the little mermaid

dorienne

19 years later

Deep in the depths of the ocean, a little mermaid laid on her bed of moss and seaweed, trying to contemplate the reason as to why her father found the act of ruining her life entertaining.

She didn't know it, but someone was watching her. Through the little circular window in the young mermaid's room, a pair of icy blue eyes were following her every movement. They had been doing so for nearly two weeks now, but the mermaid that the eyes never ceased to stare at seemed completely oblivious; she was obviously too busy worrying about her terrible teenage life to notice anyone stalking her 24/7.

There was a knocking on the mermaid's bedroom door that caused the eyes to disappear momentarily from view.

"Dorienne, I need to speak to you," came a booming voice from outside her room.

"Come in, Father," she reluctantly sighed.

Dorienne's long brown hair flowed gracefully behind her as she rose from her bed - lying down while conversing with the Sea King was no way to earn his respect. One must always stand up straight while speaking to him; make eye contact while speaking to him; enunciate clearly and precisely while speaking to him.

These were principles Dorienne had grown up with. Being the daughter of the Sea King, she knew all the little rules and tricks to get him to trust you - and she used all of those little tricks. She knew how to make him pay attention to her and side with her and give things to her.

She had discovered these things very early on in life, partially because she wasn't allowed to leave the palace often, and therefore spent a lot of time with her father, and partially because she was just good at manipulation.

But lately Dorienne had not been very successful in the act of manipulating her father. She used to be able to sneak in the castle past curfew, and if she got caught, a simple, "Sorry, Father, I lost track of time. I was helping build sand huts for the less fortunate merpeople," would surely wipe her father's mind of any altercation, and they would begin discussing ways to positively alter the government and economy so that poverty was no longer an issue.

Of course, Dorienne wasn't actually helping the less fortunate, and her father had begun to realize that. He set stricter guidelines: be home before ten o'clock no matter what; do not go out with someone unless I have met them and thoroughly conversed with them to make certain they are worthy of your company; stay away from the octopi - they're bad news; and, most importantly, never go to the surface, and avoid all forms of human interaction.

Dorienne knew these rules were enforced for her own good and that there was reasoning behind the extensive set of commands. But, nonetheless, Dorienne ignored her father. She didn't really care. Every once in a while she would attempt to suck up to him like she used to, but it usually didn't work, so for the most part she didn't even try.

This time was one of those rare occasions when Dorienne did try. As the Sea King walked into the room, she stood up as straight as possible, looked him straight in his menacing eyes, and said, "Hi, Daddy. How has your day been?"

Rather than answering her, he looked her up and down with his dark green eyes that used to be brighter and more vivid, but had lost their lively essence after years of ruling a kingdom and the hardships that he faced.

He knows, was the first thought that popped into Dorienne's mind.

"I can explain," she began, but was interrupted by a voice similar to a crack of thunder.

"How could you do this, Dorienne?" her father shouted at her. "You know why I have these rules! You could be seen," he said with a look of terror as an image of his only daughter being captured by humans flashed into his brain. He couldn't let that happen. He wasn't going to lose his little girl the same way he lost his wife, the first person he ever loved, whose life was taken by the horrible, blood thirsty beasts called humans, simply because she had a free spirit and an untamed sense of adventure.