Underwater Love
My first memories were of the sea. My parents taking me there as a little girl, is playing in the sand, mom and I collecting shells, dad being attacked by a seagull, my first time in the waves. So is it any wonder why I’m drawn to water? That and maybe because its also the only memories I have of my parents too.
Oh, my name is Bonnie by the way. Or Bon Bon. I’m partial to both. I’m just your typical, awkward, lonely, and almost done with high school, human girl. At least, I thought so.
A lot of people say I have some kind of natural beauty. Personally I don’t see it, and wouldn’t of even cared if I didn’t make my loneliness and self confidence worse. How you may ask? Well, first you had all the popular girls who wore, gods knows how much money in makeup, that were jealous of me, and made it very clear to me that they were so. Calling me everything from an attention sealer to a slut, when in truth, I rarely bother looking in the mirror most mornings. Then, you have the boys...
Not that they were, all, bad, ill admit, it was more the fact the majority and loudest where the ones who’d you would probably see on the sex offender registry in a couple of years. How I made it through high school without any serious incidents was beyond me. As much as I want to say it was because I knew how to keep my head down, truthfully, I think it was the fact I was the orphan girl that earned me enough pity points to only be gawked at rather that touched. Well, by ‘touched’ I mean in the worst possible way as opposed to being poked and once or twice be slapped on the butt. Oh, and to add more to my pity story; Me and my grandmother had to work long and hard to keep ourselves afloat.
My grandma, the one good thing in my life. The person who took me in when I had no where else to go, and the only true friend I had. Fortunately, my grandfather had build a somewhat popular candy shop in his and grandma’s youth when they migrated to this country. Which also served as theirs and my mother’s home as a child. And, when she and my dad died, it became my home. Which, despite having to suddenly raise a child in her old age, I think it actually worked out for her. As my grandfather had died a few year prior to my parents death. Honestly, I think her raising and teaching me the candy trade added serval more years to her life. Most of all, it kept me from having free time with any ‘boys.’ So it was a win win.
What’s that? What do I mean by, somewhat, popular? Well, I say that because the place is far from its glory days. We still win awards time from time for having the best candy in town, but let’s just say making the best isn’t cheap when the gas station three blocks over has name brand sweet cakes for less than a dollar. That, along with time and age, had worn the place down to where the paint pealed, the floors creaked, and I was sure there were a few leaks here and there, but it was home and paid the bills. At least was for the time being.
Wanting to try and improve the business, I did some research independent of my grandmother for ideas and, as my fucking luck would have it, the first thing I find are some news laws that basically boil down to you can’t live in the same place you sell food. Likely the only reason we hadn’t been notified yet was because it was meant more for dinning establishment than shops. Not that I was foolish enough to think it would last forever, but for the time being, I kept a happy face and never told my grandma about that ticking time bomb.
She really was the one thing that made me happy, next to the nearby pond in the valley my grandma would take me to when I was in grade school. Which was as great as those few times we went to the ocean, but I found myself still enjoying any form of water to get my mind off of things. It was the one place I could go and forget about bills, taxes, college exams, that asshole who slapped me on the ass the other day, grannies failing health, those bitches that called me a-
“Bonnie?” My grandmother asked me on one of those days I was deep in such negative thoughts as I was sweeping the same spot on the shops floor for who knew how long.
“Um, yeah?” I replied with a forced smile.
She frowned and asked, “Are you are happy here?”
I was taken aback. Overly optimistic by nature, sometimes too much for her own good, it wasn’t a question she would normally never have asked.
“Um, of course I am.” Which to be fair, I was whenever I was with her, so it wasn’t a total lie. I tired to get back to work, but she just kept staring at me.
I sighed, and answered a bit more truthful this time, “Okay! I…. Honestly, I don’t know.” I set the broom down and took a seat. “I don’t hate being here. With you. But,” I paused. No way in hell was I going to tell her about my school life. However...
“I’ve always had a feeling I was meant for... A different place. Where, I don’t know.”
“I see,” my grandmother said.
My fingers fighit and I continued. “I sounds silly, but, maybe there’s more I could be doing with my life. Dose that sounds strange?”
“You know, feelings like that are natural.” she assured, sitting down next me. “It’s why your grandfather and I moved to this country.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “Those were days. Anyways, I can tell your not happy here Bonnie. Always have. Now don’t give me that! You’ll be graduating soon, and I will not see you waste your life away here just for my sake!”
I jerked upwards in protest. “What? No! No really, I can still stay here. I want to stay!” I gulped and looked at my shoes in guilt.
“It’s alright,” my grandmother said, standing up to give me a hug. “You are almost an adult, Bonnie. More than ready to make your own decisions. I just want to you to know that anything you decide to do with your life, is fully approved by me. And, if carrying on this piece of trash,” she stomped on a creaky board for emphasis, “isn’t your dream, I wouldn’t blame you. If I can be honest, I’ve been thinking about selling while the house still has some value and retiring.”
My jaw dropped to the floor.
“Now don’t act so surprised.” She giggled, then let out a cough. “I’m no fool. I’m getting old and should of done so years ago. But I didn’t, for you. That’s how love works, child. You put the needs of the one you love ahead of your own, and if they love you just as much,” she playful nudged me, “they’ll do the same for you. And, if that means you’d be happier taking this place over completely, then I’ll be happy. But if your dreams are to go and do something else, then it be no skin off my bones if they tear this place down and put me in a nursing home to allow you the freedom to go wherever you want to. Just know, whatever you chose, I will support you.”
On the verge of tears, I hugged her. “Thank you, grandma,” I said, pulling away. “Ill think on it and let you know. I promise.”
…
A few months passed since then. Graduation came and went, and I was no closer to fulfilling my promise of making up my mind. Truthfully, I had decided from the day she laid those options on the table that I didn’t want to inherit the candy store. While I knew she meant it in being supportive, I wanted to let her hold onto that small dream I knew she still had of me inheriting the store for a little while longer. At least until I figured out what exactly I wanted to do with my life. Which had to be something with the ocean, but not something that would take me away from my grandmother, limiting my options.
For the time being, I also had my summer job at the local pool as a lifeguard to help cover our bills. Not that my pool job was bad, but it’s actually a lot more boring and tedious than you would think. Still, it was water, and made me happy. Maybe I should try to be a beach lifeguard? But where would that be that my grandma would live too far away?
Anyways, this particular week turned out kind to me. It started with a couple of jerks who had been harassing me on and off getting banded for life when they tried faking a drowning to get CPR by one of my fellow female life guards. A particularly rotten piece of art who often called me a slut because I preferred a two over the standard one piece swimsuit when on duty. Which, as it happened, the assholes she ‘helped’ had a case of strep throat that he passed on to her. Causing the bitch to take the week off, while I got her hours as overtime. Resulting in a very large, and well deserved, paycheck by the end of it.
After cashing my check in, I figured I’d surprise my grandmother with one of those large lemon cakes she liked for her birthday just because. Really, things had been going so well, I should of know better.
“Grandma?” I called out as I got home. “Grandma?” I called out again when she didn’t answer. “I got a little surprise for the best grandma ev-
I never got to taste that cake. Falling to the ground, forgotten at the sight of my grandma on the floor.
“Grandma!” I cried, racing forward.
I turned her to the side, and she groaned weakly. “Bonnie?”
“I’m here, Grandma, don’t worry!” I cried, reaching for my phone. “You’re going to be fine, I promise!”
She smiled at that before closing her eyes in pain. So, I failed in not one, but two promise for her.
The paramedics arrived five minutes later and raced us to the hospital. I stayed by her side the entire ambulance ride over until they took her away to the ER. I didn’t sleep or eat as I stayed in the hospital long that night. Keeping myself awake as they had a few old mermaid movies on dvd to watch in lobby. Losing myself to the wonderous creature of the sea, I hadn’t noticed it was morning till a doctor tapped me on the shoulder. I shot to my feet to ask if my grandma was okay. His face told me everything before his words left his lips. I didn’t hear a single thing he said either, my world spinning. Later I would piece together that she had died from a stroke, added on with complications from undiagnosed diabeties. Once he had finished his mumbling, I dropped to my knees and cried.
An hour later, the doctor helped me to his feet, and told me her final words she had spoken to him before the operation.
“Your grandmother had this to say before she died,” he said, trying to be courteous as possible. "She said, ‘Tell my granddaughter it’s okay. To go and live your life. I know you didn’t want to inherit the store. Just be happy.’”
Happy. He said. Making it sound so easy.
....
While I had a feeling she would of scolded me for not putting our savings to better use, I made sure she had a nice funeral with the most comfortable looking casket I could find. Hey, it wasn’t my fault she hadn’t clarified so in her will. Besides, she really did deserved all the comfort she could get in her final rest. After that, I stayed cooped up in the house for a few weeks. Which edventualy turned to me just quitting my lifeguard job all together to focus on the candy store. Making sweets by day, and crying myself to sleep at night.
It turned out my grandmother couldn’t have picked a better time to pass away. Not three weeks after her death, that separation of housing and food preparation law came a knocking. Just a letter, notifying me about it, and that I had a month to either find somewhere else to live or work and that I could no longer do both in the same building.
“What am I supposed to do now?!” I yelled, having torn the notice apart. “My only family… My only friend, gone!” I sobbed. After weeping for a bit, I remembered granny’s words.
“Live your life, the way you want to live.”
I lifted my head, and looked at the decaying walls. I... couldn’t, could I? No... No. It was bad enough she was going to chastise me for having given her such an expensive funeral when I saw her again, I wasn’t going to give her anything else.
Pulling myself up, I made my decision.
…
While I obviously wish my grandma hadn’t die, I became more and more grateful that she went when she did. Turns out she wasn’t wrong in wanting to have retire and sell the store years ago. I won’t bore you with the details of trying to sell the place, but when it was evaluated, it turned out the interior was far more rotted than either me or my grandma had known. Given a few more months, if that dam separation law hadn’t done us in, the growing mold would of. So I ended up settling on the second best offer from one of my local real estate agency’s. Hardly what I or my grandmother would of thought to be fair for our home. But, for someone moving away to start a new life, mixed in with the profits from the stores going out business/garage sale, it gave me enough to get where I wanted to go. The last I heard of it, the place was torn down and made into a dog park. Which I suppose wasn’t the worse thing to have happened. Not that I cared anymore. For I was now free, and alone, to do whatever I wanted with my life.
I ended moving to a small beach town along the west coast. Where I spent the summers as a life guard, and was even able to get a paid internship at the local aquarium for the winter months. With the added possibility of getting hired on full time once my internship concluded.
In my free time, I would frequently surf, and even played beach volleyball with a number of my coworkers from time to time if it was a big event. I was still rather shy, but I was grateful that they didn’t harass and let me join in with them at my own pace. Days were slow, but it was really nice. For the first time in my life, I was starting to feel happy all the time.
Two years into my new life, I was out surfing, when my luck caught up to me. I had misjudged a wave and it sent flying. Which wasn’t something new to me, and being a strong swimmer, normally wouldn’t have been a problem. Of course, I just happened to have been near a reef. I hit my head on some of the coral and passed out.
Fortunately, I was strapped to the safety on my surfboard. Unfortunately, when I came too, I felt a sharp pain in my legs, and realized that I had drifted far out into open waters.
“Ah fuck!” I cursed myself. No land in sight, and to make maters worse, the only thing I could of used for direction, the sun, was clouded out. Oh, and my surfboard had broken in two and was failing to stay afloat. An hour or two later, and the back end would of dragged my unconscious body into the deep.
“Help!” I cried out. “Somebody, help me”
Time passes, my surfboard long gone, and nothing but my natural bouncy keeping me afloat. However, with the pain in my legs, I doubted I would have the strength to keep afloat for much longer.
“This is the end,” I thought, as more and more water entered my mouth. As it started to get dark, I decided to give up, and let the water take me. Not a bad way to go, I figured, as I sank under the surf. I would be with my grandma soon, and hey, I loved water. So what a fitting way to go.
Suddenly, I felt a little arms grab and pulled me up to the surface. I let out a sharp breath. However, before I could see who rescued me, I passed out from exhaustion.
...
I awoke inside a damp cave. With a pool of water that must of lead towards the outside. The cavern had light flooding in from a hole in the ceiling. Sunlight, I could see, realizing I had been out for at least the whole night and into the early afternoon. I was still dazed and confused, but content enough to be relived. For the moment.
“What… Who…? Where?” I mumbled looking around.
I then heard someone emerge from the water behind me. I turned around, and was surprised at what I saw.
She was a pretty young woman, roughly around the same age as me. If maybe not just by a year or two. She had short green hair, and wore a pearl necklace with a golden starfish in the center. But what surprised me the most, was beneath her waistline.
Clear as day, I saw a green-scaled fish tail that shimmered in the sunlight. Looking back up, I saw hints of the woman’s true form on her upper half as well. On the sides of her neck and stomach, were gills that occasionally opened and closed. I hadn’t noticed earlier because with the gills closed, you couldn’t even tell they were there.
I admit, my face did heat up the moment I saw her seashell bra and the way her skin faded into scales as it went down to the lower half of the mermaid’s body. I’m embarrassed to say, but she was really beautiful mermaid.
To bad the more rational, scare human part of me, decided to react first.
“Ah!” I screamed, scrambling backwards to get myself away from this creature. The girl, also surprised, dove quickly back into the water. It took us both a solid minute before we could compose ourselves. I was understandably nervous, for I had never encountered a mermaid before. Although I wasn’t expecting the girl to look tense as well. As if she hadn’t met a human for a long time. Then, she broke the silence.
“Who are you?” she said.
“Huh?” I blinked
“I said, who are you?” she said, scooting back further. “Y-You’re not going to capture me, are you?”
Realizing how scared she was and I took a deep breath to help defuse the situation.
“My name is Bonnie,” I said, and held out my hand and gave her a warm smile. “Or Bon Bon. What’s your name?”
Instead of shaking my hand, I felt a splash of water drench me from head to toe.
“Hey!” I screamed.
“I’m…. I’m not that dumb!” The girl said. “I know you just want to take me and show me off at a zoo or something!”
Recovering from the splash, I responded.
“Look, I’m not going to hurt you. Or take you to the local aquarium either.” Not that I was in such a position to do so at the moment, but if figured I didn’t need to point that out. “Now, whats your name?” I made sure to give her some time to calm down.
The young mermaid said, “My name is Lyra. And I’m starting to regret saving your ass.”
I titled my head. “You were the one who saved me?”
“Uh, yeah!” Lyra responded, as if it were a stupid question. “You were thrashing around out there like a shark beached on land! If I hadn’t been swimming by, you’d be fish food for sure! I don’t even know why somebody of your swimming caliber was out this far in the water!”
I immediately took offense to that. “Hey! I’ll have you know, I’m a pretty good swimmer! I can swim from one side of a pond to the other!”
“Then why were you out that far?” she smirked, crossing her arms.
“I…. Um,” I stopped for a moment. “I was out surfing, when I got caught by a huge wave and smashed into a reef.”
“Oh really?” She laughed. “Such an amateur compared to one who’s been swimming her whole life!”
I reached out to slap this girl in the face, but pain immediately shot up my leg and I was forced to the ground due to the hurt.
“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t strain yourself!” Lyra told me, as she tried to help me lie down.
I looked down at my leg and saw my ankle had cloth rapped around it. It was stained red.
“H-How?” I muttered, surprised from my wound.
“You were bleeding pretty hard in the water,” she said in a somber voice. “Good thing you humans arn’t normal prey, or you likely would of been shark food long before I got there.”
I remembered now. The place I was living at had a coral reef nearby. It wasn't that close to shore, so I must have been out really far. My guess was that I was too overconfident in my abilities and had lost track of the time and where I was.
Idiot. There was no way I would be swimming for a while.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“We’re inside of a dormant volcano,” Lyra answered. “Long ago, it formed a small cave like this. It’s my secret spot for hiding out and relaxing.”
I looked around, noticing how the walls shined as sunlight reflected off the crystals in the walls.
“It’s beautiful,” I admitted.
Lyra smiled. “You like it? B-Be sure not to tell anyone or I will never forgive you!”
I held up my arms defensively. “Okay, okay! I owe you that much for saving me.” I looked around at the cave again. “How long have I’ve been out for?”
Lyra twiddled her fingers. “You’ve been out for a couple hours,” she said. I noticed that the sky looked orange. It must have been late in the afternoon.
I laid back down, wincing at the pain in my leg. “I’m sorry Lyra, but can you let me stay here for a while? I probably in no shape to leave on my own.”
Lyra looked at me in surprise, then she fiddled for a bit before saying, “Yeah, you can stay. Not for too long though!”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. Cheered up by this girl’s lively personality.
“If I’m here longer than a week, I’m sure we can work out some kind of payment plan. You take shells and pearls, or you only deal in fish?”
This prompted the girl to be upset with me, but it was all in good taste.
“Actually, I hate to ask, but can you bring me some food and clean water for the next few days?” I asked.
“Sure thing!” She perked you. “I think that would be better than you eating me.”
…
A few days went by as I waited for my wounds to heal. I could walk around in the cave with a little wincing here and there. However, what I really wanted to do was head outside and to see where I was. Unfortunately, the only exit out of this place was the underwater tunnel. So for the time being I was at the mercy of my savior to keep me feed and company.
Speaking of said person/mermaid, Lyra was still pretty weary of me. Not that I could of blame her. Hard to say what I would of done if our roles were reversed and I was the one to find her washed up on the beach or something. I mean for Celestia’s sake, she would of been the scientific discovery of the century! However, that still didn’t change the way her eyes followed my every move was keeping me on edge. I was getting uncomfortable from this, to say the least. Eventually, I spoke my mind on the mater.
"Would you stop staring at me as if I was about to go wild or something!” I exploded one day.
Realizing what she was doing, she quickly averted her eyes. “I'm.... sorry. But I'm still suspicious and don't trust you." For some reason, that really pissed me off. Even after offering her my trust, she, was fucking wary, of me?!
I stood up. No easy feat, but with how I’ve been healing and my blood boiling, was manageable.
“What am I going to do? Throw a rock at you? Take you to a lab?” I sneered. “I’m the one stuck in a cage at your mercy. If either of us should be scared of one another, it’s me! And you know what?” I added on my high. “I've think I’ve been pretty level headed. More so than any dam human would have a right to be in my position. So, stop acting like I’m the fucking bad guy!"
"I...." Lyra began to say. She then proceeded to look down in shame.
Having let it all out, I took a breath, and sat down at the waters edge. "Look, Lyra, I didn’t mean to sound so upset. I really am grateful you saved me. I’m just... I prom-
I started. Only to remember what little good my promises were.
“Well, can you at least understand where I’m coming from? If it helps, no one would take me seriously if I told them.”
I didn't know why I was saying that. Only that my heart felt heavy as I saw the sadness in Lyra’s eyes.
“Hey come on, I don’t like seeing you upset.” I reached my arm out to try and touch her.
Lyra started to back away at my hand. However, after a moments of hesitation, she allowed my hand to rest on her shoulder. Which I realized was the first time I’ve made physical contact with her. Conscious anyways. It was only then did I notice how she didn’t quite feel human. Not too off, but if you didn’t know what you were feeling for, or hadn’t had experience with marine mammals, you would of never noticed. I might of too if I was blindfolded and not thinking she wasn’t human. With that in mind, and if I had to try describe it thought, id say her skin was closer in texture to that of a seal than anything else. If only just. Also, she was very warm. Which made sense if she both lived in the sea and had a such a slek and beautiful figure-
“I don't know.” Lyra interrupted my train of thought. Causing me to blush as I realized where she had cut my mind off at.
“I.... I don't like feeling vulnerable." she went on, thankfully not noticing my blush as I pulled away. I sat by the edge crossed legged as she pulled herself up out of the water.
"It's alright to feel that way.” I said with an assuring smile. Which she returned when she looked at me. A feeling of butterflies dancing in my stomach.
Never thought of myself as attracted to girls (let alone mermaids). In retrospect, guess with all the sleazy guys who tired to hit on me in high school, it made sense. Even when a few nice guys from work tried to ask me out, it just never felt right. The fact they gracefully accepted my rejections helped, and maybe in another year or two, who could of said? But I was getting off track.
“Normally you shouldn't trust complete strangers. It’s basic one-O-one taught as a kid, and for good reason.” I drew a circle in the ground as I considered my next words. “But for some reason..... For some reason, I trust you.” I mean, not like, I, was the one who had a choice in the mater. Still, maybe I would or wouldn’t regret it later, but it wasn’t a lie. If I was put on the spot where I had a choice of leaving my life into her hands, I still wouldn’t have done so without a second thought, but I probably would of said yes eventually.
Lyra took a minute, then biting her lips said, "Alright. I'll try my best to have faith in you. But still, if you try to do anything..... Well, you know. I won't be able to trust you again."
I laughed and shook my head. “Fair enough.”
Sure, I seemed like only a little progress, but it was huge weight being lifted off my chest.
“Thanks for understanding, friend.”
My chest tightened at that word. Friend. Was something I had never got use to. Sure, I was getting friendlier and more open with my co-workers, but I was far from thinking of any of them as friends at the moment. This mermaid must of been messing with my head or something.
“Something wrong?” Lyra asked genuinely when I didn’t respond.
I looked at her, and, rather than risking a step backwards in the progress we made, I said, “Not at all, friend.”
The funny thing, it wasn’t that hard for me to say.
...
A couple of days passed since then. By that point, Lyra and I had become what could be consider friends. Real friends. I couldn’t of told you the exact moment, as I suppose most friendships do. Just something that came naturally the more time we spent together. If I had to make an educated guess, it was when I first told her about my grandmother. At that point, psychical contact between one another wasn’t out of the norm. However, it was the first time she let me hold onto her.
Of course, we talked about other things as well to get to know each other. Lyra telling me what it was like being a mermaid, while I told her about my human life. The time I let slip I worked at an aquarium brought some tension between us, although I was honestly surprised with how quickly she got over it. However, that was nothing to when she let me in on a little secret of her own.
“I’m sorry, but say that again?” I asked, needing to make sure I heard correctly.
It was five days since I told her about my grandmother. If I had to guess, I’d say I’d have been in this cave for about two weeks. We were sitting in the water together. My injury at a point where it was safe to get wet. Actually, if I didn’t know better, I swore the water was making me heal faster.
Giggling, Lyra confirmed. “Yeah, mermaid can use magic.”
I rubbed my head. It figured that if mermaids were real, and if it was possible I was crushing on one, the idea they could do magic shouldn’t of come as a surprise.
“So, what?” I asked. “You can, levitate objects and other parlor tricks?”
“Yep! Pretty neat, huh?” She continued. “Mostly we use it to cook our food thou. If I had the right ingredients, I could make a really good pizza too!”
“No! You... You have to be lying! How do you even know what a pizza is?!” Of all the things I had thought would cross my suspension of disbelief. Lyra’s laughter causing me to laugh as well.
She then demonstrated her magic to my amazement by cooking us a fish dinner, and she went on about all the magical things mermaids could do. Although when I had the thought to ask if mermaids had healing magic, a feeling of stupid washed over me. Clearly if she could of done that, she would of healed me by now! But I guess there is some truth in that saying on how there no such thing as a dumb questions after all.
I blinked in surprise when Lyra chuckled nervously. “Well, it’s not that there isn’t!” She said quickly as I stared to scowl. “But its... Tricky business! And I’m far from an expert in that category. If I tried, I might of made your injury’s worse, and it’s not as if I can just ask somebody to come heal my human I rescued!”
I raised an eyebrow at that. It seemed to make sense, even if something about the way she said it felt off. However, with how close I felt to recovery, I pushed it aside and accepted her explanation. Although I pocketed her sigh of relief in the back of my mind. Figuring I could always press her about it later and, truthfully, I just wanted to enjoy a warm meal with my friend.
****
“Oh yeah,” I said, a couple of days later as moonlight was now illuminated the cave. By then, Lyra has shown me a couple of spells, and things were going great. I barely felt any pain, and at this point, it honestly felt like I was more on some exotic vacation than a sick leave.
“Tell you what, when I get home, I’ll get you what you need to make three hundred pizza’s.” Another yawn, and stretched of my arms I was about to lie down to sleep. Even though the interior of the cave is rock, the surface was still smooth to the touch. My guess is that ages of wear and erosion from the water made it comfortable to sleep on.
“Thanks again for everything. I’ll see you tomorrow, Lyra,” I said, about to drift off into sleep.
“Uh, yeah! Anytime!” Lyra said. To my dismay, I swore, as she was about to leave, that she looked rather disheartened for some reason. Causing me to lie awake and wonder if it was something I had said. Thinking we were past that point. Fortunately, or not, I would soon get my answer.
…
I woke up the next morning feeling great. Better than usual actually. Looking at my legs, I could tell they’d be shortly ready to handle a trip back to the mainland. I’m fact, I almost felt confident enough that if we were carful, I could probably do so today!
I looked around to find Lyra to let her weigh her opinion on the mater, but for some reason, she was there. Not that it was too strange to not be greated by her first thing in the morning, till I remembered how sad she looked before she left the night prior. Leaving me to sit there with growing worry what I might of said to upset her.
Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours. The hours turned into most of the day. The longer I waited, the more worried I became.
“What if she’s not coming back?” I wondered. “Or worse, what if she got eaten?”
I began to get angry.
Of course. Of, fucking, course!! Something good starts to happen to me, so the universe has to remind me that I don’t deserve to be happy! So why did I think this would be any different? Then again, I thought as my anger cooled with the passing time; How did I think this supposed to end? With us going back home, my home, and hers, and... And then what?! On Fridays, have dinner and movie at my place, and on Sunday’s we would go to the underwater seafood buffet? Oh yeah! They had great discounts prices for mermaids at the cinema. Actually, while I was at it, we could name out first three kids with the letter T! Tootsie Roll sounded particularly good for our oldest girl.
I cried while laughing at that last part. Thinking, like my grandmother, it was better that this happened now. Now, I could deal with it and move on. Still, without Lyra’s help, I definitely wouldn’t be ready to try and get out of here just yet. From how my legs felt, if Lyra didn’t return in a day or two, I would try to get out of the cave, figure out where I was, and go from there. It was the best worse plan I came up with as I laid down on the cave floor, alone....
****
The sun had long since gone down. The moon was shining its light into the cavern. Not even the shiny crystals on the walls could alleviate my feelings.
It must have been past 10 PM when I heard a splash from behind me.
“Lyra!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet as I wrapped my arms around her wet body. “I’ve been worried sick about you! Where have you been?”
Lyra gently pushed me back, and stared behind her, as if she was contemplating something. A look of guilt on her face. She muttered something I could hear.
“Huh? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I…. I haven’t been completely honest with you, Bon Bon.
“What do you mean?” I said, slowly.
Lyra took a deep breath and waited before she spoke. She said, “Bonnie, please don’t hate.”
I was taken aback. Not sure what could be so bad that she’d leave me alone for an entire day. “Um... okay. I'm sure you won't offend me.” I lied to myself. Still, putting it off wouldn’t help. “What is it?”
Lyra looked away. “The truth is, I…. I’ve been keeping you prisoner here. I, I didn’t straight up lie. I’m not the best at healing magic. A lot could of gone wrong if I tried to fully fix you, but I could of at least made it so you would of been healed weeks ago when I first found you.”
Somehow, that didn’t surprise as much as I thought it would have. It bothered me, and I would give her hell if she didn’t come up with a dam good explanation, but I was still too happy to see her alive to show it right then.
“Also,” she rubbbed the back of her neck, “I purposefully chose this specific spot just so you wouldn’t get out. Please! Please don’t hate me!
“Lyra, I’m not,” okay, so I getting a little angry. However, I suppressed my emotions for the time being. “Well, why?”
Lyra sighed. “When I saved you from the coral reef, I wasn’t supposed to. We mermaids were told not to interact with humans. When I grabbed you, I realized what I was doing and panicked. I was afraid of either being captured by you, or punished by my people. So, I took you to this grotto far away from shore.”
I looked into the underwater tunnel.
“Even if you are in peak physical condition, there’s no way you could make out of this cave, let alone back to the mainland.”
My jaw dropped. “Wh... What?’ W-Why, Lyra? Why did you do that?” I took in a breath. Surpassingly calm when I asked, “or rather, why didn’t you just drop me off close to shore or something?”
Lyra fidgeted a little. “Actually, at first, I was just going to leave you here. To let you die on your own from bleeding or from a failed escape attempt.”
My blood icened at that revolution. The fact that I really had put so much trust, more or less my life, into this girl-
“But then I,” She raised her hands toward her face and began to cry. “I couldn’t bear to watch you when you were hurt! The pain you were going through. I would’ve never forgiven myself! But I promise! I would of helped you back to the mainland once you were healed and asked for it.”
I frowned and titled my head. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t, but... Well, if you weren’t going to let me die, then why didn’t you just heal me like you said you could of?”
She continued to sob. “I... I just don’t know! Okay? Bonnie, when... When I look at you, I get this weird feeling in my chest. I’ve felt it since I first saw you dangling in the water for dear life. When I first brought you here, and decided I wasn’t going to leave you for dead, I was going to heal you up right away. I swear! But when I looked at your unconscious body... Oh forgive me, Bon Bon. Please! I, I didn’t want to let you go! I know how wrong this sounds, but I wanted to be with you, to keep what I was feeling, for as long as possible. So I figured, if I let you heal naturally, then you would stay longer and be none the wiser. But now, here we are.” She looked at my nearly healed legs.
After hearing her words, I began to understand what we were going through.
I gently wiped her tears and said, “I'll be honest with you Lyra, I’ve been feeling the same way these past few days."
I stared into the water, trying to gather my thoughts. "I think……” choosing my words carefully, “I think I might be developing feelings for you too. Not just as friends.”
Lyra looked at me with a sad look in her eyes. “I…. I wanted to keep you here, all to myself, because, whenever I’m not with you, I just feel so sad! That's not love is it? I’m sorry for being so selfish, Bonnie. I’m so sorry!”
I waited a little before speaking again. “Lyra, are you lonely by any chance?”
She whipped at her face. “I’ve been mostly alone my whole life. I haven’t really had feelings for anyone else. The only times I talked with people were when they were teaching me magic and when I was being chased down by humans. And even then, those moments were few and far between.”
"I see. You had no one to call your friend.”
“No. I’m sorry, that’s a shity excuse and I know it.”
I sighed and looked at Lyra with a warm smile. "Don't worry, Lyra. If anything, I forgive you."
Lyra looked down into the water, while tears still dripped down her face. “There’s another thing. I wanted to keep you by my side forever, and I was going to do something that I was sure you would hate me for.”
Now I was very confused. “And what was that?”
“I… I….” Lyra stammered. “Well, one of our abilities is…….”
Lyra was clearly troubled with what she was about to say. “One of our abilities, as mermaids, is, well.... We can turn humans into beings like us.”
“You can do that?” I gasped in surprise. “You can,” I said the next words slowly. Not really sure if I could belive it until I said it out loud. “You can, turn me into a mermaid?”
“Yeah,” Lyra said dryly. “I nearly tired to transform you this morning when you were alseep. Just so you would never leave my side. But! If it means anything, while in theory it can be done to someone unwillingly, it’s highly advised not to do so. Still dosnt excuse me for being tempted to try. I’ll take you home in the morning. I promise.”
When I thought about it, transformation spells weren’t out of the realm of possibility. After all, if mermaids could cast fire underwater, surely they would be able to turn a human girl into one of their own? More on point, she made it sound like she nearly rapped me in my sleep. Which I guess wasn’t that far off of an comparison. However, in the end, she hadn’t. She could of done it anytime, I realized, and I wouldn’t of been able to stop her, but she didn’t. She was being honest about it, and had offered a way for me to go home, even if it meant she would never see me again.
I thought about my grandmas words about how love is selfless. How it’s about putting the needs of those you love ahead of your own, and if they loved you just as much, they would do the same. And... yeah, I think I was falling in love with her! She has done so much for me, risked so much, and when she could of made sure I would be her prisoner forever, she had given me a choice instead. But now, now it was time for me to make my own. To show Lyra that I loved her, as much as she loved me.
“I don’t really have anyone either,” I said. Lyra looked up, still teary eyed. “I’ve never really fit in on the surface. Most people either ignored or hate me. The only person I had was my grandmother.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s fine. When she died, she told me to be happy. I’ve been happy, and slowly learning how to fit in and be less akward with my new life and job. And, maybe if it had been a year or two from now, who knows? This might of been a harder choice to make but, to be honest, Lyra... I wouldn’t mind becoming a mermaid.”
“You.... You really mean that?” Lyra said, shocked.
I nodded, giving her a warm smile. “I’ve always felt more at home in the water anyways. Plus, over the past few weeks, you've become a great friend. The best I’ve ever had. I would love to spend more time with you. In fact...." I stopped, gathering the courage to say what I was about to say. "I really do like you, Lyra . In fact, I..... I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Lyra seemed to have had a huge weight lifted off of her, but she still looked worried. “Are you sure thought? I’m more than confident I can turn you. But, while I don’t think it would be impossible one day, I can’t promises I’ll ever be able to change you back. And it isn’t something we can just casually ask someone to help us with.”
I remembered the one time she had messed up using her fire magic and ended up burning the lunch she was preparing for me one day. She apologized profusely back then, but I assured her it was fine, giving her confidence to get a new batch. I trusted her, and I had more than enough faith in her to take this risk.
“Definitely,” I responded. “Plus, on the bright side, I wouldn’t have human men looking me up all the time. Eh, really bad experience that definitely would of taken more than a few years for me to deal with.”
Lyra took a minute, and said, “Okay..... Let’s do it.”
…
“So how does this work?” I asked tentatively. Looking at the water, Lyra, and possible my legs for the last time.
“It’s, um.... It's really embarrassing,” Lyra explained. “In order for the spell to work, I need to pour some of my magical energy into you.”
“Oh. Well, how do we do that?’ I asked.
Lyra’s cheeks turned a bright red. “Well, there are a lot of ways. The easiest, and safest way for me to do so, would be by…… kissing you,” she said said quickly. "If it helps, I was told that when a human is transformed for their first time, they experience pleasure and euphoria like never before. In this case, both parties get to experience those feelings, since both people are in contact with magical energy."
“I was expecting something much worse,” I laughed.
“Also, we may want to remove our wears. I've never actually seen or transformed anyone before, but just in case, we don’t want anything in the way of the transformation."
I looked down at myself. I had a two piece on, consisting of a yellow sports bra for swimming and a matching colored bikini bottom. A lot of men told me that I look good in a swimsuit, and that I could agree with. After some courage, I gradually stripped myself as Lyra undid her shell bra strap and placed her necklace next to my human clothes.
It was time.
I crawled naked into the water with my arms wrapped around Lyra as she held my torso as the sea just touched our midriffs. The two of us looking like a regular pair of human girls about to go skinny dipping from the surface. I blushed, embarrassed, as I was in a completely vulnerable position, but at this point, I truly had come to put my trust in Lyra. If this was the moment where she turned out to be an evil siren looking to steal my soul, well, it would suck, don’t get me wrong! Actually with my luck, that was bound to happen any second now. Fortunately, for once, the universe seemed to forget, or finally stopped caring about how miserable I was supposed to be.
“Bonnie?” Lyra said.
“Yeah?” I said, scared that such an unfortunate event could still happen, but more than willing to accept my faith if it did.
Lyra leaned forward, and gently kissed me on the lips. “I love you.”
Moved to tears, I just stood their, holding each other, naked, for a minute, before answering back, “I love you too.”
With that, she drew me into a much more passionate kiss. A kiss I gladly returned as we just stood there for a minute with our arms wrapped around each other as her tail stared to circled me. Then, we both took the plunge, fully submerging ourselves in the water.
Our lips still locked together as we floated down. Having switched to hand holding while I kicked my legs around for a bit as we floated together. Honestly, all I wanted was to feel her mouth against my own as her magic allowed me to breath underwater. Although as I felt said magic move into me, I realized, with a little giggle between kisses, that would be the case and more.
With as much giddy, Lyra pulled me into an embrace and titled me backwards as we did a backflip with the current. My legs now starting to tingle as they continue to kick about. Lyra put an end to that as her tail snaked around my human torso, drawing my legs together as the magic plused through me. It felt weird, but pleasant, as if it were a tickling sensation.
When Lyra’s tail closed the gap between my legs, however, that’s when I really began to feel the change happening to my body. Starting with my legs as from my feet upwards, they started to seal up as if by an invisible zipper. My feet rubbed together, eventually merging into a dorsal fin. The changes crept up my legs as I felt blue scales appeared over my skin as my legs continued to merge.
For some strange reason, I felt…. really, REALLY good. dare I say erotic, like when two people make love. Which, as me being willing to this, well. Lyra really wasn't kidding when she said it was going to feel good! I was loving every second so far!
I had never really been intimate with anyone, so I guess you could call this my first time. However, I trusted Lyra, and she trusted me. Our feelings were mutual, and we both loved each other. With anyone else this would have felt different, but with Lyra, I felt more at peace, safe, able to surrender my body to her, embracing the one I love.
As the changes reached my thighs, I wondered what would happen when the changes reached my crotch. I soon had my answer. As soon as the changes hit, my…… well, intimate parts, the slit in between my legs stared to tingle, causing me to shiver in pleasure. It felt good, great even! Almost as if I had been receiving something I didn't know I wanted. Like I arrived to a home I had in a past life.
I felt the sides of my neck and stomach open as I developed gills, finally able to breath underwater on my own. It didn’t hurt, quite the opposite actually. It felt euphoric as my mind was being overwhelmed with ecstasy and joy. I was enjoying every second of the transformation. I felt my heart beating intensely as I felt a strange yet great feeling in my chest. I suddenly arched my back, and a surge of euphoria erupted throughout. spreading to every fiber in my body. Every body part, to the very last cell. I hate to be crude, but at this point, I knew I was having an orgasm, or about to orgasm. I began to breathe heavily as my body began to shake from the intense feeling surging throughout my body.
I noticed Lyra was shaking as well. She must have been feeling the same way as me. She was obviously still a bit hesitant in receiving these feelings, a little resistant even, but I embraced her tighter, giving her assurance that I would be there for her.
I felt my mermaid tail almost ready to complete. I was hyperventilating now, shuddering due to how good it all felt. As the euphoria finally hit its peak, I screamed in pleasure as the scales finally enveloped my vagina. The scales faded into my stomach, and after so, a few final surges of pleasure spread throughout the both of us. Arms and tails wrapped tightly around one another, we trashed and spasmed as if our bodies were celebrating my change, and how we would be together now, forever.
As the orgasum passed, Lyra and I loosened our grip on one another out of exsaughtion. However, and swim us up to the surface, and pulling us onto the cave floor where we took our time to catch out breaths.
Belly first on the floor and my wet hair covering my eyes, once I came to, I pushed myself up and rolled over. Moving my hair out of the way to get a proper look at the transformation. I raised what had once been my legs into the air. Mouth hanging open as I stared at the scales.
My legs were now replaced with a sky blue mermaid tail, with a transparent dorsal fin at the end. Slender fins stretching out to where my hips should be. The scales faded to skin as I looked from the bottom of my tail and towards my upper half. Giving it a little jiggle to confirm that this was real.
“You look beautiful,” Lyra said, having pulled herself up to a sitting position and sliding next to me.
“Thanks,” I responded, pulling her into a side hug.
Lyra was about to head out of the grotto when I said, “Hold up, there’s still something I want to keep from my old life.”
I picked up my yellow sports bra, and was reminded of my life on land. I thought of what people I knew were doing right now. I reattached my bra onto myself and crawled back to the watery entrance.
“Oh yeah!” Lyra blushed, reaching for her own seashell bra. “Good idea. I think you’d look beautiful in a shell bra, but I can respect you wanting to keep your human clothing. Although, you’d look beautiful in anything.
I openly blushed, and even cried at that.
We dove into the water, and swam with through the tunnel. We reached the surface as I saw the open ocean for the first time in the past few days.
“That was something. The transformation I mean.” I admitted. “Didn’t think it would be that intense.”
“Yeah,” Lyra said. “I wasn't prepared for how good that would feel either.”
With that, I let out a laugh. Where it came from I had almost no idea. I was suddenly full of energy that I just started to swim around and around. Doing backflips, crock screws, flickering my new tail, swimming through the sea with ease. I then dove the the bottom, and rockected myself upwards with enough momentum to launch myself out of the water! Suspended in mid air for a moment, arms held up, as I let out a howl of joy and smile as gravity pulled me back down to the water, my new home.
“Enjoying yourself?” Lyra said as she swam up behind me, wrapping me in a backwards embrace while I was catching my breath.
Giggling like a school girl, a scooted around so I could return the hug.“Yes. Thank you, Lyra, for all of. this.”
“Hey, d-don’t thank me!” Lyra said, pulling back and blushing in embarrassment. “I just wanted to make you happy.”
“You did,” I honestly honestly, looking deep into her eyes.
Lyra, looking down at the water, then said, “Hey, feel free to say no, but…. can we...." She looked away, most likely out of awkwardness. "Can we do that again some time?”
I tackled Lyra, wrapping my tail around her own. “Sure!” I said, growing hot as our sweet spots burst against one another. “Actually, I was thinking, we can do it right now if you want,” I said, attempting at being flirty. Which I guess either worked or Lyra didn’t care as she brought me into a kiss as I felt her magic flow through me again.
Unbelievably, I now had a new home. But most importantly, I’m now with a person whom I could be together with till the end of our days. A person whom I loved and who loved me back, a person who I could trust and who trusted in me.
I kind of feel silly writing this to be honest. But I suppose I wanted the people on land who may miss and wonder what happened to me know that I was alright. Then again, if you find this bottle, you may of never heard of me. I guess I also wanted to share my story, perhaps inspire others who were in my situation to not lose hope, and that things can and will get better.
Although I’m definitely NOT saying you should go crashing onto some rocks or coral in hoping you’ll find your mermaid lover, but rather, how love can sometimes find you in the most unexpected ways, and not to be scared about trying to find your own happiness.
Lyra and I are doing fine, still together and happy. We’re no closer to finding a way to turn one other human for a short while. Not that it’s a bad thing, although it would be nice if maybe one day I could show her the human world. We would go on to sell chocolates with the help of the mermaid magic of all things. I know, I never wanted to be a candy maker, but when I first introduced Lyra to the works of chocolate, what else could I do? But I’m happy as doing so makes me feel like I’m also making my grandma proud as well. Where the years ahead for me and Lyra, are certain to be, the brightest of times.