"I... don't know..." Corey says, unsure of herself. "What do you think, Millie?"
"I guess we'll head back." You say, with a bit of uncertainty, yourself.
All of you start to swim back to land, trying to make it before nightfall. Corey soon starts to hang back a little. "Come on, we have to make it back by nightfall!" Barbara shouts.
"Okay, sure." Corey answers before catching up to the rest of the mermaids. From time to time, either you, Corey, or both of you begin lagging behind; and each time another mermaid must call back to hurry up. You both begin dreading more and more returning to land; but you know you must.
Night falls before you reach the shore as your tails have already become stiff and the water, harder to breathe. As you climb back onto the rocks you originally met the mermaids on, your legs regain their definition and split apart again. Tears roll down your eyes as you watch your scales vanish.
"That was a close one!" Lorelei said.
"You should be more careful next time." Polly scolded.
"Yeah, we can't have you drowning , can we?" Kelly added.
"No, no we can't..." Corey said.
"Corey..." You say to her. "We're thinking the same thing aren't we?"
You stare into each others' eyes, give each other a nod, turn back to the mermaids and say..."