"The Island by Amellie Part 3" by Amellie Forbes

Back to the Boat:

 Day 10.

"Chloe!! Chloe!!"

The soft voice was urgent yet gentle. I stirred to consciousness slowly and I became aware straight away of my altered condition. My legs remained stubborny conjoined. My feet as flat as last night. I noticed that more scales had appeared over me whilst I`d slept, their soft sheen now more enhanced by the grey light of daylight creeping into the cave.

The voice came to me again. Soft, but insistant. "Chloe!! It`s your time...., Go...., you must go now..., now...., go now...., while you can..., go."

I sat upright as best I could. I was alone of course. The tone of the voice had awoken me fully by now. I paused momentarily, then I understood. Without needing to check I knew the wind was strong. It was was blowing from the west. It could take me home. Home! But what if....., what if I didn`t want to go home yet? What if I didn`t want to leave?

"It`s alright Chloe..., don`t be afraid..., don`t be sad......, but go...., you must leave now..., go now."

Slowly, reluctantly I pulled my heavy, awkward body from the pool. I dragged myself across the sandy floor of the cave and began grabbing what I could carry. I had my compass, my hairbrush and for some reason I grabbed my wristwatch. I anxiously filled my long unused water bottle with water from the leafbowls and threw it all into the remains of my rucksack. I threw the bag over my shoulder and started to pull myself across the sand to the mouth of the cave. At the entrance I stopped and looked back inside. My emotions overwhelmed me and I started to cry. I could feel a longing within me. The pool gently rippled still from my emergence moments ago. I had the urge to throw down my things and slip back into its water once more. I recalled the nights of the full moon and how I`d bathed in its amazing glow for three nights. Of how I wanted to stay and be right there when it was at its fullest the next time it filled the cave with glowing light.

"Chloe..., don`t be sad...., don`t give up hope....., but go now...., the time is right..., go Chloe."

I wiped my tears with my sand covered forearm and turned away. I pulled and struggled my way across the sands to the waters edge where I breathed deeply and took great lungfulls of the scent and spray of the wallowing occean. I heaved myself out slightly further and allowed myself to be seized by the waves. I was immediately pulled below the surface where  the buoyancy of my rucksack irritated me briefly, but I soon overcame that with the powerful lunges of my redefined lower limbs. I swam as far as I could beneath the surface of the waves then surfaced and took huge gulps of air before submerging again and swimming onwards. Visibility beneath the surface was a lot less than I`d grown accustomed to, but I didn`t waste anytime in seeing and seizing several fish. I bit them, and stored as many as I could in the rucksack before swimming onwards. In what seemed like an unusually short time instinct told me I was near where the boat was moored. I surfaced and looked to the beach.

To my shock there was no sign of the boat! I knew I was in the right spot because the stones I`d placed on and around the mooring rope were still where I`d piled them. The boat had still escaped its mooring though. I knew I should have been more thorogh in tying the damned thing. I did a one hundred and eighty degree turn in the water and scanned the horizon above the crashing waves as best I could. No sign of it! What would I do now? I turned slowly in the water scanning the sea more slowly this time. But it was no use. I felt myself being pulled further out to sea by an undercurrent, and I knew I was running out of options here. I had to make a choice right now. I could head back to the beach, and wait for who knows what to happen to me, or I could let myself be pulled outward by this current. It made sense to me that whatever force of the sea was influencing the direction of my drift, must be having the same effect on the boat as well. I made up my mind not to fight the current for a short time. Maybe with a great deal of good fortune I might still catch a sight of the boat. The problem was I didn`t know when the boat had slipped its mooring. It could`ve been gone hours by now. I drifted for a short time before I noticed I was drifting amongst the frothy foaming trail of something. It could be anything. I twisted again until I faced the shore once more. It was getting to look smaller all the time. It was make or break time. I looked back at the foam on the seas surface. My eyes followed it as far as they could. I scanned the horizon in the general direction the foam followed. And there for the briefest of moments I caught sight of what I felt sure must be the mast of the boats sail. Time to decide. I knew what the voice that had been in my head would tell me to do. After one last glance back at the island I submerged myself under the waves and followed in the direction I`d last seen the mast.

I swam as hard as I could. I surged through the depths in the calmer waters I`d found there. My lungs burst for air, then somehow, from somewhere they found replenishment and carried me forward with new found vigour until amid the gloom I picked out the unmistakable dark shape of the boats hull in front and above me. I quickly caught up with it and swam upwards towards its stern. I caught sight of its outboard motor and the fishing net that brought about my adventure and everything that had followed since. It was wrapped and pulled so tightly around the propellors that it was clear to me that I could have spent forever trying to free the thing. My fate had well and truly been sealed the moment it had caught hold of the engines screw.

I surfaced on the port side and grasped the side of the boat. I briefly paused and then heaved my increased bulk out of the water and over the side of the boat. I flopped ungainly onto the deck spilling the contents of my rucksack in the process. My belongings and my dead fish supper all slipped out and rolled across the deck as the boat pitched upon the swell of the waves. I leaned against the bulkhead of the boat and shut my eyes momentarily as I caught my breath. The salty water of the sea glistened over my naked body and in a short time began to dry. Just as I started to make myself a little more comfortable I felt it begin again. I arched my back, closed my eyes and groaned, "Ohh God.....,"

I looked down and watched what was about to happen to me. "Ooohh!" My legs clenched and jerked up and down, they began to clench ever tighter together as the tiny amount of daylight I could make out between them faded altogether and they seemed to be almost on the verge of merging. I watched more and more scales emerging from my flesh. From my ankles right up to my hips where they opened and glistened around my belly button before slowly and softly fading into the brown sun tanned flesh of my stomach. My enlarged nipples hardened dramatically a top my swollen firm breasts. From either side of my hips transparent fin like appendages softly unfurled prettily until they opened and reflected transparently by my sides. I groaned more as my legs clenched and the bones inside them felt like they were breaking down and dissolving within me. Where my legs had once been rigidly strong, they now felt like jello. Limp and totally useless. My ankles were headed the same way. My bones felt like soup as they finally surrendered the power to support my feet, which soon were flopping helplessly on the deck. I watched them lengthen and begin to fan out becoming more and more transparent as I writhed and moaned in surrender to the urges my body was succumbing to.

It was useless to fight what was happening to me. I could only give in to it, let it take control, that way at least it seemed the discomfort gave way to an almost perverse kind of pleasure. Yes it had begun to feel good. That was when I knew I couldn`t fight it anymore. It had me in its grip and it wasn`t going to let me go.

One of the dead fish slid across the deck and lay looking at me with one lifeless eye. The comparison to its shiny scale covered, mottled body and my lower half was becoming more discernible by the minute. I looked at it and then watched the mottled greeny blue scales on my own lower half spread evermore widely and predominantly over me. They crept higher and higher up me as my feet spread wider and wider. I lay back and groaned loudly. I could fill a build up of moisture and sexual charge within my womanhood but could no longer see it. My vaginal mound was still just visible to me, but the more intimate parts of me had changed as well. All that remained of my feminity was a small slit that was now surrounded by the unmistakable satiny fish scales that were rapidly consuming my body. I could only groan as I watched and felt my humanity disappearing before my eyes.

As the changes seemed to stop and I scanned my more altered state, I began to question the whole point of this trip. How on earth would I explain away my body if I ever came to see my parents and Chrissy again? What on earth was I thinking leaving the island? At least there I would be the only person affected by what was happening to me. What are people going to think of me now? They`ll think me a freak for sure. I felt a huge surge of remorse pass through me. I felt I`d let down all the people close to me, and on top of that I felt a huge void in me. The further the boat moved from the island the bigger the void became. I felt desperate for the solitude of the cave. I just wanted to lay in the rock pool, relax, and forget all my worries. I wished I hadn`t listened to that imaginary voice. After all where was it now when I needed it most?

The boat drifted onwards. By my reckoning and that of the compass I was steadily heading eastward dragged by the stong pull of the current. I hungrily snacked on the fish I`d caught earlier. I took my time on the one whose dead eyes had stared at me watching my lower half seemingly becoming increasingly like its own had been. Finally I discarded the remains of my feast over the side of the boat. In my mind I knew I needed to hoist the sail and make full use of the favourable wind direction. But what was the hurry now? What would I be rushing headlong toward? I couldn`t imagine what lay in store for me now if I ever made it back. I brooded for a long time, then as it always did hunger got the better of me. I decided to make one last hunt for fish before the daylight started to fade so with a struggle I hoisted myself up and over the side of the boat and plunged into the sea.

The thrill of the hunt, the sheer exhilaration of being back in the sea soon overcame me. I caught fish by the armful. I had the luxury of the boat bobbing along side me, so I bit into the fish, then threw them onto the deck of the boat without leaving the occean. They were easy pickings for me now. I felt tired as I clamboured back aboard. What ocurred next didn`t really surprise me when it started to happen. I felt a surge of energy course through my lower body and lay back on my elbows panting as I started to change again. My legs if you can call them that anymore, jerked a few times, then they clenched tightly as finally they were succeeding in doing what they`d been trying to for some time now. They fused together from where my groin used to be all the way down past my knees and shins, right down to my ankles. They  immediately started to become thinner sending my feet off at right angles to one another. The remains of my feet just flattened out and my toes and nails thinned and slowly rolled outwards becoming transparent as they did so. A webbing stretched between them and as it continued to blossom I moaned from the sensation. I`m not sure whether from pleasure or pain. My conjoined former legs began to lengthen causing me to arch my back and gasp. My feet were disappearing and were unfolding into what were quickly becoming large flukes. All over my rapidly changing lower half the lumps and bumps which had caused me so much concern were blossoming and pushing out what were I have to say very prettily coloured scales. I was changing quicker now. It had all speeded up and I knew I was too far gone now to stop it. I felt a strange kind of relief as I lay groaning and, yes, in a way enjoying the sensation of finally watching my own fish tail emerging on me. I gasped as my former feet formed the most gorgeously attractive and large flukes. I shivered as the final convulsions passed from my much changed body.

My legs had locked and fused together to form one long spectacularly coloured and totally fish like tail. And it was all attached to and a part of me. My lower half spasmed and twitched as I tried to take in the spectacle before me. My flukes lay flat, large and wide across the deck. They narrowed significantly where my ankles had been, then slowly the whole tail tapered out, fuller and fuller up over my old shins and knee joints, thicker again at my thighs, and became broader still around my hips. Then it all curved in at my slender, narrow waist.

I had the ultimate hourglass figure. But it was that of a fish. I had grown a great, big, but beautiful fishtail. I had turned into a mermaid. It had been happening to me slowly for days now. Had I guessed? Maybe. Had I closed my mind and pretended that things were not as they seemed all the time my body slowly rearranged itself to a form that could only survive and flourish in or near the occean. Yes I had done that. I did it through a fear and denial that were born of disbelief. There was no denying it now though as I lay propped up on my elbows taking in the spectacular vision of my mermaid body as my fishtail gently flopped my flukes against the wet deck of the boat. How would I ever explain this away in the human world?

The sun broke through the clouds at last just as the day was drawing to a close. I remained propped up on my elbows taking in the surreal sight of myself. The mermaid I`d become following days of subtle, then not so subtle changes. As the sun shone down onto me, my fish scales reflected back its rays. They shimmered brightly, their satiny lustre made all the more spectacular as they moved with my gentle breathing. The sun made my fat nipples harden on my enlarged breasts. I wondered how I`d ever manage to pass off having a fishtail when I could no longer even hide my prominent bust.

My flukes patted the deck idly from time as I finally mustered up the courage to explore with my hands and fingertips my new appendage. The hardness that I felt in my legs the past days had gone. It had been replaced by the soft yielding scales of what felt exactly like it was. It was the tail of a fish. I couldn`t get my mind around the fact that I was now half fish. No longer human. I was part woman, and part fish. My scales felt very cold to the touch, even as I explored them I could still feel and see new scales emerging on me. I was still changing. Still becoming more fish like. I placed both my hands flat across the surface of my tail. Still very, very cold, even with the sun reflecting on it. As my flukes again tapped against the deck I tried to work out how I could make my tail move. I tried to see what would happen if I made like I wanted to move my toes. At first nothing happened and then as I concentrated harder the ends of my flukes which were tipped with a shade that was pretty much black began to curl a little. I tried harder still and they moved more again. I pretended I wanted to pull my legs up to my chin and my tails flukes curled up to where my bottom used to be. With no knee joints my tail could perfectly easily curl around until my flukes touched my back.

I carried on exploring the new physical mechanics of my tail. I even managed to bend my tail so completely upwards my flukes touched my nose. That`s when I found out that my new lower half was indeed pure fish. Right down to the smell. I found that hard to take in. I even smelt like a fish now! In the next couple of hours I think I bent my tail into all kinds of contortions. It was incredible the amount of flexibility within it. All the exertion made me hungry and eventually I enjoyed the fruits of my earlier labour. I ate all the fish I`d caught, by my reckoning that was around fourteen. After all that had happened to me today I figured I`d burnt off plenty of calories and I`d earnt a decent meal or two. I no longer felt any real compulsion to hoist the sail, I really was at a loss as to what I was doing out here in the boat. I wanted to go home. I was torn between home with the people who cared about me, and home on my island. The easier option appealed to me more at the moment if I`m honest. The home where I would be more content, feel more safe, more private. The home where I could be me. The new me. Fishtail and all. I wanted to go back to my island. I lay on the floor of the boat my big tail and wide flukes spreading over the deck. From time to time they involuntarily patted the deck, but by then I was so tired I drifted off to sleep anyway. A new day beckoned tomorrow. And I had some big decisions to make that I needed to get right.

Day 11.

As dawn broke the rolling and pitching of the boat brought me to consciousness. My eyes blinked as I stared at the clear blue skies of dawn. I lifted my head and looked down to my tail, but to my absolute shock my eyes fell on a completely normal pair of human legs. My legs. I gasped and sat upright quickly. "What the.....? What`s happened to my.....,?"

I was bewildered. I dare not breathe as I leaned forward and touched the soft but firm flesh of my thighs. They were my own legs alright. Perhaps a little more toned than they used to be. I couldn`t understand what had happened to me. I began to wonder if yesterday had all been a dream. But how did I get back on the boat? Was this all some sort of trick of my imagination? Had I become so mentally unstable while on the island that I`d been hallucinating for long periods of time? Had the island itself been a figment of my imagination? I felt a wave of panic and angst wash over me. I felt lost and helpless again. I was back on the boat, back where I started from. Only this time I was at least heading in the right direction for salvation. I couldn`t help but struggle though with my  feelings of vulnerability. Yesterday at times I`d felt like I had some sort of grip and control over what may happen to me, but now all of a sudden I was being carried along by the sea and I was again at its mercy. It was pushing me back to where I`d come from. It was steadily taking me back to my old life. But now, after a little over a week of being away, I wasn`t sure I wanted to go back. The more I thought of it in fact the more gloomy I became. Every dip of the bow, every roll and every pitch of the boat was taking me closer to my old reality.

I put my head in my hands and began to cry. Why did I feel like this? What was wrong with me? If I was lucky I was being taken home by the sea again. Back to the people I loved and cared about. The people who felt the same love and affection for me. So why was it making me feel so bad? Why did it feel wrong what I was doing? I sniffled on and off for a long while as I thought things over and over. I shut my eyes and tried to shut out the sound of the sea.  I wanted to block out the feeling of its almost constant calling to me, and I tried desperately to ignore the longing within me to immerse myself within it.

"Chloe...., the sail....., you must use the sail....,"

I opened my eyes and looked around.

"Chloe.., you mustn`t waste time...., use the sail...., you must trust me Chloe...,"

I looked up at the mast of the boat and the carefully rigged fabric of the sail. Why did it feel like I was being pushed away? I didn`t like hearing voices, but if I was going to, I wanted them to be telling me to do the things I felt I wanted to do. And using the sail to get home quicker? Well I guess if the choice was mine, I just didn`t feel inclined to use it.

With a heavy heart I lifted myself from the deck. I gingerly allowed my legs to take my weight, and cautiously walked to the mast of the boat. My legs felt alien to me for a time, but after a while I put my mind to the task of lowering and securing the sail. I struggled with it for a while, my sailing skills were rusty to say the least as I fumbled with the ropes and guides as the strong wind filled and buffeted the eager sail. But finally everything was as it should be and the sail filled and significantly increased the momentum of the boat. I reluctantly checked the compass. It read a more or less constant ninety degrees. The reading I`d longed for a week or so ago. But that felt like a very long time ago now. And I felt like a very different person to who I`d been then. I sat back on the deck with no real sense of satisfaction in my labours. My heart was feeling heavier by the minute instead.

I stared forlornly across the occean feeling more mixed up and emotionally confused than I`d ever been even as a teenager. This was much harder for me to deal with and everytime the wind filled the sail I felt the distance between myself  and a part of me I`d left behind grow greater. It pained me immensely to realise that I didn`t want to go home anymore. And I felt a burn of shame at how easily and willingly I`d now abandon and betray those I loved most. My eyes filled with tears and I began to cry softly again.

"Chloe..., don`t be sad....., what you desire..., it can be yours...., if you want it...., Chloe what do you want?....,"

I shook my head. "I don`t know...." I wasn`t ready to say the truth out loud yet.

"Your desires...., Chloe...., don`t ignore them...., you mustn`t...., close your eyes and let yourself be...., Chloe."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the occean air, then another, and another. I caught a familiar scent, a scent from yesterday. I relaxed completely and opened my eyes. I gasped and my heart leapt as I watched my bronzed thighs tighten and then dimple like an orange peel. "Ooohh!" I groaned as my legs moved together tightly and began to fuse. All over my legs the dimples started pushing out the lumps and bumps which almost straightway gave way to reveal the scales that lay hidden within the flesh of my legs. I lay and gave into the urge within me to change and watched my lower body begin to turn into that of a fish. The green and blue colors took a hold of my quickly flourishing scales and moved steadily over me. I could feel my bones yielding to the change, rapidly becoming no more than useless as my forming fishtail stretched and grew longer. Moaning loudly I watched my feet literally fold over and flatten out as the magnificent colors of my fluke replaced them. I marvelled at the sight of them as they grew bigger and wider until they spanned out to what must be nearly four feet wide. The shiny scales were bursting forth all over me, appearing like little stars coming out at night as they encircled and entered my belly button. My womanhood disappeared within their midst as my tail widened and thickened while I powerlessly lay and watched what was happening to me. I knew I couldn`t stop it anymore. The urges and the need I felt were too strong and overwhelmed me. Was that what the voice meant about my desires? Did I really want this now? Did I really need to be like this to be happy? All I knew right then was that my heart felt lighter and the gloom I`d felt before had left me. My tail lengthened and grew evermore longer as I let out a contented and sensual sigh. My fish half extended until it was nearly double the length of my unchanged upper body. My tail was so entirely covered with the beautiful scales that it almost glowed in the sunlight. Whatever my thoughts on my body now, I couldn`t deny that my tail was undoubtedly spectacular in size and beauty. Right down to the delicately transparent fins that adorned it just about where my hip bone would normally be. Where my pretty scales faded into my human flesh I felt an unfamiliar throbbing and gasped as I took in the sight of part human flesh, part fish scales forming slits that were opening and closing as I panted while I changed. I was altering even more than I had yesterday. I was becoming even more removed from humanity now. I was becoming more fish like and I was growing gills. I could tell that my body was absorbing even more oxygen with every breath I took now. I groaned again as the slits widened and deepened as they efficiently opened and shut, as they went about controlling the amount of oxygen my body was taking and using.

I lay recovering from the sensation and exertion of all that happened to my body in the five minutes or so it took for my fishtail to transform my lower half. As I panted, and my newly formed gills opened and closed like small bellows, I gasped breathlessly. "My God....., Its beautiful...., I`m beautiful..., it feels so...., so..., right...!"

As my flukes gently slapped on the wet deck, and the final twitches and spasms of change ebbed from my fish half, in my head I heard a gentle giggle, and the soft voice said." Yes..., you are beautiful Chloe...."

I lay prone on the deck for a long while basking in the glory of my large scale covered tail. I caught the occasional scent of the smell that was emanating from the part of me that was now so undeniably fish. For a while I amused myself with exercising the movement I was quickly learning to control in my changed lower body. But I couldn`t deny the inevitable any longer. I was literally itching to get into the sea and feel the soothing waters engulf my new body. To immerse myself in the environment I was now so well adapted to.

I eased myself up onto the side of the boat and without pause slipped into the deep. The displaced water around me finally cleared of bubbles and I stared into the clear waters of the occean taking in the view of my immediate surroundings. Instictively my tail steadied me without my having to think what to do. I flexed my tail and instantly I was moving. I tucked my arms down to my sides and with one more thrust my streamlined body was being propelled through the occean at a speed I never dreamt possible. There was so much power in my tail, so far most of it unharnessed, and with minimum effort I could send myself gliding for several feet at a time. I smiled broadly. Hunting was going to be so easy for me now. I thrust again and I moved quickly forward. I pulled a tight turn one way then the other. Another push and I was diving downwards, another and I could feel the temperature of the occean dip as I descended into the half light of the deep. I urged myself forward and performed several turns and flips. I realised I hadn`t even drawn a breath since I`d submerged, I simply didn`t need to. My lung capacity was amazing. I glided to a halt upright at least 30 feet from the surface, and I watched as the delicate fins on my hips acted instinctively to keep me floating upright. I marvelled at the length and size of my tail as it hung below me. Its length, and the width of my flukes staggered me. I smiled excitedly again then laughed and thought, "This is so perfect, this is what my tail is made for...., this is soooo cool!!" With that I dived deeper, then swam in tight circles as I chased my own tail. Finally the air supply stored in my lungs exhausted itself and just when I thought I might need to surface I felt the gills around my lower ribs open.  Without thought, purely through an instinct that came from I know not where I breathed in and felt the cool water of the occean surge into my gills, then re-emerge again minus the oxygen that I`d harvested from it. I no longer felt the urge to surface, now replenished with my fresh supply of air I excitedly continued my fun and frolics. I was so much quicker than many of the fish now that I started to feel a small amount of pity for them, it had become such a one sided affair. But I didn`t feel that way for long though as I grabbed them easily and bit into them. I had no need to surface to feed, I could eat right here for who knew how long. And I did. I fed until I was full, then I fed some more for a reason I didn`t understand. All the while I`d kept a close eye on the hull of the boat, never letting it out of my sight for more than a minute or so at a time, and when I finally broke surface again it was just a matter of heaving my heavy self from the sea back onto its deck.

Oh I felt so alive! I was excited beyond words. The sheer joy of what I`d experienced is impossible to describe. I lay on the deck, my large mermaids body soaking up the sun and I replayed the absolute exhilaration of it all over and over again in my head. How I`d swum, dived, climbed and turned. How I`d breathed under water for the fist time, how I`d hunted and fed just like a mermaid would. How my instincts, how my very being had become so totally immersed in that of the creature I`d slowly become. In my heart, in the deepest corners of my subconsciousness and in my psyche I knew I`d changed so much now. It was too late for me now it seemed. How could I ever be normal again after what I`d been experiencing? The old Chloe had it seemed all but gone. I was now the new Chloe. I was Chloe the mermaid. And I felt more than ever that I was going back to my old friend and family to say goodbye before I moved onto my new life. I had to be me. I am a mermaid. I looked up at the sky, then I looked out at the occean. I said a quiet, "Thankyou." And I hoped the voice had heard me.

I alternated between resting and hunting fish and eating for the rest of the day. An instinct was compelling me to eat more and more, and I fed until at times I felt I could eat no more. Even in the darkness of the night I plunged over the side of the boat driven on by my insatiable appetite. Finally I checked the compass for the last time that night, still a steady eastward course thanks to the prevailing wind, and then I came to rest for the night. I gently touched and caressed the cold scaly surface of my tail. I explored with my fingers the openings of my gills as they gently opened and closed with my steady breathing. I felt tentatively around inside their moist openings where my flesh and scales were so sensitive and tender that I could barely stand to touch them. My belly button had all but disappeared now overwhelmed by the sheer number of the fishy scales that had surrounded it and covered so much of me now. I carefully lifted and played with my tails scales. The ones that merged with my flesh a little above my waist I paid particular attention they so fascinated me. By a little movement here and there I flicked the delicate but so effective fins on my hips, they were so pretty yet powerful at the same time. I bent my tail a full three hundred and sixty degrees until my flukes were right in front of my face so I could inspect them more closely. They were so large I felt quite dwarfed by them. It staggered me to think that they were what my former feet had become. It was easy for me to hold my tail in this position, it didn`t exert me in anyway. I was just amazed by its flexibility, and I have to say a little intimidated by its size and the power I knew it held. The now familiar scent of the fish that I`d become filled my nostrils again, and I sniffed the aroma deeply. I`d become use to it now. It was me and I liked it.

The wind had dropped a while ago and silence filled the vast surface of the occean save for the lapping of the sea against the boats hull. I gazed around me as the sea mist engulfed the boat once more. I reached for one of the many fish that I`d thrown onto the deck to snack on and began to nibble around the carcass, my expert hands and teeth wasting not an ounce of the tender moist flesh. I shut my eyes to the rolling mist eventually, and I tried to erase from my mind thoughts of the coming day or two. That would be the only way for me to sleep.

Day 12.

The voice was urgent. "Chloe...., wake up...., wake up..., Chole..., Chloe..! Land Chloe...., you are near landfall...., wake up....,"

"What!? Where!? Where...? Where is land?"

"Soon Chloe..., soon..., you must go ashore...., you must go..."

I scanned the horizon and saw nothing. It had come as no real surprise to me that I had legs again. Disappointment filled me. Then I looked again across the flat surface of the sea. The wind was light. The sea mist was gone and I was in the weak light of the early morning. I checked my watch and it read 5.30 am. The compass held steady and true on eastward still. My stomach lurched in fear of land appearing at any moment. I wasn`t ready for this. I didn`t want it. The thought of seeing people and being among them made me feel sick with worry. I fought back tears.

"Be strong Chloe...., be strong...., you must stay strong...., but Chloe..., your time will be short, you mustn`t waste it..., be wary of time Chloe..., be wary...,

"Why? Why must I be wary? What will happen?"

"You must stay strong...., you`ll be tested and tried..., but be strong..., stay strong...trust me Chloe..., trust me..."

I couldn`t understand what she meant. I felt more scared than ever. By no means did I feel  reassured by her. I looked back to the horizon and saw seabirds soaring in the sky. Land couldn`t be far off now. And then I saw it. A light haze hung above the land slowly emerging. The first dirty air I`d seen in more than a week. I felt nausea rising from within me and fought not to heave overboard any of my precious food from yesterday. My best guess was it would take me another couple of hours to reach shore, so I sat back and fretted anxiously about what lay ahead. I tried to stay positive. With any luck I may see Chrissy soon at least. Surely she would still be around. She wouldn`t have given up and wrote me off for lost so soon would she? Maybe my parents and sister would be waiting as well. I needed to keep thinking that. It was the only way I could see me getting through the next few hours.

The Welcome:

The wind had died to the extent that the boat didn`t have the legs to make it to the port from which I`d left. It hit the shore slightly to the west on the shore of a sandy bay that Chrissy and I`d visited and sunbathed on the day before I`d hired the boat. So the hotel in which we`d stayed was a mere short walk from where I`d landed. The boat beached with barely enough impetus to clear itself of the water. I tried to secure it as best I could with some rocks like I`d done back on the island. Again it wasn`t perfect. But I`d done my best by the boats owner, he was lucky to be getting it back at all. I collected my sparse possesions from the boat and with all the courage I could muster I bid the "Sea Shanty" a final farewell and set off across the sands to the hotel and who knows what.

I left the bay and followed the line of cliffs until I was on the beach the hotel overlooked. I made my way to the faded white wooden stairs that led directly from the beach up to the hotels patio restaurant. I breathed deeply and began to climb them to the top. I don`t think I`ve ever been so nervous in my life. When I reached the top I took a left turn then stepped directly onto the dining area. It was barely half full again as I quickly glanced around the faces of the first people I`d seen since I`d left the port. There were a few gasps, men smiled, some broadly...., women scolded them and looked at me with what amounted to disgust.

I heard someone scream, "Oh my God...!! Oh my God..., Oh my God.., it`s her!! Its her!! Chloe!! Chloe!! Chloe!!

A chair was knocked over. A table almost followed, and the dark woman who`d screamed my name came running towards me with a man and another woman in tow. The woman slowed down as she approached and when I returned her disbelieving smile she ran toward me again and threw her arms around me as she hysterically sobbed my name over and over. She`d made me cry with her. Then the man and other woman threw themselves upon me as well. And we all cried because nobody could find the words to speak right then. I don`t think I`ve ever felt so emotional before. We all just cried and cried. Chrissy started jumping up and down with joy and nearly pulled us all over. The guests in the restaurant looked on bemused and some backed away confused by what they were seeing. I can barely recall much of what followed, but I knew my father, pulled the cloth off of a nearby table to cover my naked body. I hadn`t given my nudity a thought. It did explain the reception I`d received when I`d stepped into the restaurant I guess.

Chrissy wouldn`t let go of me, and of course I was bombarded with a million questions. At some point the local police showed up, but my father asked them to give us all sometime alone. He was anxious for me to get a medical check up, but I told him I was fine and we`d maybe see about that later. Finally when things began to calm a little we all sat down. My Mother had brought me a white bathrobe to wear from her room and I sat drinking bottled water as I tried to answer their frantic questions. I constantly fidgeted and scratched at the fabric of the bathrobe as I told them all I could tell them. I never mentioned the island. It went like this. The motor was fouled by a net. True. I was then adrift with no radio and no wind to speak of to help me. True. I became lost in a mist but managed to keep a note of my course. True. And I`d been floating around the pacific for ten days trying to stay alive. Big fat lie. But hey, what could I say?

"How did you manage for water?" My father asked.

"I took loads with me," I lied. "Remember how you taught me to always be ready for things to go wrong on the sea? Well it saved my life Daddy!" I said squeezing his hand. His face lit up with pride, and I felt a pang of guilt over the lie. If he`d known how ill prepared I was when I left the port he`d more than likely want to strangle me.

"What did you eat?" Asked my mother.

"Fish." I explained how I`d used the webbing from my rucksack to catch them. My Father loved that bit. He`d always been big on the improvising thing and for a moment I almost felt like the son he`d never had!

"How did you cook them?" Asked Chrissy.

"I didn`t. There was no way to."

She pulled a gagging face and said, "Ohh my God!  Gross!!"

I shrugged, "When you`re really hungry you`ll do anything."

She reached across the table and hugged me for the hundredth time in the last hour. "I just can`t believe you`re back girl. I never thought we`d see you again. I can`t believe it."

"Well that`s not what you`ve been saying the last week Chris!" My father chipped in. "She`s `bin doing a great job of keeping up our spirits. She never gave up on you Honey"

I looked from my father to Chrissy. Her lovely, big, dark eyes beamed at me and I had to look away in shame as my eyes filled with tears. I was going to break her heart all over again.

I got checked out by the local doctor, who looked more like a med student, and it seemed he was as eager to keep the examination brief as I was. And it appeared he had no interest in anything approaching south of my bust anyway. Then I sat for a while with a young woman from the local newspaper who was doing her best to appear to be the new Lois Lane. When she admitted to me that newsworthy stories around here were very thin on the ground normally, I took pity on her and gave her the same account I`d given to Chrissy and my parents earlier. Happy she had her scoop, she left Chrissy and myself alone to talk at last.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" I asked.

"Booking our flights out of here. They can`t wait to get away now. Uhhm..., it`s not been easy for them being around each other so much while you were gone....,"

"I can imagine." I sighed, scratching at the robe again.

"But hey girl your back! And thats all that matters."

"I`ve missed you Chris."

"I know."

In the distance I heard the breaking of the waves upon the shore of the beach. Their sound  alone stirred within me the urge and need to do what I knew I had come back to get done. It was time for me to face the reality of my changed circumstances. "Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"Chris, I`m not goin` home."

"What d`you mean?"

"I`m not goin` back with you. Or my parents."

She looked confused and shrugged her shoulders. "Well what are you gonna` do?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I`m not sure yet...., maybe stay here a while, get my head straight. I`ll think of somethin.`"

"But why....? What d`you mean get your head straight?"

I shook my head. "Chrissy, I`ve changed...., What`s happened to me..., it`s made me do some thinkin`, you know, serious thinkin` about my life an` all."

"What`s wrong with your life? You should be thankful you got one after what you`ve just `bin through Girl!"

"I know..., I am. It`s just that while I was out there, well I didn`t know what was gonna` happen to me, and it just got me thinkin` about stuff..., you know, like where am I goin`. What am I doin` with my life? Girl, I`ve not done nothin` different since I started work. I go on one vacation a year and that`s it. I work, party sometimes, and then nothin`"

Chrissy reached for a cigarette and said,"Sounds to me like you need a man in your life again girl. How long has it bin` now? Fourteen months? You need some lovin`. That`ll set your head straight! An` speakin` of which, what`s bin` goin` on with your rack girl? Did you get a boob job or somethin` on that boat of yours?!"

I smiled, "No course not! I dunno. I guess they just liked all that sun and sea air."

"Well, whatever. But have you noticed all the guys that have bin` checkin` you out. They can`t take their eyes off you! Hey, what`s with you an` that robe? D`you catch cooties or somethin` out there?"

"It itches like a bitch! And no I hadn`t noticed them lookin`. Anyway, that`s just creepy. And for your information it`s bin` eleven months since..., you know..., actually..., an` that was another disaster. See what I mean? Everybody has these expectations of one another...., I`m expected to find a man and start a family..., I don`t know if that`s what I want from life now..., I can`t see me doin` any of that stuff. I need time Chrissy...., time alone."

"What is this? Some kind of early midlife crisis? You`re twenty five girl! Nobody expects you to have all the answers yet. Get out there, enjoy yourself...., don`t settle down until you re in your thirties. What does it matter? Just come home with me girlfriend and things`ll be fine again, you`ll see." Then she said. Have you quit smokin` or somethin`? How come you haven`t bummed a cigarette from me yet?"

"I haven`t had one for more than a week. I dunno`..., I just don`t fancy it right now."

She shrugged, but I could see the concern on her face. This wasn`t going well. It crushed me to hurt her. She`s the most precious thing in the world to me. How was I going to be able to do this?

"Promise me you`ll think things over?" She said squeezing my hand. "We won`t be goin` anywhere for at least a couple of days. So you get that pretty head of yours straight, then we`ll talk more. Okay?"

I nodded. This was never going to be easy.

My parents returned shortly and briefly discussed the travel arrangements they`d made for us all. Chrissy gave me a look that said, "Don`t you dare tell them you`re thinking of not going home." So at least we agreed on one thing for the time being. Now was not the time to say anything to them. I was feeling tired by then so Chrissy and I excused ourselves and started to make our way to the lobby.

"I still got our room, an` everythin` is how you left it before you gave us the fright of our lives."

I stopped at the reception desk. "Chrissy, don`t take this the wrong way, but I`d like a room of my own for now."

I saw the puzzlement and then the wounded look on her face. "Okay...., I`ll.... uhhm, I`ll put it on my credit card." She turned quickly from me and started speaking to the young receptionist behind the counter.

"Thanks," I said. "For doin` this. I..., I just think it`s best for now...., I need a bit of time to myself to think..., you know....,

"It`s okay. You`ve bin` through a lot. I don`t mind....., really.

"Thanks Chris." I said guiltily.

A deeply tanned bellboy showed me and Chrissy into the room next to hers, and after a quick look around, Chrissy advised me to rest and try to grab some sleep as my parents wanted us all to eat our evening meal together to celebrate my return. She said she`d call in for me, when it was time, and then she left me alone. Alone again at last! I turned the key and locked the door and quickly let the robe slip off of me on to the floor glad to be free of its constant itching. I sat on the bed and looked around the room. I felt a tightness grip my thighs, and they began to dimple. I groaned as scales began to push through the skin of my waist and hips. I bit my bottom lip and fought the urge to give into the change. I panted as I tried my hardest to stop my tail bursting forth from within my flesh. My struggle hadn`t gone unnoticed it seemed.

"Chloe...., not now...., not yet, fight it...., you must fight it....,"

"How....? Help me...., I can`t stop it....,"

"Yes..., you must...., think of your friend...., your family...., think of anything but the occean...,"

I tried, and gradually the cramping and pulsing began to subside. I looked down to see my legs had returned to normal.

I can`t stop it..., I can`t hide it...," I panted.

"Chloe..., you must keep your secret...., nobody must ever know about you...,"

"But it`s too hard..., I`m trying...., but I don`t think I can do this."

"Your time is getting shorter Chloe...., soon you will be overwhelmed by urges...., urges that you are just only beginning to feel..., you must hurry Chloe, time will not wait for you....,"

"I need  to say goodbye...., don`t I?"

The voice sounded softer and pitying, "Yes Chloe...., you must...., what`s done cannot be undone now..., you have no more than one day before you must leave, Chloe...,"

"One day." I said to myself. I turned and buried my head in the bed. "Ohh Chrissy!" I sobbed.

I was afraid to go anywhere near the shower, so I just ran my hairbrush through a few times and then tried on half a dozen or so of my beach dresses trying desperately to find something that would hide my bust. I gave up. I simply had outgrown all of them, and with no bra that could even begin to contain me, my nipples poked alarmingly through the tight fabric of my chosen dress. This was not going to be easy to pass off I decided. I then waited for Chrissy to come get me. We made our way down to the patio and I sat answering more questions from my parents and Chrissy than I cared to. But that was a small sacrifice to make given the angst and heartache I would soon be heaping on them. The three of them quickly ordered their meals, but the only thing that appealed to me on the menu was the lobster. I wanted mine raw of course. But I knew that here they grabbed the poor things from a tank of seawater and dropped them alive into boiling water to cook them. I was apalled by this. So I reluctantly ordered a vegetarian lasagne of all things which I never touched. That was something I knew wouldn`t go unnoticed but what else could I do if I didn`t want to spend the night vomiting over the toilet?

Chrissy and my mom left my father and I several times to have a cigarette and on one of these occasions as we struggled to make conversation not about my adventure I said, "I didn`t know Mom was smoking again."

"Apparently it was the divorce. All the stress it was causin` her. If you ask me she`s bin` looking for an excuse to start again for years. I`m kinda` surprised you`re not over there with them to be honest."

"Hmm. I guess I`m just not in the mood just now."

"Have you quit?"

"I guess."

"Good for you Honey. You won`t regret it, I promise you."

I giggled. "Remember how you bust my ass when you found out I`d started? Jeez`, you really flipped."

"Course` I did. What were you..., sixteen or somethin`...?"

"Eighteen Daddy. I was eighteen and I was old enough to legally buy them."

"As you frequently kept tellin` me as I recall." He shook his head, "Huh, I was sure wastin` my time there. You never took one bit of notice of me."

I put my hand on his. "Daddy, I know you were only lookin` out for me. I realise that now....., I`m sorry I was a pain in the butt, you know all the times...., all the times I messed up....,"

"Hey..., what`s gotten into you....? This ain`t` like you to admit that you were ever in the wrong."

I smiled at him. "I`m just sorry is all. I know I don`t say this enough..., but I love you Daddy, you and Mom."

"I know you do Honey. We both do. You know, what with the divorce an` everythin` it`s kinda` easy to lose sight of who the people are that matter most. You and Sara are the reason I still work.  You`re the most important people in my life now. You always will be Sugar."

I took a deep breath, then I quicly said, "Daddy...., I`m not goin` home. I`m not goin` back with you..., or Chrissy. I need some time alone. What happened to me, it`s made me look at things different. You know, work and stuff. It just doesn`t seem so important right now. D`you understand?"

He looked at me in surprise, then breathed deeply. " I know you`ve bin` through a tough ordeal...., I know that can have an effect for a long time after. What happened to you..., well that would get anyone thinkin` about things. But you can do to much thinkin`. Don`t go over analysin` things too much Honey, that`s important to. You`re doin` okay in the grand scheme of things. I`m proud of you..., your mom is to Sugar."

"Y`know Daddy, I know I`m not that smart. I`m Chloe the younger dippy one, and I could never hope to match Sara when it comes to brains and stuff. But I wanted to tell you, `cos I know this matters to you. When I was out there..., I did stuff, you know...., stuff that would make you proud of me. I wished you could`ve seen me sometimes. `Cos I was thinkin` about when we were sailin` an` stuff. I know I was hard work...., you had the patience of a saint with me, showin`me stuff over an` over `til it got through to me. Not every Dad would have done that. What you taught me saved my life y`know. I want you to know that I love you is all. And I`m sorry for...," Right then Chrissy and Mom came back and what I wanted him to hear was left unsaid. I hoped I`d get another chance with him.

The conversation at the table lulled and I got the feeling that Chrissy and Mom had been talking a little conspiratorially while they`d been smoking their cigarettes. Mom was quiet in particular. Chrissy I guess had been Chrissy. That girl was never good at keeping her mouth shut! She`d been discussing with mom what I`d said earlier about not going home. I just knew she had. I guess it didn`t much matter. I`d be talking with her soon enough anyway. As a hush gathered around the table and each of us was lost in our own thoughts I picked up the sound of the occean. Within moments my legs lurched forward. I`d kicked someone.

"Ouch!" Said Chrissy.

I looked down to see the fabric of my dress pressed tightly against my legs and lumps straining across the surface of it. My legs started to press harder and harder together as I looked up at the faces around me. My face started to burn as I felt it turning a scarlet colour.

"You just kicked me!" Said Chrissy.

"Sorry! Cramp!" I gasped. I bit down on my lower lip. Think Chloe! Think! I implored. I thought of the three of them, I thought of everything I could to stop myself from hearing the call of the occean. I almost screamed I was trying so hard. It took over a minute before it would pass. I heard, "Chloe...., Chloe....., move away...., move away from them...., you need to be alone....., you have to be alone now...., go Chloe...., go quickly....,"

"Chloe...? Chloe....?" It was my moms voice this time. "Are you listenin`, Honey?"

I snapped out of my daze. "Sorry Mom? What did you say?"

"Did you forget to pack any underwear?"

"Uhh, no. No I...., I just haven`t got anythin` that fits right just now."

"Well I think you might need to get somethin` soon. You`re attractin` a lot of looks if you don`t mind me sayin,` Sweetie!"

I did mind actually. Mom was never big on subtlety! But it gave me the perfect excuse to leave. I feigned a slight amount of offence and said I was feeling tired, before saying my goodnights. I quickly strode through the patio, and spied the unfortunate lobsters in their watery prison. My stomach growled hungrily and I could almost taste the juicy flesh of the six lucky survivors of the evenings feasting. I walked through the lobby and stepped into the empty waiting elevator and rode it to the floor my room lay on. I shut the door thankfully behind me and locked it, then checked it again. Yep. Locked! Good.

"Chloe..., make the most of now...., while you have the chance, you must make use of now...., set youself free Chloe...,"

"Yes...., I have to..., I can`t stop it, I can`t fight it any longer.."

"It`s alright Chloe...., you`re safe for now...., but beware tomorrow...., your time is almost at an end Chloe...., you must leave soon...."

"I know..., I can`t do this anymore, it`s too hard....., this longing...., it`s too much for me to bear anymore.

"Don`t worry Chloe...., you`re going to be fine...., not much longer mind...., time is not on your side now...,"

I nodded. Then I walked over to the window of my apartment and looked down on the patio. The three of them still remained at the table. Mom was smoking a cigarette like her life depended on it. I guessed my father had upset her again. I watched them as I slowly slipped down the wall. All the strength in my legs ebbed away as they wrinkled, spasmed and fused becoming powerless to help me stand. I twisted onto my back as I watched my fishtail emerging once again. I moaned contentedly as I felt the stress of the day and retaining my legs disappear from within my tired body. My legs were conjoined by now. Scales rapidly climbed up my body. The fins on my hips grew outwards and then splayed open to reveal their pretty transparent colors. I felt throbbing at my sides as my gills slowly emerged and  gradually starting to function. My feet already mottled green and blue, started to flatten out to form my flukes. I groaned louder as my bones faded to nothing, and I slipped lower onto the floor pulled along by the momentum of my growing lower body. Scales now covered me from the waist down. My feet unfolded and my flukes unrolled like a proud flag and grew and grew. My odour reached my nose and I breathed deeply of my own scent. The scent of the occean, the home that was pulling me, urging me, compelling me to leave the people who had known and loved me the most. When I had my tail and when I was a mermaid it seemed like it would be easy. There was no desire to stay, just the urgent physical and mental need to be a part of the sea. The will to stay was easily overpowered by the call and need to be the real me. The mermaid I`d become. And the mermaid that I knew I`d be very soon for the rest of my days.

I throbbed and spasmed on the floor for another five minutes as I completed my transformation. Watching myself become half fish felt all the more surreal knowing that my parents and Chrissy were only the otherside of the apartments walls. Really, they were a matter of feet away from me. I mused upon what they`d think if they knew the young woman they`d spent the evening chatting with, their daughter, their best friend, was just above them going through an amazing metamorphosis. Their attractive daughter had blossomed into a beautiful mermaid. And soon she`d leave them to live the life she could no longer fight against. Total surrender to my new body was just a matter of hours away for me now.

                                                               To Be Continued....