Gifts Given By the Ocean can also be taken back.
After the death of the Village Head, estranged cousins Mandeeq and Shermake reunite at their Grandfather's funeral where their fathers fight over who would be the Heir to the village. With tensions ru...
"Col Kaa Badan iyo biyo kaa badanba way ku hafiyaan"
~ You will be drowned by two things: plenty of water and plenty of enemies ~
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
MANDEEQ
Mandeeq tried to rush to catch her cousin but she was still inexperienced when it came to movement with her tail. She also realized they were under water and he would just float in place until he awoke. The shock must've hit him harder than it did her. She wasn't sure why she was so excited about being a mermaid, maybe this was her way of dealing with the grief of losing her family and her village all in one go.
"Grief can be a funny thing." Ayeeyo had once said. Mandeeq didn't understand what she had meant but she felt that this was exactly what Ayeeyo meant. She ran her hands against her cousin's hair, his Afro covered in algae. "It'll be okay." She didn't know it would but she wished someone would say that to her.
A couple of minutes later, her cousin rose and turned to look at her. "Are we still underwater and am I still a mermaid?"
She nodded with a tight smile. "Uh uh. Still a mermaid. Still under the water."
"Oh great." He flipped over from his back to his stomach, his tail doing so in one powerful move.
"How did you even do that!"
"Figured I would be better at this than you. As per usual."
She crossed her arms and glared at him. Unacceptable. She'll learn and become a better mermaid than he could ever be. "Yeah well I-." Before she could finish her sentence, one of the men she recognized from the funeral passed by her. He had legs! Also feet! Relief and confusion filled Mandeeq as she placed a scaly hand on the shoulder of the man. What she didn't expect was to be shaken off violently and ignored. The man continued to walk away, as if he was in a trance.
Mandeeq attempted to touch an elderly woman but again, the same thing happened. She violently shook her off without a glance in her direction. She clutched her hands to her chest in shock. "This cannot be...it's like they're not fully aware."
Shermake also attempted to swim around, trying the same thing over and over again with different people. Each time they shoved him away, Mandeeq could see the panic rising in his eyes. The desperation.
She took a look around and noticed the villagers she saw seemed to be in the same mindless state. They were all walking around aimlessly, their gaze concentrated on nothing. They all kept their human forms, the only mermaids being her and Shermake. Why? Their eyes looked dead. The sudden intrusive thought scared her.
It seems like hours have passed since they discovered that they're now under the sea and that only they are the ones that turned into mermaids. "Shermake. This is endless. How much longer do we have to be doing this?" She asked, fatigued evident in her voice.
