The Little Mermaid: the true story

Chapter 1

As I was swimming through the kelp forest Flounder kept up a steady stream of his opinion. "You know King Trident will never let you go now, Sebastian's right you're an electric eel."

Now before you get all "OMG! He's such a hottie!" on me just shut up! He's my dad and I just can't stand when every mermaid tells me how lucky I am to be living in the palace when all I need is a chance to escape this cage he's keeping me. I don't like my father he's like Hitler under the sea. Even though my dad is the king and everything that doesn't mean if you cross him he can do something that bad. I mean this is the fourteenth century; but no one is safe, not even me. You should see what he did to my sister Ursula. My dad made her out to be this big bad sea witch. You all know what he did to her and she's part of the royal family. Ursula inherited another one of the unique gifts of the royal family; she's a magic user even more powerful than our mother was. She told me of the time that she had given herself legs and walked on the surface. Anyway all Ursula did was tell daddy that he wasn't a true king; he just depends on a magic trident that our mother made for him during their courtship. Our mother was a magic user. That's not a witch – is it? So where was I? Oh yeah- she married into the family and the trident was a wedding gift.

Mermaids aren't what you really think though; I mean we aren't these mythical creatures. The most magical thing about us is that the royal family mermaids have these amazing gifts and we're singers. I'm sure that you've heard of sirens? Well that started with my sister Mags who has the voice of an angelfish. She and her little followers lure the fishermen to their deaths for fun. What they do sickens me; I mean why would someone want to kill a land dweller? We mermaids are a lot like land dwellers: we're born, we live, and we die; and if we're lucky we find love; and that's all I want to do. I don't want to kill them; I want to be on land with them.

My sisters and I live in the palace in Atlantica. The palace used to host my 9 sisters and I in Atlantis after it sunk from the surface. Marissa once tried to go see where the city used to be. But when she reached the surface she was seen by some fishermen and they rendered her unconscious and took her with them. We moved to our summer home permanently after that. Now it's time for them to pay for taking my oldest sister.

When I turned ten I asked my father when I would be able to go to the surface; his response was the same as always.

"Ariel, you are too young to go to the surface. What would you do if a land dwelling fisherman were to see you?" My dad always had a reason that I couldn't do something.

"I would do the same thing that Mags does- I would sing to them so they would sink." I was whiney then. I've ignored what my dad has said for so long now I don't even remember what his answer was. But I don't listen to my dad anymore so I guess it's a moot point.

From that day on I swore to my father that I would save her and bring her back from the surface. It is my duty to her from me as her as a sister and my duty as part of the royal family.

I promised myself that I would save her. I must save her.

                                                                                                      ...

"Ariel," Flounder said as he flapped his fin in front of my face. "Have you even listened to anything I've said in the past 5 minutes?"

"Of course I have" I said as I tried to recall what he was trying to tell me about my unknown trips to the ships that Mags has sunk. "You were telling about how awesome you are?"

"I don't even know why I try sometimes; you really are a weird mermaid. The weirdest of the princesses I've ever met. I was trying to tell you that Sebastian probably knows we're here." He sounded exasperated as if he'd told me this to many times.