Mythical Earth: mermaid

Mythical Earth

The modern age: mermaid-Gwen

            “With ten seconds on the clock, the warriors can tie with two points or win it with a three pointer,” the announcer said, as Gwen waited for the whistle.  The ref blew his whistle and she sprinted for the half court line, where her best friend Savanna, threw her the basketball and moved into formation. With her guard in front of her, she faked going to the left and went right, past the first guard. She looked up, six seconds left. Another guard was coming to her and she passed the ball to Savanna, where both the first guard and second guard went to block, but the bait was set and savanna passed the ball back, leaving Gwen wide open to make the three point shot. She got the ball jumped and with three seconds left, the ball left her hands. The whole gym went quiet, as everybody watched the ball hit the backboard, and fall through the net as time expired.

            “WARRIORS WIN! WARRIORS WIN!” the gym erupted in cheers as half the school stormed the court for the new state champs. Savanna and Gwen became surrounded by their teammates and fellow classmates. Gwen couldn’t stop smiling. She couldn’t believe her shot made it in. she felt herself be lifted from the floor and put onto someone’s shoulders and was paraded through the gym for the entire crowd to see the game winner. Eventually, she was let down, and the crowd went back to their seats and allowed the two teams to accept their trophies and let the opposing team leave. After more celebrating, the girls were led to the locker rooms, changed and left for the bus to take them to their hotel.

            Once to their rooms, Gwen and savanna put down their bags, and stripped off their clothes. It was only six in the afternoon and the sun was high in the sky and they haven’t been able to go swimming in the ocean. Gwen put on a simple two piece bikini that was a solid turquoise, and Savanna put on a similar bikini, but it was neon orange. They grabbed their towels and ran to the balcony, went down the stairs that led to the beach and ran for a good spot.  They threw their towels down and ran to the water, and once deep enough, they both dived in and when they surfaced, they just laughed. The water was cool and refreshing, and it was exactly what they needed after their hard performance in their basketball game. But they didn’t stay in the water long, and went to their towels and sat on them.

            “That was a good game wasn’t it?” Gwen asked.

            “Yeah, to go out with a bang like that, it is the best feeling in the world…” Savanna frowned as she was looking down the beach, and a woman was coming their way. Gwen looked and as the woman got closer she could see it wasn’t an actual woman, but a centaur. As she passed, savanna gave a snort and looked away. “They need to keep those things out of the public eye, it’s disgusting.”

            All Gwen could do was sigh, and feel sorry for her friend. She hated mythical creatures. Anybody that was changed due to the virus got instant fame and was treated like royalty. The mythic virus could hit at any time and any place. One day it just appeared and people became mythical creatures. But there were some cases where the transformation went all the way and people were turned to animals. “I’m going in.” Savanna said. “You coming?” reluctantly, Gwen got up, grabbed her towel and both went back to the hotel.

            Two days later, they were back at Seaside High school.  It was a school that was right on the beach, and had an excellent view of the ocean. Gwen was staring out of one of those windows, daydreaming, completely ignoring her teacher trying to get her attention. The teacher went over to her desk and slammed her ruler on it, making Gwen jump and snap back to reality. “If you wish to go for a swim, wait until recess. But until then, pay attention to my history class.”

            “I’m sorry Mr. Harven, it won’t happen again.” Mr. Harven nodded his head and went back to teaching his lesson, and Gwen went back to staring out the window. Once the bell rang, Gwen left, and headed to the locker rooms to go swimming. But once there, she lost her drive to go swim.

    “Gwen, you don’t look so well.” her friend Abby said. “You should go to the nurse.”

             Now that she thought about it, Gwen didn’t feel that well. She closed her locker and headed to the nurse.

            “What seems to be the problem Gwen? I don’t see you here often.”

            “I don’t feel well.” the nurse grabbed the thermometer and took her temperature and within seconds the nurse had her answer.

            “Well you definitely have a fever, and you need to go home. Do you need to call anybody, or can you get home on your own?” the nurse asked.

            “I can get home myself.” She said weakly. The nurse gave a nod of approval and gave her a pass to leave the school. Gwen made her way to her car, and drove home. Ten minutes later, she was got home and went straight to bed.

            For days, Gwen stayed in bed, slowly becoming sicker and sicker until after a full week, her fever finally broke, and she was starting to get better. The doctor allowed guest to visit her, but only for a short time. Her first visitor was Savanna. “How are you doing?” she asked.

            “I feel better, ever since my fever broke, I’ve been able to keep food down, and I keep getting stronger every day. The doctor says I should be able to go back to school next week.”

            “Good thing too, the basketball team was starting to get worried.” And on almost perfect timing, the rest of the basketball team showed up with a get well cards and a basket, full of fresh picked fruits and goods to help sick people get better faster. “We all thought you needed something, but we couldn’t think of what else to get you, so, we picked your favorite fruit.” Savanna handed Gwen the basked and she took an apple and took a bite. “An apple a day keeps the doctors away right?” Gwen smiled and gave Savanna a hug. Unfortunately the doctor came back and ushered the girls out and left Gwen alone with her fruit, which her doctor placed on the bed stand. 

            “Tomorrow, you can have some more, but nothing else for today ok, we don’t want you throwing up what you can keep down.” Gwen gave a defeated nod. “Tomorrow, if your fever is gone, you should be able to go back to school on Friday.” The doctor wrote some notes on his clipboard, and left Gwen alone.

            All throughout the night, Gwen had troubled sleep; her dreams kept switching from drowning in the ocean, and suffocating out in a desert. At the end of each one, she would wake in a sweat, and try to go back to sleep. Hoping her dreams would change. Finally morning came, and despite her troubling dreams, Gwen felt much better. She looked to the east and the sun was just coming up over the horizon, flooding her room with golden rays. She pulled off the covers and got up and stretched. She walked to the bathroom, never noticing a small blue and silver scale fall from under her nightgown.

            For the first time in a week, Gwen was able to look herself over without having to move to the toilet. She combed through her long thick brown hair, as she combed it, it felt healthier, thicker, stronger, yet these thoughts were dismissed by logic because she had been in bed for a week, she didn’t do anything to her hair. But what was bothering her, what her nightgown. It felt, uncomfortable. It felt tight against her breasts. She lowered her gown from her shoulders, and instead of falling off, they got caught on her breasts. She had been a solid B cup, but now, they were solid C’s. Gwen decided to try on her bra, and sure enough it was tight and not fitting properly. That had cemented it, her breasts had grown. She pulled up her nightgown and went through her normal bathroom routine, refreshing her hair, brushing her teeth, cleaning her face, and today she put on a little makeup. After ten minutes, she walked out of her bathroom, looking better than she had in weeks. She went to her drawers and picked out some sweatpants, an oversized tank top and a large T-shirt. She got onto her bed and surfed the web on her laptop, waiting for the doctor to make his early visit.

            At 8:00 am, he knocked on her door. And entered and to his surprise, found an energetic Gwen ready for her daily checkup. “Well now, don’t you look better today.” he pulled out his thermometer and took her temperature, and it came back normal. “Well, your fever is gone, and you seem to be ok, but for now, let’s go through the rest of the routine.” After a few minutes, the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with her and gave her a clean bill of health. “Today you are to not go to school, but if you are still healthy tomorrow you can go back.” Gwen gave a nod and the doctor left.

            After her parents went to work and her sister went to school, Gwen had the whole house to herself, but she wasn’t going to spend it inside. She shed her clothes and put on blue bikini and rushed down to the beach, she ran for the water, throwing her towel to the sand and ran into the cool water and dove right in. she put on her goggles, that she had around her eyes and dove under the water and swam looking at all of the small reef. She was always fascinated with the reef and when she saw something new, she would love to look at it. She went to the surface and took in a deep breath and decided she wanted to go back to shore. She picked up her towel, shook it clean of sand and dried off her hair, before spreading it out on the sand and lay on it allowing the sand to dry her. After a few minutes of listening to the water roll in and out, the gulls above, and the birds in the trees she fell asleep, and slept for hours. When she finally came to, it was well into the afternoon. She forced the sleep from her eyes, picked up her towel and ran to the house. Thankfully there was no one home yet. She glanced at a clock and it was almost 3:00 p.m. she rushed up to her bedroom and started to change. However, before she did, she noticed something on her leg. She put her foot up onto her bed so she could look at her thigh. On it, were a couple of blue and silver, plates? She ran fear finger over one of them, and it felt like a fish scale. Fear began to creep through her. She took her fingernail and tried to get it off, but as she pulled it off, she felt a small sting, as the skin below the scale began to bleed. Gwen began to hyperventilate, and sat down on her bed. “This can’t be happening.” She said. She ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She still looked normal, except for the few scales on her upper legs. She took off her bikini and stepped into the shower, turned the water to hot, and let the water wash over her. She washed her hair, her body and thirty minutes later, she stepped out of the shower, wrapped up her hair, and body, and examined her legs again. To her dismay, a few more scales appeared on her legs.

            Gwen’s resolve finally gave in, and she slid to the floor and burst out in tears and sobs. “Hello? Gwen, I’m home.” her mother yelled out, but Gwen didn’t hear her. Her mother came up the stairs, knocked and entered her room, and went to the source of the sobs. Initially she couldn’t tell what was wrong, but she bent down to her daughter and gave her a hug. “What’s wrong honey” she asked. Gwen didn’t say anything, but she lifted her towel and revealed her leg where her turquoise and silver scales were. Gwen broke into more sobs and started crying again. Her mother didn’t say anything; all she did was hold her daughter. After a half hour, Gwen finally got it together. And got up with the help of her mother. Her mother helped her change into some comfortable clothes and led her to the kitchen where she made up some hot tea.

            Gwen held her tea, but didn’t drink it. “What am I going to do?” she asked, trying to keep her sobs and tears in check.

            “I don’t know honey, but we’ll deal with this.” She said trying to give her changing daughter some hope. “We can get through this together; your father and I are here for you no matter what, alright?” a weak smile came to Gwen’s face, and that’s all her mother needed. “I will love you always.

            Later that night, when Gwen’s father came home from work, with her mother’s support, she was able to tell and show her father her scales, but there were more of them and they had spread down to her calves. She started to sob, but her father went to her and gave her a big hug. Gwen sat down and her father kneeled in front of her, but his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I will always love you. You are my daughter, and that will never change.” he hugged her and she stopped crying. Tomorrow, we’ll do what we can with your transformation but until then, I need you to be strong. Don’t let it get to you, push through it. Got it?”

            “Yes dad, I will, thank you. But what will I do about school?”

            “He sat down next to her and said: “here’s the deal, tomorrow, you will go to school, pick up your homework and come home, saying you’re still sick. That way, you can see your friends and do whatever you need to do.”

            “Thanks daddy!” she said.

            “Ok, it’s late, and you should get a good night’s rest. We’re all going to need it tomorrow.” Gwen went upstairs and before she got to her room, she was stopped by her little sister. She was eight, and was curious about her sister. But she really wanted to know for herself.

            “Gwen, are you becoming a mermaid?” she asked in a sleepy tone.

            Gwen picked her up and carried her to her room. She closed the door and sat on the bed next to her sister. “I’ll tell you what, I will show you, if you can promise me you can’t tell anybody about me ok?” she nodded. Gwen brought one of her legs up and rolled up the leg, to reveal a leg half covered in scaled and skin. Her sisters eyes lit up as she slowly touched her sister’s leg.

            “I wish I could become a mermaid, and then I wouldn’t have to go to school anymore.” Gwen kissed her on the forehead and helped her get into bed. She turned off the light and left her little sister to her dreams. She walked to her own room and walked into the bathroom. She took off all of her clothes and looked at herself from head to toe. From the waist up, she was normal. No fins, no gills, just a normal girl with natural beauty, her tan skin, her long dark brown hair, and decent breasts, but from the waist down to her knees and scattered over lower legs, were beautiful blue scales with silver swirls mixed in. she did notice her private parts had disappeared, waiting for the final process to begin. At first, Gwen was scared of what she was becoming, but now that she had time to think it over, and with the support of her family, she gave herself new life, and a new outlook on life. She grabbed her nightgown put it on, and went to bed without underwear on, so it wouldn’t rip in the middle of the night, if it happened. She hopped into bed, slid under the covers and after a few minutes was asleep; awaiting what was to happen the next day.

            The next day, Gwen’s alarm woke her, and she was wide awake the instant it went off. She was lying on her back, took a deep breath, and lifted the covers off, wondering what had happened to her. And to her relief, she still had her legs. However her legs were completely covered with small, refined scales it was almost like her skin, it wasn’t slimy, and it wasn’t cold or damp, if even felt warm to the touch. Just above her ankle, the scales had stopped. She got up, and as she sat at the side of her bed, her feet touched the ground. Before she had to stretch for her big toe to touch the ground, now she could have her feet firmly planted on the ground. She took a deep breath and she stoop up, and she was taller. Before she was five feet six inches, now she was close to six feet tall, with most of the growth coming from her legs. She went to the bathroom and began her morning routine. She was able to find a top that fit, but none of her pants would fit. She pulled on some underwear, and walked downstairs, where here parents were waiting for her.

            “Wow, you’ve really grown, you’re as tall as I am.” Her dad said.

            “Dad, I need to borrow some jeans from you, to help cover these scales.” She felt embarrassed to ask, but she didn’t have anything to wear to school.  After a minute, her dad had a pair of jeans on his arm, and he threw it to her.

            “Here, put them on, see if they fit.” She slid them on, and thankfully, they covered her legs completely, but weren’t so big, that they engulfed her. Happy with her appearance, she grabbed her shoes and put them on. She grabbed her backpack, and headed to the car where her dad would drop her sister off, then accompany her to school to pick up her homework, and say goodbye to her friends. Ten minutes later, she was standing outside her school, and was hesitant to go in. she finally got the nerve to go in, and was assaulted with the sounds and smells of school, and it almost made her cry. Most likely after today, she would never be able to come back here. She found her basketball friends hanging inside the cafeteria, talking to each other, gossiping about the hot boys, the latest fashion, and anything that came to mind. Gwen came up behind them, and Savanna noticed first.

            “Gwen!” all the girls looked up or turned around, but, they all got up, and surrounded her. Before, they were all roughly the same height, but now she towered over them.

            “Hey girls, I need to tell you guy something important, but we need to do it somewhere privately.” Gwen said.

            “We can go to the locker rooms, they should be empty.” All seven of them walked to the locker rooms, where they all sat down on the benches inside the deserted locker room.

            “Girls, it’s been a blast hanging out with you after all these years, and I will cherish our friendship,” Gwen felt sad telling a lie to her friends, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “But, I have to tell you…” she gulped and forced the words out. “I’m turning into a mermaid.” The girls looked at themselves then back at Gwen not knowing whether to believe her or not.

            Savanna started to laugh. But pulled it together long enough to say: “a mermaid? For a sec, I thought you were going to say you’re pregnant.”

            “I’m telling the truth, here look.” She stood up unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down to reveal most of her scales. They all gasped at the same time and couldn’t believe it. “See, I’m telling the truth.” All of them stared in wonder, all except Savanna.

            “Can I touch them?” Emily asked. Gwen nodded and Emily slowly moved her hand over Gwen’s leg, and it felt like fish scales, except they weren’t slimy or gross feeling. “Wow, that’s so cool!” she exclaimed. The other girls moved in for a touch and were amazed. Savanna stayed put, and with every second, she grew more and angrier with her friend.

            “So what?” she said. “You’re becoming just like the others. You’re becoming a monster.” The words hit her like a barrage of bullets. Gwen hoped her friend could get over her hatred for mythical creatures and the mythic virus, but she was wrong.  “You deserve to be put in a zoo.”

            “Hey, she is your best friend; the least you could do is tried to be nice to her.” Emily said.

            “She’s not my friend anymore.” And with that she stormed out of the locker room. As her best friend left, Gwen couldn’t hold it back any more and started to cry. Her friends tried to comfort her, but there was nothing that she could do.

            After a few minutes, Gwen said, “I should go, my dad’s waiting for Me.” she pulled up the jeans, but they didn’t go all the way. She looked down at herself, her legs started to fuse. She took off her shoes, and thankfully her feet were still feet “girls, can you help me get to my dad van?” they looked at each other and nodded.

            “It would be our pleasure.” Emily said. “Stacy, grab some towels.” Emily too off Gwen’s jeans, luckily the transformation hasn’t extended past her waist, but she would have to waddle to get out of here. Stacy came with the towels and wrapped her up from her waist down to hide her scales. Gwen tried to move, and with some success, she could walk. “Megan, see if there is anybody in the hall.” She went ahead, and gave the ok signal. The girls helped Gwen move along through the hall and thankfully everybody was in their classes, and the security guards weren’t around. They made it to the front door where Gwen’s dad was waiting for her.

            “Dad, we need to go.” he and Emily and Stacy helped Gwen into the van and got in with her.

            “We’ll do our best to cover for you guys.” Megan said.

            “Thank you.” Gwen said as the van door closed. The girls watched as the van pulled away from the curb and once out of sight, went back in the school.

            Ten minutes later, they arrived at Gwen’s house. Gwen tried to walk, but her legs had fused past her knees and made walking impossible. Her father, Stacy and Emily carried her into the house where she was put onto the couch. Gwen watched on as she saw her legs become a tail. The only space was just above her ankles. She could feel her feet start to move together. The skim between her toes began to move out and expand as her toes flattened out, becoming thinner and thinner, her feet becoming one. Her flattened toes fanned out, in a flair patter, as scales covered the rest of the skin. Under her scales, her bones began to break and form smaller joints that allowed her new tail to move more freely.

            “Wow, you look beautiful.” Emily said. Gwen looked herself over and had to agree. Her skin and scales at her waist blended into on another perfectly. Her blue tail with sliver swirls, made her feel special. She tried out her new tail, and found out it was really flexible. She tried to move it like she was swimming, but it was an awkward movement and she wasn’t in water.

            “Let’s get her to the water.” Gwen’s Father said. Together, they carried Gwen to the water. Once she was in the water, she took off. Her tail made her swim through the water like it was nothing. She dove under water and took a deep breath, and found she could breathe under water. Also, the salty water didn’t sting her eyes. In fact her vision was better under water than it was above water. For the first time, since her sickness, she felt truly happy. She looked up to the surface and shot towards it, bursting through the surface, and she felt like she was flying. She dove through the water again and again, until her dad whistled for her to come back.

            Later that evening, the rest of the basketball team, Gwen’s mother, father, and little sister, all stood in the water, with Gwen sitting on her tail. They were saying their goodbyes.

Gwen’s father bent down to her level, and looked her in the eye. “You are my daughter. And I am proud of you. If you ever get in trouble, know that you will always have your home to come back to.” He hugged her, long and hard and then let go.

            Gwen was wearing the top of a wet suit and on her back was a backpack filled with water survival tools, tokens from each of her friends, a water proof map, some clothes, and from her sister, a picture of their family before and after her transformation. Gwen said goodbye, and swam off, looking back one more time to her true friends, and family, and dove under the water to begin her new life.