Cassandrea Warren

October 15, 2012

Creative Writing

Transformation Story

Untitled

I can't believe I let it get this far. I shouldn't have started it at all, but to let it get as far as I have, it's just wrong. I wasn't thinking clearly, obviously. I have always been a little headstrong; it's one of my worst qualities. My mother has always said that it was a way for me to get attention as the youngest of seven sisters. I think I just take a lot after my father. He became king, so I guess being headstrong doesn't have to be a bad trait. In this case, however, it turned out to be a very stupid trait.

I don't know where everything went so wrong. I thought my plan was foolproof. But I turned out to be the fool in this scenario, didn't I? It was all because of that stupid sea witch; I never should have gone to her, made that deal. Now I'm standing over the bed of the man I love, watching him sleep while holding a knife in my hand.

If I had just stayed in my place, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't be holding a knife in my hand right now. I wouldn't have to make this terrible, awful choice. How can I choose? I feel so sick. I don't think I can do this. These might be my final moments alive and I all I can think about is how I got to this place, this terrible, terrible place.

I had a good life. I mean, I was mostly happy. Being the youngest of seven girls, especially girls as shallow as my sisters, is no picnic, sure, but my father was a wealthy man and I never wanted for anything.

I was an excellent student and all of my teachers liked me. I loved school and even took extra classes just for the fun of it. For the most part, I loved my life. Despite the shallowness of my sisters, my oldest sister, Serena, was my best friend. She helped me with almost all of my problems. In fact, she was the one that found the solution and gave me the knife. If only I had talked to her about Erik earlier, she probably would have found some other way to help me. A way that didn't lead to this awful choice.

I should have known better than to talk to him. I should have known better than to let him see me. We have spent hundreds of years hiding from humans, and I stopped and talked to one just because I find him interesting. What is wrong with me? Sure, I managed to convince him that I was a human just out for a swim, the good thing about this day and age is that everyone is extremely skeptical about anything mythical, like mermaids. Still, I should have been so much more careful. If I had listened to my more rational side and stayed away from him, then none of this would ever have happened.

I thought everything would be fine. He is a sailor and was only in town for a couple days, so I thought it would just be a fun couple days and then he would leave. But I fell in love with him, despite myself, I did. But I still thought he would just leave and I would console myself with memories and eventually move on. Then he came to me excited with the news that he was moving to the tiny town by my part of the ocean, he had already found an apartment and now we could see each other all the time. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't keep meeting him at the beach, eventually he was going to discover what I am. And I couldn't just stop meeting him. I loved him and knowing he was so close and that I couldn't see him would kill me. So I went to see the sea witch.

I never knew her name, and to be honest, I was afraid to ask. She was all black and shiny and really, really scary. Her eyes seemed to look straight through me and not see me at the same time. She was all smiles and nice words when I told her what I wanted. She was perfectly willing to give me what I asked for. But with a huge catch.

"Darling Nerrissa, nothing is free. You have to give something to get something." She told me in the eerily sweet voice of hers. Every time she talked, I went cold and chills ran up my spine. "What I want from you really isn't that difficult, though, I promise you. I only want you to agree to a little deal."

"Deal?" I asked her tentatively, any sort of deal she wanted to make would probably not work out very well for me.

"You are willing to give up everything, your entire life for love. But do you even know if he loves you? This deal is entirely dependent on his love. You have a year to earn his love, if you do not get him to love you within that time, you will die and your spirit will return to the sea forever. If you do, this deal is void and you two can live together happily forever."

I should have stopped to think about it more first, but I was so confident that I could do what she asked, I didn't hesitate. "I agree."

The potion she gave me took a couple days to kick in. They were a miserable several days. I was in so much pain that I faked being sick because I couldn't even get out of bed. Every part of my body was either on fire or so icy cold in burned. I was regretting my decision horribly when it began to be hard to breathe. It was like I couldn't catch my breath. I swam to the surface to see if the outside air was any better. Miraculously, I could breathe when my face was outside of the water. Suddenly, there was a searing, blinding pain in my tail. It was the worst thing I had ever felt and I never thought I would survive the horrible hurt. I passed out from the pain, and when I awoke, I had washed up on the shore and I had legs instead of a tail. Thankfully I had the foresight to hide some clothes on the beach just in case this happened.

It took some practice to get used to walking, but by the time Erik got to the beach, I was pretty good at it. It was the first time we had seen each other outside of the water and I was amazed at how tall he was. He stood a whole head taller than me. When I told him I had nowhere to live, he offered to let me stay with him. I was amazed by his generosity.

And here we are, a year later, and my heart is shattered into a million pieces because not only am I watching him sleep, but also the woman next to him in his bed, his wife. I honestly thought he loved me as much as I loved him. But I was wrong. He wanted to be my friend, just my friend. He was in a very serious relationship, about to propose to her, and I was stupid.

I glance down at the knife, the moonlight reflecting off its shiny surface. This knife is a testament to my sister's love. When I finally gave in and told Serena about what I had done, she went to the sea witch and tried to make a deal for me. She didn't want to see me die just because I was stupid enough to throw my life away for some boy that I didn't know anything about. The sea witch agreed to make a deal, but it was a horrible, awful deal. She gave Serena this knife and told her she would spare me if I killed both Erik and his wife.

And now here I stand in their bedroom, watching them sleep peacefully, wrapped in each other's arms. I can't do it; I can't just end their lives to spare my own. I go out to the sea where all six of my sisters are waiting for me. "Well, did you do it?" Serena asked me, concern written all over her face. All I can do is shake my head sadly. All of my sisters shout in protest, all except Serena. She just wipes tears away and says quietly, "I understand. I will miss you." She hugs me and leads my sisters away.

I look down at the knife again. I was stupid, so incredibly stupid, but there is no time for regrets. I let the knife slip into to water and I lay half in the waves, and half on the sand. A perfect metaphor for myself, born a creature of the sea and dying a creature of land. I feel my eyelids get heavy and let myself drift off peacefully to sleep. This seems like a nice way to die, sleeping with the waves lapping at my feet and legs. "Goodnight, Erik." I whisper as I drift into the black.

One Year Later

He stared out the window into the night-blackened sea, as he did every night. Sometimes, when the light was just right, he could swear he could see Nerrissa in the waves of the water. He thought it was just a trick of the light, his mind playing tricks on him because he missed her so much. He had loved her from the moment he talked to her, but he was with Allison, and he couldn't just leave her for her girl he had just met. When she disappeared, he felt her absence every day. Even now, a year later, with his wife asleep inside, he missed Nerrissa so much it hurt. "Goodbye, Nerrissa." He whispered to the ocean, a place he would forever associate with the beautiful girl. He had met her in the ocean, and she had reminded him of the ocean. He stepped back from the window and started to close it when he heard, faintly, a whisper, "Goodnight, Erik." He shook his head in sadness, wishing it really had been her voice whispering to him.