Short Words

The Little Redhead's Mistake

Genre: Disney
Author's Note:
A twisted version of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" in a different perspective. This was an assignment for my creative writing class. "The Little Mermaid" is my ultimate favorite princess.

The sky was in wicked shades of black and purple. The waves were heavy and as angry as Ursula. The crown was off of the King's head and he was shrunken down to brown hopelessness. The Sea Witch turned her head just in time to see the decaying ship coming towards her. With her eight sticky tentacles at her command she swung all of them at the ship that she knew held the prince. Ursula laughed at the death of the prince and the sky responded to her with lightning and thunder. She returned her attention to the water tornado with the poor unfortunate mermaid only to find that she had escaped.

This story has been told to me several times. The little mermaid girl wasn't content with her life down here and supposedly fell in love with a human, so she went against her father's wishes and gained her lanky, land legs. Little did she know, she was destined to lose the deal with the Sea Witch. No one has seen this mermaid since, if I was her I wouldn't want to show my shameful face either. Most mermaids mourned over her disappearance, pathetic. That little redhead's mistake affected the whole kingdom. King Triton is captivated in Ursula's garden of other unfortunate souls and his other daughters are being held in the depths of the ocean. Ursula soon came into power and set her rules. No one is allowed to do anything without her consent. Music is forbidden, even the slightest harmony is destroyed.

My mother works for the castle and my father is a guard. Mother has sent me off to the market while she tends to her daily responsibilities. I would get there and back before dark. Another rule; no mermaid is allowed out after dark. My long, black hair contrasting with my purple tail follows close behind as I swim. Two structures of dark rocks on either side of me tower higher than the castle and the top of the water glimmers from the light source in the human world. Coral of red, orange, and purple and bushes of seaweed live peacefully at the base of the rock formations. The seaweed drifts in my direction of travel when I swim through the opening of the rocks and brushes my tail.

"Hello." I spin around towards the voice. The seaweed was still swaying towards me and the rocks were in their places. I turn back towards the market, but I hear the voice again. I call out to the noise asking who is there and a shiny, green tail flows from behind one of the rocks, it's another mermaid. I call out once again starting to get annoyed. The mermaid finally peeked her head out. She had light brown hair and her eyes were huge, blue saucers. Under her engaging eyes, dark contrasting marks circled her eyes. As this strange mermaid came closer I could tell that her hair was dyed. Crayola, red was threatening her roots. No, it couldn't be. The only mermaid with natural, bright, red hair was the daughter of the King, she was inspired by the Red Sea. The irresponsible little mermaid, what's her name, Ariah? "No," I yelled at her. I don't want anything to do with her, the Queen would have me dead in an instant if she saw me with her. My mother once told me that she would infect my mind with her adventurous antics.

"Please," she begged. "Help me. I've been hiding far too long. I need to take back the kingdom, save my family," she tried to brush her hair out of her face when she looked around anxiously. "I'm tired of being a coward. Help me and I'll give you any treasure." Why would I help her? She ruined everything. Should I just swim away and pretend that I didn't see her? She still looked at me with hopeful eyes. With an elaborate plan quickly forming in my mind, I agree hastily. I told her about a secret rebellious organization. We could join them and with a higher power figure like her, there could be an uproar at the castle as early as tonight. I take her pale hand and lead her to their secret hiding spot. It was located dangerously close to the castle. Once we get there, I pull the heavy rock door to the side with all of my strength and let her in. The long tunnel was dark, I could barely see, but I knew to keep swimming. I heard the little mermaid's tail swish in the water and little tapping noises indicated that she was tapping her fingernails on the rock walls. How did she hide for so long when she's so noisy? A bright scene was visible at the end. The tunnel opened up and was filled with human objects found on the seafloor. Clay pots, exotic fabrics, and silverware were neatly displayed along the walls. I have to admit, the little redhead actually ignited us mermaids to learn more about the aliens above.

"I got her," my voice bounced off of the walls and the little mermaid started to look at the displays. She stopped at the forks and smiled. Then I heard a familiar, booming laugh coming from one of the openings of the cavern. The forks display that the natural redhead was previously observing shook. Three guards, one being my father, came stomping in shaped like a triangle. I smiled knowing it was going to be okay. "This isn't her. Red hair is not evident," said one of the guards. I explained to him that she had dyed it, I even showed him her red roots coming in. The little mermaid confirmed this. I'm glad she isn't asking questions.

The guards simultaneously snapped their fingers once and that's when I noticed someone looming in the darkness of an opening of the cavern. Suddenly the lighting turned to wicked shades of black and purple. I could feel the pressure of the water around me change. It became heavy on my shoulders and made me slouch. Dark tentacles gripped the frame of the door and the once adventurous mermaid gasped. She looked to me with horror in her huge eyes, she had finally realized that I was not on her side. I was not one of her unintelligent sidekicks helping her, what were they, a lobster and a seahorse? Mermaids stay down here and humans stay up there. You're welcome Ursula.