Goodbye, Little Sister

(Andrina POV)

My sister is gone.

My sister is gone.

My baby sister, Ariel, waved us all goodbye on a ship with her new husband this afternoon. And while we were caught up in all of the merriness and our delight at seeing little Ariel again, somehow we had missed one, huge, life-changing detail.

Our baby sister was gone.

My five elder sisters and I all went into our room together, and sat down in our beds, gazing at where Ariel ought to be sitting. Perhaps I had already been a-little-worried-but-not-really-worried-because-it-doesn't-really-bother-me-much-anyways-I-was-just-wondering about Alana leaving to go live with Academicus after their wedding. And perhaps there had been a few quiet conversations between Adella and me about how odd it would be with Alana missing from her bed. Suddenly, there was another emptiness that had come without any warning. Ariel had left in a heartbeat, not a moment to think or worry or anything. All that she left behind was a gaping hole in our lives, and an empty bed in the corner of our room. Soon, only Arista would remain on the left side of our room, with the other two beds alongside her abandoned.

We were all growing up and moving on with our lives much too fast for my liking. It had only been a year since we had gotten music back. We had had barely any time to enjoy it together. Now, when would we see Ariel again? Even Alana wouldn't be too far away, we would still see her almost every day. And we knew Academicus, we had been given time to make sure he was good enough for our sister. We had no idea who this "Prince Eric" was! A glimpse of a human high up on a ship was nothing! He hadn't passed any of our tests to see if he would fit into our close-knit family. If this was a test, he had failed miserably. He had taken our baby sister away from us without a second thought. Didn't he realise that his teenage bride had six elder sisters that had gone out of their minds with worry over the last three days not knowing if their little sister was even alive?

Those three days had been torture. Ariel and her fish friend, Flouder, had simply vanished. She had always gone on crazy death-defying adventures… we had though that finally she had not been able to defy death. She was gone, and even though the whole ocean was scoured for her, no one could find any trace of where she had gone. And then, Daddy had come home, looking exhausted and dishevelled and told us what had happened.

The palace was so quiet, that the whispers of a mysterious horrible battle last night sounded more like shouts.

Sebastian!

"Sebastian, where's Daddy?" Aquata demanded.

"He's sleeping. He only just got in," Sebastian said tiredly, before quickly adding, "don't disturb him, girls. He has enough on his mind."

"Of course," Attina replied before any of us had a chance to protest. After Sebastian had swum out of earshot, we argued against Attina's judgement.

"We have to go see him!" Alana insisted, "I heard they found Ariel!"

"I heard that the sea witch challenged Daddy to a great awful battle!" Aquata exclaimed.
"I heard that there were two huge armies, and Daddy lead them into war!" Adella cried.

"Oh, we have to go see him!" I pleaded, "We have to find out what happened!"

"He must already have enough on his mind," Attina insisted, ever the voice of reason.

"I just want to look him. It won't bother him," Arista said softly, with her child-like innocence. We all agreed that just seeing Daddy would be enough, just to know that he was whole and okay. We snuck down to his wing of the palace together, and peered into his room.

Daddy had aged ten years overnight; he looked exhausted as he lay on the bed, breathing in and out heavily. He wasn't asleep yet, just resting, his eyes locked on the ceiling. We watched him for a moment, before Attina ushered us from the room. We only made it out into the corridor before Aquata tripped over Adella and the two fell with a loud cry.

"Who's there?"

None of us moved, or even breathed, frozen by the lack of authority in Daddy's voice. He sounded so tired and defeated, as though the whole ocean had just collapsed onto his shoulders.

"Sebastian?" he sounded more hopeful, but still so drained. What had happened? Attina finally was brave enough to lead us into Daddy's room, looking bashful and ashamed.

"Oh, Daddy, we're so sorry for disturbing you. We just wanted to see if you came in alright," Attina apologised hurriedly. Daddy did not reply, he just looked at us with his sleepy eyes and then ushered us to come and sit with him on the bed.

"Oh, my girls," he sighed, "what difficult times we live in."

"Yes, Daddy," Attina answered for us. The other five of us nodded in agreement, though we weren't sure what he meant.

"Attina… Alana… Aquata… Adella… Arista… Andrina… and our little baby Ariel," Daddy hesitated, "oh, my girls! Our little Ariel isn't coming home."

"Well, Daddy we don't know that!" Alana insisted.

Daddy was silent for a moment, "I know it, for certain. I saw her."

The horrified silence that followed cut into me like a knife. Ariel wasn't coming home. And even Daddy's explanation of the Prince and the Sea Witch and the battle could not tear the knife out of my heart- it only twisted it around and around, for Ariel could not take an hour out of her life to talk to her sisters herself.

And then, a few days later, we went to see the wedding of our baby sister to a stranger. How could Ariel do this to us, to her very own family? The palace was still aflutter with preparations for Alana's wedding to Academicus, which would be taking place at the beginning of the next month. Honestly, Daddy had been protective enough of Alana when Academicus proposed to her. Ariel was just a baby, our littlest one! Oh, Ariel, why couldn't you see how much it killed Daddy to let you go? Why couldn't you have waited just a little while longer, instead of running off with your human prince that very instant?

I sighed, and looked at each of my silent sisters, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Adella reached over and gripped my hand, "Oh, the waves roll low, and the waves roll high…"

"And so it goes," I sung back, intertwining my fingers in hers.

"Under the bright blue endless sky," Aquata chimed in, resting her head on her folded arms and looking over to us.

"Waves try to measure," Arista added, giving her hair one final stroke with the red brush.

"The days that we treasure," Alana hugged her tail to her chest, biting her bottom lip.

"Wave hello…" Attina did not finish her line, and sighed, closing her eyes.

"And wave goodbye," we all finished the bittersweet song together, and settled back into our beds. I snuggled down under my pink blanket in my shell bed, and rolled onto my side. I don't know how long I tried to fall asleep for, but it didn't work. Oh, Ariel. Why did you have to wave goodbye? I got up, and sat by our window, looking out at the sea. My thoughts were tangled in my head, much too messy to get any sleep.

"Drina?"

I looked up as Adella sat down beside me, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, Della?" I whispered back.

"You scared for her too?" Adella asked, although it wasn't really a question since we both knew the answer. I rest my head on her shoulder with a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, "You think she made a mistake?"

Adella hesitated, "I don't know enough to think anything about it. That's the worst part."

We sat together in silence for a while, as our sisters slept. Where was Ariel sleeping tonight? Certainly not here with us, tucked up in her bed like she was meant to be. I looked at her bed, and was overwhelmed with the emptiness of it all.

I wanted to feel something. I wanted to hate her, feel fury burn up inside of me, and then I wanted to mourn her, cry for her, wish she was coming home. I just felt an abyss of emptiness inside of me, growing and consuming me.

"Come on," we swam back over to our beds together, and Adella collected my blanket and pillow, and tossed it into her shell. We both curled up inside of her shell bed, holding onto each other tightly, just as tightly as we ought to be holding onto Ariel and telling her how much we missed her.

"Promise me you won't leave too," Adella whispered. It dawned on me that I was the next youngest, I was the little one now. I was now the new bookend holding up the other end of us girls, since Ariel was Poseidon-knows-where.

"I promise. I'll be a thorn in your side until we die," I tried to joke. Adella's laugh caught in her throat and sounded more like a sob instead.

"Thank you, Drina," Adella whispered, kissing my cheek.