"Dumb locker! Open!"
The annoyed voice of a young teenage girl rang out angrily as she banged her fist against the metal. Muttering something fierce under her breath, the girl reared her foot against the metal locker, and was rewarded when it finally opened.
Ignoring the hustle and bustle, she focused on her own problems. Quickly dropping to her knees, she started to load her bag with heavy textbooks. While she was doing this, without any prior warning, she was literally shoved into the locker by someone's knee. She winced in pain, but used to it by now, she didn't make a scene.
Instead, the girl took a deep, gasping breath, trying to center her thoughts. Nearly suffocating, she grabbed her last book, pushed her glasses up her nose again, and devised a plan. With all the strength she could muster, she pushed hard backwards against his knee, finally freeing herself.
Unfortunately, the same could be said for her papers and books.
"No, not now!" Marcie moaned, seeing all things scattered across the floor.
With a sigh, she grabbed her backpack and scrambled after whatever she could find.
She crawled through the throng of students, carefully, but quickly, trying to make her way through them. She gathered as many as she could, filling her arms, but she was no match for the dozens of feet that kept stepping, and consequently, kicking, everything away from her.
Finally, when she had at least half picked up, she came to the realization that this was as good as it was going to get. Shoving what she could into her bag, the girl, who was still on her knees in the middle of the hallway, looked longingly towards her still open locker, before sighing and getting up. Some things would just have to wait.
Weaving her way through the crowd of students was tough, but finally she managed to push her way through and made it outside. More determined now, she pushed her glasses back up her nose, and confidently surveyed her surroundings. It looked like everything would be fine after all.
Her self-assurance lasted only a few seconds. Due to weather concerns, football practice had been canceled today, which meant that she had to catch the bus back home. And right now, said bus was leaving.
For almost a minute, her jaw hung open. Then, when the rationality that she was being left behind kicked in, she quickly changed her tune.
"No! Wait, please!" Desperately, Marcie started to run after the vehicle, though she was weighed down significantly by her bag. "I'm right here! C'mon, wait up!"
Her pleas were, apparently, unheard or uncared for, because the bus sped forward. In all, the girl was left on the sidewalk, hope dashed in her eyes. She shook her head at the entire situation.
"Today is just not my day," she groaned.
With a heavy sigh, she started to make her way, on foot, towards home. The walk wouldn't be long at the very least. Besides, she reasoned, being alone for awhile wasn't so bad.
As was usual of a weekday afternoon, the only cars that whizzed by her were those of the upperclassmen. No one stopped to offer a ride because, like all freshmen, her place was on the bus. That was made expressly clear. It was these types of high school social-laws that governed her world.
"It could be worse," Marcie mused, shoving her cold hands into her jacket pockets. The fall weather this year had been particularly brutal. "I mean, it isn't perfect, but it's good 'nough."
She kept walking, filling her mind with what she would need to do once she got home. She had to start on the laundry, vacuum and mop up, throw out some bottles…she sighed. It was going to be a long day.
"I hope Adam isn't messin' around. Ever since he got with Caity he's been so weird," she mumbled, rolling her eyes at the thought. "I swear, when I'm a senior, I won't act like that."
She sighed again, shaking her head. Her brother in love was just gross. And right now, since another pair of hands was out of the question, she would have to focus on cleaning up before anyone got home.
Unless…they were already there.
Waiting.
Angry.
"Oh, jeez," she mumbled to herself, stopping for a moment. She felt nausea start to rise in her throat, and pressed her fingers to her temples. "Oh, no, no—"
A strong gust of unseasonable wind whipped around, making the girl's blue eyes fly open. Stumbling, she tried to regain her balance, but the wind was still swirling around her, harder and harder. She tried to take a step forward but she was immediately pushed back, almost falling again.
"Whoa!" She cried out, struggling to keep her balance against the harsh breeze.
She wrapped her arms around herself tighter, trying to see through the short red hair whipping at her eyes. Heart pumping in fear, Marcie fought desperately to run, to walk, to do anything but just stand there.
"What's going on?!" She yelled, hardly able to even get the words out of her mouth.
The wind was carrying away the sound of her voice! Feeling herself being pushed further back by this freak storm, she came to the split second decision to do what came naturally. Opening her mouth, she reared up to let out an ear-shattering scream that would certainly be heard—!
"Oomph!"
Marcie felt herself suddenly pushed over, her breath momentarily knocked out. Eyes wide open, the girl felt the acute awareness of ground beneath her, and really, really high foliage above her.
Numb with shock, she blinked, her mind working fast to understand what on earth had just happened.
One minute, there's this…all this rough wind surrounding her, and the next …where was she? Propping her body up on her elbows, the girl pushed her glasses (which were miraculously unharmed) back up her nose and stared slack-jawed at her surroundings.
She was in some type of…forest? All around her were plants, and it was dotted every now and then by small, colorful wild flowers. The trees were tall, and moss grew on almost every rock.
How did she end up here? Just a second ago she'd been walking back home, hadn't she? How did she go from a sidewalk to the woods, without driving anywhere? She'd walked back home at least a thousand times with no problem, and then suddenly this happens? Was she going insane?
Well, she wouldn't find out if she was lying down, she reasoned.
Sitting up all the way, the girl brushed herself off and stood up quickly. Leaning down, she grabbed her book bag and quickly put one arm through a strap, while trying to ignore her rumbling stomach. Finally, she took in a deep, calming breath and spoke up.
"H-Hello? Is—Can anyone hear me? Hello?"
Her answer was silence.
There was just…nothing.
"That's weird…" Marcie muttered to herself, unnerved by everything so far.
She reached into her pocket then and took out her cell phone, determined to find something that would help her, like a map. However, there was one problem she encountered almost immediately.
She had no service.
Sighing in frustration, Marcie shoved her phone back into her jacket pocket. She looked around for a second, before she locked her sights on what seemed like a trail. Maybe it would lead to someone who had phone service.
"I got lost and need to use your phone," she started to practice what she'd say when she came across a person, figuring it was a way to keep her mind out of this craziness. "I was on my way back from school, but I somehow ended up here, and I need to call my brother."
She nodded to herself, liking how'd she'd handle the situation. Squinting her eyes, she looked in the distance. She was just able make out something tall, like a tower with shingles.
"A…house?" she breathed, relief evident in her tone. That meant she was somewhere near Amherst, right?
"Either way," she muttered, "If it's out of this park, I'll be good."
Trudging along, the teenager tried to keep herself entertained by continuing one-sided conversations on how she'd greet the Rangers. She made good time, but despite that, it still took her a good twenty minutes to get to what looked like an entire town.
With people.
Who were all dressed weird.
"What the…!" Marcie cried out, lunging for safety as she was almost run over by…"Is that a horse?!"
She looked around wildly then, confusion taking hold as she couldn't see any cars, or stop signs, or gray asphalt. There were shops with names she didn't understand, like cobbler, and blacksmith, and what the heck was an apothecary store? And was that a…was that another horse?
Feeling unsure, Marcie wrapped her arms tightly around her middle. She stumbled through the uneven ground of the cobblestone streets, barely managing not to bump into someone. Everyone brushed passed quickly, too fast to ask anything. After dodging a group of running kids, she saw a woman standing outside of what looked like a store, not too far ahead. Was this some sort of old-time outdoor mall then?
"Ma'am?" She asked, slightly out of breath as she reached the woman. She looked middle-aged, her face plain, and she was a few inches taller than Marcie.
"…yes?" The woman made a point to answer, hesitantly, as her eyes raked over the girl.
The teen fidgeted under her gaze, her eyes falling to the ground in a hopefully less embarrassed way. Suddenly everything she'd practiced fell through, and she swallowed hard. "Uh…do you have a phone I could borrow? Mine's not getting any reception."
"A phone." The woman repeated, almost in a deadpan voice.
Marcie scuffed her shoe against one of the stones that made up the street, nodding slightly. "Yeah, you know, like a cell phone? Or like, an office phone? I'll only be a sec, I promise."
"Alright, who put you up to this?" The woman asked, and the teen looked up in bewilderment, just to see the woman's narrowed eyes at her. "What kind of dare is that? To dress up like you are, and poke fun at a poor woman trying to make a living?"
"But I'm not—"
"Go on now, shoo, before I call my husband out and he gives you the business!" When the teen didn't move, still stuck in a disoriented state, the woman pushed her away, yelling, "Shoo!"
Marcie stumbled a few steps, before looking back in confusion. The woman had already moved on, talking to someone else, who had a basket slung over their arm. The girl, slightly dazed at the turn of events, found herself looking up ahead. In the not too far distance, she could see the tower again. Only now the tower was attached to much more, bigger, grander…
She ignored the odd looks she was given when she declared, a bit too loudly in relief, "A skyscraper!"
More determined now, Marcie headed towards the tall building. It took her a good half hour, and she received more weird looks than she should have, but she didn't mind it. After all, she reasoned this place was probably some type of business, where they'd be normal and explain to her that this was some type of elaborate game of dress-up.
"Finally," she breathed, as she made it to a large archway. Directly ahead was a large gate, but as her eyes travelled along it, she could see people dressed in uniform right above it.
"Security," she muttered, as she looked down at herself. She had a sloppily sewn hole in her jeans, a thoroughly worn jacket, dirty sneakers, and grimaced.
"There's no way they'll lemme in like this," she sighed, shaking her head. She had to get to a phone, but doubted the probability of her entering to do so. However, something caught the corner of her eye, and she perked up. "But if I follow the leader..."
A group of people were entering through without any problem, most of them carrying things. Thinking quickly, she took her backpack off of her shoulders, and into her hands. She grunted at the shifting of weight, before keeping low enough to just duck behind the crowd.
She was in the gates within a minute, and inside the building not a second later. While the people kept talking to each other, focusing on their task at hand, Marcie looked around, before turning a sharp corner.
"Well, that was easy," she grinned to herself, struggling with the stuck and half-open zipper of her bag, before giving up and slinging it back onto her shoulders. "Now to find someone normal with a phone."
Always cautious, Marcie tried not to make any more noise than she may have already done. The last thing she needed was for security to find her trail. Her Converse tapped softly on the floor, and even her breathing lowered considerably. She was better safe than sorry.
Besides, she didn't have time to fool around here. She had to find someone, or find a phone, whichever was first, and then make sure—
"Oomph!" Marcie made an instinctive noise again at being knocked clean off her feet.
"Sorry!" A hurried voice quickly apologized. "I'm so sorry! I was going so fast, and I wasn't paying any attention to where I was—oh! I'm sorry, I should have asked this before—you're not hurt, are you?"
Marcie looked up, squinting without her glasses, and unable to recognize the blurry form in front of her. From the voice, the teen could tell that this was a woman. Other than that, everything was a haze.
"No ma'am, I'm fine," she mumbled quickly, getting to knees.
She started to search for her glasses, which she assumed had fallen off when she fell. She tried very hard to ignore the person near her. She pushed aside papers—were they hers?—but it was to no avail.
"What are you looking for?" The voice asked again, this time with a curious tone behind it instead of a hurried one.
"My glasses," Marcie sighed, "I'm practically blind without 'em."
"Oh! I'll help you find them!" Before the girl even had a chance to respond, the voice again cried out, "Here they are!" and her glasses were suddenly thrust in front of her.
Hesitantly, the girl reached out and took back her lenses, realizing that the woman was leaning down to her level. "Thank you, ma'am."
"It's the least I can do…ah…" The person trailed off for a moment, before looking down at the papers and acquiring a name. "Marcie, is it?"
"Yes, ma'am, it is," the teen acknowledged, before quickly grabbing her much lighter school bag.
Surprised, her eyes flickered towards it, and she realized her papers text books had slid out. She sighed. Her day was going from bad to worse really fast.
"Here, these are yours," something was thrust towards Marcie again, something coming from the woman.
Realizing that she'd have to look up to accept whatever it is that was hers from the woman, the girl prepared herself mentally. Brushing hair out of her eyes, Marcie let her eyes connect with the woman's as she grabbed her school things.
The result was mind blowing.
Both people in the hallway reflectively jerked back, their eyes startled.
The woman leaning down in front of Marcie looked like she could be…almost related. She had the same bright red hair that Marcie possessed, though hers was long and framed her face. The shape of her face was similar too, including the size of her big, blue eyes. For the teenager, there was enough of a resemblance to have a disconcerting idea occur: what if…?
Blushing slightly at the thought, Marcie lowered her gaze, taking the papers from the woman as she did. She was too mature to believe in such things. All her papers and her heavy textbooks were shoved back into her bag without much care. Then she stood, staring at her worn-down shoes and waited for the woman to say something.
"Mel-Melody?"
The teenager looked up a moment, her brows pulling together in confusion. "No, ma'am; I'm Marcie."
"Oh! O-Of course!" Ariel stumbled over her words, and managed, with some difficulty, to control herself.
"I was just…just…" she cleared her throat, trying to take firm control over her nerves. "I'm sorry, but have…have we met before?"
The struggle she endured to keep her voice from rising about four octaves was almost unmanageable. The girl…there was something there that just didn't sit well. The resemblance to her dark-haired daughter was more than staggering; there was something here that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"No, ma'am, I don't think we've ever met," Marcie shook her head, frowning in consternation, because she would have known if she'd met someone who looked like this. "Actually…I don't even think I've ever beenhere before. Do you know what this place is?"
"This is…you're at…" Ariel winced tightly at a sudden migraine overcoming her mind. Her pulse quickened, and heart pounded hard.
"Ma'am?" Marcie's asked uneasily, sensing what she perceived to be the woman's odd behavior. "Look, I'm just gonna go, 'k?"
Taking a step back slowly, the teen concluded the woman in front of her was weird. How else could she explain the way the woman had acted completely normal, and then seemed so out of it?
"No…wait!" Ariel cried out, grabbing the girl. In the still rational part of her mind, she realized that the teen had to go get help.
Instead of blurting this out, however, her mouth suddenly dried of any words. Her blue eyes connected with those of the teenager's. Her senses became astonishingly acute, zoning in on a light brown birthmark just below the girl's temple in the interesting shape of a seashell.
It suddenly became too hard to breath.
And then it happened.
It seemed like the world collapsed under Ariel's feet. It felt like all the pressure on her skull was suddenly lifted off, and her eyes were opening for the first time. It was like everything disappeared around her, and all the woman could see was an old memory unfolding before her very eyes.
A memory she'd tried to repress since…since…
"Dear Neptune," she swore softly, her one free hand going to cover her mouth.
She stared, not able to release her just yet. Her blue eyes stared at her, tracing every part of the teen. Yet, in her shock, she failed to notice the way the girl's lips opened with words of alarm.
Her entire body shaking now, Ariel felt her legs grow weak. Tears suddenly clouded her vision, and in a fluid moment she pulled the girl to her, attempting to wrap her in a hug.
"Let-me-go!" Marcie screamed, so loud that she could have shattered glass.
Grabbing the woman's arm with all the strength she possessed, Marcie yanked it until the woman let out a shocked cry, letting her go. This allowed Marcie to back up a step or two, but not before the woman started to reach out her other hand. Thinking fast, Marcie delivered a stinging kick to the woman's ribs.
The redheaded woman doubled over, gasping in pain. The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards them from a distance. Heart in her ears, the girl looked around, right to left, left to right, before determining the only way she could get out of here was to turn around and run in the direction she'd come.
So she did.
Marcie had run before. She'd run in heart stopping fear, she'd run in determination, and she'd run just to run. Never before though, in her short fourteen years, had she run for her life. She was terrified, desperate, and everything in between.
She came to a hallway intersection, where there were three potential places that one could go. Adrenaline pounding, she allowed for her instincts to take over as she ran straight. But going ahead, the girl suddenly felt an ache somewhere deep in her stomach.
None of this seemed right.
She didn't recognize any of the expensive wallpaper, the portraits that were five times her size, the marble floors, the chandeliers, the flowers, the people…
Yes, people. Women and men, some carrying things, others gossiping, none of them dressed up in business clothes...all of them shot strange looks towards the teen. Many called out to her, but their words were lost in the trail of air that she left behind.
Unsatisfied that she'd gone far enough, Marcie didn't decline in her running. Although her body complained for her to no longer move, she refused. She couldn't stop, not until she could get some help.
"Whoa! What do we have here?"
A booming voice suddenly sounded in front of Marcie. The girl frowned, slowing down when she saw two big feet in her way. She decided to stop in her tracks, and slowly craned her head back until she'd saw a man who was twice her size in muscles alone.
The growling from her stomach caused the girl to jerk out of her open mouthed state. Fear spurned her to start running again. Pathetically, she didn't even make it two steps before the man reached out an arm and firmly held her in place.
"Where are you headed off too?" The man asked, seemingly curious about her supposed destination.
Marcie, not processing his question, tried to fight her way out of this. "Leave me alone! I hurt that lady, and I can hurt you too!"
The large man seemed to study her for a moment. Something passed across his face, only to be clouded over by confusion. Finally, he gave her an appraising look.
"Who did you hurt now? Can't imagine a scrawny thing like you doing much damage."
In response, the teenager swiped at his nose, missing by barely an inch. She tried a second time, but he quickly leaned far away from her dangerous fists. He decided that her violent display was the best answer he would get.
"Well, you're in a heap of trouble now. I wouldn't suggest struggling." The man said nonchalantly, noticing the girl's vain attempts to break free.
"Leave me alone or I'll scream!" Marcie retorted, still trying to fight back against the behemoth. "I can kick your butt too! I'm not afraid to beat you up!"
"Whatever you say, girl." The man shrugged, seemingly unconvinced by the girl's antics. "Now c'mon; the Captain is going to want to speak to you."
Disclaimer: Ariel and the setting for this story are from The Little Mermaid, which is property of Disney. I own nothing; everything represented from the film(s), tv series, etc. is/are the property of Disney. Other characters are from my own imagination and are not associated with Disney.