A Mermaid's Tail

Dragging my fins through the shallow water, sitting on the dry, hot sand figuring out my next move. Escaping to the mainland was my only option after finding out there had been a hit placed on my life. Watching my fins disappear, while legs appeared in its place, staring at the sun sinking in the sky. It was the first of many sunsets I would watch while hiding from those wanting to succeed with the hit against my life. The beautiful pink, reds, oranges, and purples painting the sky like a blank canvas filled me with warmth. A new life is what I needed now. Getting to my feet standing on the shore naked looking around for something to cover myself with. Living in the ocean clothes were never a necessity. Finding seaweed that washed up a few feet from me. Stumbling to get to it, walking was something that not all my kind knew how to do, unfortunately I was one of those who had never visited the mainland’s before now. Falling several times like a toddler learning to walk, throwing my hands up the fifteenth time I fell. How do humans do this I wondered. Learning to walk is proving more difficult than I could have ever imagined. Sitting there as the sand burned my behind, I decided to try to crawl towards my goal. Putting my knees under my body with my arms outstretched in front of me supporting my weight on the front side of my body, I slowly put one knee in front of the other. This crawling thing wasn’t so bad! It was a lot easier than walking and I had reached my destination. Although it was only a few feet it took a toll on my body. Wrapping the first strand around my waist tying it off to make the basis of something to cover my lower half. I begin to wrap the rest around the first strand as closely as I can. Once finished I try to stand up again tentatively taking another step wobbling. One foot in front of the other just like I’m crawling I thought. That was until I fell yet again! Screaming in frustration waving my hands around. This couldn’t be this hard! Finally standing back up again, slowly stepping forward. One foot in front of the other just as I had put one knee in front of the other to crawl. This wasn’t initially as difficult as I had thought. Looking around taking in the scene of houses along the shore. Houses abandoned this time of year. It was just turning summer, which meant that tourists and those who stayed within the beach houses would return in a few short weeks. This was perfect considering I didn’t need anyone to spot me as I had transformed into my human form. I spot a sign down the road that says “Suva- 1071KM”. This was going to be a long walk into town. Thinking about the long distance into town, I could stay in one of the abandoned houses until I could figure out what I needed to do. How to behave in this world, and what I needed to survive in this world. All I knew was that I needed money, it only made sense that if money made our world go around, money also made the human world go around. The first thing I would have to do is find income. Trudging to the farthest empty house on the corner of the beach. I began my climb up the wooden planks that connected the beach to the street. I had no clue what any of the small items were called in the human world, just main names for objects such as the houses, the legs I was walking on, and clothes to cover myself with. My journey was just beginning, I had no clue when I would return to my world, or if I ever would. I know that I wouldn’t return if I was being forced to marry someone, I had never met nor wanted anything to do with. Now not only was he my husband, but he was also the man behind the hit on my life. When I woke up this morning, I had no clue just how dreadful things were going to get. Leaving behind my lifestyle of luxury as one of the upmost important people my world had ever known. My name is Calypso and I refused to be wed to someone who could be as ruthless as this man was. I was four hundred years old the only one of my kind to be born with any kind of strength and power. We all lived incredibly long lives that was nothing new to any of us. Immortality suited us well, some loved it while others loathed it. I guess I could see why. The longer we lived the more likely we were to have pissed off someone enough to do something drastic against us. I was the first person to ever have an ordered hit against, all because I refused to go through with the arranged marriage to the King’s son. I should also mention I’m a mermaid, I usually have gorgeous purple, pink, and shiny blue scales covering a long, beautiful sea green tail. My tangled mess of hair is usually vibrant blue with small hints of green and pink running through it. While my deep-sea green eyes normally entrance most anybody I had met. I was in a sense of the word a beauty among my kind. While everyone else got a single tone color of scales, most were blue or green. Nothing near as vibrant as mine. Now you see why we had no need for clothing. We were covered from the waist down because we had tails and dorsal fins on the underside of our tails. We also wore clams, starfish, or any other kind of animal that was small enough to cover our chests. Those of us who were larger than others in the chest area usually weaved nets together from fishing boats to cover their larger chests. Pushing open the entrance to the abandoned house sneaking around the darkness making sure no one was home. Making myself at home was the last thing on my mind. This would be a temporary stop while making a life for myself here. No one knew where I had fled to, I told no one I was leaving. I figured I was safer if no one knew where I could be found.