The Last Mermaid.

{II} Blue And Golden Arms.

Vanessa began to wake up, her back feeling stiff and uncomfortable and her neck hurting even more. She brought her hand up to her neck and rubbed it as she sat up. She heard a ‘whooshing’ and crashing sound. She opened her eyes and stared out into the black sea and began to panic. She didn’t know how she ended up here under the boardwalk. When she tried to think about it, her head just hurt more.

All she knew was that she was wet and covered in sand. She brought her hand up to her forehead and rubbed it with the back of her hand. Something felt slimy though and she moved her hand, looking down at her arm. Starting from the top of her arm and fading as it got closer to her elbow was some slimy pattern. She couldn’t see well in the dark, but it was there!

She just panicked more when she rubbed her other hand around it to see if come off, and noticed the same thing was on her other arm

“What’s happening?”, she asked herself before she checked the rest of her body, but the strange pattern was just on her arms. She knew just sitting there wasn’t going to help, so she got up. Her legs felt wobbly and she stumbled a little as she walked. The whole boardwalk was dark and quiet and she wondered how late it was. She was going to be in such big trouble.

She wondered what had happened to her though. She couldn’t remember anything except sitting near the ocean and then nothing.

She couldn’t find her shoes, so she had to walk home bare-foot. This wasn’t the best idea because she had to look out for glass and such, but she had no choice. Not to mention the fact that her house was about two miles away. She was tired, hungry, and she felt like some had beaten her. How was she going to explain herself to her father?

I’m in deep trouble, she thought as she rubbed her scaly arms. Having a heart attack right now was not going to help. She could deal with it when she got home.

It took her almost thirty minutes to reach her small two-bedroom house. She saw the living room lights on and cursed inside her head. She knew her father would be in there. She hesitated, but forced herself up the stairs.

She tried the knob and find it was unlocked. She opened the door and went in, the bright lights almost blinding her as she came through the door.

She heard a gasp, “Vanessa!”, she heard her father exclaim in a panicked voice. Her came into view and put his hands on her shoulders, “Sweetheart, are you okay?”, he asked. She wanted to speak, but her throat felt dry. She actually felt like she was going to faint. The bright light was too much. She lowered her head when she began to feel dizzy and looked down at her arms. The blue and gold scales were gone!

“What?”, she breathed out in shock.

Her father put his warm hands on her cool face, “You’re so pale; you need to sit down.”.

She knew he was right, but when she took a step forward, her knees gave out and she would have fallen if her father hadn’t caught her. Everything went black.

{}

Vanessa heard chirping sounds and she slowly forced her eyes open. She stared out her window and realized it was morning. She brought her hand up to her eyes and rubbed them as she leaned up on her bed. She brought her arms in view and saw they were normal. No scales, nothing.

She pushed off her blanket and felt a little dizzy as she got up, but the feeling dissipated after a few seconds. She made her way over to the door and left her room, feeling the intense desire for water. She never thought she could be so thirsty. It was like she had swallowed mouthfuls of dry sand. She coughed as she made her way downstairs and found her dad asleep on the couch.