Oh no! What has happened to poor Felicity? Is it a side effect of the drug? Or does she really no longer love Ben? How could you find out? Hmmm I don't know [hint : rub yourself with honey and run around the house singing the Pledge of Allegiance]

A young mermaid be waitin' for you

In the mysterious fathoms below!

-Fathoms Below, Little Mermaid

Annabelle smiled. She was officially seventeen today, and her birthday package from her aunts back in England had arrived right on time. There was a letter she had cast aside as she was digging into the presents; there were some (already devoured) fine dark chocolates, a new dress, and a book of fairy tales. The dresswas nice, a blue and gold combination that complemented her hair, but Annabelle was used to it already.

She was thumbing through the fairy tale book, not really reading, but looking at the oil pictures. There were witches, stupid little toddlers, and beautiful princesses. In her imagination, every princess became her, every prince became Ben, and every evil old hag became Felicity. Her imagination drifted off. Her father would bring Ben to her house, and Ben would actually look at her for the first time! Naturally, he would instantly fall in love, and demand they be wed at once! Annabelle smiled as her imagination ran faster, and the pages paralleled so. He'd be a Loyalist of high standing, take her to dances, buy her new dresses, they'd have children, he'd fawn over her every day, he'd-

Annabelle stopped. Her mouth dropped open. Impossible she thought no, no it's a sign! Finally, a sign that what I wish for will come true! Annabelle looked at the picture smack dab in the middle of the book, it covered two pages. There was a handsome young man who looked exactly like Ben, lying on a beach, soaked with saltwater from the ocean. Bending over him was a stunning mermaid with dark brown hair and big brown eyes, with an extreme likeness to herself. Her hair perfectly framed her face, and she was stroking the hair out of the man's face, as well as singing to him.

"This must be what I have to do!" mumbled Annabelle, as she flipped to the front of the story, The Little Mermaid, determined to find out if it ended to her liking. It did, with a large wedding to Ben, who in the story was not only a Prince, but a rich one at that.

Finally! Indisputable proof that Ben was destined to be hers, and hers alone! There was no trampy redhead, stealing him away! Annabelle beamed, clutching the book to her chest, her face breaking out in a smile.

For once, she'd get what she wanted.

…

Ben was shocked. He couldn't believe that Felicity had just, just left him like that! He knew he promised that he'd understand, he knew that she had every reason to refuse to marry him, but why did she? Why didn't he help? Why didn't he at least try to stop her? God, what was wrong with him? He just let her walk away!

Ben decided he needed to talk to Felicity. He stopped moping for one minute, which was enough time for him to decide to go talk to Felicity. He looked up from the king-sized bed at the ceiling. He felt a ping in his heart as he realized Felicity would never see the house he had bought. She never knew he had bought them a house in North Williamsburg, he wanted to show her on their wedding day. Now he'd never get the chance.

He walked over to the Merriman's, which were only about twenty minutes away. He knocked on the door a few times, and when there was no answer, he just walked in. Promptly, he walked out. Felicity and Cary were locked together on the living room couch, with Cary looking like he was going to suck Felicity's brains out.

Ben shook his head, as if he could shake the image out of his head. It didn't work. She just couldn't be serious! There was no way, just no way that she could fall in love with Cary, and out of love with him, over the course of a night! There was something else, there just had to be! This couldn't be happening!

…

"Get off me!" growled Felicity, pushing Cary off her.

"Hey, hey dear, don't forget what I said. I'd hate to have anything happen to the precious apprentice." Cary smirked.

"That was never part of what you said! You didn't have to do that you can't do this!"

Felicity thought back to the night her life changed, the night she had to break off her engagement with Ben:

"What? Why am I in my room? Why are you in my room?"

"Listen to me!" Cary commanded, leaning in to her face. "I am sick and tired of your antics, and they are going to end now! On your precious little wedding picnic you passed out. Instead of helping, your beau just dragged you back home. Now I, as a doctor, have woken you up. Now here's how things are going to work. One, you will break off your engagement with Davidson. Two, you will never be with him ever again. No talking, no visiting, no signals, no nothing. You will be as convincing as you possibly can be, and will tell him nothing of all this. I understand your father tried to get you to do the same thing, but I am going to take another step farther." Cary shifted upward, spreading a little bit of his jacket to the right, revealing a pistol. "If you are ever with him again, I will kill him. Don't think that I won't."

"Oh , please, please don't! Don't hurt him! He hasn't done anything! Just don't!"

I was slapped across the face, and Cary leaned in, leering, "You are going to go outside this room, where I'm sure the apprentice will be waiting. You are going to tell him you no longer love him, and give him back his ring."

I slid across the bed, as I was about to stand up, Cary grabbed my leg. I cringed.

"One more thing," he said, "You will make him feel intense emotional pain. If you don't, I will." Cary pulled his gun out of the holster and loaded it. "Go. I'll be listening."

I stifled a sob, hoping I could hold back tears for long enough. I took several deep breaths, and took a step outside.

...

Night had fallen, and Ben was walking. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to be, no one to see. So he went to the pond. Felicity had left everything behind; he needed something to remember her by! He walked through the familiar plants, past the tree she had carved their initials in, without more than blinking. He stopped when he got to the pond. The pond is where he taught Felicity to fish, to whistle, and had spent the last moments with her. No one had touched anything. The dishes, the basket were all still there. Ben put everything in the basket.

He walked over to the edge of the pond, when something shiny caught his eye. He bent down and picked it up. Cary's engagement ring. Damning Cary to the lowest circle of hell, Ben whipped the ring back into the pond. Suddenly, he felt a push at his back, and he plunged into the pond with the ring. He swam back to the surface, and pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"I'M COMING MY SWEET!" screamed a voice. A very, very familiar voice. Oh, God.

Ben tried to swim to the other side of the pond, but Annabelle was vicious. She grabbed the back of his shirt, and yanked him back to the shore. Ben tried to fight her, but eventually gave up and let her drag him back.

Annabelle eventually forced him to lay down on the side of the bank, and that's when Ben got a good look and what she was wearing.

"Oh my God, Annabelle! What are you wearing? Do you have any clothes?" Ben yelled, trying to sit up.

Annabelle forced him back down, she was incredibly strong, laying a hand over his mouth. Her hair was loosely curled, and she had a skin tight skirt on, clinging to her ankles. She had fabric wrapped around her chest, but she was ridiculously scantily clad. Her face was soaked with makeup now running down her face. She was belting out some song about love and sea foam, as she jerked her head up and down, blasting the notes off the staff.

Ben had enough. Thank God Felicity never did this! What was wrong with Annabelle anyway? He pushed Annabelle off him.

"Annabelle, go home. Wash all that makeup off your face, and put on some clothes before you get arrested!" Ben sat up and pulled off his shirt. He handed it to Annabelle, who for once in her life was silent, staring at Ben with her mouth open.

Ben walked over to the Merriman's, not caring who saw him, or what they thought of him. He walked into the barn, knowing Felicity would be there. She was brushing Penny and crying, mumbling something Ben couldn't hear.

"Felicity." Ben stated, he missed just saying her name! "Felicity, we need to talk."