Something's Fishy...

Chapter 2: Remembering

Chapter 2: Remembering

           

   

                 The sun was just rising as a walked along an empty street. My bare feet plodded along the road monotonously, no destination in mind to lead them. The coolness of night was beginning to wear off, and I could feel that it would be an unusually hot day for late August.

                Enjoying the early morning, I let my thoughts drift to why I had left. Ocean City had been a great place to live. It was always bustling with activity, and filled with so many different people. It was easy for me to simply blend in and be forgotten, which was how I liked it.

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                I spent many hot summer days lounging on the beach, enjoying the sun and the calming sounds of ocean activity. There were always kids screaming, girls tanning, and guys trying to show off their muscles. I could care less. Other times I would walk along the board walk, stopping to get ice cream now and then. Thank Neptune mermaids have amazing metabolisms! Those were the good days.

                All of that was ruined by some nosy government officials who didn’t like my story. It had been like any other summer day, and I had been walking on the board walk with some recently purchased fudge (my favorite!). I guess a police officer had seen me walk up to the store and take the fudge without paying.

                Oh yeah, I forgot. Being a mermaid gives me the power to, make people remember things differently. Sort of like that silly myth about the sirens that the Greeks had, but on a lower scale. Since I have no income, and no place to live, I usually rely on this power to get away with things.

                Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a criminal or anything, I just take what I need to survive, usually. Anyway, I had just used my gift to persuade the guy at the cash register to give me some fudge. All I needed were a few ghostly notes of song to come rolling out of my mouth, and the man at the cash register’s eyes went glassy. It a faraway voice, I asked him to hand over some fudge. Like an automaton, he jerkily obeyed my command.

                I usually only use my power when there is no one else around. I thought I was alone, but I didn’t notice the police officer in the far corner of the store. He saw what happened, got freaked out, and called in back up.

                I know, I know, I should have been way more careful, and I still can’t believe that I was so reckless. Anyway, once the reinforcements got there, it was clear that they knew something was up with me. I knew if I went to jail, I would be caught like fish in a net. My DNA was obviously different from a human’s, and then the officials would get even more freaked out.

                After these police officers had seen what I had done, they would be stationed all around the city, and it was impossible for me to transfix them all. Not to mention that I was beginning to attract attention from outside. This was turning out just great,

                My only choice was to disappear, again… I sized up the officers, then let out a high pitch scream, and ran as fast as I could out of there while they were distracted. Without a glance back, for I could hear their shouts calling after me. I made my way to a nearby alley. I knew I would have to leave soon.

                I waited until night to make my escape. I couldn’t travel too far from the ocean, because my attraction to the sea would become too painful to bear if IU strayed too far. This had happened once, and that was enough for me.

                I decided to make my way far from here, travelling the ocean. I decided to head to Virginia Beach. In case of an incident like this were to occur, I always had am escape and relocation plan at the ready, thank goodness.

                I wasted no time in setting off once I was sure no one was around. Not for the first time, and not for the last time

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                I looked around at the street I was walking on. I missed the feeling of Ocean City, but there was no chance that I could return. I saw a family of four walking down the street on the opposite side of me, and I was overcome by the togetherness of them. They looked so happy together. The little boy, who looked about six years old, held onto his mother’s hand, while his older sister rode her bicycle, occasionally being pushed by the father.

                They all had the same soft brown hair, and the same beaming, wide smiles, enjoying being together. I couldn’t help but sigh. It reminded me of what my life could have been like, if I hadn’t turned out to be some kind of half-fish freak.

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                My family wasn’t mean or abusive to me. They didn’t treat me badly, or anything of the sort. My mom stayed at home, and would almost bake me and my older brother cookies. My dad was often away on business trips. I don’t remember much of my family, but that’s mostly my fault. Around when I turned twelve, I was overcome with the unbearable feeling that I didn’t belong with this perfectly normal family.

                No one in my family had any idea of what I was. It was almost like I had been born with an intuition to keep my mermaid-half a secret, but I still felt out of place. Eventually it became too much for me to bear, and I ran away. I couldn’t face my lie of a life with a family who cared and loved me. I don’t know if they ever searched for me, not that it would have changed anything.

                This was the beginning of my life as a nomad mermaid. I travelled from place to place, never straying too far from the sea. I used my power to find places to live, food to eat, along with other life necessities.

                Besides the ocean, the only thing that had the strongest pull on me was my thirst for knowledge. I just couldn’t keep myself away from school. I fake documents, used my power to get out of teacher/parent meetings, whatever it took for me to quench my thirst for school.

               

                When I’m at school, I feel amazing, like I’m learning a little more about the world each day, expanding my knowledge. I stayed out of people’s way, never making friends, never standing out to the kids or teachers. Despite the risks, school was worth it.

                Speaking of which, I needed to get started on obtaining new legal documents. To avoid government involvement, I went to the black market for these types of things. I continued along the road, searching for a specific alley that would be my ticket for a new identity in Virginia Beach.

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(A/N): Okay! Chapter 2 is finally up! I tried to answer some of your questions from the previous chapter in this one, so let me know if I incorperated all of them, as well as let me know if you want me to include something else in the next chapter!

Thanks so much for reading! Comment, Vote, anything you do is awesome!

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