Instructions on Being a Fish Person

"Okay Dear, My very opinionated husband will be coming back soon. Remember his heart is in the right place, but his brain is full of politics and pride. So don't feel sad if he comes of as mean. He is actually quite sweet deep down." I breathed in and out. I noticed her tail was red and shiny. "Your scales are very beautiful, what other colors do they change to?" I asked. "Erm.." she started to respond when Zepher's dad swam in. Everything went silent. "Girl, now we need to talk." We both sat down on what seemed to be a stone table and chairs. Mrs.Slade sat down beside me, and Zephyr stayed in the room, not approaching his father. "Okay I will make this quick and do not plan on repeating myself. You are now a fish person, not a mermaid, a fish person. which means a no legs, gills, retractable webbing between your fingers, the ability to breathe underwater, and you are approximately nine inches tall." I was shocked at that last statement "Wait nine inches tall?" I said shocked. Milo continued "No interuptions someone else will answer questions later. As a fish person you change into a human form once you get to a shallow spot of five feet to shore. You will turn back into a fish person if you go past five feet into water from dry land. Now that you are a fish person, you can't stay on land for very long you must be in your fish form regularly now. Luckily you are a common tail so you can breathe in fresh water and salt water. So always live somewhere near a body of water. Fish people are a secret species, and are a secret people from humans. If you tell a human about our existence, the gulls will spread word and no one will let you into their bodies of water, and we are everywhere. You will certainly die, if you can't get into a deep body of water. There are other tail types. You have a weird tale, I have never seen a tail that changes color." I looked down at my tail that was turning a brighter yellow the longer he talked. He continued "We will have to present you to the elder. She is the wisest of us all, and she domineers our people."

"Okay honey. You are going to make the poor girl's head explode. Harriet you can stay with us while you get used to your new life." Life! Oh no I forgot about Sam on the beach. "Zephyr I left my little brother on the beach I am raising him. He is going to freak out if I am gone for too long. We need to go back!" He simply nodded his head and grabbed my wrist is we swam away. "Don't forget we are a secret!" Milo yelled out the door. We swam as fast as I could. Until we got to the spot where I had turned into a fish person. "Your body will feel some discomfort as it changes, but now that you are a fish person you have endorphins in your blood that stop the pain. We put your human clothes under that rock for you to change into." Zephyr said quickly. I stared back at him, and then my tail. It looked like a dusk sky as multiple shades of purple and blue ran from my waist to my tail fin. I began to swim away. Zephyr grabbed my wrist before I could leave, "Wait meet me here tomorrow." I thought about it carefully. I do have work tomorrow, but I can't risk going into the water anymore. Faking sick will only last a day or two, if I fake an injury I can get out of work, but I will have to fool Sam too. I nodded back. "I will be back at nine am. Can you bring a top for me to wear?" He nodded yes and I swam away.

When I got dressed I rushed to where Sam would be, and he was out cold sleeping on a beach chair Well glad to know if I go missing he will look for me. I rolled my eyes, but knew this was my chance to fake an injury. I walked back to the water and grabbed a sharp rock and cut my arm, just enough to make it look serious. Then I rubbed my arm against a jellyfish to give it a red swollen look. This hurt like Hell, but it would make my brother believe my lie. I walked over to my sleeping brother with a pained expression. "Sam we need to leave I think I broke my arm." He snapped his eyes open and looked at my arm. It looks bad we need to get you to a hospital. Crap we can't go to an actual hospital. "Sam I can't do any lifting. How about I go to the hospital, and you take a few trips to take all of our things home. You can poor out the ice in the coolers and feed the extra food to the seagulls. I can't carry anything with this arm. He loomed hesitant, but he knew that it would take a long time for him to get everything we brought, all the way home. He knows his strengths, and strength isn't one of them. "Okay Harriet, I will, you just get to the hospital safe and sound." He said

I walked away using one arm to support the other. Then I walked to the nearest Thrifty Mart. If a hoarder had to get rid of her things, that's where it goes. Nothing is garbage, and that is where I could find a cheap arm brace. Which I found in about an hour. I took two busses to get home but when I showed up I was wearing my new used arm brace. Sam rushed up to me "Are you okay? What did the doctor say? Is it broken?" He looked so frantic, I didn't want to worry him too much. "Don't worry, they said the cut was only superficial, and that I only tore a ligament, but I have to be in this brace for six weeks." I lied. "What about medication? Did they prescribed you anything?" He asked still obviously worried. "The doctor gave me a shot of antibiotics for the open cut and bandaged it up, other than that he just said to rest my arm and take ibuprofen if the pain is bad." He still looked worried. I smiled softly and petted his head. "Don't worry Sam I am fine." He clenched his fists, if I was awake, I could have prevented this." He looked so guilty as he spoke. I wished I could tell him the truth, but it would literally kill me. "Sammy I hurt my arm on a rock when I was swimming (partially true), you couldn't have prevented anything." I smiled. I forgot to ask you about the cove. Did you find anything interesting?" I asked. I knew he would be happy to talk about his aquatic findings, and I would actually listen this time because it might actually come in handy. Sadly though, he went on and on about phytoplankton. I knew I became small, but not phytoplankton small. I found myself daydreaming about tomorrow. What will we do? Will it just be me and Zephyr? What is the elder like? Why does my tail change colors? As the questions continued though I began to worry. What will I do for work? How will I support Sam and I? I had to start thinking rationally. Day after tomorrow I will fill out job applications near the beach, and apply for sick leave at the beach. I only have to do this for six months then Sam will move out, and I can just stay in the water. Yeah, everything will be fine. "Sis..Sis...SIS!" I snapped out of my thoughts to Sam yelling at me. you heard nothing that I said did you?" He went from worried little brother back to the smart-*** brother that I love very fast. I sighed "I really tried to listen, but once you got to phytoplankton you lost me." Let's go to bed. We are both exhausted after today. That night I could hardly sleep. I kept thinking about Zephyr. I don't know what the attraction is; he is half fish and he is only like a foot tall, none the less I couldn't stop thinking of him, and those eyes.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***