Shining Stars - A Constellation of Short Stories

Aquarius

Aquarius

When I was young, my mother told me stories about the human world before I went to bed. I loved them because they put me straight to sleep-even when I wasn't tired.

Unlike most merpeople my age, I wasn't interested in humans. I never went snooping through sunken ships, finding their ancient artefacts boring and out of date. I wasn't the kind of fish who would mess with their weird techno-thingamajicis they got excited about and tossed into the ocean. I definitely was not one of those 'rebellious' young fishes who snuck out to talk to humans-I swear on old Terrance the Shark's lucky tail fin.

My sister, on the other hand, was the opposite. She absolutely obsessed with humans and saw potential in them. She'd always have piles of human junk laden in her mocha arms, long green hair floating messily around her. I would often endure hours of her talking about human discoveries and endeavours, ranging from their silly tumbling down huge nets to adopting furry land beasts to their weird technobubbles that zoomed around on dead dinosaurs. Of course, I always listened to her because she was my baby sister and I never had the heart to tell her that to me,  humans were more boring than sea cucumbers.

***

Of course, when it comes to younger siblings, they can be a huge pain in the tail fin. I had been swimming lazily through the corals, admiring the colourful scenery and cool water on my scales. It was great here in the sea, with the plain wispy sea grass that contrasted with the diverse rocky coral. The friendly fish of all shapes and sizes that would swim around freely. I loved the water so much. I enjoyed the peace of the moment, twirling and dancing with baby fishes, before a shrill cry broke the tranquillity. A royal servant had come from the castle, and I knew they had bad news. To my utter horror, my sister had gone to the sea witch Eridith- and I had the feeling that I knew why.

***

I woke up coughing and spluttering, smacking something soft with my flailing hands. The last thing I remembered was signing a contract and burning pain in my body. My tail hurt, as if someone was cleaving them in half and my head ached.

I took in huge gulps of air, mouth open like a whale trying to catch krill. I stopped. I was breathing through my mouth, not my gills. I touched my neck and realised my gills were gone. Frantically, I looked myself over. My caramel skin was devoid of the usual smattering of emerald scales on my shoulders. My similarly green coloured hair was still there, but it felt weird and not coated with oil to keep it from getting damp, instead hanging in long wet clumps, my braid undone. I stopped searching myself when I noticed my beautiful tail was gone, replaced by...by..

I had legs. I frantically rubbed them, pinching and pulling. Oh Neptune, I was a human...with legs! I was basically a hairless ape!

"Hey, Dude!" Came a voice near me and I turned around, finally noticing my surroundings. I was sitting on a sandy beach, the small rolls of the incoming waves barely touching my...feet? Yeah feet. There were many other humans doing various human activities around me, the hot sun bearing down on them. To my immediate right was a human crouching next to me. He had brown hair, barely reaching his shoulders, with a pale complexion and freckles across his face, like pebbles on the ocean floor. He wore clothes on his bottom half, I'm pretty sure they were called shorts, yet his torso was toned and bare. His eyes were an unimpressive shade of brown, like dirt- as opposed to my brilliant sea blue ones. I remembered going to the sea-witch Eridith and making a deal with her to get back my sister. If I gave her a special necklace she would become a mermaid again. I was regretting that decision. 

"Are you okay?" he asked, "Need any help?"

I snorted. I didn't need any help, I was the Prince of the Sea, I could do anything...