When Jen regained consciousness it was to the rocking of a vehicle, slowly becoming more aware she discovered she was strapped down in the back of a van, surrounded by doctors all pouring water on her. Her headache remained and there was a burning sensation that seemed to only be soothed when water was poured on her. In a dream like state she rolled her head, she could make out the frantic voices of the doctors.
“We’ll be there in 5”
“Her lungs are becoming useless... she’s stopped breathing again”
“We need more water”
“Cut that damn bikini off of her will you, it’s absorbing some of
this water and she needs all she can get”
“4 minutes”
“Her breathings back”
“Heart rate keeps fluctuating”
“Bikini’s off”
“...More Water”
“Breathings stopped again”
Jen blacked out a second time.
---------------------------------------
Jen opened her eyes and saw herself looking back at her. The other Jen was blurry and distorted but Jen could she was naked and had a fish’s tail from her thighs down, just like her.
The other Jen blinked and started coughing, Jen realised she was coughing too but it wasn’t a normal cough, she was drowning! She was underwater and she’d been watching her reflection in the surface of the water.
Desperately she pulled herself to the surface but discovered there was a layer of glass above her. Panicking she moved left and right trying to find a gap in the glass ceiling but it was useless. Jen stopped breathing and prepared for the inevitable; Jen started sinking lifelessly only she didn’t drown. Instead she breathed out the water in her lungs and found the urge to breathe was gone.
Scared and confused she looked down at herself, she wasn’t dead; she was underwater, her new fish’s tail reflecting the rippling surface of the water beautifully.
Jen then realised that her eyesight wasn’t blurred like she’d have expected, being underwater, she could see clearly in every direction and Jen knew where she was immediately; she was in a tank at the aquarium.
The tank was the shape of a large cylinder, roughly 10 metres in diameter and about 15 metres deep. It was made entirely of glass and occupied the very centre of the aquarium, running from the top to the bottom of the building, cutting through 3 different floors. The glass walls meant anyone on any floor could look in from any angle, with viewing galleries running the full 360 degrees around the tank.
The top of the tank domed upwards towards a circular glass window, roughly 3 metres in diameter. The window looked up into the cafe area of the aquarium and allowed diners a view of the tank while they ate. It had been this window Jen had found herself looking at when she’d woken up.
The floor of the tank was gravelled and large fake rock formations dominated the majority of the space in the centre. There was part of an old boat lying at the bottom of the tank as well as a novelty pirate’s treasure chest and some giant clams. There was also the top of a glass tunnel that ran across the floor of the tank, allowing visitors to ‘walk through’ as though they were underwater. Jen floated near the top of the tank, only feet away from the top window, she was scared about trying to swim down.
Unsure of how she’d ended up here Jen looked around desperately for some sign of the doctors or her mother.
She spotted them standing on the third floor window, almost in line with where she was floating.
Her mother had obviously been crying and waved nervously, Jen started to cry and waved back. Her mother and father were surrounded by the team of doctors who were all staring at her in awe. Dr Yates beckoned Jen to try and swim closer.
Tentatively Jen thrashed her arms and managed to get nearer the glass, she was too scared to use her tail. When she’d reached the edge of the glass Jen placed her hand flat against it and her mother and father did the same.