Dakota just transferred to a small town in Ireland after finally sprouting gills senior year. Dakota thought they were in the clear but sprouting gills might seal their fate to the ocean wrecking everything they worked for on land. 1/4 Selkie, 1/4 M...
Muscle spasms wracked my body through the night and I needed to sleep. I only had a few more hours to sleep before I had to get up for school but everything from my waist down felt like a giant writhing muscle. My ankle felt like it was trying to twist itself off. My thighs burned like I had just sprinted a marathon. I dragged myself out of bed, pain erupting through my legs and I fell onto the floor. I pushed myself up but my legs were lumps of useless pain, tears pricked my eyes but I grit my teeth and crawled out of the room and dragged myself into the bathtub.
The water reached the brim of the tub easing some of the pain but not all of it. I took deep lungfuls of air and tried to fall to sleep floating in the water. I sank into the bathtub letting the water pull me down... down until my back touched the bottom. My lungs sealed and let my gills took over. If the spasms got worst I'd have to spend more time in the ocean. The bathtub only did so much. The fish in me must be able to tell the difference between the tub and the ocean. Maybe Bay would let me stay with him or show me where I could sleep so I wouldn't wake up to anything that might want to eat me.
Light spilled through the water too soon. I groaned but pulled myself up and out of the water. Dad hovered in the door.
"Want to skip today?" he asked.
"Please." My voice came out thinner than I meant it.
"Go back to sleep kiddo." he flicked the light off and closed the door behind him while I sank into the water, the spasms flaring up the second I emerged from the water. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for it to pass because it had to pass. It had to end. Everything ends for better or for worse.
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Two days underwater. Mom came in check on me and dad sat against the wall on the floor doing work for a bit while I stayed submerged. Guess my gills are in.
On the second day though the pain had subsided and I pulled myself from the tub and dried off. I might have imagined it but my skin had a tackier feel to it even fully dried. I stumbled down into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge to find a big slice of meatloaf on a plate with green beans, corn and roasted potatoes. I heated that up and dug in, my stomach moaning from its emptiness.
Mom came into the kitchen a little later wrapped up in a fluffy white robe and sat across from me. "How do you feel?" she offered a weary smile and I couldn't begin to imagine how much I had worried her.
I poked at my skin. "Kind of sticky."
"That's the longest you've ever been in the water for." she pointed out. "Your skin gets used to the water quickly, it'll secrete an oil that is great for keeping your skin supple in saltwater but just leaves a sticky residue when it's dry." she rested her chin on her hand. "It'll go away soon." her eyes dropped to my side now covered in my comfiest hoodie. "Did they close when you got out?" she asked hope and fear warring in her eyes.
"I don't know," I admitted but it was okay to admit to your mom when you were scared. "I'm not ready to know just yet. I wanted to eat first."
She nodded and sat with me. I wasn't sure if it was a mom superpower or just a my mom power but she always knew when to give me quiet.
