The sanetorium River was brought to to recover from their mermaid adventure burned to the ground one week after their arrival.
Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't River who burned the place down. Always drawn to water, they just never had a connection with fire.
It was more an angelic intervention to once again bring them closer to the sea.
***
As the bus pulled up on the driveway, River could taste the salty air.
"Mermaids," they muttered, "mermaids, mermaids, mermaids. This is my chance to prove them all wrong and show the world mermaids exist. They will admire me instead of locking me up in some faraway place. The world will bow for almighty me."
As they bursted out into evil laughter, Angel poked them.
"Shhhhh," she signed as she pointed to the doctors holding guard.
River evil laughed less loud as they stroked their imaginary mustache into an upwards curl.
"My day will come."
***
It took some planning and a little bit of Angel's help to devise their escape. All they needed was a boat to get them out on the water once they passed security, 10 cans of living worms and enough unexpireable, yet horribly tasting jello for the days fish wouldn't bite.
In exchange for her help, River agreed to drop Angel off at a country that hadn't an extradition treaty with the majority of the world. They decided it was best to not ask further questions about it. After all, they had witnessed what she was capable of.
Angel's help was useful, but her joining the escape also meant that they needed more supplies. More supplies meant more time elapsing before they could actually escape.
"This is taking forever," River muttered as they hid the most recently smuggled jello under a floorboard in their room.
They at least needed to fill 7 whole floorboards with those tiny cups, but they weren't yet at a third of 1 floorboard.
River sighed.
If only we had direct access to the food supplies....
As they looked up they noticed a young out of place girl walking by. She seemed neither a patient, nor a guard and was wearing neither a doctor nor nurse outfit. It felt as if she just came with the sanetorium.
Maybe she can help us?
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?
