The Little Mermaid
Ariel woke up from her dream sweating and breathing heavily. She looked around and reassured herself that she was in her room, sleeping next to her husband Eric, and not being sucked into the inky black depths of Ursula's cave. Lately she had been having nightmares reliving the day she had traded her voice for a pair of legs, except this time she didn't make it out alive. Instead of giving back her voice when Eric fell in love with her, Ursula had lured her back to the ocean and drowned her. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep again, she untangled herself from the sheets, slipped on her normal clothes, and quietly headed downstairs. The crisp night air cut at her skin as she opened the door. Going for walks along the beach usually helped calm her down.
It was breakfast and Ariel had made herself a large mug of coffee in an attempt to keep her eyes open after a sleepless night. She heard the door creak open and the soft footsteps of someone descending the stairs. She turned around to see Eric, dressed in a white shirt and dark blue shorts with his coal black hair styled perfectly.
'Coffee?' she asked.
'Sure' he replied.
She proceeded to make him a coffee, no milk and lots of sugar just how he liked it. As she turned around, she saw his face looking at her suspiciously. She met his eyes for a second, and quickly looked away. She had not told him about her re-occurring dreams, and felt guilty about it. At the beginning she thought they would just go away and she would be able to handle the situation. She couldn't be more wrong. It had gone on for a couple of months now, and each evening before the sun went down she would fear another restless night filled with unpleasant thoughts. Dark bags were beginning to form under her eyes and she felt confused and feverish. She knew she needed help, and the best person for that was Eric.
'Did you sleep last night?'
'I did wake up a couple of times.'
He looked concerned.
'Have you been sleeping at all for the past month?'
'Well, I've been having these dreams'
'What kind of dreams?'
'Nightmares' she replied, 'of Ursula and everything that has happened over the past year. I think I need to take a trip back down to Atlantica and see my family'
'Okay, but I think I should come with you in case something happens. It's been a while since you have swum as a mermaid, and you haven't transformed back since you walked on land. I can easily hire some diving equipment and accompany you down.'
'Okay, we should go within the next couple of days.' Talking to Eric had already made her feel better, and having him with her on the trip to Atlantica would make talking to her family for the first time since she left them much more easy.
'I'd better go try find some diving stuff then.' He gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head and then strolled out the door.
She woke up in the morning, a pleasant surprise from what she had gotten used to lately. She lay in bed for a little bit, enjoying the feeling of warm sunlight on her skin. Today was the day she would go back to Atlantica. The thought made her stomach churn. She crawled out of bed, went down the pearl white marble staircase, and made herself a large breakfast of eggs, bacon, and cereal. She looked out the window and saw Eric tying and knotting the ropes of a small boat bobbing up and down in the glistening water, completely focused at the task at hand. She quickly finished her breakfast, got dressed, and went out onto the jetty to join him.
'All ready?' She asked.
'Yep, you ready to go?'
'Of course.'
He held out his hand and helped her onto the unstable surface of the bottom of the boat. She sat down, got herself comfortable, and looked down into the dark blue water. She could see the fish darting back and forth among the coral, and thought nostalgically of her fish friend, Flounder. They all disappeared instantly as Eric turned on the boat's small engine and they departed the jetty.
The land was just a speck in the distance now, the mountains the size of a small hill. They were at least 1km from the shore now, and Eric anchored the boat carefully. He checked the amount of oxygen in his tank, then slipped it on, tightening the straps. One of the things that Ursula had told her when she first became a human, was that any contact with salt water would convert her legs back into a tail temporarily. She didn't know what this would feel like or how it was meant to happen, but she hoped that it would somehow work.
'You get in first and I'll follow you down.'
She took a deep breath and slowly put her legs over the side of the boat and lowered herself into the ocean. She did not know how to swim with legs, and for a moment she panicked. But then bubbles engulfed her and she felt a sensation similar to what you might get on a roller coaster. Her legs felt numb and for a moment she thought she was unconscious. The bubbles then disappeared and she found herself breathing normally underwater. She looked down to see that the familiar shape of her tail had replaced her legs.
Just as Eric dived into the water, she looked down and saw a shadowy figure looming beneath her. With an unpleasant surprise she realised that the shadow creeping up from underneath her was Ursula. For a second she thought Ursula was coming for her, but then realised that she was slowly swimming towards Eric. She screamed out trying to warn him but it was too late. She already had her hands around his oxygen pipe and was dragging him under. She darted at her, struggling, trying to loosen her grip on him, but she was too strong. All the energy departed her body as she saw that Eric was pale and lifeless. With her last ounce of strength, she swam towards her once more, trying to free him but failing as she had before. Ursula then dragged him down into ocean below. Why would she take Eric? To get revenge on her? To use his body for some dark purpose…
Ariel awoke, her back stiff against the concrete wall. Just another dream of the terrible event that had occurred almost a year ago now. She looked around the cell she was being kept in and wondered like she did every other morning if there was anything that she could have done to save him that day. If she could have done anything differently. After Eric had been taken, she could not bear the thought of living her life without him, so she swum to Ursula's cave and gave her her voice, the thing she had given up to be with him in the first place. Ursula had kept her so she could experiment with new potions and spells, and Ariel's body was covered in various scars and bruises. She always tolerated the pain. She saw it as a punishment to herself for being so careless and letting him die. She still didn't know why Ursula had taken him or what the motive for her actions were, but she didn't care. Nothing could bring him back.