The Story Behind My Tail

I could hear a girl screaming, "Was this hell?" Moving was impossible for me. Opening my mouth to protest against my aching muscles I realized that I was the one screaming. Pain had filled my entire body and my lungs felt like they were going to collapse. Water splashed over me and I hear people shouting, did someone save me?

Opening my eyes was hard, everything was completely black. I could only make out figures of people that seem to be holding me down.

"Again!" A strong voice commanded and I was splashed with water. Choking I tried to spit the water out, a fierce; strong hand came over my mouth forcing the water to stay in my lungs. A weird and painful sensation over came me as I felt the water go through my lungs and come out where my ribs would be.

My eyes grew in size as they adjusted to the surrounding area. I was in a cave, two men were holding me down while another had my feet in his hands. I got a glimpse of my legs and screamed out in shock. My thighs were connected into one another and were growing some weird green scales.

The weight of the mans hand came off my mouth and my eyes directed towards him. He was middle aged looking but had blue scales going up to his chest. Where his ribs are, you could see gills, as well as small fins on the back of his arms. If I looked to see his legs I knew I would find a fish tail instead.

In that moment I knew I was turning into a creature of the sea. Confusion and pain overwhelmed me as more water was splashed upon me. I looked to the other man that was next to me, he looked a little younger, however his face was full of worry. He to had the same scales and fins as the older man had.

"What..." I tried to make words work but my throat was so sore I couldn't speak.

"Shhh just close your eyes, you can get through this." A softer voice whispered. A hand reached up and whipped my hair away. This was the first point where I noticed I was crying. My sobs grew louder into the hushed air as I noticed we were in a cave full of mermaids. All watching from a fair, in fear...

What felt like years went by was actually only a few hours the pain had disappeared. I had stopped fighting it and let it washed over me, it seem to have made the process go much faster.

I was now laying on the stone floor of a cave, a small pond lay not to fair. The mermaids had left through there. Leaving me all by myself. I still silently cried as the loneliness overwhelmed me. I watched as the water's reflections danced on the ceiling in different whites and blues.

My legs felt heavy as they were now one giant flipper. The scales were itchy, and had taken over most of my body. My left arm was free of them besides around the fin that had grown there, while most of my right arm was covered. The scaled on the right side had also climbed up my neck and grew just below my cheek. I could feel my lungs inflating with air but also craving water to be pushed through my gills.

I didn't know if I was abandon by the mermaids now or if they were coming back for me, but laying around here wont do anything. I managed to get up in a sitting position with great difficulty. My fin touched the cold water as I slowly slipped it in. I sat at the end of the water and got used to my fin moving. It was surprisingly hard to move my fin, it felt awkward to me. Sighing I gave up. If I went into the water now, I would just drown.... Again!

"Oh my god, My fin!" I gasped coming to turms with what happen. I still wasn't sure if I had actually died or not. I laid back down as my tail floated in the water. I cheered my self up a little bit, but I was cold and unsure of what to do with my self. Exhaustion over whelmed me once more, as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A splash of cold water awoke me as someone was coming out of the water beside me. It was the younger man who had calmed me before. I sat up as I watched his muscle flex as he came up. He smiled at me with a grin I could most certainly remember forever.

"Hey..." He whispered looking at his tail, avoiding me.

"Hi." My voice came out wimpy. What do you even say to a mermaid? Or in this case a merman?

"How are you feeling?" He asked still not looking my way. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked down.

"Fine?" I wasn't sure how I felt, or if feeling like I did was normal, this was all to new to me. However my stomach growled making me blush with embarrassment. The man laughed and looked at me finally.

"I'll go fetch something for you to eat." He jumped down into the sea. I watched him disappear the feeling of loneliness slowly creeped over me once more. The cave was fairly big, and had multiple water holes. I guess they were for a quick escape if needed maybe?

It felt like hours un-till he showed up again. He was carrying a small net full of things. He placed it on land as he pulled himself up beside me, leaving room between us to show the food he got for me. For some odd reason I was expecting a sandwich or something from Subway. However what I got was some small weird looking fish, sea weed, and clams.

"So whats your name?" He asked me as he broke open a clam and started to eat it.

"Aurora, yours?" I picked up a clam and looked at it... Could I eat this? I put it back down and decided to try the seaweed instead.

"Kai." He picked up a strand of seaweed as well and began to eat some. I tried but it tasted like salt and sea water, was this really what they ate or was he playing a trick on me?
"Kai," I tried his name out, it had a nice ring to it. "Am I dead?" I asked as I shoved the seaweed in my mouth. Kai started to cough, then cleared his throat.

"What would make you think that?" Kai looked worried.

"The last thing I remember was drowning... Now this." I point to my tail that had been dangling in the water hole.

"Right." He scratched the back of his head, ruffling his shaggy black hair, before he continued. "You're a... What do they call it, an idiot. You know that right?"

I was completely shocked. How was I sopost to respond to that. I didn't say anything I felt my face go red. What does he know! I wanted to not be close to him at this point I wanted to be as fair away as I could. Kai picked up another clam and popped it open as I propelled myself forward into the water.

This swimming thing couldn't be so bad right? I sank down and looked up to see Kai had followed me in. He had his arms crossed and looked very annoyed at this point. I glared at him and tried to move forwards with my tail. The amount of energy that it took just to try and move it was incredible.

I was now aware that other mermaids had stopped to watch. I was also now aware that I was sinking deeper into the water. I looked below me to the clear white sand that was coming closer and closer. Panic filled my body as my air was running out and I tried to swim up. However the tail didn't want to work with me. I tried to propel myself forwards using my arms but nothing was working I was just sinking. Kai was swimming towards me now as I started to choke on the water, I felt my lungs fill up but couldn't release anything like I had done before.

I was drowning again!