Mermaid

CHAPTER ONE

Madeline inhaled the gust of wind that washed across the beach from the ocean. Her eyes shut as she recalled what it felt like living in that huge expanse of water. Swimming around, hiding from ignorant divers, sleeping on coral beds in hidden underwater caves, eating the different kinds of raw fish prepared in a special way by her aunt. That was where she had resided the past year till she metamorphosed back into human form a few months ago. It was two years ago when she first started undergoing metamorphosis into a mermaid. She had just woken up one Thursday morning feeling really itchy and began scratching her legs till something pricked her. “Ow!” she had yelped. When she raised her hand to her eyes she was surprised to see what looked like a fish’s scale stuck between one of her fingernails and a trickle of blood ran down her hand from where the scale was. She wondered how a fish scale had gotten into her pyjama pants as she pulled it out and flung it out the window. But when she took off her pants she was shocked to see a few more stuck to it and her skin. “Bailey is just trying to play tricks on you.” She reassured herself even though she knew Bailey isn’t the type to play practical jokes unless it was April fool’s day. She was in her history class when she suddenly felt itchy again and reached down. She had only gone a few scratches when she winced. Another scale was trapped between her fingernail and skin. Where had it come from? She was itchy all day in school and by the time she got home and took off her black leggings, a shower of scales fell to the floor. Some were still stuck to the material of the leggings. “This is weird” she voiced out her thoughts to herself.

Later on that day she started feeling sore in the neck and upon examination she found three small, hardly visible slits on either side of her neck. She must have hurt herself without knowing. She let out a sigh and went to bed. The itching went on another week and the scales kept reappearing. She was about to bring it to her mother’s awareness when it suddenly stopped. No more scales and no more itching. She was relieved and decided not tell anyone after all. It was not until three days later did she discover why the itching had stopped. She was showering one morning when she spotted yet another fish scale only this one had glued itself to her leg. She groaned and yanked it off. A scream of pain escaped her lips and blood dribbled from the spot she had pulled the scale out of. Checking her legs she found more scales like the other one and realised that they weren’t glued to her skin but were growing out of it. The sensible thing would have been to alert her mother or her sister or her aunt or any of her four cousins but she kept it to herself hoping it would stop emerging on its own.

CHAPTER TWO

Day after day went by and more and more scales appeared but she still didn’t tell anyone. The slits on her neck were also longer and deeper and she was beginning to worry if she had fallen ill. But when she combed her hair one morning and lost a handful of hair she completely lost it. Now she was losing hair, “Mummy!”

It wasn’t only her mom Diane but the entire household who showed up. “What’s wrong?” everyone asked with concern. Sobbing she began telling what had happened. When she was done talking, she got a totally different reaction than what she had anticipated. There were loud cheers from everyone and they all congratulated her. Her mom sat her down on her bed, waved everyone else out and began to explain.

“Madeline you already know that all of us in our family are merfolk, right?”

Madeline nodded. “You told me how everyone is always leaving because metamorphosis forces merfolk to spend twelve months in the water, spend about 7 weeks metamorphosing back to human form, forcing them back on land and vice versa. Right now dad and Uncle Tim are in the ocean because they’ve metamorphosed into mermen.”

Diane smiled. “Good. But I didn’t exactly explain how the whole metamorphosis thing worked because I thought you weren’t ready but since you’ll soon be turning sixteen and you’re starting to undergo metamorphosis I guess now is a good time to explain the whole process. Now merfolk start undergoing metamorphosis for the first time from the ages thirteen to sixteen and you’re pretty late compared to all the females in our family. Unlike other creatures, mermaids go through constant metamorphosis and spend their entire lives metamorphosing from human to mermaid and from mermaid to human. Metamorphosis usually starts with scaling and gill development. You suddenly find yourself shedding scales. Those are temporary scales and are only making way for your permanent scales, which are not meant to fall off, but to grow. You may also notice small slits on the sides of your neck, those are your gills. They may seem small at first but will grow to a certain length and depth with time. Once they’re fully grown and you’ve grown your tail and you’re in the water, you’ll start breathing through them. After your permanent scales start kicking in your hair starts thinning. What it means is that you start losing hair and the one you don’t lose becomes really soft. It’s so your hair doesn’t weigh you down while you’re swimming in the ocean. Not that it matters, most mermaids tie their hair into a bun or simply braid it but its nature and we can’t stop it. After this you suddenly start feeling really weak in the legs as if you’re slowly getting paralysed, don’t worry, this is just your bones softening for your legs to agglutinate together and form a tail. What happens is that your joints merge to form one and your bones flatten and your skin at your legs also become one. Your foot expands to form a fin, your skin is completely covered with scales and ta-da, a tail. When you’ve fully metamorphosed, we will take you into the water and by that I mean the ocean. What you want to do is try to breathe through your gills so that they can open up. It takes thirty to sixty seconds for your gills to fully open up and as they do, a layer of skin will form inside your nostrils to prevent you breathing through them. Now for first timers, metamorphosis usually takes eight to ten weeks but after that it should take no more than six to eight weeks. It also applies for metamorphosing back into human form. Should I explain the process?”

Madeline nodded enthusiastically, fascinated by everything her mom told her.

“When a mermaid or merman is about to metamorphose back into human form the first sign you get is that your tail starts feeling heavier. This is as a result of your bones growing thicker, reverting back to the way they were. It is best to go near shallow waters and inform a family member or close friend who might be on land at the time. The reason is so that they know you’re close by in case something goes wrong. Soon after your joints start to separate and you start growing a separate skin inside your tail. It’s a slow process and takes about three to four weeks for your legs to form inside the dead outer layer of skin that formed your tail. It is at this point family and friends come in. They help carry you out of the water safely back to your home. Your gills seal up and the layer of skin protecting your nostrils gives way so you can breathe air again. Once your legs are fully formed, the next thing is to tear the tail open and pull them from the skin. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt at this point. Your legs are now free and you can bury the tail or just toss it into the ocean whichever you prefer. When this is done, go take a shower immediately because you’ll have this horrible odour that’s similar to rotten meat. Metamorphosis is over and you can just go around living the way you did before you had to go into the ocean. Any questions?”

Madeline quickly replied. “Yes!” causing Diane to chuckle.

CHAPTER THREE

The weeks that followed were full of preparations for Madeline to go into the ocean. Diane went shopping for all kinds of bikinis and tried the tops on Madeline to see if they would fit. Her smartphone was also placed in a Ziploc bag to prevent it from getting soaked. She would use it to contact any family member on land if there was emergency. She was pulled out of school with the lie that she was going to get home-schooled for the next year in the UK. She spent a lot of time with her friends till her legs started to weaken and she was then confined to her house with her mom and aunt taking care of her every need. Her aunt Sheryl who was already metamorphosed into a mermaid was reached and she swam all the way to Pearlhaven to wait for her niece. She would be Madeline’s guardian till her mom and sister had changed.

She remembered the night she went into the ocean vividly. It was dark out and she had already changed into one of the bikini tops her mom had gotten, the rest were folded neatly in a plastic handbag. Her mom and aunt lifted her into a wheelchair and wheeled her all the way to the car. Then she was placed in the backseat with all four cousins and sister, it was suffocating, while her aunt and mom were up front. They drove all the way to the beach and she was carried out of the car and wheeled down the sand. Everyone except for her had come with flashlights and they aimed the lights at the ocean in search of Aunt Sheryl.

“Now remember to do exactly what your aunt tells you to. Look out for predators-“Diane went on and on about the dangers of the ocean till Sheryl was spotted. Madeline was then hugged tightly by everyone on the beach especially her mom and aunt, before she was pushed some way into the water and left to crawl the rest of the distance into the ocean on her own. When she dove into the water it took a while for her eyes to get accustomed to the dark but it was as though the minute she started breathing properly through her gills, she could see everything clearly. Her aunt was a few feet away gesturing for her to come. Mermaids couldn’t speak under water and as a result used signs to converse with each other. The only sounds they could make were loud pulsed calls and it was used only when a mermaid was in pain or needed help. She held her breath and swam up to the surface, waved to her family who all waved eagerly back and dove back into the water to meet her aunt who she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Living with her aunt was nice. They stayed in a large cave with smaller caves inside that cave that served as bedrooms. It was there she met her dad and Uncle and they already prepared a room for her. There were several other mermaids around and she made a few friends. They played games, hunted for pearls and pretty seashells, made jewellery which they planned to sell once they were out of the water and avoided sharks. At night she would sit with her father and gesture to him everything that she had done that day and he would smile with amusement when she did something funny. Sadly though it was soon time for her father to return to land. He left her a gift, a pet turtle for her to take care of and she loved it. Two weeks after her dad had gone on land, she welcomed her mom and a month later, her sister. As time went by, more and more of the family came to join till the water was always vibrating with all the swimming that was going on. Twelve months flies by when one is having fun because metamorphosis seemed to return too soon and she bid her family farewell leaving her. Once she was ready, she crawled out to Pearlhaven beach. Hiding behind some bushes, she texted her dad to come pick her up. She was happy to be with her dad and Uncle once more but she missed everyone else in the ocean.

That was months ago and she was used to having only her dad and uncle around. As she stood surveying the ocean, she noticed a familiar figure waving at her. “Mom.” She cried with joy. She seemed close and Madeline abandoned the wheelchair she had come with on the beach running into the water. She was so excited she hadn’t thought of waiting till her mom was out of the water. She swam as fast as she could towards her mother and just as she was a few feet away her mom’s expression changed from happiness to worry. She seemed to be studying the water around her suddenly she looked up gesturing hysterically for Madeline to leave. “Go! Get out of the water.” She shouted repeatedly. Madeline was taken aback and confused that was until somebody shouted.

“Shark!”

Madeline eyes widened with horror. It was now she spotted the shark’s fin moving in her direction at an alarming speed. Her mom seemed to have disappeared and Madeline began swimming towards the beach as fast as she could. At a certain point the shark seemed to have disappeared and just as she was about to conclude that the creature was gone, she felt something grab hold of her foot and drag her below. Pain shut up her leg and the water around her suddenly turned red. The shark had bitten her leg but it didn’t seem to have torn it from her body probably because it was now preoccupied. There seemed to be movements up ahead and Madeline squinted to try and get a better look. Her mom was trying to wrestle the monster of a fish and seemed to have sustained injuries of her own. The shark tried to bite Diane several times but she dodged and after sometime she grabbed the shark by the tail and flung it at a rock. The shark was startled but not hurt. Instead, the hit seemed to have reminded it of Madeline because it began swimming quickly in her direction. She couldn’t swim away because although her leg hadn’t been bitten off, it was wounded badly. The shark was getting closer and she was about to say her last prayers when it suddenly stopped. It swam around her as though it suddenly didn’t know what it was doing before and swam off. Once it was safe to conclude that the shark was gone she tried swimming to the surface. Luckily, Metamorphosis had given her the ability to hold her breath for a long time.

She was rescued by lifeguards who tended to her wound. They also recommended a hospital but she declined, she still had to fetch her mom and she told the lifeguards she would be fine.

When people seemed to be paying less attention to her, she managed to search for her mom, found her hidden in a small area of the beach where no one ever ventured to and  smuggled her off the beach on the wheelchair and into the car. It was a painful ride home as her leg hurt whenever she tried to hit the brakes. “How did you do that, in the water? With the shark?” asked Diane. They were still on the drive home. “I didn’t do anything. The shark stopped on its own.” Replied Madeline. “No it didn’t. It was coming after you when you disappeared.” Stated Diane. Madeline frowned in confusion. “I don’t think that was possible. I was there the entire time.”

Diane was about to open her mouth to argue but froze as realization of what may have happened dawned on her and a huge smile found its way up her lips. “Oh my goodness! Honey you can camouflage.” She squealed with joy. Madeline was even more confused. “The ability to blend into the colour of your environment so it looks like you’re invisible.” Explained Diane. “Only one out of a hundred mermaids can do that and you’re one of them.”

It took a while for Madeline to process what her mom was saying. So that was what made the shark not attack her, it wasn’t because it lost interest, but because it couldn’t see her. “I can’t wait to tell everyone.” Diane went on. “Your dad and uncles and aunts and cousins and grandma and grandpa-“

THE END