The Princess Who Wasn't

Chapter Eleven: Could Have Been A Good Monotony

The following weeks were uneventful, every night Merilla went to the scheduled restaurant and cleaned it top to bottom. Most nights she returned to her room with at least one container of something delicious from that nights restaurant. During the nights that she didn’t return to her room with food she had left overs from the night or nights before. Her routine was the same everyday and she enjoyed the comfortable monotony of it. She never had to interact with people, never starved, never went dirty, and never had to deal with the a***e that she had come to expect.

Every day she would wake up, get dressed, and brush her hair before sitting on her bed and eating a small meal. After her meal Merilla would slip on her shoes and stroll past the town to the over looking cliff and get lost in the easiness of the melody of the waves. Often she felt like she was being drawn towards the water but no matter how hard she felt the pull she couldn’t bring herself to even out her feet into it. She couldn’t explain it but she just knew her life would change if she did and she couldn’t trust change with her life being at the highest point it had ever been. So, everyday when the sun submerged itself into the ocean she would pull herself from the hypnotizing view and quickly walk to that nights restaurant to complete the nightly cleaning and claim her food. Following her bagging up her food she would rush back to her room, take a shower, get dressed, and sit on her bed to eat a meal of the food that was the oldest to keep any from going bad.

It wasn’t until ten weeks into her routine that anything changed and it wasn’t a good change. During her usual time at the over look Merilla had a visit from one of the teenage guys that lived in the town. However, it was not a friendly visit. As he got closer the smell of alcohol was pungent. It filled her nostrils and made her body want to empty the meal she had not too long before consumed. Tripping over his own feet the teenage boy started calling out inappropriate names and being overly mean towards Merilla. When she tried to walk away the boy grabbed her arm and flung her sideways, loosing his balance in the process. As his arms flailed Merilla realized that the direction in which he was headed would result in a tumble off the cliff. She tried to grab him but from the position she had landed she was too far away to be of any help.

She gasped as she watched him, with horror on his face, lose his footing over empty air and realize his fate. His hallow screams ringing until he hit the rocks below and was swept into the unforgiving tide. Panicking Merilla looked around making sure no one saw. Even though she hadn’t actually pushed him, if she had been seen here with him falling she would be blamed. Not seeing anyone around she hurried down the hill and to the restaurant to clean for the night but she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that someone had witnessed the tragedy. She rushed through the cleaning, gathered her food, and left for the church. Once at her room, Merilla noticed a note tapped to her door.

“You are wanted for questioning for suspicious activity.

See the sheriff at the police department by 9 a.m.

Any delay will result in the immediate and official arrest.”

Now she knew someone had seen her. There was no way she would actually go to the police department, or allow herself to be arrested. If she entered that building, she knew there was no way she was leaving. Not alive anyway. The boat they always threatened to send her in was down by the shore. It was only 2 a.m., she didn’t actually trust anyone to give her until 9 a.m., so she concurred that she would take a quick shower and then leave with all of the food she had been hording. Her shower was finished in record time and she put her hair up into a tight bun on the top of her head. Slipping into underclothes, socks, jeans, t-shirt, shoes and a jacket Merilla condensed all her food into two boxes and a plastic container and juggled that in one arm while holding her bag of clothes with the same hand. She picked up the two gallon jugs she had for water with her other hand and filled them up before heading down to the shore.

Setting her containers down it took all of her strength to flip the small boat off the holding props. She moved it closer to the ocean and then set the food and water in the bottom before taking her shoes and socks off and placing them in the bottom of the boat next to the food. Merilla rolled up her pant legs and she started pushing the boat into the ocean. Just before her feet touched the water she moved from behind the boat to the side of it. She had no idea what she was doing or where she would go but she knew her life would be in danger if she stayed. Once she stepped into the water something happened to her entire body. There was a feeling that she had never felt before. It was like her entire body believed she belonged. She was no longer scared. She was no longer running. Then a different type of feeling erupted. It was like electricity all down her legs.

Stumbling, she grabbed onto the side of the boat and pushed the side down just low enough to slide her body over the edge boat. She sat on the wooden seat and looked at her legs that were propped on the edge trying to figure out what was going on. As she watched the pale under the glisten of water droplets turned into an iridescent purple with shinning blue tints and her legs turned into a tail. She had never been faint of heart but in that moment she fainted and the ocean carried her in the boat out toward the open, endless ocean.