Sharon cried into her arms as she laid in what used to be her home. It held all of the furniture and memories but her cruel husband and stepson trashed the place in search of Damon. So many things were broken beyond repair.
"Why... What did I ever do to deserve this?" Sharon asked herself. She hated her life. Being overworked with her office job. Having an stepson that tormented her biological son day in and day out. What she really wanted more than anything was to be able to live in the ocean. Swim like a fish.
Sharon was once the champion swimmer at her high school, known for wearing her signature purple swimsuit. She seemed to have promise as a star college student athlete but it was discovered she had gotten pregnant by her high school sweetheart, Derrick.
Against all wishes, she kept the baby and dropped out of college so she could be a full time mother while Derrick put food on the table.
For a while, she and her loving husband lived quite peacefully together but it all came apart when Derrick got into a terrible car accident one night due to a drunk driver.
The drunk driver survived his injuries but Derrick didn't.
After Sharon bawled her eyes out after her husband's funeral, a man named Ethan approached her, offering her his high wealth in exchange for her hand in marriage.
Little did she know how abusive he truly would become until she moved in with him. Ethan and his son Zeke were horrible people who would often abuse Damon and, whenever she tried to step in to defend her actual son, Sharon would often be beaten senseless until she fainted.
That's what prompted her to get a job, just anything to get her out of that house for 8 hours.
While she got to live in a fancy house near the beach, her existence was miserable and she hated knowing she dragged her son into this nightmare. Now Damon is gone and nowhere to be found.
Sharon wanted to be free from all of the miserable restrictions of life on land and be with the sea instead.
"But I can't." Sharon reminded herself as she sobbed. "There's no such thing as mermaids."
"Or are there?"
"Huh?" Sharon jerked her head up, looking around her ruined home. She could have sworn she had just heard a voice. "I-Is someone there?"
"I can help you, my dear." Alora spoke as she opened the front door of the house. "I can make all your dreams come true."
Sharon was about to scream but her mouth was quickly covered up by a forest green tentacle from the sea witch's lower body.
"Who... WHAT are you?" Sharon said through her muffled mouth.
"My name is Alora." She said. "As for what I am... I'm the answer to your prayers, and I know all about your missing son."
"Damon!" The woman yelled, pulling the tentacle out of her mouth. "What did you do to him?"
"Well, it's quite a long but I'll try and make this short, okay?"
Sharon nodded.
"First off, your son is a merman now, and he's now in cahoots with another mermaid named Apolla. They were under my control as polyps but they managed to get free due to Damon accepting my offer regarding his abusive stepfather and stepbrother." Alora said.
Sharon looked at the sea witch, dumbfounded. Her son not only had a girl by his side but was also a MERMAN?!
"Ethan and Zeke…" Sharon muttered. "Whatever happened to them?"
Alora smirked. "Oh, I was getting to that. Ethan and Zeke turned into mermen and… They didn't last long and became shark chow soon after. Quite a shame really, they could have apologized to Damon and all three of them could have been off the hook on their contract deals." Alora noticed Sharon spacing out.
The woman couldn't believe it. Her son was a fish, her abusive family members became eaten by sharks, and all of this because of a sea witch with a lower body that resembled that of an octopus. Forest tentacles slithered along the ground.
"Wha… What does this have to do with me?" Sharon said.
"You want to escape to the sea, right? Let's make a deal." Alora smiled and took out a contract and a pen. "This contract will turn you into a mermaid for three days. Once you become a mermaid, all you have to do is get some lover boy merman to fall in love with you by the end of those three days." She explained. "And by that, I mean he has to kiss you. Easy, right?"
Sharon gulped. "I don't know… I've had such a bad experience with Ethan and Zeke that I'm kinda reluctant to be with a man again."
Alora nodded. "I understand that, and you have my sympathies. But think about this, there's nothing more that Derrick would have wanted than to see you happy with a man you love."
"You think there's a merman down there like Derrick?"
"Possibly. You never know unless you try. If you get a merman to kiss you by the end of your three days, he'll automatically fall head over heels for you. He'll be yours forever. However if you don't… You'll belong to me."
Chloe widened her eyes as she heard this. Belong to her? This... this thing? And it all depended on whether or not she could get a complete stranger to fall in love with her in three days? "Sorry but I'm not sure I could get a guy to kiss me that quickly."
"Oh I doubt that." Alora shrugged. "You look fine and-"
Alora was interrupted when Sharkn took off her shirt and revealed to the sea witch the bruises that Ethan gave her. She also rubbed the makeup off her eyes to reveal the baggy eyes that came from her sleepless nights over the years.
"No merman can love me with who I am right now." The widow sniffed.
"Maybe not like that but what if I told you this contract can make your mermaid form have the atheltic body you would have had if you remained a swimmer?"
Sharon perked up at that and Alora grinned.
"What do you say, miss. Do you accept my contract or not?"
Sharon looked down and bit her lip as her hands began to shake. "Ugh, it's hard but you're really tempting me to sign that blasted contract."
Alora chuckled. "Is it really that hard, though? If you succeed, you get to be the ultimate sea champion, where no human could ever come close to your speed. Even Olympic swimmers would grow green with envy. And…"
Alora pulled the human woman in close and wrapped an arm around her waist. "You have a son literally swimming with the fishes with a mate as we speak. I may not be exactly a mermaid but I can tell you confidently that merpeople are exactly like fish under the waist. Since you were a former high school student, I'm sure you know from biology what this entails."
Sharon pulled away and thought of the endless eggs Damon and this Apolla woman might have to take care of. She would do anything to take care of her school of grandchildren, and be with her dear son.
Sharon was silent and then said one last question. "Is my son happy underwater?"
Alora nodded. "Very. Even said to me that he would rather be a polyp with me than to spend another day on earth. Would you agree?"
Sharon looked at her ruined house, then at the contact, and then at the pen Alora was holding. "I agree."
Sharon took the pen and signed the contract with her name in cursive.