Once I finally wrapped my head around what I needed to do, I noticed that the kitchen was swamped. The fact that my phone also lay on the floor sunk into me and I moaned ‘no, no, no, no…’ as I quickly searched for it. I groaned in utter frustration. The device was in an inch of water and I could only hope the ‘certified waterproof’ part of it wasn’t just for show. I cradled the poor thing in my arms and slid towards the bedroom, pleasantly surprised at how it was easy for me to go around when the floor had a sheet of water on top of it. Something told me that with some time, things would start rotting quickly around here.
It took half as long to get to my bedroom as before and I hauled myself onto my covers, uncaring about how drenched I was. It wasn’t like I’d be appreciating them dry, now would I? I fumbled a bit around my nightstand as I managed to catch the charging cable. I froze as I looked down at my finned, moist hand holding an object with electrical current. Shivers ran up my spine as I let it fall on my pillow, unwilling to be in contact with such a thing any longer than necessary.
I started drying my phone with my covers, carefully wiping the charging port, trying to get it to be as moist-free as possible. Once it was back to a normal state, or as close to it as possible, I made a prayer to whatever god, sentient being or omnipotent force that could be watching over me and plugged it. There was no response for a few seconds before the screen flickered to life, showing a little green empty battery and I let out a breath I hadn’t been aware I was keeping in.
Satisfied, I stayed put for a while, waiting for the device to charge enough to be turned entirely on. It only took a few minutes but I was already starting to feel itchy on my tail when I finally pressed the ‘power’ button and watched as the expected greetings came up on the screen.
As I thought, using the phone with only my thumbs was no easy feat and I was frustrated more than once as certain automatisms kicked in and ruined a few of my commands. Stupid muscle memory… Nonetheless, I soon saw my brother’s name on the screen and could hear the ringing.
A sudden wave of panic came over me as I wondered what I’d tell him. How was I supposed to explain to him that his sister had become some kind of mermaid and was stuck at her house more than two hundred kilometers from the closest shore? A voice I knew all too well called out from the phone.
“Ye hello?”
My breath caught in my throat.