The Maid Experiment

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Edited this story a bit! Hope you like this newer version!:) 

I remember waking up in a much warmer water than I preferred. It tasted like toxins and chemicals rather than salt and sea grass.  There was no room to move. I had enough room to lay out and my tail curved against the clear box. The entire room around me was metallic, with other tanks around me as well, but they were still. All of my maids were still. Their skin was a lilac color, and it immediately made me want to cry out.  I was the only one alive in the room, and the water was getting harder to breathe in. They barely put enough for us to survive.

My skin felt sensitive to the touch, a few of my scales missing from my tail and the flickering lights above me hurt my eyes. I tried to reach above me but a glass casing kept me bound in the  tank. My heart raced as I looked around, trying to find a weak spot. This wasn't the first time I got caught in this kind of situation. When I was 12 years old, my mother and I were captured by People, put into nets and hauled into the air. My mother found a weak spot in the net and used her teeth to break mine apart. Her's was stronger, and by the time she found a spot, I had already fallen back into the ocean. She never came back down. Ever since she was taken, we were trained on how to get out of nets. Though I had never had experience with this kind of material. It was crystal clear but yet my hands couldn't go through it.

I maneuvered myself to a more comfortable position before banging on the tank as hard as I could, seeing it crack slightly. It became harder to breath, but it was bearable. I continued to hit the glass, my blood swirling in the water from my knuckles until the glass shattered like a broken shell all over me, piercing the skin on my arms. I tried to keep quiet as I looked below me, my heart racing in my chest.

There were footsteps coming from somewhere, but I couldn't make out where. I looked around the room, my vision blurred as they adjusted to the dry air. I moved myself carefully off the platform, shards of glass digging themselves into my skin. Wincing, I dragged myself towards the nearest door, looking around me at all my dear, maids. All my beautiful sisters taken so early in life. Tears ran down my face as a sharp pain seeped through my tail, the pain turning into a burning as my scales started to fall off. I looked down in horror as my tail shifted themselves into limbs and and scales were left around me, skin covering the two limbs that now replaced my slick tail. How did I turn into one of them? Was it because I was dry? Did they inject me with some kind of poison? That was unclear, but as I sat there looking down in horror, my body shaking from my state of pure shock, I realized in that moment that they could become of use to me. I hurried and tried to get my balance on my new legs as voices and sirens blared around me, causing me to fall.

They knew I had escaped. I hurried and forced myself up, holding onto the tank of one of my maids as I opened the door, holding onto the wall around me as I made my way down the long hallway. I sped up as I heard People speaking, hearing screams and shouts.

"She's getting away!!"

"It worked!! Get her!!"

The sirens kept on blaring in my ears, and I had truly believed they had blasted my eardrums. It wasn't until I saw water and sand outside the next two doors that I finally felt a sense of hope.

A man stepped in front of me, grabbing me by my arms, making me loose balance. I felt so much anger towards this People that my skin burned and my vision became darker, seeing him fall to the floor. Having no time to process what exactly happened or how I managed to make him fall I crawled my way to the door, bruises forming on my newly formed limbs as I reached up towards the doorknob. Opening the doors the seawater air hit my face. I continued to crawl, feeling sand beneath my hands, hiding behind some brush as the People swarmed everywhere, searching with lights they were able to hold in their hand. I hugged my bare limbs to my chest, bathing in my own blood and the glass stabbing deep into my skin.

When I woke up, it was bright. The sun shined in my eyes and I felt pain all over my body. It was time to leave. I had to get far away from whatever this horrible place was, back to the water. I had to warn the others that they were coming for us. I tried to stand, taking what seemed like hours to catch my balance and took a few steps forward, gripping the brush in front of me. I inched my way slowly to the water, falling a few times. I spit out the sand that made its way into my mouth and I stood again, making my way closer and closer to the shore. Suddenly I screamed out, feeling a shock  in my legs, causing me to fall. The skin on the bottom of my foot was red and raw, and looking down at the shore I saw a dip in the sand that circled the beach, but I couldn't make out what created it. I looked up, reaching my hand out and reached towards the invisible barrier and felt another shock, a ripple moving through the transparent wall. There was no way I would be able to make it through.

It seemed hopeless at this point. If I couldn't make it to the ocean where else would I go? What else could I do? I sat there crying for some time, my body shaking as the pain exerted from every part of my body, the cold ocean air brushing up against my bare skin. I had to get away. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself. I could do that later. I could be scared, later. I had to survive. Survival was all Maids knew at this point in time.

I managed to speed up my pace,  kicking up sand as the wind spat in my face. My lungs burned, not stopping for what seemed for miles until my legs gave out from underneath me, taking in another mouthful of sand. I panted against the ground, rolling onto my back as spots took over my gaze.

That last thing I remember is the sun shining in my eyes before he found me.