Drowning

Chapter 4

"Come" the girl motioned for Kiara to get up and follow her.
"Go where? I don't know where I am or... what I am" Kiara said as her hand was still around her neck.
"Lets leave her" the other girl hissed, "she will just steal our food"
"Stop, she is one of us. She need our help" Kiara stared between the two girls as the argued and truly looked at them. They floated in the water, just hovering above the sand. Their naked bodies were tinged blue but they the looked healthy, plump. Their hands and feet were webbed, probably to help them swim. Kiara couldn't tell what they were but she knew they weren't human.

"What are you?" Kiara yelled, breaking the fight up.
"Sirens. Just like you" the nice one said coming closer to Kiara who tried to move backwards.
"I am nothing like you! I am human! I don't know why I'm here or how" Kiara said the panic rising in her. The mean girl swam up to Kiara and before she had time to react she grabbed her hand and held it up to her face.
"Look" she said showing Kiara her own hand, "your changing, you aren't fully like us but you are becoming like us"
"How..." Kiara said quietly as she took in her hand. The skin around her fingertips had started turning blue and in between she could see webs starting to form.
"How is this possible?" Kiara asked looking up at the two women. The nicer of the girls sighed, Kiara could tell this wouldn't be a good story.
"We feed on those who let the sadness take over them. Sometimes when one of us does not want to be like us anymore we switch places" she said gently, this didn't make any sense.

"Are you saying someone took my life? They switched places with me? How?" Kiara asked, her words coming out just as quickly as the thoughts raced through her mind.
"This" the girl said placing Kiara's hand to her chest, it felt raw and hurt as her fingers found the uneven skin and bumps. It hurt as she touched her chest... wait... it hurt? Kiara looked down instantly and saw the huge scar that lined her ribs, just under her throat straight down to just above her stomach. The skin looked like it had been ripped apart and sewn back together with invisible thread.
"What?" Kiara breathed out as she stared in shock and panic.
"We ripped open your chest cavity" the mean one said with a sick grin, "and we take your heart and lungs and replace it with our gills so you take the curse and we get to go on land"
"My... my lungs? My heart? Why? Why didn't you just let me die?" Kiara cried out, if she could cry right now tears would be streaming down her face but the water hid her feelings well.
"It is the only way. You must take the curse and live with it until you give it to someone else"

"How can you live like this"
"We don't have a choice. If we don't eat we forget and when we forget we feel pain and hunger... then we eat"
"Eat... what?" Kiara was almost to scared to ask this question but she needed to know, especially since she was already forced to eat once.
"People. Those who don't want to trade just eat those to sad to live"
"People?" Kiara's stomach churned as she realized what she had eaten before and why it had tasted so strange.
"It's fine!" The nicer one said trying to calm her down, "they don't want to live anyways so why waste perfectly good food?" The thought of calling regular people food almost made her throw up.... Almost...

"I can't do that. I can't eat people!"
"You can and you will!" The mean one snapped.
"No... no i can't" Kiara said then repeated, how could she do something like that? She used to be human, she couldn't stomach the thought of it.

"You must or the sadness will come and you will forget the good"
"I don't care!" Kiara yelled and swam away from the two girls. One tried to follow but the other stopped her.
"We have to help!"
"She doesn't want help! We must hunt!"
"But.."
"We will find her when she forgets the good. Then she will hunt"
"Fine..." the two girls left her in hopes she would change her mind quickly. For days Kiara hid away, un moving, hoping she could starve herself from this curse and finally be done with it. But as the days grew longer and she grew hungry she started to forget herself. Her humanity, all the things that made her want to live. All she was left were the bad thoughts and horrible feelings she tried to forget in the first place.