A/N: My reviewers are fantastic:hugs reviewers: But one problem… I have too much homework! AND, I might be getting a job so that may cause slower updations. And walla! Here's my 12th chapter!

12

I stared at the merman before me silently, and he stared back. My mind seemed to remember something about him; he was so familiar. I thought harder and suddenly I remembered who he was. Mina had mentioned his name before… wasn't it Miruko? It appeared as if I met him some time ago, I was so sure that about it.

"Coral? Is it you?" I heard him say. I closed my eyes, his voice was soft and comforting, not like the other's whose was horrifying and made you dread to hear his words. My heart seemed to melt as he talked; his voice was just so… beautiful.

I re-opened my eyes to see him staring at me, waiting for an answer.

"Uh—yes, I'm Coral… how'd you know that?" I mentally slapped myself, that was the most stupidest question! Of course I knew!

He just smiled, his very sweet smile. "You've met me before."

I tried making a puzzled expression, but I guess I didn't do it quite well since I heard him laugh softly.

I could hear him laugh forever if I wished.

I smiled shyly and felt my face blush. My heart felt as if it was a size too big, my mind seemed to stop but just daze over him. I suddenly shook my head mentally, what was wrong with me?

"Is your sister around too?" He asked.

Oh no, Mina! I thought. I forgot about her again! How stupid of me, now what would she do? Without me, she would probably be stuck at the orphanage for a long time and be adopted by an uncaring family. I knew she needed me now more than ever.

"I—no! I have to go find her!" I couldn't just stay here and let myself talk to Miruko, I had to find Mina as soon as possible! My sister was more important than anything.

I swam off before he even had a chance to reply. I swam through the ocean as fast as my tail could go. However, I had no idea where the shore was or how I was going to find Mina. But my goal right now was just to find my sister before I could think about anything else.

I swam close to the surface and saw that it was completely dark. But my mind shifted back to finding Mina even if it was the last thing I could do.

I swam for hours, and still couldn't find the shore. Maybe I had swam the wrong way? But I knew that was foolish, the shore had to be east, not west.

As I swam, I discovered many other creatures in the sea rather than during the day. There were fish larger, and more dangerous than any I had ever seen. My eyes could make out a flat figure on the ocean floor and was the color of the sand, it appeared to be invisible. I watched quickly as a lonely fish swam lazily near the ocean floor, right in the direction of the camouflaged creature.

Suddenly in a swift movement, the creature moved from its spot on the floor and ate the poor fish in a blink of an eye and went back hiding.

My eyes were wide open the whole time, it was just freaky to just see a fish get eaten by something so quickly. I felt myself shiver, but I continued to swim trying to find the shore while thinking about the poor fish.

At night, the sea was dangerous, but not from sharks mostly. Other fishes were far more dangerous than any shark, even if it was small in size. Not to mention poisonous plants as well, since I just saw a small crab maybe the size of my thumb practically get eaten by a plant. Of course at night it was far more interesting than during the day, but I did spot some sharks nearby and tried to swim far away from it as possible since it looked hungry.

I was frightened, my eyes couldn't see as clearly under the water as during the day, but luckily my hearing was the same and the vibration of the water was no different, only calmer.

I felt myself get drowsy, I wanted to sleep, but I was too focused on finding Mina. But how would I find her during the night anyway? It's not like she's going to go swimming when it's dark, I should probably wait till it's morning.

My fish tail seemed to be slowing down as it grew tired, and my mind wasn't working properly. I decided to find a nice spot for me to rest.

I searched around a bit till I found rocks near the surface. I swam over to it and spotted a small cave under the rocks. I squeezed myself in and found that it was a rather small place, but good enough for me to rest.

I lay on the sand and rested my head feeling my eyes begin to close. I drifted off to sleep in less than a minute.

I woke the next morning to find daylight seeping through the rocks I was sleeping under. My mind seemed unfocused as to how I got here, until I remembered. I groaned realizing what had happened yesterday, until I realized I couldn't even groan since no noise came out.

I stretched my arms and back. I tried to get slowly out from under the rocks and spotted a lion fish staring at me, at least I thought it was looking at me. It didn't move at all, just remained frozen until I saw it float on top of the surface. I began to wonder that it was dead.

I frowned and swam away remembering how I had to find Mina. Since it was daylight, I could see more clearly and found that the shore was only about half a mile away. I smiled in delight and swam towards the shore eager to find my sister.

I arrived near the beach in about five minutes and stopped. I stuck my head out of the water feeling the cold wind blow against my face making me shiver. The water was way warmer, or at least that's how I felt.

I spotted rocks on top of the surface of the water and I swam over to it. Once I came upon it, I pulled myself up and sat down gazing around the beach.

My vision was a bit blurry since it was meant to look under the water, not outside. But it was enough for me to try to spot Mina. I also noticed that I could breathe in the water and outside, except I didn't use my gills out of the water.

As I looked around, I saw little kids running on the sand, racing the waves. Moms were busy getting a tan and teenagers were busy showing off their bods. There were also people exercising down the beach and couples walking hand in hand.

I laughed softly as I saw a little boy about five years of age get his sand castle destroyed by a older kid. He cried and his mom ran over to him while spanking the other boy. The little kid stopped crying and laughed teasingly at the boy who stood there angered by him. He stomped away angrily and ran over to his mom.

There were all sorts of commotions at the beach today since I thought it was a Sunday. Or maybe it was Saturday, I didn't know.

There was also a girl about fourteen years old flirting with a guy that appeared to be twenty. I frowned at that, the guy just looked way older than her.

But no matter where I looked, I couldn't find Mina. I began to realize the orphanage probably never brought the kids to the beach, and that saddened me. What would Mina think now that I was gone? Would she think I ran away and left her? I knew how broken hearted she would be.

I sighed, I couldn't go to the orphanage either. Not like this, I just can't move around town with a fish tail. That would be a major mistake.

But I didn't move from my spot, I didn't want to. I wanted Mina to be here with me, or else I would never be happy again. No matter how selfish, how annoying she was, I still loved her.

I felt my eyes get watery and tears fell freely down my cheek. All I could do was cry.

I cried for so long until I felt that I had no more tears left. I looked sadly back in the water and couldn't hold back my surprise. I wasn't looking at myself, or at least I thought it wasn't me. But the face looked so familiar.

A girl with blue eyes the color of the sea, with long blue hair along with blue eyelashes and eyebrows stared back at me. Her lips had a tint of blue and she seemed to glow with her blue fish tail. She looks so much like me, I thought, and so familiar. I moved to the left, the reflection moved with me. I stuck my tongue out, it did as well.

I gasped as I realized it was me. But it couldn't be, it just couldn't…

Although no matter how hard I tried to believe it, I couldn't. I had to accept that fact.

It was so strange, looking at yourself differently. It's like waking up and realizing you just got transported to another persons body, because that's just how I felt right now.

I felt the suns rays on my back, and they hurt. I tried moving a little, but my fin started to burn. What was going on?

After a while my whole body started to feel so dry, and I felt my skin begin to peel off. My whole body began to burn.

I quickly dived back into the water and felt so much better. But I began to wonder why my body had burned like that.

I thought hard until I remembered something my Biology teacher had explained, when fish stayed out of the water too long, they would get so dry, they could even feel their skin burn. And maybe I was like that too.

It saddened me however, my freedom of the surface was taken away from me. And I hated it. Of course I loved the sea and all, but I began to realize it couldn't be my home even if it felt like it. I suddenly didn't like the idea of being a mermaid, I wanted to go back home, with Mina and mom and dad…

Except there all gone now, I thought. I'm all alone, and I'm stuck like this forever.

:sneezes: Ugh… I have a flu. Maybe that's why you'll begin to realize this chapter isn't very good. Oh dear.