Being a Fish

            Once upon a time there were three sisters:  Shannon, Holly, and Alissa.  The Hellfire sisters.  There was magic within them, but it only seemed to show in Shannon and Alissa.  They both could become mermaids at will and had the power to command.  One day Shannon and Alissa decided to be mermaids forever and left their sister.  Not realizing that forever would be a long time and that humans would be involved in that forever, their forever of happiness ended.  A couple years after they left, Alissa returned to Holly and said she would never leave her again.  Never say never.  She witnessed their sister Shannon die in a fishing accident just like their mother.  Holly had better news.  She got married to Brian Wesley, their insurance agent and she found their long lost half-sister Rose Michaels.  Since that time when she returned Brian and Holly had three children:  Wesley Michael Hellfire, Drew Caleb Hellfire, and me, Shannon Kimberly Hellfire.  Aunt Alissa never married and she never seemed happy.  Auntie Rose married a firefighter and they had three children as well.  Two twin girls and little Ivan Mitchell Junior.

            Many years later when Wesley was 25, Drew was 22, and I was 19, we went to the beach with Mom and Dad.  Aunt Alissa wanted to spend the day with us, but she had other plans for the day.  I knew that we could become mermaids, but I didn’t know who had the power except Aunt Alissa and my deceased Aunt Shannon.  Mom and Dad were on the beach sun tanning and Wesley, Drew, and I were in the water.  I wondered how Aunt Alissa and Aunt Shannon did it.  Did they get wet and it happens?  I looked down at my feet through the water and wiggled my toes.  No, well did they wish for fins?  I closed my eyes and I saw myself with fins, preferably pink fins.  I opened my eyes and looked through the water again.  I wiggled my pink fins attached to my pink scaly and shiny tail.  I looked at my clothes and I was now wearing a purple shell bra.  All my hair was free.  I jumped in the air and went completely under.  I could breathe underwater!  I swam farther out and I turned around.  My brothers were small blimps in the water.  I swam on and never looked back.

            I know I said before never say never, but you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.  You would never realize how beautiful the ocean is until you could touch every living organism on the seabed.  This is almost like snorkeling but without the heavy breathing.  I touched every scaly fish and beautiful sea creatures like catfish, manatees, and small fish.  I twirled the catfish’s whiskers; I danced with the manatees like we were in a mirror, and the small fish circled around me.  They seemed to let me feel them like I was no danger at all.

            Suddenly all the fish scattered and an arrow appeared in front of me.  I swam with the fish and swam as hard as I could, but I couldn’t shake off the one who shot the arrow.  I couldn’t seem to shake them, so I suddenly stopped.  It was so unexpected that my followers sped past me.  I looked back at them and they had stopped too.  They were staring at me.  One was a merman with a blue tail, short brown hair, and green eyes.  He was carrying a quiver of arrows on his back and had a bow in his hand.  The other was a merwoman with a pink and purple tail, long blonde and purple hair, and purplish eyes.  She had a satchel hanging on her shoulders.

            We silently looked at each other for a short time.  He was the first to break the silence.

“Who are you?” he asked coming towards me.  I floated backward and refused to speak.

“You have nothing to fear,” she said also coming nearer.

“How can you say that when you shot at me,” I shook glaring at him.

“That shot was meant for a fish,” he said frowning.

“Oh,” I blushed.

“Are you new here?” she asked curiously.

“Um, yeah.  I’m Shannon Kimberly Hellfire, but you can call me Kim,” I smiled.

“A Hellfire!  How are Shannon and Alissa?  We haven’t seen them in years!” exclaimed the merwoman.

“Ur . . .” I hesitated.

“Oh sorry.  How rude of us.  I am Glenn and this is my sister Zirena,” he introduced.

“So how are they?” Zirena pressed.

“Do you guys know?” I asked.

“Know what?” she questioned.

“About our magic,” I said looking into both of their eyes.

“Conjuring things out of thin air?” Zirena said and I kinda smiled.  Of course Aunt Shannon and Aunt Alissa wouldn’t tell them that we could become human.  Who would believe that?  They would believe it if they saw me on land which they obviously haven’t and my aunts didn’t tell them, so I will keep it a secret as well.

“Yes of course that magic.  Sadly my aunt Shannon died many years ago and my aunt Alissa has been on her own since I was an egg,” I said stretching the truth.

“So where are your parents?” Glenn asked.

“They are on the other side of the ocean and I am free of them,” I lied hoping I was a good liar.

“Well, so are we,” Glenn said and he smiled.

“Actually we have been exiled from the king,” Zirena said putting her hands on her hips.

“Shush.  Our father, the king, found out we don’t like following his rules, so he put us in exile.  I am happier than ever, but Zirena is bored of all this,” Glenn said and looked at his sister with an annoyed look.  I glared at him.

“Why are you so happy?  You can hurt whatever you want wherever you want just like those two legged freaks with fishing poles.  I would rather be a vegetarian,” I said rolling my eyes.  “They’re too fun to play with.”

“You would rather eat seaweed?” he said with a disgusted look.

“I don’t know about that, but the creatures that you kill have the same right to live just as much as you do,” I looked at him angrily.

“I feel the same way,” Zirena said glaring at Glenn.

“Have you ever tried seaweed?” Glenn asked me.

“No, but –

“But nothing.  Try it,” he said and he pulled a piece off of some wild seaweed floating around.  Zirena was smiling.  I snagged it from him and shoved it into my mouth.  It tasted like a bitter and salty leaf.  He smiled as he saw the disgusted look on my face.  Zirena had a look of disappointment.

“I still would prefer something other than fish and seaweed,” I said once I roughly swallowed.  Zirena smiled again.

“Is there anything else to eat?” I asked and Glenn frowned.

“Of course there is,” Zirena said.  “Follow me.”  I followed her as Glenn tagged along.

            Truthfully I loved the taste of fish, but I didn’t want to hurt Zirena’s feelings, but I also hated to hunt them because they were fun to play with.  Humans fished enough of those creatures, so I wasn’t going to eat them.

            We came up to a wide variety of plants and I didn’t know what to choose from, but I felt that he was uncomfortable.

“I think I’m going to go hunt,” Glenn said starting to swim away.

“Wait!  Aren’t you going to eat some?” I asked looking into his eyes.

“He’s never eaten anything besides fish and seaweed,” Zirena said smiling and Glenn made a face at her.

“How do you know that you don’t like them if you don’t try them?” I asked cocking my head.

“I-I just don’t want to ruin some beautiful flowers that I could possibly give to a beautiful merwoman,” he blushed.

“Try some,” I smiled.  He grabbed a pink flower and put it into his mouth.  He smiled.  He liked it.

“He would never listen to me,” Zirena complained quietly and began to silently eat.  Glen and I joined her never taking our eyes off each other.

            They guided me to their cave once we finished eating and it was homey.  We slept for the night.  Next thing I knew I was being shaken awake.  Zirena was still sleeping beside me and Glenn was floating on the other side of me.  He floated to the entrance of the cave without his weapons and waved me over.  I floated to him and he grabbed my hand pulling me to his destination.  He took me to a garden of water flowers and picked a pink one out of the bunch giving it to me.

“You remind me of this pink flower,” smiled Glenn.  “I want to show you something else.”  He took my hand and pulled me up to the surface of the water.

“Look at that up there.  Isn’t it beautiful,” Glenn said pointing at the moon.  “When I first saw the big ball of light I followed it until I came above water.  I thought I would suffocate, but I found I could breathe.  It’s like this is full of oxygen just as much as the water is.”

“It is amazing,” I said smiling.  That’s when I decided to rehearse my poem that I had written only a year ago.  “It lights up the sky as bright as a light and it is brighter than any lone star.  This light does not blind you when you look at it as it leaves a pathway of light towards the water.  Wolves may howl at it when it is full and it may not be a star with different phases, but it is the most beautiful light in the sky that makes all other lights too bright or not bright enough.”

“That sounds beautiful.  Did you write that?” he asked looking into my eyes.

“Yes actually,” I said seeing the love in his eyes.  He grabbed the sides of my face and he slowly pulled my face to his.  He kissed me and I kissed him back.  We held each other in the moonlight and slept together on a submerged rock.

            I woke up from a tugging on my tail fins and I was still in Glenn’s arms.  He looked at me and I looked at him.  He felt it too.  We went underwater and looked into Zirena’s eyes.

“What were you guys doing?” she asked in fear.

“We were admiring the big ball of light and fell asleep,” I said in Glenn’s arms, but I could tell that something was wrong.  “What’s going on Zirena?  Something is troubling you.”

“Besides the fact that my brother finally fell in love,” she smiled but it became a frown again.  “There is a fishing boat not that far away and it is huge.  More like a ship.  I was afraid that you guys were goners, but I can only sense one person on it.”  Just as she said that schools of fish were in a hurry and rushed by us.  I turned to where they came from and I pulled at Glenn’s arm.

“I think we should follow the fish,” I said and they both turned around.

“I think she’s right.  Swim!” yelled Glenn and we turned around swimming away from the fishing net.  Yet no matter how hard we swam, the net seemed to overpower all of us.  Next thing we knew we were in the net among a bunch of frantic fish.  I passed out.

            I woke up to a voice that I recognized, but I remembered that voice being in a faraway land where there was no water.  It was not Glenn’s melodic voice and not Zirena’s harmonic voice.  The voice was a male’s, but it was a powerful and strong voice.  He wasn’t talking to me, but more to himself.  I slowly looked around me once I opened my eyes and I was laying on a table still a mermaid, but all I could feel was my tail drying out.  I was in the fish room of the ship and I saw a tank full of water with Glenn and Zirena inside looking at me with scared looks.  Their hands were on the glass.  My brother Wesley was standing above me with a smile of satisfaction.

“Wonderful.  You’re awake,” he said and looked me in the eyes.

“What do you plan to do with us?” I choked out with a dry cracked voice.

“Do you remember who I am or has the water washed away your memory?” Wesley asked.

“You were always poor with jokes Wesley.  Now answer my question,” I said looking away from him.  I didn’t want to see Glenn’s and Zirena’s faces.

“I just wanted to save my sister and so I have,” he said, but I could sense he was lying.

“You wanted something else too,” I whispered loud enough that I knew he heard me.  I closed my eyes in anger.  He wanted to expose merpeople and get loads of money for being the founder.  That was always his dream ever since Mom told us the secret and since he failed to become one of them.

“Yeah, so what if I want to expose them.  If it wasn’t for you becoming one of them I wouldn’t be where we are now,” he said.

“I would never let you do such a thing!” I screamed in anger and my tail disappeared once I wanted to look him in the eye on my feet.  I punched him in the face as I stood there naked.

“You are no brother of mine!” I yelled in his ear, but all I was able to do was give him a bloody lip.  Then he waved his hand and I was shackled to the table with a pink sundress.

“I knew you would try to stop me just like Drew did,” he said and began to walk out of the room.

“What did you do to him?” I asked and he turned to look at me.

“I told him I was going to find you and he wanted to come, but he felt if you wanted to come home you would and he saw my other intentions.  He tried to stop me so I took care of him,” he said and smiled.

“You killed our own brother?!” I screamed horrified.

“No, but he won’t wake up for a day or two.  By then I will have saved you and become a millionaire,” he said and turned to leave again.

“You know better than I that it is not Glenn’s and Zirena’s faults for you failing to become a merman!” I screamed pulling at the chains.

“So you’re on a first name basis with the fish,” he said smiling in the doorway.

“It is not Aunt Alissa’s or my fault either, but if you let them go I will let you expose them with just me as a mermaid,” I said about to cry.

“I will not expose our family.  Besides.  The magic is not my concern.  They are,” he said pointing at Glenn and Zirena and he left the room.

            I began to cry and I looked at the water tank.  They were looking at me with suspicion and no longer had their hands on the glass.

“I’m sorry Glenn and Zirena.  I would have told you that I was a two legged freak that we call human and my aunts Alissa and Shannon would have too, but you wouldn’t believe us.  I shouldn’t have lied to you and I should have believed that you would trust me.  I wish I had told you.  My brother Wesley has the magic too, but he can’t change for some reason,” I silently cried as I saw him mouth ‘that’s what you meant by the magic’ as bubbles rose from his mouth.  “My grandmother had it, my aunts Alissa and Shannon had it, Wesley has it, I have it, and my twin cousins have it.  Aunt Alissa may have left because of my aunt Shannon’s fishing accident, but she misses the water and she hasn’t been truly happy since.  I realize now that I have to leave the water too.”  I looked into Glenn’s eyes and he was no longer mad at me.  He put his hands on the glass and mouthed my name with bubbles coming from my mouth.

“I can’t put you two in danger.  I don’t think I could handle a fishing accident happening because of me,” I cried closing my eyes and I struggled out of the shackles.  They disintegrated.  I looked at Glenn and I ran to the water tank.

“I love you Glenn, but in order to save you I have to leave you,” I cried and he shook his head.

“What are you doing?” Wesley yelled entering the room.

“River!” I yelled and Wesley and the room disappeared as I took the water tank with me.

“NO!” I heard Wesley scream and we all reappeared near a river.  The water tank had shattered and Wesley was crawling towards Glenn and Zirena.

“NO!” I screamed and I jumped at Wesley and kicked him in the face not before he stabbed me with a dagger that he had conjured.

“If I can’t have them then neither can you,” Wesley spit blood.

“You would kill your own flesh and blood,” I choked out and I took the same dagger he used on me to his abdomen.  In his shock I ran towards Glenn and Zirena.

“Lake!” I yelled and the three of us appeared in a lake surrounded by houses.

“Ocean!” I quietly said and we reappeared next to Wesley’s ship.

“Fire,” I said in a whisper and the ship burned. 

I treaded water all out of strength to do any magic and my blood slowly mixed with the water.  Glenn and Zirena were beside me.

“You could come with us,” Zirena said taking her eyes off the burning ship and looking at me. 

“We also have marvelous doctors that can heal you up,” Glenn said with urgency.

“You know as well as I that I can’t,” I whispered looking at the water.

“Why not.  You’re hurt and we got away from him, your brother.  So what if you’re human,” he said putting his hand on my shoulder.

“We are able to track each other,” I said looking into his eyes.  “You guys need to go back to your father without me and I need to go home.”

“Kim, please I –

“Glenn.  I will be fine, but you are a better king than you know,” I said putting my hand to my wound and I turned to Zirena.  “You would be a beautiful queen beside him.  I belong with my aunt in unhappiness.”

“If not dead!  You can’t expect us to say goodbye,” Zirena cried.

“I’m not good with goodbyes,” Glenn said sadly.

“Goodbyes are for forever, but I love you both,” I said swimming away from them.  “Aunt Alissa.”

            Just as Glenn reached his hand out to me to stop me I appeared in Aunt Alissa’s living room dripping wet and I fell to my knees crying and bleeding.  Aunt Alissa ran to me and gave me a hug.  She sat there holding me and waited until I was ready to talk.  Eventually I felt no more pain especially when she put her hand over my hand that was on my wound.  I wouldn’t talk until I ate some dry cereal at seven in the evening.  I told her about Glenn and Zirena.  I told her about Wesley capturing them and our escape.  She just listened. 

“Why can’t Wesley change?” I asked her looking into her eyes.

“We can’t change if we have evil in our soul,” she whispered and she looked away.  “At one time I had evil in my soul, but Shannon was the only one that made it go away.  It never came back because I always hoped you . . . You fell in love didn’t you?”

“Is it that obvious?” I whispered.

“Yes,” she said.  “Did you taste the water flowers of the many gardens?”

“It was delightful,” I whispered looking down into the boring cereal that had become soggy by now.

“Did you pet one of the millions of fish and now refuse to hunt them?” she asked.

“They are so scaly and shiny,” I whispered.

“What about the fins?  Are they gold or silver?” she asked.

“I had pink fins and the water felt just right through my tail fins.  Like peanut butter and jelly,” I said with a tear falling down my cheek.

“What about the prince and princess?” she asked.

“Glenn is handsome with a melodic voice and short brown hair and beautiful green eyes.  He had a smooth blue tail and a great sexy body.  His lips against mine were so passionate and he won’t eat the water flowers because he prefers to give them to a beautiful woman.  He may hunt and eat the beautiful fish, but he loves to look at the moon every night he can see it and he was the only person I shared my poem about the moon,” I said and I began to sob as she held me tighter.

“He was just born when I had to leave.  And what about the princess?  Has she grown into a fine woman compared to the spoiled toddler that she was?” she asked looking at the blue floor and wiggled her toes through the carpet fibers.

“Zirena is beautiful with a harmonic voice and long blonde and purple hair and purplish eyes.  She had a shiny pink and purple tail and a good form.  She was such a caring friend and she won’t eat the fun fish because they are more fun to swim with than being eaten.  She may be pressing, but she is very protective of her brother who she has accepted who he is in love with,” I sobbed.

“It’s really easy to miss it,” she said and looked back at me smiling.  “Do you want to go back?

“But Wesley will find us,” I cried.

“No.  He won’t,” she said and two clones of us appeared.

“As long as we die no one can find us,” she said and I was relieved that she healed me.

“Suicide?” I said and both clones fell to the floor with knives in their hearts. 

            She squeezed me tightly and at first I was horrorstruck by our way of escaping, but I realized there was no other way. 

“Find them,” she whispered to me grabbing my hands after she set the scene of the house making it look like we both got into a rage breaking everything including ourselves.

“Glenn and Zirena!” I exclaimed and we appeared underwater fully mermaids within Glenn and Zirena’s cave.  They were waiting for us.

“I knew you couldn’t leave me,” Glenn said and he kissed me.

“Once Aunt Alissa took care of the situation we felt it was safe,” I said sticking my tongue out at him.

“Trust me it wasn’t an easy choice to fake our deaths as two legged freaks and leave our family behind, but if you have to leave the evil behind so you can be where you love it’s worth it,” Aunt Alissa said putting her hands on her hips.

“You’re not hurt anymore!” exclaimed Zirena.

“Thanks to aunt Alissa she healed me.  It’s one of the many perks of being magical, but I’m sure your doctors would have done the same except we would have broken your exile,” I said putting my hands on my hips.

“As long as you’re ok,” Glenn said and I cocked my head to the side.

“What about you?  I see you haven’t seen your father yet,” I said smiling.

“I was going to get around to it,” he said and I grabbed his hand.

“Let’s all go together,” I said and we left the cave behind.

The End