A Merman’s Place

Chapter 7

It's cold — a pleasant cold. I know this cold. It's wet, too.

There's resistance when I move my arms. My hair is defying gravity. It's not air. It's water.

No air, but I can breathe like there is. That's different.

It's dark, but I can see everything like its day. I never swam at night. Was my vision always like this if I did go night swimming?

With this new vision, I saw the creatures of the ocean swim all around me. My sight zeroed on a group of silvery tuna fish. Without thinking about it I swam towards them.

I was really fast. I never swam this fast before. It's a thrill that's making my heart pump.

As I neared the school of tuna they quickly swam away when they saw me coming. Undeterred I gave chase to the nearest one. This was thrilling me more. It was a hunt and I wasn't going to lose. The tuna picked up its speed when it realized I was still chasing it. Full of adrenalin I kicked harder pushing myself through the water. I was getting close now. With one final hard kick I was within reach and like lightning grabbed the tuna between my hands. It started wriggling around trying to escape my grasp, but I dug my nails into it and bit down on its side. I tasted iron when the blood hit my tongue. It would taste weird every time I bite my tongue or when I had a cut on my finger. That wasn't the case now; it was a mouthwatering flavor. The tuna slowly stopped moving as I ate more of its soft flesh. The scales were not as bad as I thought; it was like eating salty chips.

When I ate my fill I let go of its remains, surely the other creatures will finish it up for me. As I did that I noticed my hands that have made a kill. I never let my nails grow long, not to this point, and not this sharp. It's like I grew claws. And between my fingers were a thin and translucent membrane. Now looking beyond my hands, my arms weren't olive colored anymore. I was pale like my skin never hit the sun. Not only that, but they had silvery scales on some areas like the tuna I just devoured. Then there was something that was never there before. My forearms have spiky silvery blue fins. And now that I'm paying more attention, I don't feel my legs. Looking down I can see why — I don't have any. Instead of legs I have a silvery blue tail with pelvic fins that look exactly like the ones on my arms. The end of the tail was semi-translucent in the shape of a wide U.

How did I end up with this body? The last time I checked I was physically human.

Before thinking more on it when I came down from the rush my hands began looking more human. The webbing were dissolving into my skin and claws were retracting and shaping back into normal fingernails. Then I began feeling a sensation in my mouth. My tongue was feeling something sharp — my teeth. I didn't notice it but my top and bottom canines were elongated and also sharp, but now were shortening back to how they normally were.

After those changes finished I saw movement up ahead. The shape moved behind a large boulder. Now aware that I had a tail and no legs I was hesitant in my movements. I kicked my tail and moved my arms to try and position myself horizontally to move forward. All I managed to do was wiggle around in place.

As I continued to try and move I heard a low screech. I looked to where the sound came from and there approached a mermaid. She had long wavy blonde hair floating behind her, pale skin covered in scales, and her tail identical to mine.

She was watching me closely as I was trying to straighten myself up to properly face her. She made another sound that vibrated through the water before moving her arms.

"Don't over think," she signed to me. "Follow your instincts like before."

So she was there the whole time.

She turned away from me and swam away only to stop at a certain distance and looked back to me. It seemed like she was waiting for me to follow.

I took a deep breath. No over thinking, just follow my instincts she says. I kicked my tail and positioned my body to move forward with my arms giving me an initial boost. After that I kept kicking my tail up and down.

Seeing that I was swimming closer to her she continued swimming with me following. She was gaining speed almost leaving me behind until I kicked harder to catch up. Then out of nowhere she changed direction going right. Adjusting my body I went right. She turned left this time and I followed flawlessly this time. With the way this is going it seemed like she was playing a game of chase with me. That excited me. Challenge accepted.

When she realized that I understood her motive she started going all out. I ended up chasing her all over the place, behind boulders, under rock archways, and Open Ocean. With all that I'm sure we scared a lot of fish. Suddenly she came at a stop. Using my tail I stopped right behind her before I ran her over.

Facing me she signed, "Welcome home."

Confused I looked at where we stopped, and I was amazed. Up ahead was like an underwater city. Large pillars and arches of rock were the size of buildings, shipwrecks littered around the area, and tall blades of seaweed surrounding it all like a border. Adding color to the place are vibrant and shiny fishes, and I could see corals acting as bushes and trees decorating the area. But, they weren't the only things I've noticed. There were merpeople young and old everywhere. This place must be where they live.

"Come," the mermaid said. Swimming side by side she showed me around and other merpeople greeted us as they swam by. They all looked so friendly as they welcomed me. But all of a sudden the atmosphere changed to something dark.

I blinked and now I wasn't in the colony anymore. There was a feeling of anxiousness inside me.

I wasn't alone. All the merpeople from the colony were there and were swimming rapidly towards someplace. With heighten senses I didn't think I had I heard screams traveling through the water and erratic movements coming from the surface. I followed the others to the commotion.

From a distance I could see lots of splashing going on at the surface and the screams rang louder. Getting closer I saw legs — human legs and arms moving in a frenzy. Why are all these people here? There has to be hundreds of them in the water.

Before I could think on it more the mermaid that guided me was subtly changing. Her hands — that looked human before — were growing the webbing between her fingers, then her nails turned into long and sharp claws. And even though I can't see them I'm sure her canines elongated like mine did before.

They weren't the only things that changed. I sensed her demeanor has changed, too, and it sent shivers down my spine. The calm aura she had has become dangerous. Her eyes reflected something crazed, deadly, and predator-like. Looking around I saw and felt the other merpeople changing the same way.

Like someone gave out the green light they all charged towards the people still in panic. And before I knew it the ocean was being stained with red. Screams now become blood curling that I had to slam my hands to my ears to cover the sounds.

I couldn't look away from what was occurring right in front of me. So much blood that red is all I could see. All of them were drowning and slaughtering those people without hesitation or remorse. They were like rabid animals.

While the m******e continued, my eyes caught a person swimming away for their life. The others seemed to be distracted enough that they were missing one getting away. And as I saw the human getting farther away something was stirring inside me. It was like how I was hunting the tuna earlier. This was like a craving to chase and kill. As that feeling grew my canines were elongating and my nails turning into claws. I desperately wanted to dig them into their soft and warm flesh. Without thinking, I swam to my pray and in a second grabbed them by the shoulders. My nails deeply penetrated their skin which was now spilling blood. I then dragged their body into the water.

As they struggled to escape my grasp I dove deeper and deeper. Their movements began slowing and then became still. With the struggling now ceased I was able to catch their face and features.

Male.

Young.

And me.

That's my face.