**As I creeped up to the towering stone walls blocking access to the ocean, I smiled at the soft snores echoing from the guard passed out in his chair. The moon was full and the sky was glittered with stars. After nearly a year of training, it was finally time to scale this wall to find out the truth about the ocean. **

**The government called it terrifying and claimed it prohibited for as long as I can remember. It was easy to fearmonger many of the fools on this island. Not me. I’m sick of being caged in. I needed to see what is on the other side, to know the truth. **

**Using my tools and careful precision, I made my way to the top of the wall. My body tingled with anticipation. As my hands gripped the top of the wall and hoisted my body over, I felt the sea breeze caress my skin and nearly moaned. The sight of the beach lit by moonlight brought me to tears. It was so much more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. **

**When I lowered myself to the ground, I chucked off my boots and wiggled my toes in the sand. I giggled to myself quietly and stood in awe. Gazing at the soft waves rolling in before me, I walked to the waterline. The sea called to me like a lover calling me home. **

**I dipped my toes in and yanked it back in shock at the icy chill. I drank in a deep breath and closed my eyes before diving fully into the freezing water. Fully submerged, my whole body started tingling intensely as I swam forward. Euphoria swept through my entire body as the salty water soaked into my skin. It was pure bliss. **

**Suddenly the ecstasy turned to extreme pain and I choked down water as I screamed into the sea as the pain suddenly blasted through my whole body. I desperately swung my arms to swim to the surface, but I seemed to only be sinking. I panicked as water filled my lungs. A hot fire rippled through all the nerves in my body as my skin felt like it was tearing. Wait, it WAS tearing - no.. it was shifting. **

**_What the hell is happening? Am I dying? Was it all true? Was I being ripped apart by the ocean? _**

**I opened my eyes and saw the ocean before me clear as daylight. I drank in a breath - wait, I was ****_breathing_****!? How was I breathing underwater? I looked down at myself in the water and shock rippled through me as I found my legs replaced with a scaled iridescent tail. My arms had scattered scaling and little fins growing off the sides. My eyes widened and my entire body started to shake as realization hit me. Flashbacks filled my vision of being held down as a little girl and needles puncturing my skull as guards erased my memory. **

**I knew it then in that moment that the ocean was my home. This was my true form. I felt it in my bones. Breathing in the water deeper through my newly discovered gills, power flowed through my veins and I flicked my tail swimming to the water’s surface. It felt so natural. **

**As soon as my ears came out of the water, I realized a blaring alarm was sounding and I saw guards rushing on the beach with boats. Fear gripped me. They were after me and I would NOT go back. I dove under the water, my tail splashing behind me as I swam for my life deeper and deeper into the ocean - to freedom.. to my****_ home_****. **