Tails Are For Water, Legs Are For Land (Unedited)

Chapter 2 - Return To The Ocean

I woke up covered in sweat. I threw my covers back, half expecting to see the tail I had given up. I sighed in relief when I saw my legs instead.

I stood up and walked over to my dresser. I looked at my hair that I had dyed black. I knew that if I was to ever to return to the ocean, which I won't, my hair would return back to it's natural rainbow colors. Black was the furthest I could get from rainbow.

I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts. "Hi, Rain! How'd you sleep?" I shook my head at my dad. "Not well." He frowned as he placed a plate of waffles in front of me. "Still getting nightmares?" I nodded as I sprayed whipped cream on my waffles.

He turned his back on me. "Maybe you should go back then," he suggested. My mouth dropped and the can fell out of my hands. I quickly recovered as my jaw squared. "No." He turned back around with a plate of waffles.

"Are you sure? I'll go with you. The sea witches obviously want something with you so maybe you should pay them a visit. I'll even go with-"

"No," I said, my voice hardened. I ran up to my room before he could attempt to persuade me more. I was not, could not, return to the ocean. It was the one thing I had promised my mom before she died.

I quickly locked the door behind me. I found my phone on my nightstand and quickly dialed Derik's number. He picked up on the second ring. "Hello?" he asked.

"Derik? It's me, Rain? Can you meet me somewhere? I just need to get out."

"Yeah, of course. Where do you want to meet up?" he asked.

"Uh, what about the park?" I asked.

"Sure. I'll meet you there in ten." I sighed in relief.

"Okay, thanks, Derik. Bye."

"Bye." He hung up and I quickly got changed out of my pajamas. I threw on my sneakers just as my dad knocked on the door. "Rain? Honey, open the door. I just wanna talk." I rolled my eyes and opened it.

I brushed past him and slid down the railing. "Rain, where are you going?"

"Out. I'll be back later." I slammed the door behind me, not waiting for his answer. I jogged to the park considering I only had five minutes to get there.

I saw Derik's short blond hair on his tall build waiting for me. I don't know when I realized that I liked Derik. I guess it's been a while. I liked everything about him and that's the problem. He was everything and more, but I'm a mermaid and that's a problem. It would put him in danger and I can't do that to him.

"What's up?" he asked. I sat down on the bench and sighed. "Everything." He frowned and sat down next to me. "Why?" I looked over at him.

"My dad wants us to go back to where we came from. You know, where my mom died?" He nodded. "That sucks. What else?"

"He wants me to see my grandmother." His eyes widened. "But isn't she why your mom left in the first place?" I nodded. "Yeah," I sighed.

"Would you guys come back?" I shrugged. "I don't know. She would probably try to keep us there." A tear slipped out of my eye. "I can't go back there, Derik. That's the one thing I promised her before she died. That I would never go back." He nodded and grabbed my hand, pulling me up after him.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he kept tugging me after him. He turned back and smiled, making his blue eyes light up. "You'll see." Eventually, we stopped at the other end of the park infront of an ice cream truck.

"What flavor?" Derik asked. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Two chocolate cones." he ordered for us. I pulled out money to hand to him but he wouldn't accept it. He led me over to another bench and sat down. We ate our cones in silence. He reached over and wiped chocolate from my face with his thumb, but he didn't pull his thumb back.

"Don't," he said. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Don't leave."

"Why?"

"Please," is all he said.

"I can't promise you that, Derik." He stroked my cheek, making my breath catch. "You can't leave, Rain."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I like you. I like you a lot, Rain, and I don't want you to leave." With that said, he leaned in until his lips brushed mine. The sad part was, I loved it. It ignited something in me, something I had never felt before.

But I slowly pushed him away though, knowing I can't get him involved. Not a human. "I'm sorry," I whispered. He looked hurt and it killed me. I slowly got up and left him. I walked back home, only to find my bags packed. "We're leaving." Was the last thing I heard before a bag was pulled over my head and I slowly slipped out of consciousness.