The Girl Whose Life I Saved

Chapter Three

"No, you're becoming a mermaid!" I said.

"Yeah, I get the point!" she said back, watching as her legs turned fully into a mermaid's tail. The top of her dress disappeared, causing her to shriek and cover her chest.

"Turn around, please," she called to me, and I obeyed.

I heard her shuffling around before she said,

"Okay, you can turn back around now."

She had wrapped her torso in seaweed.

"How come I'm a mermaid now?" she asked. I sighed.

"I would have told you this before you kissed me, but you just had to without me knowing."

I sighed again to show her my exasperation.

"So tell me why in the world I am a mermaid now."

"It's because you kissed me. It says in the myths that when a merperson kisses a human, he or she will become a merman or woman."

"Ah. So that's what happened to me?"

"Yes."

"How can I change back?"

"You can't."

"What do you mean?"

"You could only change back if you stayed out of the water for a year or so, but that would be painful. You do know that merpeople literally fry in the sun? To heat up? You know that, right?"

"No!"

"Yes. If you want to change back, you have to stay dry for at least a year. And that hurts, a lot."

"How do you know?"

"Because I have a friend who fell in love with a human. He wanted to be one too, so he tried. He tried so hard, he almost got rid of his tail when his skin started to burn off."

"Oh my gosh..."

"Yes. So if you don't want to be a mermaid, prepare for pain."

"No. I should be a mermaid anyway. What's not to lose?"