The Mermaid Star [editing!]

Fight or Flight

The shell. I saw it that day at the beach so long ago, the day I learned about Dad. "No! It's my shell!" I yelled. "Fine then," The Mermaid Crusher said. "Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way." She shoots a string of water from her palm that wraps around my waist and pulls me to the floor. "We're not going to sink to your level. Why can't we just talk about it or something?" Eric asks in the hope he can stall what she's about to do next. She blasts him in the stomach. "STOP! Just stop!" He says. She puts a bubble that stretches from the bottom of his tail to his neck around him. "Wh-What are you doing?" Eric stutters. That's when it hit me. The air bubble will detransform him so he can't breathe underwater! "Now call the shell here if you want the boy to live." A light explodes from behind us- where Madi was sitting. "Enough!" She says. "I finally know, after all this time, what the right choice is." "Coming to work for me?" The Mermaid Crusher interrupts. "No." Madi turns to face us, with a black tail. "All my life, you left me on land, with Dad. Is he even my dad? I don't know. Your sick games are over. I know how your feeling. I'm always so... so mean to you Crystal, and I'm sorry about that. I always felt like my life was missing something, so I was bitter about you 'perfect' life, which I know now is anything but that." By now Eric had changed back and was starting to look sick. Ahh! "But I feel like I found the missing piece. I was meant for good and if that makes me a disappointment to you, I don't care, but if doing what I'm about to do saves just one person, it's worth it." "No Madi, don't do it!" I say. She offers me a sad smile. "One life for many, right?" She twirls around and shoots up through the cave ceiling into the sky. "Look for me!" She screams as the flies. She disappears with a flash, and in her place, a star.