Ursula

Marina

Ursula blinked and shook her head. She couldn't go to sleep. Not now. The throbbing in her head was getting harder, and her tail was so stiff she could barely bend it to swim. Sleep would provide instant relief, but they hadn't reached Ula yet. The sisters swam on for a few more minutes, but when Ursula had to tug her half asleep sister's arm for the fourth time, she made a decision. Up ahead was a small cave. They could sleep there, then continue at dawn.

"Marina, wake up. Marina," Ursula spoke to her sister while shaking her arm.

"Mmm...Hmm?" Marina groggily blinked her eyes open. "What?"

"We're going to spend the night in that cave up ahead. We both need some sleep. Okay?"

"Mmm-hmm." She went willingly, and the thought of sleeping in a dark scary cave did not deter her from the thought of sleep at all. They reached the cave in a few more minutes, and found it to be empty and small, smaller than their house back in Muriel. The sisters quickly collapsed on the cold, hard, limestone floor. They fell asleep almost instantly, in each other's arms.

Ursula awoke to her sister breathing short rapid breaths. It was dark in the cave, but a little bit of moonlight was shining on Marina's still sleeping body. She was jerking slightly, a frown drawn on her usually cheerful face. "Marina. Marinaaaa. Marina, wake up." She shook her body slightly. Marina's eyes burst open and she looked around frantically, having forgotten their location. Her eyes settled on Ursula, who was cradling her small body in her arms, gently rocking back and forth. "Shh, shh. It's okay. We're okay. We're safe here." Marina nodded, but frowned.

"I-I don't feel good," Marina muttered softly. "My whole body is hot and it hurts to move."

Ursula checked over Marina's body with a concerned look. Her eyes drifted down to her sister's tail. It was trembling, and the tail wound looked green and blistered. The wound must've been infected.

"It's okay Marina. You're fine. It was just a dream. Everything is going to be alright." Marina nodded and let Ursula wrap her arms around her. Ursula slowly rocked back and forth. "Come, let's stretch our tails for a bit." She helped Marina up, her sister wincing in pain, and they swam slowly out of the cave, and went farther down near a small shipwreck on the ocean floor. They swam silently along the bottom, thinking about the events of the day, their tail's lazily disturbing small swirling clouds of sand. They swam closer to the ship, and as Ursula focused, and her curiosity kicked in.

"I wonder why it's so small," Ursula thought out loud.

"It was probably from those fishermen Father used to tell us stories about," Marina answered.

They swam completely around it.

"Hey Ursula, look at this! It looks like the stuff the scavengers bring into the village after a good wreck." Ursula swam over to where her sister was. The color had returned to Marina's face, and now she was poking around at the trinkets and gadgets on the seafloor. She picked up a hairbrush missing most of it's teeth, then dropped it and grabbed a half broken glass bottle.

"Right. Somehow, I doubt this is very valuable," Ursula said, scooting away from Marina's careless tossing as she dug through the pile. "Arva* stuff is pretty useless anyways."

"Well it's still interesting. Hey! Look! A mirror!" Marina wiped a spot of the glass clean with her palm. "Ursula! You didn't tell me my nose was covered in soot!"

"Sorry," Ursula mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Didn't think to mention it when we were swimming for our lives."

"Well you still could've tol-" A pained look swept over her face as Marina gasped, and clutched her chest.

"Marina! Are you okay??" Ursula rushed over and caught her sister and gently lowered her onto a tangled pile of rope. Marina's eyes rolled back into her head. Her whole body was burning up and twitching. "Marina, Marina, wake up!!!" Ursula sobbed. She looked down at the wound in her tail. It had now turned a dark violet, almost black, and pieces of her tail were breaking off and floating away. "No..." Ursula shook her head and held her closer. She looked down to Marina's gills, they had closed up, and no water was entering them. "Marina...Please wake up..." She was bawling, her tears warming the water around her face. Ursula placed her head on Marina's chest and tried to listen for a heartbeat. There was none. "No. No. MARINA!" Ursula shrieked and squeezed her sisters now cooling body to her chest. "NO!" She let out a piercing wail, haunting and exuding sorrow. She sat there, on the pile of rope, for a long time, holding her young sister's dead body in her arms, her small pale hand still gripping the mirror.