"Did you take those shells off like I told ye?"
"Aye sir I did."
"Good, she'll be more of an attraction without em."
Ariel awoke, and for the first time in forever, she felt at home. Her skin felt smooth again, she felt rejuvenated, she felt like she was once again floating in the ocean. The only thing that was out of place was her vision, for it was slowly starting to focus in. As it did, she started to make out green wavy shapes, and in no time at all, her vision cleared, and she saw them for what they were; kelp. She was home again. Ignoring the voices she had heard when she first awoke, she took off full speed in a straightforward direction. Then she was abruptly stopped by an unseen barrier, glass. As she looked around she started to realize what was happening, the water ended at a point were the glass divided it from the outside world, and on the outside world she could see people staring back at her. She was in a tank.
Now she was scared, scared of everything, of what would happen, what had happened, and what was happening now. Her hand went to her heart in surprise, but instead of the shells that used to be there, all she felt was bare skin. At that she looked down to see if they had been misplaced or somehow broken, but instead, they were gone entirely, her bare skin exposed to all the faces to see.
She immediately covered herself and looked for a place to hide, but the tank was entirely empty, the only thing it contained was rocks, and a few strands of kelp growing up amongst them. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. So instead she just swam to a corner, and turned facing it, covering her breasts up with her arms, and started to cry.
As she sat there, crying, reflecting on the past events, she thought of looking up, and obvious idea that should have been her first, but upon looking up, she saw blackness, still, with hope in her heart, she swam upwards and peaked the surface. It was shut off, with one small hinged wooden door in the corner, she went to this door and tried to open it, but it was locked as expected. She pushed three times and then quit, but as she quit, the small hinged door opened on its own, and she raced out it.
As she was hopeful for freedom once more a large hand came down upon the top of her head and pushed her back under the water. After she was submerged once more, the hand threw down five pieces of seaweed, and slammed the hinged door shut.
Ariel didn't even try to open the door again, she just took the pieces of kelp that had been fed to her like a dog, and went back to her corner to eat, and to cry.