“ realizing I could not feel my legs. I looked down. And the weird thing was my legs were still there.” I did not understand this. Somethings wrong! Really wrong. How can I still have my legs but I can’t feel them? I felt myself starting to panic! is this a nightmare? Or is this in real life? What is happening to me? Could someone please give me some answers?

I heard someone say oh good you are awake! I stammered mom? Is that you? “yes my darling. It’s mom.” “Mom why can I not feel my legs? What is wrong with me?” “Well you had an accident. And it unfortunately left you paralyzed.” “I started to cry. My mom comforted me. but once I realized the truth of my situation, I knew there was nothing left for me to do. But to move on. And adapt to my new situation. And that was that.”

I woke up one cold morning with a strange sensation. I could not feel my legs. I looked under the covers and boy was I surprised. I had a tail. A freaking mermaid tail!

Understandably, I was kind of loosing my mind. How on earth did I have a tail when yesterday I was running around with legs? I was so confused that I started flopping around and accidentally fell out of bed. That hurt a lot.

My tail was super heavy when I tried to scooch towards my door. Thankfully, whatever caused my transformation gave me a sea shell bra or I would’ve completely lost my mind.

After a very long time, I made it to my pool, which seemed like the only logical explanation. The water rushing over my scales gave me so much peace, I don’t know why I was freaking out so much. I was home.

You wake up and can’t feel your legs. Then you look down. You furrow your eyebrows.

“This isn’t right’ you think in confusion.

Then you take in a deep breath. You catch the smell of the ocean. The tang of sea salt and the smell of seaweed on the rock.

‘Hang on! What am I doing on a ruddy rock? This is ridiculous!’ Then your mind drifts back to the night before.

Your fiancée had dumped you for your best friend. It turned out she’d only gone with you to get to him. You found this out when you got home from work.

The message read …..

I wish I could say I’m sorry but I’m really not. I’ve always loved your bestie more than you. But I’ve never been able to get near him. Thanks to you I could and …. the rest is history. Ps I sold the engagement ring on Ebay!

You were crushed and found yourself in a bar. Four pints in and beginning to feel a little rough, you turned to your right. While trying very hard not to fall off the bar stool, a figure caught your eye.

He looked at you and said, “Whatever your problem is I can fix it! You’ll get away from everything. You’ll never be bothered again.”

Without thinking this through you shouted “YES” The man was startled. “I don’t give a damn about consequences. Do it. DO. IT. NOW.”

The man mumbled something and you drifted off in to slumber. Then you woke up on your rock.

You look down again you see a beautiful tail with rainbow coloured scales.

“THIS IS SO COOL. HEY WORLD LOOK AT ME. IM A MERMAN!”

Of course no one hears you.

Meanwhile, hanging off a small rock not too far away …….

A figure hears you and thinks, “Oh no. Another one. I’d better collect him, or he’ll be above all night!”

The figure moves towards you and pulls your tail gently.

As you slip under the water a rousing song can be heard.

“Under the sea, under the sea. Darling it’s better, down where it’s wetter. Take it from me.”

Sebastian would be so proud

Your voice slowly fades in to the coastal winds.

My legs were broken and covered with scratches an whip marks. I let out a blood cuddling scream with a loud sob. I see the cellular door open. "You're finnaly awake." he says as he lifts me up into a wheelchair. I cry and pled for him to stop but I know that this was the end.

You wake up, cannot feel your legs, and then you look down Shaking off the grogginess, you note with a frown, that the dentist standing there at the end of your bed with a mask on his face and a cap on his head and a syringe half filled with a Novocain blend exclaims with a smirk “Oops sorry, wrong end!”

Smell...fresh meat? Or are they being defrosted? I know this smell coming from a refrigerator. Where I used to work.

Animal flesh being slaughtered and packed for human consumption... where am I? I can’t see anything in here. Am I being transported in this...vehicle?

I am trying to move my legs but they are packed inside...a box? What about my arms? They are stuck to the side of my body and all I can move is my fingers...

or can I? Are they my fingers? Or...someone else’s? Is the smell coming from this person whose fingers I’m feeling...so cold?

Like frozen meat!

The fish was floating a few inches above my bathroom countertop. She was my fish, that was understood in the dream logic of it, but my fish wasn’t a calico koi betta. The reached out my hand toward the fish and it fell onto the countertop gasping. I grabbed the nearest container, filled it with water and tried to scoop the fish into it. Before I could get it back into the water it rose and began to swim through the air again. I stared in awe until it fell again. Again I tried to scoop it up, again flicked out of my reach. I threw down the cup in frustration.

And then I woke up. I couldn’t feel my legs. They wouldn’t move or at least not in any way I was used to. I threw off my sheets and promptly lost all my senses. I didn’t have any legs. What I had was a mermaid’s tail. I tried moving it, just a little the way I might have wiggled my toes. The fan shaped end of my fin flicked back and forth. I was a mermaid.

“Luuuuuuuke,” I yelled. I grabbed my phone and called Connie. “Luke! I need help!” Maybe it was a prank by my roommates, we’d had a bit of a rager the night before. They could have borrowed a costume mermaid tail and put it on me while I was passed out. I gingerly touched the scaly surface, it was slick like a fish. Not a prop then. Connie’s phone went to voice mail.

“Coooooonieeeeee!” I wailed. “Luke! Help!”

Finally the door opened and Luke entered rubbing his eyes.

“Dude, why are you being so loud?” He stopped as soon as he saw me. Then he laughed. “Aw, good one!”

“No, Luke,” I said. “ Not a good one!”

Connie came in then holding her phone. “Girl, why’re you callin me on the phone when I right…what the hell is goin on here?!”

I was starting to feel light headed like I do when I haven’t had enough water. “I think I need to take a shower,” I tried to heave the tail out of bed and sit up. I almost succeed but the tail was more awkward then I thought and I fell out of bed.

“Anna, don’t move,” Connie commanded. “I’m going to make you a bath. Luke, you’re going to have to cary her.”

“On it,” Luke jogged over, putting one hand behind my back and gingerly sliding the other under my fin, roughly where my knees would be. “Oof, man, no offense but this feels kinda gross.”

“Thanks a lot,” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be sure to remember that the next time I decide to wake up as half an animal!”

“That’s what’s up,” Luke said cheerfully as he carried me to the main bathroom and gently set me down in the lukewarm bath Connie was drawing up. While I sat and stared at how my tail shimmered under the water, Connie brought me my phone, which I’d dropped falling out of bed, before she went to work.

“I’ll do some research in my free time,” she said. “You’ll want to call out of work.” I nodded. Luke brought me a breakfast smoothy and sat by me while drank them.

“What’s it like?” He asked.

“It feels freakin weird.” We were quiet for a bit.

“You wanna watch something? I can bring my computer in and put it on the toilet.”

“Ok,” I nodded. We were fifteen minutes into Spirited Away when Connie called and told Luke to go over to our neighbor’s house, the one who had all the tropical fish and see if he could borrow some aquarium salt for my bath. Luke did as Connie commanded. I wasn’t alone long before my phone rang.

“Hey, Mom,” I sighed.

“Hey, Hon,” Mom said chipperly. “How are you? Do you have a few minutes to chat?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I had to call out sick today.”

“Oh no, What’s the matter?”

“I woke up with a fish tail. Kinda hard to drive with fins.”

Mom laughed. “Well, you always wanted to be a mermaid when you grew up! Remember when you told your father and I your real parents were sharks?” I laughed. If only she saw me now.

“Well, I’ll let you rest then,” Mom said. “Do you need me to come by with anything?”

Just then Luke came in. He had a box of donuts balanced on top of a jar of aquarium salt on one arm and Connie giving him orders on his phone in the other hand. He rolled his eyes at me “Ok, Connie, I got it!”

I smiled. “Thanks mom, I think I’m all set.”

“You can remove the bindings,” I whispered as my voice pushed down my sensitive throat.

The doctor stood beside me with a calm face. “There are no bindings.”

I looked down and saw my body. I couldn’t see my legs. “What did you do to me.”

The doctor started pacing around my bed. “Well, I didn’t.” He stopped. “You were chosen. I didn’t want to do this.” He looked around as he was being listened to.

“What. The. Hell. Are you talking bout. I have no legs!! What the fuck did you do?!!!”

“You were chosen..” he looked guilty.

“Chosen!!! For what!!” I was screaming and crying. I felt the panic race around my heart.

“.. part of a new program. Operation no-man’s land.”

“Program.. by who” I was panting. I could not believe what I just heard.

“You need to calm down, you’re having a panic attack.” The doctor came closer.

“BY WHO” I screamed. And cried. I spat on his face.

“It.. the orders came from the top.”

Tears rolled down on my face. “Th… this was supposed to be.. a paradise. They told me no one would ever be hurt.. or left behind.. this would be the new world..”

The doctor turned around and injected something into me. “You need to sleep now. They’re coming.”

“Who…” “The representatives, shhh.”

The door slammed open.

I woke to a strange humming noise and the odd sense that something was very wrong. Shock gripped my heart as I realized I could not feel my legs. Willing the top part of my tired achy body to rise I looked down and could see the outline of my legs. They appeared to be just beneath the thin white sheet that covered me. My mind teetered between relief that I was till in tact and fear of how I had gotten into this situation. The room was gloomily lit by long fluorescent lightbulbs. Next to me was an IV bag with a line running right into my hand. Frantically I ripped the tape holding the needle in and pulled it out of my skin. I had to leave this place, but no matter how I willed my legs to move they wouldn’t budge. While trying to shift in the bed I heard a noise from outside the room. Footsteps growing louder until they were right outside the door. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, ice water rushing through my veins. After what seemed like an eternity I heard a faint click and the footsteps left down the hallway until I couldn’t hear them anymore. Nausea and dizziness overwhelmed me and I fell back into the bed. Escape was the only option, even if I had to crawl out. With one great heave I mustered all my strength and launched my upper body towards the right side of the bed. My arms hit the cold tile and my legs fell clumsily behind me. One arm at I time I pulled myself forward toward the window. I gripped the edge of the wall and pulled my face into the frame of the large window.My heart sunk when I saw a woman’s face, but then realized it was just my reflection. Outside it was dark and I could see the stars. I looked down and when I did not immediately see ground my hopes for jumping out the window were gone. I had to be on a high story. There was only one way out. I crawled to the door and reached as hard as I could until my finger tips reached the lever. Slowly and as quietly as I could I opened the door just enough to fit through. The hallway was so bright it was blinding. I could hear people, the sound of soft voices and movement. To the right I could see two large double doors, next to it a bright red button. It was my new goal. The pain in my elbows was deadened by a sudden dose of adrenaline. I moved with everything I had left in me, but I made it only a foot before the door opened. A man with loose fitting blue clothes and a clipboard walked through and yelled down the hallway. “We have a patient here trying to get out!” He and other people suddenly surrounded me, grabbing at me and talking all at once. “Ms. Howard you need to be in bed!” “She’s ripped out her IV!” I screamed and squirmed to get away but the men and women in strange clothes pulled me back into the room and onto the bed.
“Let me go! You can’t keep me here! People will look for me and call the police!” I directed my protest at the woman closest to me. She looked down at me with wide sad eyes. “Ma’am we aren’t trying to hurt you. You are in the hospital. You are very sick.” “Don’t bother.” A tall and hairy man at the foot of my bed said while adjusting my legs. “She will forget everything tomorrow. Her amnesia is only getting worse.” His words echoed through my mind as they all left with somber faces. I didn’t have amnesia. I wasn’t sick. Cold fluid leaked into my veins from the new IV and I drifted into darkness. I woke up to pain. It radiated through my body, especially my arms. Everywhere except my legs. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t feel my legs.

I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a meteor. My nose was congested and my throat sore. I had no feeling in my fingers and my legs were numb. Perhaps that was better than actually feeling them though. I looked down and they were strapped to the bottom of the cryogenic pod. A hiss sounded and I could practically feel the moisture run into the coffin-like box. The buckles clicked and loosened slightly as the safety lock was removed; I quickly took advantage to unstrap myself, though my tingling fingers fumbled for a moment, and open the lid.

I had the distinct impression of a mummy rising from its sarcophagi to take revenge on its grave robbers but at I rose there was no loud crack of thunder or a mysterious mist. Instead I was bombarded by lights in my face, and a metal stick poking me in random places. They talked about my pupil dilation and response times. I could tell I wasn’t at 100 percent but I was getting better, the more I moved and the more I took in. I assured them that my nerves were still fully functioning and that I could indeed see how many fingers they were holding up. I gave them every last detail from when I first went into the cryo-containment chamber and went to sleep. I gave them my name and passenger number along with my occupation and the name of the planet I was traveling to.

Eventually they were satisfied and helped me up and led me to the recovery rooms so I could lie down. It was a stumbling journey and nausea crept over me in waves at any sudden movements. My head spun and I was begging for a decent cup of Caf. But as I turned my head to talk to the other guy sitting in the next cot I saw it.

Isis. Named after the ancient goddess of Egypt, It finally rotated into view. It’s royal blue atmosphere and green oceans brighter than the greenest grass on Earth, with wine colored deserts and rich black dirt. The jungles shone in every color possible, like huge chunks of diamond were thrown into the planet and it’s mountains were indeed made of crystals. As the locations varied, so did the stone types. Some in the Northern Hemisphere shone red and yellow while the poles had huge mountains made of crystal so clear you could see all the way through them. The Southern Hemisphere had mountain made of black and blue gems. With its flurry of colors it was fitting for it’s namesake.

It was amazing! An entire new world, devoid of sentient species but bristling with new life and... adventures. As a Pathfinder this was my dream. To be the first down there. To be the first to set up a colony. This would be amazing.