A Magnificent Transformation

“I’m a mermaid”, I say, looking him in the eyes. “A mermaid? As in a mythological creature? As in a girl with a fishtail? As in something that’s not real and doesn’t exist?”, he fires at me. “Yes”, I say back to him. Silence takes over. I look at his face, trying to figure out what he’s thinking right now. “You? A mermaid?”, he says before he bursts out laughing. “That’s a good one. I almost believed you there.” “But Chad, it’s true. I really am a mermaid”, I say, kind of frustrated as I take off my bracelet and wait for a few seconds. Suddenly, I fall to the ground because my legs have disappeared and are replaced by my long, elegant, beautiful purple tail.

Chad’s eyes open wide. I swear they’re about to fall out of his head. I can see his mouth move but there’s not a sound to be heard. I just look up at him, an awkward smile planted on my face. He looks so stunned that I know he probably won’t be able to speak as long as I’m laying here fish-style. So I quickly put my bracelet back on and not even five seconds later, my way too skinny legs appear again. I get myself off the ground as I can still see the shock and disbelief into Chad’s eyes. “Whitney, this isn’t possible. This shouldn’t be possible”, he blurts out, trying his best not to stutter. “But it is Chad. Look at me”, I say as I grab his hand and make him look right into my eyes. “I am a mermaid.”

He takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself down. “I can’t believe it”, he whispers as he sits down on my bed. I take a seat next to him and let out a deep sigh. “Chad, I’ve been debating whether or not to tell you this, and I hope that I made the right choice”, I say as he looks at me. “But why now? Why not earlier?” “Because I was scared of how you would react. I can’t exactly go around and tell everyone that I’m a mermaid now can I?” “True, but still. Why tell me now?”, he asks me taking one of my hands in his own. “Because I need your help!”, I scream out. I can see confusion taking over. He's still in shock from what I have just told him and not even two seconds later I, the mermaid-girl, ask him for help? Good Job Whitney. Way to scare him off completely.

I hit my head with my hand before I take a deep breath. I can still see confusion, disbelief and fear in his eyes, which kind of hurts. He's my best friend. He's not supposed to be scared of me. "Let me just explain", I say, trying to reassure him. "Explain what? How you are half fish? How you have a magical bracelet that gives you a freaking tail?!", he almost screams as he stands up out of adrenaline. I grab his arm and pull him back down. "I know this is weird but..." "Weird. Whitney, this isn't just weird. This is impossible." "No, it isn't. It's not because you've never seen it before that it can't be real", I tell him and I can see the gears in his head moving rapidly.

"Okay, try me. Explain it", he firmly says. All the emotions I saw a few minutes ago, the fear, the confusion and the disbelief, it's all gone and replaced with determination. It's like I'm looking into the eyes of a cop. "Are you going to start any time soon?", he asks me impatiently, pulling me out of my thoughts. I stand up and walk over to my desk. I sit myself down on my chair, creating some distance between us. You never know how he's going to react if he hears what I'm about to tell him. I take a deep breath and start speaking, his eyes glued on me. "I know a lot of people think that mermaids aren't real, at least that's what I learned when I first set foot on land, but that's not true. I was born in the ocean, as a mermaid. I was given the name Waverly because I was born with beautiful, long, gold, wavy hair. I lived in a huge pod, went to mermaid school and swam around the ocean with all my friends", I tell him and I can still see his eyes popping out of his head. This is obviously not working. Other approach. "Okay, you know what? Why don't you just ask me what you want to know?", I ask him and he nods his head, still kind of terrified.

"Alright. Euhm, how do you guys, mermaids, get born? Is it like a fish? Do you come out of an egg? Or is it like with people?", he asks me. "We actually give birth the same way humans do." "What about the colour of your tail? Are you born with it?" "No, not really. All baby-mermaids have white tails, and the first years of our lives, our tails get the beautiful colour that they have." "Does the colour mean something?" "Not particularly. However, it is an indication as to how your personality will evolve. For example, I have a purple tail. Mermaids with purple tails are feisty, they're fierce and don't back down when they want something. Some call that stubbornness but I totally disagree", I say and I can see the corners of his mouth move upwards. "Purple is also the colour of creativity and bravery. And to add to all of that, mermaids with purple tails are the reckless ones", I tell him and I can see him nodding his head. I really think he's coming around. He doesn't have that scared look in his eyes anymore, which is a good sign right?

“Why are you here?” “What do you mean?” “If you’re a mermaid than why aren’t you swimming around in the ocean? I saw what you wrote in your notebook. You hate it here. You hate foster care and how everyone treats you like a freak because of it. So, why put yourself through this hell if you already have a home and a life?”, he asks me and his question completely takes me off guard. “My sister”, is all I say, looking down at my hands in my lap. “What about your sister?”, he asks me as I start fidgeting with my bracelet. “I need to find her.” “Well, shouldn’t you be looking somewhere else then?”, he asks, clearly amused by his own joke. But I’m not laughing, anything but. “She got cast out of our pod four years ago. She was only twelve years old.” “What do you mean ‘cast out’?” “One of the leaders took her tail, which forced her to live on land. But she was only twelve and all alone. I will never understand how they could be so mean”, I tell him, still looking down. I can’t seem to make myself look up and face him.

“How old were you when this happened?”, he asks me sweetly. “Eleven. We only differ a year.” “Why was she cast out?” “Because her tail never got any colour. It stayed white. I always loved how special she was but the leaders of the pod didn’t see it that way. They said that mermaids who don’t develop a coloured tail are bad. That they’re possessed with an evil spirit. At least, that’s what they believe. I have always fought for her. I would have done anything to get her back.” “But obviously, you couldn’t make that wish come true.” “Indeed. I fought a lot. With my mother as well as with the leaders of the pod. I even threatened to leave the pod if they didn’t bring my sister back, but my mother always forced me to stay. But one day, I visited grandma and she told me that she admired my determination. She gave me this”, I say as I lift up my arm to show my bracelet. “It gives me the ability to have legs and walks on land. Exactly three months ago, I escaped thanks to my grandma. I escaped to find my sister”, I explain. “I don’t really know if I should say that it’s a beautiful gesture or that it’s a tragic story… It’s kind of both”, he says before he pats the spot next to him on the bed. I get up from my chair and sit down.

“But what if you find her? What’s the game plan? Do you want to bring her back home or do you want to stay here?”, Chad asks me. “I haven’t really thought about that yet.” “Isn’t it about time you’d do that? We can’t show up at her front door without a plan.” “We?”, I ask him confused. “Yes, we. Of course, I’ll help you find your sister”, he tells me and a smile appears on my face. Hearing him say that is such a relief. “But where do we start?”, he asks me. I stand up and lead him over to my desk. I open up the top drawer and take out a big folder. “This is all the research I’ve done in the past three months. It’s not really easy, being in foster care, to figure out this kind of stuff. I probably don’t have to explain you why?” “No”, he answers as he shakes his head. “But my sister means the world to me. I would do anything for her, so I am. She was treated unfairly and I’m going to make it right”, I say determined as I open up the folder. I take out an awful lot of papers, spreading them out all over my desk. “It’s not really about finding her, but it’s more about how to approach her”, I say as I pick up one of the papers. It’s a picture of my sister at school in front of her locker.

“That can’t be your sister”, Chad immediately says, grabbing the picture out of my hands to take a closer look. “It is.” “Oh god. She goes to the same school I do”, he says. “I know.” “I dated her. I dated Stevie.” “Stevie? Is that what she’s called here?”, I ask Chad and I can see him nodding his head. “In the ocean, she was known as Sequana”, I tell him, wanting to share that. “That’s beautiful.” “Wait, back up a minute… You dated my sister?!” “Yes”, he answers hesitantly and kind of awkward. “That’s great!”, I scream out, maybe a little bit too enthusiastic. I look up at Chad and he’s clearly confused but nevertheless, I wrap my arms around him out of excitement.

"Okay, that's an unexpected reaction", he says before I let go of him. "Can't you see? This is great! Now you can tell her." "Wow wow wait. I? Why do I have to tell her?" "Because you already know her." "So?" "You said you were going to help me", I say making a pouty face because I can already feel that he's backing out. "I am but I can't just walk up to her and tell her that I know she was a mermaid because her little sister is the girl I have a ginormous crush on." "You have a crush on me?", I ask with a smirk on my face, raising an eyebrow. "Beside the point. I just mean that if I tell her, she’ll probably have a heart attack", he says. Maybe he's right. Maybe I should do this myself.

-

-

I knock on the door of her dorm room. "Coming!", I hear a voice scream. I wait patiently for the door to open. I'm so extremely nervous. I'm biting my nails, fidgeting with my bracelet and I feel my hands shaking. "Yes?", a voice asks as the door opens. Her smile immediately fades away and is replaced with her mouth falling open. Her eyes are filled with disbelief. "Waverly?", she whispers and I nod my head to confirm. We both have tears in our eyes right now, but can you blame us? We haven't seen each other in more than four years. "I can't believe it's actually you... What are you doing here?" "I'm here for you. I'm here to stay, with you."