Niana's Journey

Chapter Eleven

     "Owww!" I cried as I stood up.  I looked around me.  There were trees everywhere.  From far off I could hear a creek.  Leaves crunched under my feet as I walked. Soon I began hearing footsteps behind me. Maybe it's my imagination. I kept walking for five more minutes. Still, I heard the footsteps.

     "What the hell!" I yelled as I turned around to see who it was. I turned around too fast and stumbled onto the culprit.

     "Hey! Language!" I heard he or she say before I fell onto him or her. When I fell, I lied nose to nose with her. "Since when did you start using that sort of language?" She laughed.

     Tears came to my eyes as I jumped up and faced my sister. When she was on her feet, I knocked her back down with a hug. "Niana! It's you! Oh... it's you!"

      "Oh Sirena! My baby sis!" Niana hugged me back after we both got back up on our feet, again. "Now about that language of yours?"

      "I know, I know. It's highly unlady like, but after the past half week I think I can let few damn words slide through my teeth." I protested.

     "Okay, okay!" Niana giggled. "Remind me not to mess with you. Now...why are you here? The land is dangerous!"

      "No it's not, Niana." I corrected. "But the humans on it...don't even get me started! They're greedy! Self-absorbed! And rude as hell!"

     "Hey! Okay...I let the first two go but now you're just talking like Daddy was a sailor. And we both know he wasn't... He was a construction artist. He designed buildings. Now, why are you here?"

     "For you." I replied. "After you were taken away, I-I had to look for you. I had to get you back. Or at least know what happened to you if you were d-dead."

     "Oh...don't think like that.  I got away and everything is okay now. I promise. Now we have to go. We have to find the nearest reef and get off land. This is not where we belong."

 

     "Well...we can't go to the Great Barrier Reef or the king's...both are abandoned by now. Fishermen invaded the GBR." I laughed nervously. "Can we go home?"

     "For once, I will agree with you sis. Let's go home." Niana agreed. Then she began to remove her seashell necklace charm. "Here. Before I get lost again." She laughed.

      "I was just about to ask," I agreed. "So...about those legs and how they came to be?"

     "That is a long story we don't have time for. We gotta find home." Then Niana jumped in the creek that we were walking by. "Every water source leads to a main body of water, right?"

     "Yeah, like an ocean!" I agreed. Then I jumped right in with her and we were both at our natural forms within seconds.

     "It feels so good to be free! My captures kept me in a tank in my normal form but it didn't feel the same. They said they needed to study me and made me drink a transformation potion. During the night, one guard was left to watch me and I persuaded him to let me get out of the tank and use my new legs. As soon as I was out of the tank, I ran for it and out ran him," Niana explained.

     "I'm so sorry sis. I tried. I shouldn't have let go of you or swam faster when that net caught you, then none of this would've happened. It's all my fault!" I cried.

     Niana grabbed me and held me close. "No! No, it's not your fault! I'm the one that let go of you and you couldn't have swam any faster than the boat that captured me. None of this is your fault. If anything it's mine,"

     I started to cry. "I didn't ask for any of this!" I sobbed. "Why did it happen to us? Why not someone else or just no one at all?"

     "No one asked for any of this. It just happened," Niana said. "Now come one and quit blaming yourself. We gotta get home before anyone else see us."

     "I agree." I said, wiping my face.