"Gotcha!" River cheered as they saw the mermaid in their net. "Finally."
They pulled the mermaid onto their boat. "You're mine and mine alone."
Never fully having been out of the water, Ellysia got scared. Breathing became difficult and soon she started to choke.
This was not how she had imagined it. This was not what she had hoped it to be.
Water, water, I can't breathe.
She reached her hand out to River.
"Help."
Seeing the gills on each side of her hips, River soon realized the mermaid needed water. It wasn't like in the fairytales, she didn't have lungs.
They quickly picked her up and carried her to the fish tank.
"Here you go, I'm not gonna let you die so easily, yet undocumented sea creature." They laughed maniacally as Ellysia tried to recover her breath.
This was not how she had imagined their reunion, but then again humans could laugh so weirdly if they're relieved. How would she know? It was the first time she heard a human doing this.
As she had regained her breath, she looked around the room.
The fish tank was small, she couldn't even lay down in it to sleep. She was confined to standing up, but at least she had water.
It was something?
The drawings she had seen from the outside of the ship caught her eye.
There she was beautifully drawn... in a fish tank. The tank was so small she was fully on display, easily seen from every angle. She was surrounded by humans poking her with a stick as if she were a chimpanzee locked up in a Victorian zoo. River had drawn themselves next to her wearing a big fake mustache and top hat, their pockets filled with money.
She might not have known much about humans, but that drawing smelled fishy.
Her eyes shifted through the room as she noticed one drawing after the other in which she was shown into more and more messed up situations the more recent the drawings got.
This is not good, this is not good, this is n-
A tud on the window caught her attention.
ArAr!
"Don't be afraid, Ell, I'm going to get you out off there. Try to survive."
"Don't leave me here, ArAr, please don't leave me," Ellysia begged as she pressed her body against the fish tank, "Please..."
But Ares disappeared into the blue.
YOU ARE READING
Out of the Blue & Into the Deep
Short StorySince their encounter with a mermaid, River has been obsessed with finding her again. Will they succeed in tracking her down? And what will the mermaid think of it?
