Ocean's Secret

Captive

Esa was floating in a dull, quiet, darkness. Nothing seemed real, except for one thing. Her freedom was gone, wrenched away from her by cold, dark hands.

She drifted between consciousness. Esa saw a bright light, humans, dressed in white coats, moving around before her eyes in a blur.

"Mermaid..... Mermaid....." The word seemed unreal, quiet, like someone shouting from far away, deep in an ocean cave.

"We are done here. Sedate her and put her in her containment system Hammond." A strange voice called from the distance.

A reply, to quiet and muffled to understand. Then Esa once again faded away.

~~~

She awoke in a dark place, floating in cool water. Esa slowly opened her eyes, she had a splitting headache. With a groan she brought her hand to her forehead and rubbed her eyes. Something was attached to her arm, she yanked it off and dropped it in the water.

"Name your price sir." A voice came from nowhere. Esa floated upright and looked around. She reached out her hand and it touched a smooth, glassy surface.

"She is awake!" A different voice this time. "Hammond! Get the doctor!"

"Can she see us?" The voice came again, questioning this time.
"No, this is a mirrored glass tank, she can only see what is inside, she cannot see us, but we can see her. This is to keep her calm. However, the glass can be, in a way, opened, so that it would be a two way window." Another unfamiliar voice explained.

Esa pressed both hands to the side of the glass and saw herself, a scared, pathetic, weak and dehydrated creature. She smacked her hand against the glass in anger and hissed loudly at what she couldn't see on the other side of her prison.

Quick footsteps sounded and a door slammed open, Esa jumped and she dove underwater.

"Incredible!" A very deep male voice said. Esa heard every word with her exceptional hearing, even being underwater.

Suddenly light poured into her tank as if someone had pulled away a curtain in a pitch black room, Esa hissed in surprise and darted backwards through the water in one swift movement. She was in a plain room, the walls painted blue, and there was no furniture, just bare floors. Metal steps and a platform made their way to the edge of her tank. Five people were in the room, all of them were staring at her.
She pressed herself to the opposite side of her tank in fear and felt her heart beat fast.

One of the people, a middle-aged woman dressed in a white coat, picked up a short stick and jotted down some notes on a foreign object clutched in her hand.
The man with the very deep voice, and the one whom Esa guessed was Hammond were closest to the door. Two more men stood nearer to Esa.

"I will pay you $500 thousand in cash by tomorrow." One of the men closest to Esa said. "Deal." The other one grinned and they shook hands.
The man who had named the price walked out of the room after shaking hands in turn with everyone. He seemed very pleased.
What just happened? Esa thought, but she had a bad feeling that she already knew.

Hammond and the deep voiced man came closer to the tank.
"My name is Doctor Vacado, do you speak English?" He said.

Esa said nothing, she just glared at him through through her dark brown hair and bared her teeth. As if she would tell this disgusting beast anything about herself, she had been taken from her home by these people, from her family, from her freedom. And she had been put through fire in order for them to discover the secrets of her kind. They deserved nothing, no knowledge of her beloved people, and not a single word from her.

"Do. You. Speak. English." Doctor Vacado said again, more slowly this time. As if she was some dumb simple minded animal.

"Can you tell me anything about your home? Are their more merpeople like you?" His gaze was hopeful, but it was a different kind of hope. He was a greedy selfish man, and Esa saw right through him. She came to the surface of the water and floated just inches from his face on the other side of the glass.

"As if I would tell you anything." She spat, her blue eyes sparking angrily. And with that, she flicked her tail and sent a torrent of water over the side of the tank, splashing down on the other side, the wave soaked Doctor Vacado. Esa crossed her arms defiantly and glared at him. There was a shocked silence in the room and Doctor Vacado's face turned a beautiful shade of red and purple.

"Sedate her and get her out of my sight!" He bellowed, Esa could have sworn the glass of the tank shook with his yelling. But she never wavered, she held his gaze level and was silent.

"Sir, sedating her could cause stress, we want her to be in the utmost of condition when Mr. Blanc pays us in full for the mermaid on Monday." Hammond said sheepishly. Vacado glared at him with a look that could melt iron. "Very well." He growled through gritted teeth. Then once again Esa was in darkness. She heard the people leave the room, the door closing gently behind them. Swimming to a corner of her prison she wrapped her arms around her cerulean blue tail and cried herself to sleep.

So I couldn't resist! I wanted to give you guys a good first chapter! So here it is! Hope you enjoy! Comment, vote and give me feedback!