𝐈'𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐃 || 𝐙𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭

Chapter 28 - Let It All Go

Quickly, we found Miss Chatham to inform her of what all had just transpired. She had advice but...not any we wanted to hear. The only way to get rid of these people - these exploiters - was to...to give it all up. Give up being a mermaid. We didn't want to but...what use were we to those people as regular humans? In the end, Miss Chatham was right.

We had to let it go - all of it.

But as we stepped into the cave from the land entrance...I felt my heart breaking. Being a mermaid was a lot of things - amazing but at times, stressful, irritating, and downright dangerous. But...it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I loved it. Every minute of it.

"The moon's nearly overhead," Emma announced just as a trickle of moonlight fell on the water of the moon pool, "Funny, I...thought this would last forever,"

Each one of us grasped the other's hand as we stood around it, feeling nostalgia wash over us.

"What'll you miss most?" Rikki asked the three of us beside her.

"I'll miss...surfing without a board," Emma admitted with a sad smile.

"I'll miss how I could make water do anything I wanted. That was great," Cleo said in a bittersweet tone.

"I'll miss not having to use the dryer to dry my clothes," Rikki deadpanned.

We all shared a look before bursting out laughing and as the giggles subsided, I nodded.

"I'll miss how cool it all was." I admitted sadly.

Dr. Denman showed up then but she was to late to try and negotiate - we'd made our decision. The bright moon rose up overhead, casting its rays down on the tiny pool below, making the water froth with bubbles.

"We're giving our powers up," Emma told the bewildered marine biologist.

"When we enter the water, we're giving up everything," Rikki added, glaring daggers at the woman with her denim-blue eyes.

"But why would you give up being mermaids?" she asked in disbelief and confusion.

"Because of people like you," Cleo shot back.

"There will always be people like you trying to exploit us. The only thing left to do is to give this all up." I spat at her in anger.

Dr. Denman began to protest but we blew her off, our gazes locking on the blue-and-white frothing waves of the moon pool. And together, hand-in-hand just like the first time, the four of us jumped in. The familiar tingle began instantly, rushing up my spine and through my legs. I could feel my molecules shifting back and forth between my tail and legs before finally...my tail did not appear again. And as the moon went away, receding back into the night sky, Emma, Cleo, Rikki, and I climbed out of the moon pool, shivering.

It felt so strange...like waking up from a dream as my wet legs got used to land again.

"It's over. Why don't you just go home?" Emma snarled at the doctor before we all exited the cave.

My legs felt like lead as we walked out and I sent one last longing glance back at the moon pool. Back at that tiny mass of water that had changed my whole world.

And as I felt my heart shatter in my chest, I knew then...

...it truly was over.