capsize me and douse me in your bay

chapter thirteen

Stepping out onto the beach, the redhead had never felt so alive and free. She breathed in the salty night air of the beach, giggling a bit as the breeze sent a chill down her spine, causing her to shiver and break out in goosebumps. She rubbed up and down her arm amusedly. She never felt like that before. She had only been human for a few minutes, and it was already more exciting than she thought it would be!

Glancing ahead at the row of houses that lined the beach, she smiled at the sight of the sight of the one directly in front of her. A bit run down, with faded blue siding and a single boarded up window. Toni wasn't there. Toni hadn't been there in a long time. Last time she saw her was when the girl with pink hair was crying with her feet in the water. She remembered watching from under the nearby dock and wishing she could comfort her. She didn't like to see Toni sad.

The beach was dark and quiet. The moon was sitting high in the sky, providing her with just enough light to spot the clothesline coming from the blue house. Large shirts and other garments were hung on the line, blowing gently in the breeze. Toni wore clothes. And it seemed like everyone else did as well. Maybe she should do the same. She didn't want to stand out and raise any suspicion. According to her father, just her being on land was dangerous enough.

"Toni," she sighed dreamily and reached up to clutch the gold locket around her neck, keeping herself focused on her goal and why she was here. Her father would be furious if he found out that she was even here. She wasn't supposed to go on land, or even to the surface anymore. Not after what happened to her brother. But land was so fascinating! And humans...she had been curious about humans since the first time she heard about them as a child. But they couldn't be the evil, vile creatures her father described them as. No one was beautiful as Toni could be evil.

Stumbling a bit on her wobbly legs, the mermaid struggled to walk in the thick sand, shivering a little from the breeze as she made her way up the beach, tugging a grey t-shirt and a pair of boxers off the line. She sat down in the sand, struggling a bit to figure out how the clothes worked. And while they weren't comfortable against her skin, she thought she'd blend in better this way. The less suspicion the better.

Looking down at herself, she smiled proudly. She could pass as a human. She wore clothes! She had legs! Being human was easy!

"Toni," she sighed again to herself, smiling as she popped the locket open. The woman in the picture wasn't Toni, but it looked just like her. Toni was in the photo, but as a small child, smaller than when she had first seen her. Toni had changed a lot since the first time she saw her. From multiple fashion trends and hair styles. She just wondered if Toni would look the same now as when she saw her a year ago. But no matter what she looked like now, the redhead would think she was beautiful.

Heading up the beach, she stepped carefully up the sandy steps of the back deck of the blue house, peering in windows and pressing face against the glass of the sliding back door.

"Toni?"

It was dark inside. And quiet all over. The sound of waves crashing on the shore and the wind rustling the leaves in the trees was all she could hear. Pushing on the glass of the door, she frowned when she couldn't get inside. The humans in that house would know where Toni was.

Going back down the steps, she tried the other houses, pressing on the glass doors with no luck. After her fifth house down the line, she ventured out towards the front, glancing up and down the street. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Dare she step out any farther? She'd never been off the beach before. She'd sat on the rocks under the boardwalk, but she'd never been farther than this. But she had to find Toni. She'd search this whole town if she had to.