Painful Memories
1162 Words
I dismiss my companions with a flippant wave of my hand. “Go,” I snap, “Leave me in peace while I come up with a plan.”
Most of them do as I say, swimming away quietly. But Persephone hangs back, studying me with suspicion in her gaze. “I said GO!” I roar. My tone frightens her enough to make her leave as well.
Finally, I’m alone. I can think about what’s just happened to me. I need some peace and quiet to figure this out.
This human boy has infected me, poisoned my brain with toxic thoughts. The only way to purge them is to hunt him down and end him.
How?
He’s on land, and I’m down here. He surely won’t return to the sea any time soon. So I need to become human… at least long enough to finish him.
The only way for me to do that is to find some more souls to eat. To stay human for that long, I’ll need at least a dozen victims. A whole ship’s worth.
But what will my companions say if I don’t save them any prey? If I keep them all for myself, and abandon them to walk on land for a while?
They may never forgive me.
But what choice do I have? I need to be free of the sickness this boy has caused my brain.
So I get up from my throne and swim out of our palace as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert anyone of my escape.
I swim toward the surface, toward the sunlight as it peeks through the water, leaving the murky depths behind.
My head bursts through the surface of the water, and I toss back my head, throwing back my blond locks in a long stream behind me.
What am I doing?
This is crazy.
I can’t let a vile human get under my skin like this.
Men are nothing but disgusting, perverted creatures.
They hunted me down like a piece of meat when I was human, little more than a child. They treated me like I was nothing more than a prize to be won.
And then came Richard. The crown prince, the subject of all single women’s affections. He could have had any woman in the kingdom, but he set his sights on me when I was only sixteen.
He was handsome enough, but a blundering i***t. And much older than me. I paid him no mind.
But then that night happened. My parents were in a nearby kingdom for a wedding, and the servants had gone to sleep for the night. So when Richard showed up and started throwing rocks at my bedroom window, nobody heard.
I opened the window and looked down. “Go home!” I hissed, “It’s the middle of the night!”
“Never!” He answered, “Not until you speak with me!”
He was obviously drunk.
“I’ll speak to you in the morning when you’re sober,” I answered before shutting the window.
He kept throwing stones at it. Over and over and over again.
I went to my bed, burying my head under the pillow and praying for the noise to stop.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, it did.
I breathed a sigh of relief and peeked out from under the pillow, only to see a menacing shadow outside of my window.
He had climbed the trellis on the side of my home. I watched in stunned shock for a second before springing out of my bed to try to block him from getting in, but I was too late. He burst through the window and landed on my floor in a drunken heap.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, “Please go home!”
If anyone found him here in the middle of the night, I’d be branded a slut. My reputation would be ruined and my future would be over.
“Not until you agree to marry me,” he slurred as he stood up and stumbled toward me.
I backed away, but he kept charging ahead, impossibly strong and fast.
Then it hit me. His sorcerer, Merlin, must have given him a spell to help him on this dark mission. That’s how he was able to climb in here.
“Please,” I begged, “Just go. We can talk about this when you’re feeling better.”
“No!” he snapped, “I want an answer NOW!”
He pressed me against the wall, breathing hard against the crook of my neck. I tried to push him away, but he had the strength of ten men. I remember the dread, the complete fear coming over my body as my heart slammed against my ribcage.
But then I felt something more. Determination. I wasn;t going to let this man ruin me.
So with every ounce of strength I had, I brought my knee up… directly into his crotch. I slammed it into him as hard as I could, then watched him crumple to the ground.
“I said NO!” A wicked smile curled at the edge of my lips as I wound up and delivered one more blow to his back, landing my foot right in his kidney.
He eventually scrambled to his feet and stumbled out of the room with his tail between his legs, and I thought I had escaped unscathed.
I was wrong.
The next day, several of my friends were over for supper. It was a lovely night of food and drink and laughter… until Merlin showed up at my door demanding to see me.
My friends tried to hide me, but he knew better.
So when he raised his wand to curse us all, I knew I was powerless against him. There was nothing I could do but succumb to his magic.
So I closed my eyes and vowed to use this dark magic against him one day, to learn to control it and use it.
And so I have. My friends and I, with the help of a sea witch, were able to use this curse to become human… for only a day or so at a time… at the cost of a human soul.
So as I stare at the kingdom in the distance, I have to wonder… why have I let this boy affect me so? And how will he affect me when I’m close to him again?
I don’t have too much time to ponder my troubles, though. Over the horizon, I see the white, billowing shapes of sails.
An evil smile stretches across my face. My prey has fallen right into my lap.
- Writer
