The sky above was a sullen gray, stretching across the highway emanating the intense sadness the two sisters felt as the red Toyota Celica rushed down the asphalt.
Janette, the elder of the two, gripped the steering wheel of her old car as tightly as she could, her knuckles blanched from the effort. Meghan sat beside her, tears staining the younger girl's jeans as she quietly sobbed. Janette felt just as horrible as her sister did. All the years they'd spent being tortured by their father's family friends. Those evil people spent their lives taking advantage of the girls' bodies and their father's naïveté.
"Why?"
Janette was jolted out of her thoughts. "Wh-why what?"
Meghan glanced up at her with red, puffy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. Her long, chocolate brown hair was unkempt, and fell over her eyes. "Why do we have to go there? Why are you forcing me to let them torture us even more?"
Janette patted her shoulder. "I'm not. We aren't going to Bellevue."
"We aren't?"
Janette shook her head. "Momma is going to the police when she wakes up, and we are going to Alaska."
"Really? You mean that?" Meghan's eyes immediately lit up.
"Really. I have some friends from high school that all bought a small house there. I just put in my rent, and we'll both be staying there for good."
"Oh, Janette!" Meghan threw her arms around the older girl, which caused the car to swerve wildly. Janette quickly got it back under control.
"Look, I know you're excited, but be excited over there." She joked, pushing her sister back into the passenger seat.
It took the girls two and a half days to get into the city. The house was still two hours away, and both girls were groggy and hungry. Janette had suggested stopping by a fast food joint, but Meghan insisted they cook a celebratory meal at their new home. With that, the younger girl soon fell asleep, and Janette struggled to keep her own eyes open. The next rest stop wasn't for another fifteen miles, and Janette wasn't sure if she could even make it that far.
'I've got to stay awake. This isn't the first time I've done this, and it certainly won't be the last. I've got to stay awake.' She thought, focusing on the road ahead. She could do this, she knew she could.
'Got… to stay…'
Janette woke up just in time to see the screaming passengers of the minivan before impact.
"JANETTE!"
The elder girl vision was blurred by tears as she struggled to find her bearings. She could hear Meghan screaming for her, but she couldn't figure out where her voice was coming from. Her leg was on fire.
As she tried to stand, she cried out as the pain intensified. She knew her leg had to be broken, if not shattered. Where was Meghan?
Janette wiped her eyes and sat up as best she could. She could see flashing red and blue lights in the distance, the sirens of the police cruisers unbearably loud in her ears. How was she even able to hear Meghan screaming over them?
"Meghan?! Where are you?" she shouted, her voice nearly drowned out by the sirens.
As the cruisers neared them, Meghan's cries were swallowed by their loud whining. Janette began to painfully drag herself to the front of her totaled car. She saw a hand, then strands of familiar brown hair. There was Meghan splayed out on her back, tears staining her cheeks. She'd stopped screaming, and had a strangely serene look on her face.
"Meghan?! Are you hurt?" Janette grabbed her hand, and began to feel a strange chill seep into her veins, almost quieting the fire in her leg.
"Janette? Can you hear them?"
"Hear who? The police?"
Meghan weakly shook her head. "They're singing to us. Angels."
"Oh no, no no no! Don't you dare die on me, Meghan. We have suffered too much to die now!"
Meghan smiled. "Not those angels. Just listen."
Janette sighed, but then she heard the singing too. It was a soft at first, a hauntingly unearthly sound. The chill in her body grew, and she felt her corporeal form slipping away as she gave into them. She and Meghan melted through their clothes, and their new, watery forms slipped away from the wreckage in search of the sea.
The journey was long, but they both had the same thought, towards the beach. They finally found it, nearly empty of beachgoers, making it much easier for them to glide towards the water undetected.
As the gentle waves washed over them, they continued to push themselves out further into the sea, their physical bodies slowly reforming. Janette could feel her legs reforming, although they felt quite strange. She opened her eyes, and was surprised that not only could she could see clearly, but her eyes and nose didn't burn from the water. She realized she was holding her breath quite well, and she didn't feel any strain on her lungs. Could she hold her breath for long?
Janette was startled by something grabbing her hand, and quickly yanked herself away. She realized it'd only been Meghan, but nearly fainted at the sight of her sister.
The fifteen-year-old looked back at her with a huge smile on her face. Her long hair billowed around her, and she didn't seem to be embarrassed that her chest was now exposed. Janette gasped as her eyes traveled downward, and she discovered in place of Meghan's legs, was a beautiful shining ruby red tail.
Janette looked down at her own legs. What legs? She too had a tail, hers a deep royal purple color.
She opened her mouth, and let out a muffled scream.