New Scales and Tails

The Chemicals

Sammy heard her mother gasp.

What's it this time? Sammy wondered, almost sighing out loud.

Her mother creates chemicals to cure nasty diseases. Tries to, anyway.

"Oh my gosh..." Sammy's mother said to herself.

Sammy sighed, out loud this time. She heard those words a lot. Last time, her mother thought she cured some sort of illness. When she tried it on Sammy, however, she just got red bumps on her arms.

Her mother always wanted to test it on Sammy, or her older sister, Avery.

"It's dangerous." Sammy once tried telling her.

Her mother had shook her head. "I know what I'm doing. I know what's bad and what's good. Now try this..."

"How is this possible...?" Her mother continued to be wowed.

Sammy finally had enough of her gasping and murmurs. It was giving her a headache. "What is it, Mom?'" Sammy asked, walking into her mother's office.

Her mother's office was nice and cozy, and she loved being in there. It was always quiet, only her mother typed on her keyboard. Then there was a counter that she used for her work space. When Sammy was younger, her mother always told her not to play with different chemicals.

Now Sammy looked over her mother's shoulder at the computer screen. There was a picture of a jar of what looked like dark blue goo. Almost like jelly. Sammy knew it had to be a chemical reaction.

"Blue chemicals?" Sammy made sure.

Her mother nodded slowly. She was thinking. "It's...weird." was all her mother could say.

Sammy smirked.

Her mother never described something that well. When Sammy asked how the new restaurant in town was like, all her mother said was "nice." It was either "nice" or "fine" in her mother's world. Not very helpful with her mother's job.

Her mother stood up suddenly, and walked to her counter. Sammy stayed where she was, not wanting to get in her mother's way or getting to close to the counter. Her mother picked up the same jar of goo in the picture, and looked at it closely.

The jar was even darker in person. It reminded Sammy of a deep part of the ocean.

"I have to test it on you." Her mother explained, opening the jar with a strong twist.

"No, Mom!" Sammy begged. "I'm tired of your weird..chemical...things. Besides, it's Avery's turn!"

"Fine!" Her mother huffed, turning around with the opened jar still in her hand. It swished side to side, not exactly like jelly. "AVERY!"

Sammy shook her head. Avery was upstairs, doing homework. She knew because she was spying on her sister. There was nothing else to do, even though Avery was quite boring these days.

She heard footsteps climb down the stairs carefully. Avery was in her mother's office quick, panting a little. "Yeah, Mom? I was doing homework and..."

Avery saw the chemicals and groaned a little. Even though Sammy and Avery didn't agree much, both sisters knew their mother needed a guinea pig badly. Sammy lost count of how many times she had to test something. It was tiring.

"Oh." Avery rolled her eyes. "A test."

Her mother shook her head disapprovingly and turned back around to fill a plastic cup with the chemical goo. "What is up with you girls? You both know I need to test on something!"

"Try a guinea pig." Sammy suggested for the sixth time.

Her mother - annoyed by hearing that praise so many times- huffed louder than before, sounding more agitated. "It's not going to turn your skin blue, Avery."

Sammy couldn't help but smirk and giggle. "What if it DOES?"

"Oh, hush, Sammy." Her mother snapped fiercely. She turned around with the plastic cup, and handed it to Avery.

Avery frowned and moaned some more, but she took the cup obediently and drank it. She set the cup down on her mother's counter, and looked at herself.

Nothing happened.

"It might need to kick in." Her mother explained, throwing the cup away in her cute, tiny garbage can sitting next to her desk.

Sammy continued to giggle.

"Can I finish my homework now?" Avery whined.

Her mother nodded slowly. She was back to thinking deeply again. "Yes, yes...go ahead."

Avery flashed Sammy a "ha-ha-nothing-happened-to-me" smirk as she went up the stairs to finish her homework.

***

"Why didn't anything happen?" Avery muttered to herself, staring at her blank math worksheet she was assigned to do.

Frustrated with herself, Avery threw down her pencil and covered her face with her hands. She sighed, trying to focus.

She knew her mother said the effects might kick in, but it was nerve-racking. Waiting for something weird to happen to her. Like watching a scary video. You know that ghost girl is about to pop up, but you're still unprepared when she does.

Avery rubbed her eyes now. She wasn't tired, she was just tired of homework and her mother's mysterious experiments.

She reached for her glass of water on her desk. Anything to make her focus. She needed to finish her homework ASAP. Water dipped on her arm. She hardly noticed.

She did notice when she fell on the floor uncontrollably.

Avery groaned on the floor. How did I even fall? I'm so clumsy.

Trying to pick herself back up, she realized that something new was there besides her legs. Like they were close together, and she couldn't peel them apart. Like her two legs turned into one...

Avery looked frantically at her legs, and screamed.

A tail. A big, blue, heavy, scaly, sparkly tail.

The chemicals. I am going to kill mom!

Avery looked at her tail, examining it side to side. It wasn't easy to lift either.

I only drank half of the jar. What's Mom going to do with the other half?

Avery thought about calling her mother up the stairs. For her to look at this...thing. For her to reverse it immediately so Avery could go back to having legs.

How did I turn into one in the first place?

The water she was drinking made only sense. Mermaids swim and live in water, so that's how they turn into one.

Mermaids? I am not a mermaid. Definitely not. Totally. Maybe...?

Avery laughed. A mermaid. How unbelievably stupid.

Now she slumped, using her fist to keep balance.

Her tail started to reduce smoke.

Avery jumped, afraid her tail was on fire. She didn't feel anything, except for the burn of her tail. It stung, but it definitely wasn't from the fire...or whatever was happening.

Her room was filled smoke, and Avery coughed. The smoke slowly disappeared, and Avery felt her legs again.

Avery frowned. "Odd." Then she shook her head, correcting herself. "No. This whole thing is odd."