Tale of an Anxious Mermaid

Prologue

Monty was swimming, swimming through the ocean without stop. Her tail shimmers in the moonlight as it pushes her forward. It's been hours since she had dived into the water, but she felt it had only been minutes. Blindly surging away from shore was not the best choice- and she had no one to console her about that. Her mind had been wondering, but now she was finally facing her thoughts about what pushed her to disappearing into the night..

'Let's make a deal." Sebastien said. Which really didn't mean he wanted to make a deal. It's more likely he was trying to gently nudge her into a social situation and offer something as positive reinforcement.

'Why did I let him convince me to go to a stupid beach party?' She wondered.

Monty wasn't the type of person to try a lot of new things, or meet a lot of new people. That was overwhelming- bright lights, loud noises, people being too close- too much at once and she could get overloaded and go into a panic. That's exactly what happened, and she never wanted to go to a party again. She had really tried. And now, she was running away- or swimming away from her problems, to be more accurate. Why couldn't she just be a normal kid like her older brother? It was Sebastien who pushed her into social situations. He was trying to be helpful. She knew that.
But right now, she hated him. She hated how perfect he was compared to her. She hated how she disappointed everyone. She hated herself for harboring all these emotions towards someone who had been nothing but kind to her despite her differences. She didn't think she could face anyone like this. Not with all these terrible, terrible feelings swirling around like poison in her mind. Could she act like everything's normal even with her bitter thoughts relentlessly scratching at the back of her mind? She didn't feel like she could ever go back- not after thinking something so horrible, and certainly not after letting everyone down so greatly. The negativity pushes her forward even further through the current.

'What if I just decided to live underwater forever?' She ponders. She bitterly smiles to herself. 'I need to go home at some point. I don't want to worry Mom and Seb.' She honestly doubted her mom could handle her going missing. It would tear her apart.

'I'll go home in a little while.' She thinks firmly.

With that thought held tightly, her conscious began to calm to a murmur. Those emotions were still there, but barely simmering. She wasn't going to focus on them. Monty kept moving into the darkness, her silvery green scales glinting as she rushed through the water. Her eyes had long ago adjusted. Now that her thoughts were clearer, she could truly see the beauty of everything around her. It was incredibly calming, swimming through the ocean. Everything moved smoothly through the water. Kelp waved like ribbons and colorful fish darted from place to place. After a while, her entire body began to feel heavy. The ocean itself was her lullaby. Her eyes were beginning to close, but a new thought jolts her awake.

'How far out am I?!'

She has no idea. She can't remember what direction she came from. She quickly breaches the surface, only to find that she's completely surrounded by ocean. The moon towers above her, glowing tauntingly.

"Sh*t."