After an hour of frantic screaming and activity from Jen, her mother and the team of doctors the room was finally calm enough for some more tests to resume. When Jen’s mother had been allowed to re-enter she had initially fainted from shock and was now downstairs with the rest of the family. The large number of medical vehicles outside the house had attracted a local news crew who had pitched up across the street. This in turn had attracted other news crews and now a small crowd of reporters and interested residents were gathered at the end of the driveway.
Jenny’s wet skin had continued to be a problem and she was eventually forced to remove the robe as it was now wetter than she was. Instead she had been brought a bikini top and bottom combo to wear; the bottom had string sides so Jen could squeeze it between the tops of her thighs and tie it in place.
The cramping sensations had passed but Jen could feel a strange aching starting to form in the pit of her stomach. She told the doctors but they hushed her, telling her she was just distressed. But as time passed the aching grew to become unbearable and despite the water covering her skin her mouth was starting to feel dry.
“Doctor” Jen said quietly. No one heard her; “Doctor” the second time garnered the attention of a couple of the physicians.
“What’s wrong Jen?” one of them asked her, this question was much louder than Jen’s voice and caused the whole room to stop and pay attention.
“I’m thirsty” Jen said, her throat was dry and she realised she desperately needed a drink. After a drink had been brought to her Jen was thankful but rapidly became thirsty again, the medical staff became anxious, and Jen was dehydrating quickly.
The doctors looked at each other nervously, “Julia...” one of them called to a colleague who was looking at x-rays of Jen’s new tail. The young doctor spun around. “Hmmm?”
“I think we should explore that theory...”
“What? But it was just an idea...” she said in surprise. Jen scanned the room, most of the doctors were looking at Julia now, and Julia was looking at Jen, she walked over to the edge of the bath and knelt down.
“I think your body has been producing water to keep you... well... there’s no other way to say this... the water has been keeping you alive. Like a defence mechanism, sort of to protect you, but you’re dehydrating and we need to get back in some water”
Jen was confused, “You mean we need to fill the bath?”
Julia looked around nervously and then back at Jen, “We’ll try”
They started to run the water which poured over Jen’s tail and into the bath around her, after a few minutes she was submerged to the waist but she continued to feel dehydrated, she was getting a headache that was getting worse with every passing second.
“This isn’t working” Yates said urgently while Jen’s vision became blurry. “We need more water...”
“It needs to be fresh” another voice called from the back of the room, “I’ve been analysing it and the water on her skin is fresh”
Jen’s headache clouded her mind, she could make out the voices above her but was having difficulty paying attention to anything.
“That doesn’t mean it can’t be salt water... the sea isn’t far”
“Well we know fresh isn’t a problem, I think we should stick to fresh”
“What about a swimming pool?”
“There’s no knowing what the chlorine would do...”
“Where are we going to get a tank of fresh water for a mermaid?”
“I’ll ring the aquarium"
Jen blacked out.