A Girl, her Wings, and Everything in between

Chapter 5: Down the stream

Christine, as you did not expect (or expected), was not dead yet. When she was falling down the cliff, she turned into a mermaid. However, when she hit a mud-based small stream at the ground, she was knocked unconscious. Then, she flowed along the stream to a small house, where a huge crab saw her and took her into the house. I forgot to mention something from the first chapter-- a lot of organisms are also mutant here on Earth II.

*****

"Wake up," said the crab, "You have been unconscious for three days!"

Christine's eyes slowly opened. Then she looked around her. It was a normal house setting, with a bed, a kitchen and many other things. She pulled away the blankets and gasped.

"What's wrong?" asked the crab.

The place where her legs had been was replaced by a bright turquoise fish tail! "I don't know!" she blurted out. At this moment, she felt something also wrong with her voice. It was not her original childish voice, but the softest and nicest voice one has ever heard of!

The crab suddenly said in a gruff voice, "I think you're fit enough to go back to the sea. You see, I don't like treating females as I hate their voices. I like males more."

The crab then pushed her out of the house and into the stream. "Wait! I don't know how to swim!"

The crab sneered, "So are you brainwashed?" Then he laughed.

Christine had no choice but to go away. Firstly, she swished her tail left and right, but that just got her banging into rocks and pebbles. Eventually, she moved her tail up and down and found the correct way to swim.

*****

The stream enlarged into a small river, then a big river, then as more rivers joined it, Christine had to taste the water to make sure she was not at the sea yet. Soon, she also found out that she was not breathing out all the time through her nose. She touched the side of her neck and found gills.

"With gills I can swim underwater all the time and not need to avoid crocodiles and alligators." She began to go deeper down the river. 

After a few minutes, she saw a few corals and fishes that only exist in the sea. She tasted the water to confirm that she was already in the sea but...

"Nooooooo! My taste buds for tasting salty stuff are gone!" She was on the verge of tears. Well, she had a reputation for the liking of salty food. 

She started to panic and swam in many different directions. Soon, she saw a city under the sea. "Wait... Why is there a city in the middle of the sea? Also, it looks like... CARREN CITY!!?"

She swam towards it and looked into it. There were many merfolk and small creepers that are blue instead of green. Maybe they are not from the pig family (Creepers are shockingly related to pigs).

"Hi, do you need help?"

Christine jumped back in fright. It was a mermaid who looked like she was in her 30s.

"Not really much. I just escaped from home and wanted to find a hotel to live in. Can you show me where the nearest hotel is?"

"Actually, we don't have any hotels in our country. But you can live in my house first."

Christine agreed and they hurried to the mermaid's house. The house was made out of a very colorful material but it looked very fragile. "Looks like there is no Mineshaft61s here!" Christine muttered under her breath. She did not want to spread the secret that she came from land.

The mermaid stopped abruptly and asked, "Did you come from land?"

"Oh no! I had spread the secret!" Christine thought.

"Silence means 'yes'," said the mermaid.

They went into the house and sat down. "How did you hear what I say?" Christine inquired.

"Well, all mermaids have a very keen sense of hearing. This sense of hearing is further reinforced when you close your eyes. And, you 'see' a black-and-white picture in your head if you close your eyes," said the mermaid, "When you were muttering, I was blinking to flick some colorants in my eyes out, so I heard you."

"After so long, we have not introduced ourselves yet. I'm Christine and you are?"

"Oceana."

"Nice name!" Then Christine looked at the clock. "It's getting dark. I think it's time to sleep. Also, I am very tired now."

"Wait a sec!" Oceana shouted, "Do you want to be my daughter?"

"Of course! Best thing of my life. I hate my family," Christine replied with a grin. Someone's adopting me now! The best thing in all my life! She tried not to mutter.

Christine was given a bedroom, which had a sponge bed, a soft pillow and a nice blanket. Also, there was a computer. She logged on and saw that she could access all websites that she could on land!

She looked out of the window to get a better view of her neighborhood. There was a KFC, a bus stop, a huge Shopping Center and lots of buses. It was like a replica of Acacia Town in Carren City.

There was also cars. However, there was no subway. She asked her new mother why there was no subway.

"They wanted to build it, but got electrocuted every time they connected a circuit! Even when they scale down the project to a steam train, the steam train wouldn't move!"