“Paul!” The voice called again. The voice snapped Paul out of his daze and his blood froze. He didn’t need to turn around to know that there was a woman in her mid 30s with shoulder length blonde hair wandering the beach looking for him. His mother.
Praying he hadn’t been spotted yet, Paul quickly dove for cover behind a large submerged rock formation. His mind raced as he panicked. What was he going to say to her? “Hey mom, I got turned into a fish for my birthday!”?. He peeked around the corner to check. His mom had her back turned.
He was about to sigh in relief. When she spun around like lightning, catching him squarely in her gaze.
Paul couldn’t breath, his sigh caught tight in his chest. His mom spoke “Paul, what are you doing out here? It’s past midnight!”. His mind speeding once more, Paul tried to stammer out an excuse. “Uh, I couldn’t sleep, so I went swimming!” “Well get out here and come back to bed!” his mom yelled back. “I can’t I….. lost my swim trunks!”
Paul mentally chided himself for that last one. He wanted to cry scream, run away. He knew if his mother saw what he’d become, even if she still accepted him he’d probably be taken away from home and experimented on in some facility. He tried to fight back the tears, but it was a lost cause.
Then his mother spoke again.
“Paul?” she called out. Her tone was different this time. It was gentle and soft. “Paul, let me see it. Let me see your tail.”
Paul was stunned. He turned to his mother. Not quite sure he had heard right. “Wha-Mom-I…” He stammered out a few more nonsensical noises. His mom just smiled gently. Still dazed, he began to swim for shore and climbed out. Almost instantly he was swept up in a hug by his mother.
After a few moments his mother broke the hug. “Mom. wha-what’s going on? How did you-”
His mom raised a hand and lifted her hair back. Paul could see the three scars on her neck that she had always had as long as he could remember. He had been told they were scars from an acciddent, but as his mother scooped up some seawater, and saw them move, he realized what they truly were.
Gills.
Again Paul was shocked. “Mom, you’re a-” the last word was caught in his throat. His mother just smiled and nodded. Paul sat up straight and started gesticulating wildly. “I don’t understand who...what….how?” His mom just leaned over to him. “I think it’s better that I show you.” She took his head in her hands and gently kissed him.
Instantly Paul’s head was filled with a vision, and his mouth gaped. An entire underwater kingdom lay before him. Mermaids and mermen all swam about below, with all sorts of shapes sizes, and tail colors.
“Much like human civilization, Merfolk recognize five distinct oceans: Atlantic, Pacific,Arctic, Indian, and Southern. These distinct oceans, unknown to humanity, were once home to great merfolk civilizations.” Paul’s mother narrated. The vision changed slightly so that Paul could see each individual kingdom. He noted that each kingdom greatly resembled those of human civilizations that inhabited those parts of the world. “The two greatest kingdoms, of course, were the Atlantic and Pacific kingdoms.”
She took on a bitter tone. “Less than 200 years ago, Atlantic and Pacfic went to war.” The image changed again. This time, there was no celebration or happy memories. Only the clashing of armies and destoryed villages. “To make matters worse, humanity had found new ways to advance their civilization, at the cost of ours.” At these words, the water became foul and green.
“Some were able to escape. My family and Umiko’s were some of the lucky ones” “You means Ms. Kanagawa down the street?” Paul thought back to his family’s neighbor, a Japanese woman a few years younger than his mother. Paul knew she and his mother were close friends, but never asked how they met. “Yes.” His mother responded. The vision faded and Paul found himself back on the beach, staring into his mother’s blue eyes. “For years she and I were the only ones we knew of and now… now I get to share this world with you.” She was choking up on her words. Regaining her composure, she said “Well, that’s enough for now. We’ll talk more in the morning. “Uh, Mom?” Paul began, gesturing at his tail. “How do I change back?” “Oh that’s easy. Just think of yourself as human. You should be dry enough for it to work.” Paul nodded and concentrated. Slowly a tingle flowed through his tail. Suddenly it began to jerk and spasm involuntarily, although not in an unpleasant manner. Slowly the tail began to split like a zipper, fins receding as the split began to work its way up. His newly regained legs continued to spasm as his feet began to reform and the blue scales fell away. Pink skin reemerged as scales sloughed off and the seperation between his legs completed. Fully human once more, he stood wobbily as his mother covered him with her bathrobe. He didn’t say anything, but he noted that his junk seemed slightly bigger.