Hostile Waters
Hostile Waters
The girl gazed at the expanse of ocean in front of her. The water had always seemed like a living thing, the ebb and flow like breaths, the waves like sighs. The sky was overcast, completely veiled in a blanket of grey. “I’m so sick of this world,” she murmured to herself in a daydream daze. “I wish that I could live under the sea.”
The wind started to pick up, turning from a breeze to a sudden gust. The girl quickly stood up and watched as the waves changed from steady breaths to gasping, choppy oscillations. Water started to pour from the sky as the waves started swirling around which built up into a maelstrom. She stood there in an awestruck gape, unable to move. The sky began to growl and lightening shot out from the darkening clouds above.
She looked into the whirlpool and thought she saw a hand shoot out of it. The girl started to panic; in the past hour that she had been sitting there, she hadn’t seen a single person on the beach, let alone anyone going swimming in the numbingly icy water. Going anywhere near that chaotic vortex would be suicide; as she was debating the best course of action, she noticed that the hand was stretching farther above the surface and then out emerged a woman with sickly pale skin and dark flowing hair with fat water snakes swarming around her jumping up from the surface. The girl heard a voice in her head as clear as if the strange woman was singing to her through the surrounding storm.
“I know what you want;
Are you willing to give up
All you know for it?”
“You mean that I could live underwater?” she asked. “I would love that more than anything! But, who are you?”
“I am Morgana.
I am a sea witch who has
Seen many eras.
Beware, as this gift
Comes with a price. I ask for
Your soul in return.”
“Yes, I will give up my soul for this!” the girl said. “I’m sick of this life and long for something different. Please, let me live under the sea.”
“You are quite foolish;
One who is willing to risk
Misfortune in vain.
Be warned, you only
Can rise from the surface when
The sun is hidden”
“Anything would be worth getting away from this mundane existence!”
“I shall grant your wish,
But know that you have been warned.
You cannot turn back”
The sea witch motioned for the girl to approach her. Mesmerized, she waded through the water ankle deep…knee deep…waist deep…neck deep. Her body numbing as her circulation was slowed from being immersed in such frigid water. A current started which swept her towards the sea witch, pulling her under the surface. The girl started to panic as the realization of what she had just done kicked in; she began to thrash against the current, attempting to kick her way to the surface. But the more she moved, the quicker her body needed oxygen. She could hold her breath no longer and took one last gasp, letting the salt-water flood her lungs. The burning sensation and the dark abyss surrounding her were the last things she was aware of before going unconscious.
She woke up to a burning sensation. Her throat and lungs felt as though they had been set ablaze and her head felt like there were little men on either side pounding it with mallets. The girl opened her eyes and to her surprise found herself to be entirely surrounded by water. She became aware of a sharp pain on her neck and when her hand instinctively went up to touch it, she felt four slits on either side of her neck where water was filtering in. As she cringed at this, the girl became aware of an intense pain going up the inside of both legs. Looking down, she saw that her legs had been entirely stitched together with an excess membrane added where her feet had been chopped off to form the fin of her newly constructed tail. The girl opened her mouth to let out a scream, but no sound came out.
After freaking out for an indiscernible amount of time in which she switched back and forth between trying to make any verbal noise, examining in a panic the grotesque transformation of her legs into a tail, and digging her nails into her skin to see if there was any chance she was in some sort of delusional dream, she laid back down and tried her best to clear her head of everything. In doing this, she became very aware of her surroundings and realized she was in a small little alcove made of coral. She attempted to drift up to get a better view of what was around her, but the pain momentarily blinded her, her vision turning white.
A collective chatter of angelic voices filled her brain and she blinked until her vision was clear enough to see again. In front her of was a horde of merfolk. All had glistening tails of various coloured scales, some had kelp intertwined in their hair, others had fish bones adorning various parts of their interspecific hybrid bodies. The girl could do nothing but stare.
One of the merfolk darted towards her and she heard in her head a melodic voice. “Do not worry, eventually your skin will bind together and the burning sensation will disappear.”
The girl tried to say something but was unable to. She looked imploringly. “You will never be able to gain your voice back,” the other responded. “Your vocal cords are too destroyed. And as you were not born as one of the merfolk, you will be unable to communicate as we do.”
The girl learned the ways of the merfolk, living under the sea for over a century. Over the years, her regret for trading her human existence grew deeper. For selling her soul, the girl now had a maximum of 300 years to live before disappearing forever. She willingly gave away her birthright to eternal life for the chance to escape from things that seem so miniscule upon retrospection. In an effort to barter for her soul back, she took on a journey to find that same shore she had made the deal on a century ago, as that is where she would be able to find the Morgana.
The girl finally found the same shore she had been on a century ago and sat upon a rock, trying to think of how she would be able to summon the witch. She had summoned her before with a wish, but was now unable to speak. The girl sat on that rock the entire night. She at last gave up, but needed to see the sunrise one last time. As the sky brightened and turned into an array of colours, a tear streaked down her face in memory of her old life. She could feel her tail slowly start to stiffen, moving from her fin to her abdomen, then her arms, and at last her heart slowed as it too hardened. The image of her sat glistening in lifeless beauty, remaining there to this day. Her statue shall remain as a remembrance to find the good in what you have before you lose it forever.
(Word count 1228)
Becker, Nicole. The Little Mermaid on a rock. 2014. Best Place Vacation. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.