Dawn was a bit of a plain girl. She didn't stand out much back in middle school, and now with magic back in the world and some people devolving into monsters she stood out even less. Her only claim to fame was that she wasn't bad on the track team... yep she could run fast and that seemed to be about it for her gifts. She had a friend named Courtney who was on the swim team... said friendship really highlighting at how bad she was at swimming. Well for now all her faults were in the past as her family brought her to San Francisco for vacation! Of course one of the first things they want to do is go on a boat tour.
I was leaning over a rail feeling sick... Somehow my parents and little brother were fine... just one more thing that I wasn't good at that most everyone else was fine with. Hanging over the rail probably wasn't the smartest idea to begin with, but It wasn't like the boat would suddenly tip over. Then a smaller boat came by and a furry looking guy wiggled his fingers to conjure a gust of wind as a joke. As air and wind is kind of hard to see usually these pranksters try to keep the damage as non-existent and try to pass it off as not their fault. Honestly the large boat I was on didn't tip all that much and swayed a bit which normally would've just made my sea sickness worse, but as I was currently alone and hanging over the rail I accidentally fell over. A few seconds of falling and I was first thinking was I going to die? Before slamming onto the water's surface and then I could barely think a coherent thought for awhile as I started to sink. As I submerged into the water I somewhat became calm. I can't swim, and who knows if they'll fish me out in time if I tried. The boat was still moving away... Yep I was doomed, and all I could hope for was that the bay would claim me quickly and make it fast. As I sunk further and further the light grew fainter and I closed my eyes.
The next time I opened my eyes I noticed that while it was really dark, but there was some light above me... and beneath me there was... sand? I started coming to my senses more and noticed that there was an odd... sort of breathing coming from my neck. Then when I tried to move my legs it didn't respond the way I imagined so when I went to examine them... Well they weren't a them anymore as it was a large tail now. My confusion about mostly what happened ended as I was putting the pieces together and I had also watched the little mermaid as a kid. Thankfully some of my instincts seemed to have changed as I easily swam quickly up to the surface, and it was kind of simple to figure out which way the city was. With all the lights and everything... Luckily enough for me when I got to one of the piers I found enough people willing to help me... and then were surprised when they pulled me out and discovered that I was a mermaid. On land I was able to take a better look at myself and the giant tail for sure tore off my jeans... thank god I kept my phone and wallet in my purse which was still on the boat... The guys who fished me out were actually night fishers which reminded me to thank god again that my shirt was intact.
One of the guys asked "So... do you live in the bay?"
I said "No, I'm a tourist... I actually live in New Mexico. I almost drowned and turned into this... Can I borrow a phone? My family must think I'm dead..."
The second guy took out his phone and unlocked it saying "Go ahead, this is a crazy world." I was about to call home, and then I felt a shortness of breath. I thought it was odd since I was breathing, and my breathing air seemed to be fine but... I put the guy's phone down for a second and dunked my head in the water for a second and took it out. Feeling a lot more refreshed. The second guy watching me was confused for a second and asked "So you need water then?"
I said "Well... I think I can breathe air but... I think air breathing just helps... I'm going to set it to speaker." Thankfully for me my parents drilled into me about knowing their phone numbers in cases of emergencies like this. I called my mother's phone... and the call was declined... I left a quick voice mail and then decided out of all my family to bug with constant phone calls to hit my little brother again and again.
Third call my little brother Larry said "Alright, who are you and what do you want!?!" obviously upset.
"Larry it's me Dawn."
"Wait, I thought you were sleeping with the fishes. It's been hours what happened?!?"
"Well... I did fall asleep underwater... I umm... fell overboard when the boat tipped and... Well I turned into a mermaid. Currently I'm hanging out at... Umm sir where are we?"
About half an hour later my family managed to find me... Especially after my existence attracted a small crowd taking pictures. On the bright side of waiting I figured out I did not need water to live and breath... I just had to basically do very little. My family was very happy to see that I was alive, but then came the issue of what the heck were we going to do about my mermaid situation. One of the fishermen guys heard my parents talk about maybe me sleeping on the tub for now and said "I wouldn't be counting on tubs or a pool. I imagine she may have salt water gills, forcing her to breath fresh or chlorinated water."
Long story condensed the crowd of people taking pictures attracted the attention of some poor guys working at the aquarium late at night. It worked out in our favor though as the aquarium, and they had a few tanks ready in case they found some "monster fish" to study. Basically in exchange for having a place to stay for awhile they'd be allow to examine me and run a few tests... Which was fair enough considering there weren't many known mermaids and it wasn't like land society had the infrastructure built for people like me. The vacation was mostly a bust, but thanks to government aid and some inventors imagining mermaids actually existing... Well I got a wheelchair better designed for my form, and a pair of what they called land gills. They were essentially a small fish tank that sealed over my gills. It provided real clean and nice salt water at a decent salinity to keep me going while on land and away from water. Oh right thanks to some of those tests I figured out that the fisherman guy was right. I really did not like breathing fresh water. At the end of our vacation I also had to go back home... I was especially not excited to go back to school...