Mermaids - Prologue

Prologue

The water was biting cold, bubbles of air leaving the woman’s mouth. She struggled against the chains cutting into her skin, but it was futile. She was drowning and she was going to die. She was pulled down by the weight of the chains until the dark swallowed her whole, and her muffled screams couldn't be heard anymore. Hair fluttering above her, she disappeared into the depths of the ocean, when all the while, sharks circled her with their penetrating gaze. Guarding her. From the smallest of fishes to the greatest of whales, they looked on, unable to do anything, other than wait. Waiting for a miracle to happen. And they watched on as her tears mingled with the water, becoming a part of the ocean, as it entered her mouth, into her lungs and entire being. Waiting as her skin became wrinkly and her eyes glazed over. Once a deep green, they turned white as from a dead fish. Her feet were the first thing to touch the ocean floor, and suddenly the water churned more violently, whipping her hair into her face, the sand scratching her feet and legs.

As time passed, her clothes disintegrated to show bluish and yellowish bruises around her chest and belly, bruises that were easily concealed and carefully applied so as to not break any bones, but to hurt as much as possible. And as time passed by the sand wore down the ropes until her arms came apart, but the chains in her legs remained. And it was in the darkness, where the unspeakable and impossible miracle could not be seen, that the woman became a monster.

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