Under Crimson Waves

Another night for a hunt. Many of the other Mers were veterans in the art of hunting humans. I felt totally and utterly unprepared for it, even as I had done it for years. Many of the others were doing this to feed their families since the fish had gotten scarce. They were the ones who motivated others to take up the hunt. There were still many of us who hadn't started hunting humans yet. But that was for them to go through.

My first hunt had scared me. But after the first, it got easier. The screaming and the massacre just became a droning sound. Nothing was really going to bother me. Just as the last few hunts hadn't done so. Why should I actually let something like that bother me anymore?

As the moon came up, the sounds of whooping and hollering ran through the ranks as they headed toward the surface as many tried to head in as best they could. I tried my hardest not to get caught up in the current of Mers that headed toward the beach. Hunting the town on this island was easy, just as the fish had been, once upon a time. But I guess I have never been truly prepared as the events would unfold.

I came up to the surface, finding the air to be a little difficult to breathe, since we had gills. But pulling air through the gills was about the same as pulling oxygen out of the water. Just the air was a lot more like smoke. You could breathe it in, but it would bother the lungs. We started to swim to shore, our fins slowly turned into legs.

Well, I should probably mention how painful the transformation is. The bottom of our tails are slit down the middle and feels like someone is ripping our fin in half. Maybe that was because that was literally what was happening, just without the help of someone to do it. The fin was torn apart and shifted into smooth legs. The webbing on our fingers shrunk down a bit and the only features that stayed were our bright eyes and gills on our necks. Features we couldn't hide.

As most of us started to stand on our new feet, many of the long time veterans gave use the rules. I pretty much blocked them out and started to forge out on my own. I know the rules, and was just here for the same goal as the others. Food. My own hunger was starting to become overwhelming. I started through the forest, hearing the whoops and howls of the Mers. They whizzed past me to get to the town and hope for some easy pickings. Even though, most would be fighting. I would have to find another way for my food.

I took a deep breath and headed into town, sticking to the edges of the town and the shadows. The others didn't have the same tactic, but I digress. To us, humans were easy to predict, for the most part. As unpredictable as the elders claimed that the humans were, humans were similar to Mers as to how they acted to an attack. I guess that my kin didn't think on that. But I decided the best way to go and get food without the potential of getting killed. As I skirted around the edges, I noticed one house with it's window open.

Does the owner not know what time it is? I shook my head. I shouldn't be looking a gift seahorse in the mouth.

I shimmied up to the window, the window a good foot above my head and crawled through the window, taking the chance that it wasn't a trap. Probably just the humans bad judgement. I found it interesting that humans wouldn't have been able to shimmy up the wall like I just had. And easily fit through a small window.

I eased myself down to the ground and crouched. The surrounding were standard, a huge living room, a big fire place and a few book shelves and some chairs kind of strewed around. The kitchen was a branch off from the living room with an island dividing the two rooms. Just around the corner of the living room was a hallway that probably lead to the human's dwellings. But why would a human be sleeping at a time like this?

I shook my head and stalked the edge, trying to sneak by pressing myself against the bookshelves. Though, I tripped on something, possibly a stack of books. I fell to the ground and took a bookshelf with me. I yelped slightly as it collapsed on my leg. I struggled, trying to get the bookshelf off of my leg. I knew that whoever was in the house probably heard the commotion. I had to get out of this predicament and make sure that whoever was in the house didn't get me. I didn't want to see what the humans would do if they caught me.

"No, no..." I tried to lift the bookcase, but in this human form, I was weak. Weak and helpless.

Damn. I was still struggled when I heard someone padding down the hallway. Oh no.

My eyes widened when I saw a human boy came out of the hallway. He was kind of lanky, like most of our teens were, but he had callused hands, some form of ripped arms. His brown hair swept over his eyes and a dark pair of pajamas on. The stern look in his eyes and the furrow eyebrows were enough for me to know that I was in trouble.

"What are you doing here?" He grabbed my arm roughly and I kinda yelped as I was still trapped. "There is nothing for you to steal here."

He tried to look threatening, but he turned his head away to cough. I recoiled slightly when he started to cough.

Great. My food is sick. It made my own stomach twist at the thought. The one thing I was grateful for was that he hadn't realized what I was.

"I'm not trying to steal anything. Though, I probably can't have my dinner since you are sick." I shook my head, whispering, "I can't exactly leave if I am trapped under your furniture, can I?" I tried to use the innocence approach, smiling as sweetly as I could. "Please help me."

I was getting a little sick just trying to be nice to this human. Maybe I could bribe him with a song. Mariners always had a thing for songs and had constantly tried to separate sirens and Mers, but they were one of the same. Maybe there was a way to trick him to take me back to the water.

"I'll sing a song for you if you let me go." I probably just gave a lot away about what I was.

He turned away to cough again, but his face turned to horror when he looked back and he backed away. I watched him carefully as he reached off to the side for some sort of weapon. I couldn't help it when he grabbed a mounted fish. I have to admit, he looked ridiculous.

"Songs are for birds in this town, mermaid." I could see the tenseness in his jaw. "Isn't it enough that you took my parents? Now you got to break into my Uncle's house?" I noticed how aggressive he was getting as he tried to threaten me with a mounted fish. "I learned better than to help out a creature that hunts man for sport." A rattling cough came out of him which caused him to turn away. When he finished, he pointed the fish at me again. "Why do you hunt us?"

I still couldn't completely take him seriously with the fish, but I looked up at him.

"'Why?' What other choice do we have? You humans are destroying our home and environment. We don't have many fish to eat and in other places, we have become a fancy dish." Anger boiled in my chest as I snapped. I narrowed my eyes at him as his own started to frown. "You have more food than you could ever eat. We do not. Most of your land creatures could kill us." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"We haven't even over-harvested. We're too small of a town to do that kind of damage. I can vouch for the town, not the world." I narrowed my eyes at him, hissing slightly.

"I don't speak of your village. I speak of your species!" You humans have ruined our homes." Something had caught his attention, enough to stop him from arguing with me.

He came closer to me and whispered, "I'm not going to hurt you."

I shrunk back, watching him more warily.

"I... I don't believe you. All humans do harm." He was reaching over for a net and my eyes widened, causing me to shake my head more insistently, struggling to get free. "No. No... Please don't."