All By Myself

Chapter 1

I am human. I think I am human. My parents were, at least. Okay, weird way to start my story, I know. Let me start again.

Hello. My name is Cassandra Silver, my friends call me Cassi, I am 22 years old, and studying to be a Marine Biologist. I love anything to do with the ocean. My parents, Louise and Jeremy Silver, were normal people. Loving, attentive, though a little protective. I say "were" because sadly, they're dead. Murdered. All because of me. I know it was my fault. I wasn't careful.

I was born in a lovely town called London. Mum told me, when I was older, that the birth was easy, only four hours in labour. From the wonderful video that Dad made, I was born with a fleshy tail instead of legs. I don't know why Dad kept that video, but I feel that it was a factor in my parents' murder, though I can't exactly prove it. Doing so would expose me more, and that's the last thing I need. The doctor was shocked, as was the midwife, but once I was cleaned my tail vanished, and two legs were in its place. Thankfully no photos had been taken of me at birth, so there was no proof. From day one Mum bathed me in private, no one was allowed near, because the moment I got wet the tail would form. Once Mum and I were discharged, Dad had already moved us to a town faraway from London, with a private expanse of beach.

As I grew up I learned to control the shift from human to mermaid, Mum teaching me. I learned how to breathe underwater without forming my tail, only allowing the gills to form on my neck, and, through extensive reading, all the sea-life in the ocean, from the coral to the marine animals, became known to me. I swam every day, and in time I learned to transfer any clothes I wore on my lower half, though shoes proved too difficult. There was one thing we couldn't hide, and that was my body temperature.It was far warmer than a normal human, due to my swimming in icy ocean waters, swimming deep as well. Because of this my hands were very warm to the touch.

When I was 11, my parents felt it was safe enough for me to attend Secondary School, as up until then I had been home-schooled by Mum. I was enrolled in the local school, thinking it would be safer than boarding school.

School was awesome. I was quick to learn, and was soon surpassing my classmates. But I tried not to show it too much. True, I got straight A's, but I didn't belong to any clubs or after school activities.I came close to doing so, though, during First Year.

In the summer terms we participated in swimming. I loved swimming, and could easily control the change, but I knew I had to be careful. I couldn't show off my speed or skills. Each time we had to swim races, I paced myself so I would always come second, or close third.I let myself win once or twice, but just by a few seconds. There was a girl in my Year, Tabitha, who was as spoiled as you could find, beautiful, with blonde hair and clear blue eyes. She was a fantastic swimmer so, of course, when I was coming second, it was always to her. As she was jealous of my black hair, fair yet tanned skin and blue eyes, she gloated each time she won against me. There were many times in our first four years of school that I wanted to pound her, or beat her in everything, but I refrained. As the years passed, our swimming teacher realised just how good Tabitha (Tabbi for short) and I were, so she started hounding us to join the swim team. The first few years I refused, but when I was fourteen, Tabbi and I were changing after gym class, and she turned to me, as she often did after beating me in the pool.

"I think you're a chicken." She said. I was pretending to towel my hair dry after a shower, and tossed it over my shoulder, where it lay in locks to my waist.

"Me? A chicken? In what way?" I asked her, a little surprised. I mean, I expected no less, but this was the first time she had called me a chicken in a long time. Tabbi looked at me as she pulled her brush through her hair, not quite as long as mine.

"Your swimming. You have perfect technique, you don't seem to need to worry about your breathing, as you never seem to be out of breath." She said. I inwardly scolded myself and made a mental note to pretend to pant a little.