Lie to Me: A Mermaid Tail

Chapter 23: The Ending <3

"Ashlyn?" 

I turned around to face Nate. "Huh?"

"Are you ready to go see Paisley?" I blinked a few times. Nate moved his hand and stroked the side of my face tenderly. "You've been a bit out of it since...the thing happened. Are you sure you're okay? You haven't been talking much." I looked up into his blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean. His hair was just as messy as mine; we'd been in the hospital waiting room for two days. 

I haven't been to school. After I shot Paisley in the foot, I called the cops and explained everything that happened; leaving out the mermaid part. It was mostly just how she suddenly turned psycho and attacked me and the shot was just self defense. The coppers didn't ask too many questions after that.

Now, Paisley's in the hospital. The nurses are working on fixing up her foot, but she's under such heavy medication. That means that if we go in to see her, she won't attack or anything. But still, it made my heart pound.

"Ash," Nate said, bringing me back to reality.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just thinking." He pulled me in closer and helped me stand. I wobbled a bit. My balance hasn't been the best recently. My mind has just been to heavy with the weight of all the thoughts. Nate just nodded and lead me towards the lift.

The lights in the hallway flickered. I couldn't see any nurses around to tell us where to go. I'm pretty sure we're going to end up looking into rooms of sad and injured people until we find the psychopath. I was shaking violently, even though I wasn't cold.

We got in the lift and went to the second floor. In the small hospital, that's where all the patients are. Well, the hospital was big, but only had two floors. It's wider than it is tall. 

The lift shook as it moved up. I never had a fear of elevators, but this one made me want to fall to my knees. Paisley, my best friend in the whole world Paisley, had lied to me, and tried to kill me and my family. And now I'm going to visit her in the hospital? Am I crazier than she is?

Nate just stood in silence, his arm never leaving my back. Every once in a while, he'd kiss the top of my head as we searched the empty halls and peeked through windows. The ill people who sat in the room sometimes had that ghastly pastel curtain drawn. But I could always tell, somewhere in my gut, that Paisley's room was further on.

I looked through the glass viewing window into yet another stupid and plain hospital room. But, a shock of golden hair and the demented, drowsy face of my ex-best friend drew me in. I looked up at Nate, who just gestured for me to enter. Quickly, I glanced around for staff before ducking into the room. Paisley's dreamy expression nearly vanished when I entered. She was hooked up to an IV and her eyes looked angry yet vacant.

Nate stood protectively in front of me because Paisley began to sit up. She didn't have the energy to really, er, accomplish that though.

"You," she grumbled.

"Me," I replied quietly. 

"You put me here," she grunted. "YOU RUINED MY LIFE!" The screeching was too much. I stumbled back a few feet and looked at her in fascination. Her dead eyes were swimming with insanity. Her hair was messy and uneven and still had some sand around the scalp. Her hands were balled in half-ass attempted fists and her lower lip was quivering. She looked like she was about to cry.

"You were gonna kill me," I said.

"YOU ALMOST KILLED ME! YOU ALMOST SHOT ME IN THE HEART!" Just then, a bunch of nurses came rushing in with pain killers and sleeping pills. As two of them were messing with the plastic tubes going into her arm, one walked up to me.

"How'd you kids get in here?" she questioned. She was quite heavy and had wrinkles all up and down her face. Her mousy brown hair had streaks of gray. One of her wayward curls had spiraled in front of her face. She pushed it away, a strern expression overpowering her features.

"Well, you see miss, there's this thing called a door," I told her. A space between her eyebrows crinkled as she ushered us out the door, slamming it behind her. The curtain was drawn over the small glass window as I sighed. Nate was chuckling.

"There's this thing called a door?" he repeated, laughing. "Are you feeling better after Paisley almost verbally ripped your head off?"

"Well, I'm hoping my head is screwed on tight enough." He laughed and I was able to walk in a straight line by myself for the first time. We were in the elevator soon, and then we were quickly descending.

"I want to stop it," I said. 

"The elevator?"

"No, the whole freaky-mermaid-hybrid thing. I want to be done. I want to be human," I said. Nate just lookd at me quizically.

"But you can turn the tail on and off, and you can control water, and...anyone listening to this conversation right now is going to think we're completely insane." He laughed, but my serious expresion silenced him.

"That's just the thing," I said. "You have a freak for a girlfriend." He smirked and looked me in the eyes.

"But you're my freak," he said. I groaned, and he took a step back. "C'mon, Ash, that was supposed to be a touching moment! Haven't you seen the movies?"

"Ugh, I don't want to be a freak! Ha! Don't you get it? I want to be a human, and you are going to help me. Got it, big boy?" He smiled genuinely at this and nodded. "Okay, so we need to figure out how. I'll do some research, and so will you, and we'll look up some witchy mumbo-jumbo and shit, and-"

"Ash," Nate said. 

"Yeah?" We were exiting the lift at this point. 

"When did you become a mermaid. Or, rather, where?"

"This...this little beach when I was younger...do you think we should start there?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's always best to go back to where everything started."

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THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR STICKING WITH THIS STORY AND I LOVE YOU AND OMG THIS MAKES MY LIFE BETTER MUAHAHA IM DONE! i mean, i'm sad I'm done but I'm happy because it's a big accomplishment! Well, I'm still trying to decide on a sequel or not. I left an obvious cliff hanger for another book, so we'll see where that goes 

Anyways, please tell me your feedback and if you want another story! I'm sorry to say that this is the END of Lie to Me: A Mermaid Tale. But, yayy! Big accomplishment here!

Oi, I love you awesome nerds <3 

~Kelsey

 Hey okay update

sooo the sequel's not working out </3 sorry guys

but

I'VE STARTED A NEW STORY CALLED 'SINFUL' so you should totally read that okay xx

<3 Kelsey