Ariel's POV
I'm trapped. Trapped behind glass, so thick that when I slammed my body into it, I'm aching. Tail and all. I touched the crown of my head, pulled back my hand, and saw blood. I check my tail, my fin badly bent the wrong direction. 'Neptune this hurts.' I thought to myself as I began to get a raging headache. I heard the swoosh of the door down the hall open. I swam behind a huge fake rock and rested myself against it.
Someone tapped on the glass. I bit my lip and closed my eyes. When the tapping didn't stop, I opened my eyes and poked my head out from behind the rock. On the other side of the glass, stood a man. His black hair falling into his glowing green eyes. He smiled at me and waved. I returned the gesture not fully understanding its true meaning. I heard the door open again.
I saw a tall woman approached the man and laid her hand on his shoulder. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. I couldn't really see her all that well, but she looked pretty from what I could see. The man nodded his head, got up, and left. The woman dragged a chair over to the glass and sat down. She sat down and wrote some things down on the clipboard.
She kneeled down and was rummaging for stuff on the floor. Without thinking, I swam over to her and watched her. She slipped some weird things on a wire over her eyes. She came back up and when she saw me, she screamed. I jumped back and swam away. I heard a loud voice and it shook the water. "Hello, subject 99X3. My name is Megara Hanson, and I will be your overseer for the time that you are here. If you can understand me, than please come back over to the glass," it said.
I looked and saw that it was the woman that was speaking. She was holding a weird phone type thing in front of her face. I slowly swam back over to the glass. She was gaping at me, but then again I was staring at her too. She was so beautiful. She gave me a small smile and my heart leaped in my chest. I sat down on my tail and placed my hands in my lap. She scooted closer to the glass. "Hello, 99X3. Can you speak?" she asked. I nodded my head slowly. "Will you speak for me? Maybe tell me your name?" I looked down as I tried to remember my name.
I was knocked out pretty hard enough, I had lost some very important information about myself. "I don't know," I whispered.
"Speak up please," came her voice. I looked right into her beautiful brown eyes.
"I don't know. I...I can't remember anything." She nodded her head and marked something down on her clipboard. She was biting her lip in thought. It was the cutest thing ever!
"Can you tell me where you are from?" I pondered for a few moments.
"Um...the...Atlantic? No. The Pacific? No, that's not it! I'm sorry, but I don't know." More writing.
"Can you remember anything about yourself?" I shook my head. She nodded hers and continued to take some notes.
"Until your memory comes back, I'm going to call you 99X3, just because I want you to remember your name on your own. Okay?" she asked. I nodded my head. "Now, can you swim for me?" I looked down at my wounded fin. I lifted it up, painfully to show her. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "What on earth happened?! I told those oafs to be gentle with our new subjects! Damn it!" I lowered my fin.
"I'm sorry. It was my fault. I ran into the glass, trying to get out." She seemed puzzled.
"Why would you try that?"
"Mermaids need air sometimes." She smiled at me and pointed above her head.
"If you look up there's a huge opening. Follow the light and you'll reach the surface in no time. I'll meet you up there okay?" I nodded my head and tried to swim upward as she left. It was harder to swim with a wounded tail fin. I used my arms to propel myself to the top. When I got there, I gasped for air. She came walking down the cold walkway, her shoes clicking as she came closer to me. She slipped off her shoes and sat down beside me, her feet resting in the water.
"Can I see your fin?" I nodded my head and she helped me sit on the walkway. She took my fin in her hands and ran them up and down it. "Does this hurt?"
"A little." She gave it a light kiss and looked back at me. She cleared her throat.
"It's just bent a little out of place. Anyways, it should be better in a few days. Just give it sometime and swim as much as you can." I smiled.
"Okay." I nodded my head, but didn't move my fin from her lap, and she didn't seem to mind it at all. There was a huge bang coming from another area. She jumped.
"Back in the water and hide." When I was hesitant to move, she shoved me back in and I hide behind a huge coral reef. I could barely make out the muffled voices coming from the surface.
*Megara's Pov*
At the sound of someone approaching, I shoved subject 99X3 back into her tank with orders to hide. I couldn't see her as she swam deeper and deeper. "Megara, just what are you doing up here?" a stern voice asked. I rolled my eyes before turning around to face Doctor Octavian, my snobby colleague.
"Nothing, Ursula," I replied as she came closer into my view. Under the fluorescent lights, she appeared to be turning purple. She didn't return my smile, like always. "Is there something you need?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Has 99X3 arrived yet?" she asked. I hide my hands behind my back.
"Yes, I was just going down to the observation tanks to examine the subject." She nodded her head and stepped aside.
"You should be going then," she said and I was off. "Oh and, Megara!" I turned around and faced her. She was holding up my shoes. "Don't forget these." I smiled embarrassed and took them from her. I slipped them back on and took off for the observation area. I hurried through the sliding door and pressed my face against the glass. I still couldn't see her.
I grabbed the phone linked to the tank. "99X3, are you still in there?" I kept it close incase I needed to call for her again. I bit my lip and waited for her to appear. Suddenly, I saw her beautiful red hair bob in the water as her head came up from behind the fake coral reef. I smiled at her and she smiled back. She struggled to swim over to me.
She sat down in front of me and rested her hand against the glass. I relaxed and laid my hand over hers. "You okay?" She nodded her head. "I'm sorry, but I didn't want my colleague to see you yet." She nodded her head. I couldn't understand what my feelings were for this mermaid, but oddly enough, I kinda liked it.
"Your name is Megara, right?" she asked. I nodded my head.
"Yes, it is, but my friends call me Meg. That's what I want you to call me, if you would." She nodded her head once more.
"Yes, Meg." I smiled as my name rolled off her tongue. "Meg, what will you call me then? I don't like the name 99X3." She pouted. I smiled as moved my thumb along the glass.
"Ariel. I'll call you Ariel," I said sweetly. Her smile grew bigger and her teeth shone brightly in the light. "You are very pretty, Ariel."
"You too, Meg." That made my smile grow even more. 'She thinks I'm pretty.' I thought happily.
