The Mute Fishling- Part One

   She lay on the sand, feeling the dark water drag over her long fish tail, taunting her, telling her to come back to the sea where it was safe.
   She struggled, the net bound too tightly around her tail and upper body, the water was falling away, leaving her to dry out.
   To die.
   One of the worst things that could ever happen to a mermaid was drying out.
   She squirmed, wishing her voice was there to let her cry out to Mother Ocean that had kept her safe as long as she took care of her.
   But Mother Ocean could not hear her, for her voice wasn't there at birth. It left her as a fishling.
   She thumped her tail against the ground, looking for a hard shell or stone to cut her free from this human net, but there was no sharp shell or stone to be found.
   She squirmed, trying to wriggle out of the ever suffocating hard ropes that bound her, movement only made the ropes tighter.
   Time passed, the tide had gone back a couple of feet and the full moon was high up in the sky, shining its pure white light on her purple tail and pale skin. She felt very tired and dry; her body and tail pouring blood from where the ropes were chaffing her skin.
   A light flickered on in one of the human's caves, it's brown and strong structure occupied the beach along with several others; making her even more regretful for inspecting this rope trap and allowing herself to wash up near the human caves.
   She heard yelling and screaming inside the human cave, she heard the smashing of glass and something heavy flung over.
   Something slammed out of the human cave, yelling profusely at someone else.
   A human boy, no more than fourteen season-cycles, sat down heavily on the beach and was muttering under his breath, glaring out at the ocean.
   She froze, not wanting this human boy to find her, who knew what he would do. Stories had been told by the other mermaids and mermen that they took you and locked you in a large, see through bubble with water and no way out, just to stare at you. Others said they took you and cut you up, taking your organs for toys and eating your flesh for their meals.
   Although the human boy didn't look like he'd do such a thing, she also knew from the other mermaids that they looked innocent, before they did you in.
   The human boy sat there, angrily shifting the sand back and forth between his bare… What were they called? Feet, she believed.
   He suddenly paused, and from what she could tell, he had seen her.
   "Ah, shoot," he muttered and stood up, walking towards her. "Another one of those dolphins got stuck in one of those nets."
   Her eyes widened, her heart pounded and she wriggled, trying to get away from the human boy as he drew near.
   "Stupid fishermen, don't know-" He stopped, two steps away from her, she could see his eyes widen far bigger then hers. "Good heavens…"
   Again, she wished she could speak, tell him to go, tell Mother Ocean to come back and cradle her in her wet embrace.
   The human boy took the last two steps and kneeled down, his face a study in shock as stared down at her.
   She looked at his ocean misted brown hair as it bounced in the playful sea breeze, his darkly tanned skin a stark contrast to her ever pale white, his tall lanky build was still in that awkward teenage stage and his eyes, still ever so wide, were a pale blue as he looked at her.
   "Wh-what are you?" He stuttered.
   She blinked her large deep purple eyes and gently shook her head, glancing down at the ropes. This was her only chance to get free.
   "Are you real?"
   She gave a hesitant nod and thumped her tail against the drying sand.
   He jumped back, startled to see her tail move.
   She winced and looked at him, pleading with her large eyes.
   "Are you one of Vince's mates playin' a trick on me?" He frowned angrily. "I didn't like that one bit. Last year he nearly made me believe that one of the cheerleaders really liked me."
   She didn't know who this Vince person was or what cheerleaders were, but she shook her head furiously; feeling the ropes that had climbed up her body with all the struggling, were tightening even more around her neck. She gagged.
   The human boy scrambled down. "Stop moving!" Fear creeped into his voice, "I'll get you out… Hang on." He ran back into the human cave, only to return a moment later with a sharp looking utensil.
   She froze, this is what the others had said would happen, she was going to be cut up with this knife.
   "Now, don't move, mate, I'm just going to cut-"
   She thrashed, trying to get away from him.
   "Whoa! Hey! Quit movin'! You're gonna choke yourself!" He whispered furiously and laid a surprisingly strong hand on her tail to stop her from moving.
   She froze, staring at him in fear.
   He quickly moved his hand away. "Sorry, sorry. Now, stay still so I can get you out. I promise, I won't cut you, I'm just gonna cut these ropes. I promise." He held a hand above her tail, hesitating, probably debating whether or not to touch her again. He laid his hand on her tail and started to cut the ropes.
   She watched him, tail muscles tensed to swat him if he decided to stab her.
   He moved down to the bottom of her tail and sliced those ropes.
   She relaxed her muscles and felt the adrenaline wear off, her body realizing that she was in no immediate danger: the human just looked like he wanted to help.
   But the aches, excruciating pain and tiredness settled back over her again.
   He moved up to her stomach and sliced those ropes away, pausing and having a rather awkward look on his face.
   She gave him a questioning look and mustered up some of her strength to give him a nudge with her tail, telling him to get on with it.
   The human boy jumped and glanced at her before moving up and tried to cut the ropes without touching her chest.
   She blushed as she realized why he didn't want to cut here.
   "Okay, now you have to be very still, I gotta cut the ropes around your neck." He gently slid a shaky hand under the rope that circled her neck.
   She stiffened, not allowing herself to breathe and wondering if she should even trust the boy. Would he cut her throat out? One small jab or slice to the neck and she would be dead.
   Adrenaline returned and she squeezed her eyes shut, hearing the soft shfff as he sliced the ropes.
   "Okay, mate, you're free." He whispered and moved his hand away from her neck, dropping the knife on the ground.
   She opened her eyes and struggled to sit up; the human boy rested his hand on the small of her back to help her up.
   She was too tired to care that the human was touching her; she looked down at her once beautiful tail that was now sliced and scabbing over, even still bleeding in some areas. She glanced at her stomach; it had one long rip across her skin, from her right hip to the left part of her rib cage. It wasn't just oozing blood, but a clear white liquid, and from what she could tell in the pale moon light, it was discolored.
   She knew her chest was covered in burns from the rope and her arms decoratively sliced, all of this she needed to heal fast.
   But she was tired, and she knew she would not have the strength to swim to her home, to have her birth mother help heal her.
   "Your back is pretty, uh, ripped up," the human boy said, resting a finger on one of her wounds.
   She let out a sharp breath of air as the pain from being touched in an open wound shot through her.
   He quickly moved his finger away. "Ah, geez! I'm sorry!" He apologized, turning a slight red.
   She glanced at him, and gave a small pained smile as she laid back down, her strength used up in just sitting.
   He moved his hand and trailed his eyes up and down her body, staring openly at her nasty wounds. "Do you want me to get my mother? She works as a nurse."
   Another human?! She shook her head with vigor, and wished she hadn't when the slap of a headache jumped into her head. She laid a hand on her head and shut her eyes.
   "You-you okay, mate? If you don't want my mother, I'll go and get some bandages and Neosporin and stuff like that, okay? Just don't move." She heard him get up and run back to the human cave.
   She gave a slight smile, finding it humorous that he wanted her not to move, if she could, she'd be long gone.
   She stared out at the water, the waves curled and crashed their rhythm, again calling her back home. She reached for it, but felt the pain rush over her, much like the waves that wanted to pour over her drying tail.
   She let out a soundless cry and flopped an arm over her eyes, feeling the hot tears stream down her face.
   Feeling her scales start to crack as the dry, salt air fluttered through them. Feeling the slice in her stomach wail as the sand slowly dribbled in.
   The pain was unbearable, she wished the human had just done her in; she wasn't going to make it. Even Mother Ocean wasn't going to be able to save her.
   Too engrossed in her pain and misery, she didn't notice the boy had returned until he spoke up.
   "I'm just gonna clear out your, uh, cuts and stuff with some alcohol wipes and peroxide, okay?" He said quietly.
   She moved her arm away from her eyes and down to the sand; she looked at him through cloudy eyes and watched him twist a thing called a cap off of a long gray cylindrical bottle.
   He tilted it sideways and poured a liquid onto a white, poofy looking ball. "Okay, this is called peroxide, it's gonna help kill the bacteria." He leaned down and brought the white ball to her stomach, gently using it to wipe the wound.
   She gasped, the thing he had poured on the white ball, peroxide he had called it, felt like acid!
   She arched her back and squeezed her eyes shut, the white ball with the stuff was burning her inside. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as the boy got a new poofy ball and wiped the other cuts on her.
   She feebly attempted to push his hand and that stinging white ball away from her.
   "No, this is going to help you! Mate, I know it hurts, but you have to deal with it! It'll save ya," he held her one of her hands down and continued wiping the scrapes, the deep cuts and the abrasions.
   She screamed in her mind, in her heart.
   She begged for death to come and take her.
   "Whoa! Calm down! Take it easy!"
   Her world turned black.