I’m being banished today and I keep thinking of what my mum said to me when I was little.
“It’s not the sharks you need to be afraid of. It’s the mermaids.”
I’m still not exactly sure what I did to be banished to the elements, but I do know that I’m terrified. The little raft they’ve given me doesn’t help either.
I can barely sit on the thing, and the cold sea sends sudden tears to my eyes. I look at the enforcer but my mouth is too dry to beg. I can’t see his face anyway with the mask.
The door closes quickly and I gauge my surroundings. Blue all around. It’s the darkest blue I’ve ever seen, and it’s horrific. What is waiting to snatch me into the deep? Are there monsters looking at my feet dangling in the water?
The fortress I once called home is too slippery to hold onto so I end up drifting into the blue sea, squinting at the sun in my eyes.
All I taste is salt as the fortress shrinks away, and my hopes of surviving vanish with it.
Then something pokes my foot and I scream, scrambling for purchase as it prods my foot curiously.
A person surfaces - no - a mermaid! Dark eyes, mouth full of pointy teeth, and a set of pointy ears. I paddle away with desperation but she holds the raft fast with one hand.
“You aren’t going anywhere with those stubby fins, hun.” She says. “And what’s with the hair? Did and electric eel bite you?”
It speaks english? I stop paddling. “Are you going to eat me?” I ask.
“Eww, no! Bleh, the carbs alone - not worth it. I’m taking you to the city.”
I blink, “City?” My mind races. “It’s just ocean, aside from fortresses. I was banished-“
“Ooh, what for? Spill, girl!” She rests her pointy elbows on the raft.
“I don’t - what city do you mean?” I try to steer the conversation.
“Oh, right. All human refugees have to be taken to the city under the sea, don’t worry, there’s like, air, and stuff. It’s my job to find you guys. Minimum wage isn’t too bad down there.”
“I have to get a job? How is there air under there?” I’m in shock, I must be.
“How am I supposed to know? There’s like, a whole process. One bite and you’re there.” Her mouth peels open and I recoil and the needle teeth on display.
“Oh HELL no! Get away from me!” I paddle against the sea.
“Relax, it’s just a sleep bite, it will make it easier to take you down there.”
“No! I don’t want to go anywhere!” I screech.
The mermaid looks annoyed. “Look, either I take you down there as a refugee, or as dinner. Not for me though, I’m on a diet. One bite! That’s it!”
“I thought mermaids didn’t eat people?!”
“Yeah, but other creatures do. Come on, let’s go already, before the salon closes.”
“Salon?”
The mermaid runs her fingers through her hair. “Yup. You need it hun, the human one isn’t bad, they sometimes paint my nails.”
“What happens if I don’t go?”
The mermaid looked all around. “You will get sunburned real bad. Then probably die and stuff. So, good luck with that.”
She starts to sink her head under the sea, and I look around and realise that she is right.
“Wait.”
She eyes me from her half submerged position.
I close my eyes and hold up one finger. “One bite. I suppose it beats dying.”
Her head grins up at me.
“Sunburn too. Ready?”
“I guess so…”
Her mouth opens and the array of pointy teeth emerge, ready to bite.