve seen this happen before.”
“Ya, and every time they commit suicide because they can’t live without each other long enough.” The human growled, walking on the sand behind us. I was afraid to make contact with him. He sounded like a scary man, like someone who was placed in this world unwillingly. “You have to travel to the ruins of the first mermaid kingdom, then you have to find the cure in the old clinic. It looks like this.” The human handed a piece of limited paper to Damien. “Its going to take you a while to even find the clinic, let alone the damn cure. If she is staying here then you’d better be here every night to see her, I don’t want you guys going crazy. You still are my best friend.”
The shock was still overcoming me by the time Damien and swam away, and I honestly didn’t want him going anywhere. The dark was still masking the looks of this human, so I didn’t know if I could trust him or not. Even when he picked me up it was still to dark to see him. All I could tell was that he was very tan and had dark brown hair.
“Ren, do you remember me?” He whispered. I didn’t, and I never have. He didn’t seem like anyone I would ever hang out with, and I haven’t really seen any other man besides Damien and my Dad. “I guess it will all come back to you someday then.”
I’ve heard of this happening in the old folklore, and it hasn’t happened since one of the first generations of mermaids. The story was that the mermaid shared her first kiss with her mate, and was changed into a human as a curse. This was not because of her actions, but the actions of her mate. He had done something that had broken one of the ancient laws of the mermaids. But we shouldn’t be able to be cursed with this anymore, the laws have been changed…every law except one…do not reveal our secret to the humans. Could Damin have possibly done that? Could he have just done something irreversible?
I awoke to sand underneath my body, and his sweet voice speaking rapidly in the human language. This is the thing about mermaids and humans, we could understand their language but they couldn’t understand ours. Our voices normally just sounded like a clicking tongue to them, and we couldn’t change that because we were forbidden to talk with the humans. But Damien was speaking clear human, and I didn’t understand why.
My leaf green eyes opened slowly, blinking a little be with the shock of the polluted air. But I still found the shining stars in the dark blue sky, and the soft roar of the ocean. Those were both two comforting things, I don’t know what else to believe in anymore. How could Damien have done something against the mermaid law? How could he get us into this mess? What kind of mess were we really in?
I tried flicking my fin but only felt coming wiggle quickly, and when I leaned into a ball to find out what it was I just about screamed. Instead of my tail, I had a pair of pale skinny human legs. They were coated in some of my dead scales that I was supposed to shed, and they just stayed on when my tail disappeared. Not only did I find my scaleless legs, but I found Damien. His tail was just barely in the water, and his body was resting next to my legs. Ever so gently picking off the dead scales. His eyes met mine when he realized I was awake, but he kept talking to the human. Finally I tuned into the conversation.
“You’ve got to know something, Fin. You use to be a merman.” Damien demanded, forcing his body into a sitting position. He looked worried, like he knew this might never be reversible. Or maybe he was starting to realize that he was going to be alone in the sea, without each other we could very well have a panic attack. “You’ve seen this happen before.”
“Ya, and every time they commit suicide because they can’t live without each other long enough.” The human growled, walking on the sand behind us. I was afraid to make contact with him. He sounded like a scary man, like someone who was placed in this world unwillingly. “You have to travel to the ruins of the first mermaid kingdom, then you have to find the cure in the old clinic. It looks like this.” The human handed a piece of limited paper to Damien. “Its going to take you a while to even find the clinic, let alone the damn cure. If she is staying here then you’d better be here every night to see her, I don’t want you guys going crazy. You still are my best friend.”
The shock was still overcoming me by the time Damien and swam away, and I honestly didn’t want him going anywhere. The dark was still masking the looks of this human, so I didn’t know if I could trust him or not. Even when he picked me up it was still to dark to see him. All I could tell was that he was very tan and had dark brown hair.
“Ren, do you remember me?” He whispered. I didn’t, and I never have. He didn’t seem like anyone I would ever hang out with, and I haven’t really seen any other man besides Damien and my Dad. “I guess it will all come back to you someday then.”