Definitely not the Little Mermaid

The Impromptu Rescue

Chapter Nineteen

Today was the day.

Today he was going to escape.

Laiken was tired of the tank, of the white coated people who didn't speak to him, of the fishy tasting flakes that made his stomach churn but most of all; he was tired of Doctor Grace and Doctor Kade.

The merman was cold. And sore. And stiff. And angry. And just basically experiencing every negative feeling all at once. He was handcuffed to a steel bed stuck to the floor. His tail was in a small, cramped tank of greening water. He felt lethargic, having spent all his energy three hours ago when he tried to get free of the handcuff. He had even tried cutting off his hand with one of the blades the doctors' used on him, but he kept healing before he made any leeway.

"It's cold!" he whined. His voice surprised him. It was raspy and cracked, reminding him of the fact that he hadn't used it enough in nearly two weeks.

"Hello!?" he called.

"ANYBODY!? PIZZA! I'M LONELY!"

His throat hurt. He clamped up reluctantly and gingerly rubbed it. He was beginning to feel a bit like the mermaid in the movie the twins had shown him. The one about the mermaid losing her voice to an octopus lady. He shuddered as he thought about it.

The door to the room was thrown open. Doctor Grace stepped inside. She was wearing the bright red lips again. Laiken tried to splash his tail indignantly but found that it exhausted him too much to do so.

"I have something to do today, so please be quiet. I'll be back as soon as I can," she said, applying another layer of the red lipstick.

Laiken chirped.

She glanced up at him, eyed the handcuffs, sniffed in approval and left the room. Laiken heard the door click behind her. He sighed and glanced at his tail. It looked so claustrophobic in the tank. Tentatively he lifted it slowly out of the tank. It flopped lifelessly to the floor. Laiken exhaled in relief.

With his tail out of the icy water, warmth was slowly seeping back into him.

The merman glanced miserably at the handcuffs. He gave them another feeble tug and listening to the disheartening clatter of the metal as it strained against the bed frame. He huffed quietly.

Laiken honestly had no idea how he was going to escape. He supposed he would wait for his legs to come in but then what? He didn't exactly see how his feet were going to help him break free from the handcuffs. He stared at them. They were uncomfortably resting against his skin. He didn't like it.

Once his tail split into legs, Laiken rose. The handcuff pulled against his arm, preventing him from moving away from the table. He stared at it for several seconds before a crazy idea came to mind.

Slowly, he backed away from the table. The handcuff strained, cutting into his skin.

It took a massive effort on his part and much more time than he thought it would, but eventually he heard the satisfying pop of the handcuff link snapping. Laiken fell back. He immediately brought his hand to his face and examined the already healing wounds on his wrist. He eyed the half of the handcuff still on his wrist but decided to leave it there as he didn't know how to remove it.

"I need clothes," he decided, peering down at himself.

He stumbled over to the door and cracked it open, peering out. The hallways were eerily empty. He supposed everyone was busy with whatever Doctor Grace was busy with. That was good news for him.

Humming to himself, Laiken slipped out of the room and padded to the one across the hall. He tried the handle and found that it was locked. Pouting, the merman left it and moved onto the next room.