"Throw her overboard!" The captain yells at the sailor. His voice carries across the ship, sailing past the crew. The sailor nods and gives the woman he's holding captive an evil smile. All around the crew cheers, holding up their swords and blades in vicious support.

The old sailor leans into the poor woman's ear whispering, "Women can never be found on board. They're bad luck after all." He leans back and the woman screams at the top of her lungs. All she wanted was to be a part of the crew, become a sailor herself. The sailor quickly punches her gut, knocking the wind out of her and effectively shutting her up. She almost falls flat on her face, being tied up at the ankles, but the sailor catches her just in time. She struggles with her wrists under the ropes and makes a silent prayer to God. It's a foggy day, the air thick with moisture, giving the entire ocean an eerie feel. The air smells of rot and fish, a classic sailors hideaway.

The sailor starts to push her towards the end of the ship across the creaky floorboards, ready to throw her overboard. The ship is quite large, something the Captain takes great pride in, and the trip takes a minute or so. The woman struggles under the man's grasp, but isn't quite able to make any progress being the sailors strength from years of work on board. Once the sailor gets to the edge of the ship, he leans back and glares at the woman, clutching a thin blade in his hand to make sure she doesn't run. He snarls at her. "May this be a lesson to all women." He pauses a moment to consider her then narrows his eyes. "Never come on board." And with these final ruthless words the sailor kicks the woman's back, pushing her forward with great force, right over the edge of the ship inhabited my men. Plummeting to the water, the woman lets out a screech which fills the air and would give one the chills, causing the crew to fall into dead silence for a cruel moment, but then her cry for help is abruptly cut off by the sound of a huge splash as her body hits the water. And with this last sound, the crew erupts into a fiery cheer. A nearby sailor offers the man a beer, and the two toast at a job well done, for they have murdered an innocent woman so their ship would not be cursed with the horrible legend of bad luck.

Underneath the ship, through the fog and under the teal water of the ocean, the woman struggles under the ropes, scratching her wrists and ankles in the process. She plummets to the ocean floor, her breath quickly and cruelly running out. Her long blonde hair comes in waves over her face and her loose clothing swish through the water, obscuring her view. The few fish around her quickly swim away in fear and the woman is left alone in her final moments. She's tempted to gasp for air in a last attempt to live even when there is none to save her. A few moments of struggling later her breath has completely run out, and she feels time seemingly closing in on her. The woman's struggling slowly dies off, entering a type of drowning state one reads about in books but rarely remembers. Her arms lie slack and motionless in front of her, and her legs are straight like a needle. The salt water starts to enter her body, and it slowly fills her lungs, scratching her throat as it travels down. In a few moments, the woman's powerless life will come to an end. The woman's entire life seemingly flashes before her eyes, almost like she's reliving her past, and she can feel her time running out. As her life replays in her mind, darkness starts to come into the woman's vision and she shuts her eyes in a last effort to escape reality. Doing her best to prepare for the inevitable, she sets her mind blank, the pain seeping in. Just as the darkness consumes her, she feels her body change in a way no professor or philosopher could ever explain. Nothing magical, no, a darkness surrounds the woman as her legs that are tied together merge into a tail that will help her swim. Her lungs transform to filter air in the water. Through this darkness, her eyes shoot open as she somehow takes an enormous breath, but it's too late, for the darkness has already taken over and the woman isn't awake to realize she's changed, for better or for worse.

•••

"When the ocean tides sweep along, taking you with them.
Riding high with a sweet goodbye I never knew I loved them.
All along I've said hello when there was nothing there to see.
Riding high with a sweet goodbye I never knew I came with them."

A husky and scratchy yet beautiful voice fills the blonde woman's ears as she slowly and grudgingly begins to awaken from what she thought was certain death. As the woman opens her eyes she is faced with four women, one brunette, one blonde, one with dark red hair, and one black haired woman. Her vision is groggy and there is a teal tint to the women. She reaches up and rubs her eyes, which barely helps. The red haired one simply looks at her apprehensively while the brunette and blonde give the woman sad smiles, almost like condolences, and the black haired woman looks almost serene.

The brunette is the one to approach the woman. She places a hand on her arm. "Hello, what is your name?"

The blonde woman opens her mouth to speak, "M-Madelyn." Her voice cracks and comes out almost scratchy. She feels a sharp sting at the back of her throat and she winces. The brunette quickly comes to her side to comfort her.

The woman gently rubs her back. "I know, you'll get used to the pain." She gives Madelyn a sad smile. Then she moves away. "I'm Amber." She moves back towards the other women. Or... swims? Madelyn takes a moment to actually fully look at the women. They have tails. Tails. Confusion sweeps over Madelyn and the cruel events from the ship come back to her in a terrifying and painful rush.

"W-who? What?" She tries to stand up but slips. When Madelyn looks down she's faced with not her legs, but a similar tail. The scales are a deep blue and forest green, a remembrance of land. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens, ready to scream when the blonde quickly comes up to her and roughly covers her mouth with her hand.

"Shh. Don't scream. They'll hear you." Madelyn's eyes widen in fear about who the woman's talking about. The woman looks over Madelyn, trying to figure out if she'll stay calm and most importantly, quiet. Once she's satisfied, the woman slowly removes her hand. "We are mermaids. All of us were thrown overboard because 'having a woman on board is bad luck.'" The woman rolls her eyes. "Somehow, we have survived, becoming the mythical creature of legend. However, we are not here for pleasure." She suddenly becomes very serious. "Women have suffered throughout history long enough. Now, as mermaids, we have the power to lure sailors in with our voices. Then, we get vengeance." The woman says this with complete venom. "I am Clarissa." She points to the red haired woman. "She's Ariel." Then Clarissa points to the black haired woman. "And she's Aria." 

Madelyn takes a moment to process all of this. Obviously, they can't be lying, they're swimming right in front of her. After all, she has become a mermaid herself. "But... why don't you just put it all behind you?" She questions.

Aria is the one to speak. "Put it behind us? Really? We were thrown overboard because women are thought to be bad luck. We couldn't become sailors even if we wanted to! We can barely become anything higher than men because that would mean that women are actually gaining some power in this world!" She scoffs. "If you're not going to help us get vengeance, then you can just leave." She turns her chin up at Madelyn, waiting for an answer.

Madelyn takes a moment to consider this. Yes, she wants vengeance for what has been done to her, but is she ready to actually kill a man? Commit the ultimate crime in nothing but vengeance? In the back of her mind she thinks, The men killed me, and now I will kill them. An eye for an eye, a person for a person. When she looks up at the other three mermaids, she sees how important this cause is to them in the fire in their eyes. Madelyn turns back to Aria. "I'll join you." She spits.

Aria smiles. "Well, let's get going then." She turns back to the other three. "Shall we?"

The three mermaids nod and come to Madelyn's side, helping her up and quickly showing her how to swim. It's fairly easy, actually, once you get the hang of it.

"Where are we going?" Madelyn questions when the four mermaids start swimming. She tries to catch up.

Amber turns around. "There's a small ship passing by, it's going to be your first kill." She smiles and continues swimming with the others. This makes Madelyn pause a moment. Her first kill? She shakes her head to clear it. She can do this. She has to. Madelyn narrows her eyes and sharply nods her head.

After a few minutes of tireless swimming the five mermaids reach an empty spot in the water, no ship to be seen for miles.

Madelyn knots her eyebrows together in confusion. "Why are we here? There's no ship in sight."

Amber is the one to talk again. She swims up to Madelyn and whispers, "Just wait." And winks.

Ariel comes to the front of the small group and starts to sing. "When the ocean tides sweep along, taking you with them.
Riding high with a sweet goodbye I never knew I loved them.
All along I've said hello when there was nothing there to see.
Riding high with a sweet goodbye I never knew I came with them." She repeats this melancholy tune a few times, filling the endless length of water with her husky voice. Ariel eventually stops singing and they all wait in dead silence. After a few minutes somehow, a ship comes into view, coming to a slow stop where the mermaids are. Ariel starts singing the tune again, and the other three mermaids join her. Amber nods at Madelyn, cluing her in to sing. Madelyn reluctantly joins in, remembering her past experiences with singing. Surprisingly, her voice comes out simply and beautifully. Despite the pain and huskiness, Madelyn manages to continue singing the song with her new friends.

After many times singing the tune over suddenly a man splashes into the water, followed by many more. It's the ships crew, Madelyn slowly realizes. They're jumping into the water, taking their own lives because of the mermaids irresistible voices. Once there are no more bodies crashing into the water, the four mermaids shut their eyes for a few moments and fall into a serene silence, almost like saying their own prayers. Afterwards, they start swimming away. Madelyn follows them to a small cave in the middle of a coral reef. The cave is somehow naturally lit up and there are beautiful sea plants decorating it. In the middle there is a huge rock, looking like a huge bed.

"This is beautiful." Madelyn looks around in awe.

Clarissa looks at Madelyn with soft eyes. "This is home."