“Two hundred innocent mermaids died, and the pollution it created destroyed the ecosystems of many marine species. The attack was savage and unwarranted. The dragons are…they are monsters.”
Tameka couldn’t believe Red had claimed that the dragons weren’t violent. How could she have even listened to him? She was glad he was out of her life for good.
“There has to be something we can do about it,” Tameka protested. “They can’t just be allowed to get away with it. What do the witches and trolls have to say?”
“There is nothing we can do, Tameka. My father tries to sue for peace but the dragon Prime Minister is a duplicitous, violent man. He revels in carnage and murder. Sometimes I fear that he is going to attack my colony next.”
The mermaids would have no chance against an army of invading dragons. They would literally be defenseless. They had magic, but what they did have was nothing compared to the might and ferocity of the dragons.
Tameka was furious. “I can’t believe Red works for that man.”
“Have you seen him?” Asha asked.
“Red? No. Not since I tried to shoot him.”
“He is a threat to you. If he tries to come near you again you must protect yourself.”
She knew Asha was being melodramatic. Even when she’d tried to kill Red he hadn’t put up a fight. Maybe it was because he knew she couldn’t hurt him, but it still proved a lot. He’d never lift a finger to harm her.
“He would never hurt me,” Tameka insisted.
“He is a dragon.” Asha tossed aside the bones of the fish she’d been eating. They sank into the sea. “All dragons do is hurt people. Remember what they did to our parents.”
“I’ll never forget what they did to our parents. Never.”
Those memories haunted her every dream. That red dragon was on her mind so much, even after she’d given up the search, that she expected to see it pop up around every corner.
“I asked father what you requested, but he said no,” said Asha. Her tone was apologetic. “He still will not allow outsiders into our home.”
“I see,” said Tameka, a little sad. “It doesn’t matter.”
Asha patted her on the arm. It was a touching gesture, though still a little forced. “It does matter. I want you to see where I grew up and that I was loved. I know you worry that I was some abused kidnap victim.”
“If it wasn’t for me…”
“I never blamed you. I miss what I could have had, but my life in the water was wonderful. Do not ever feel guilty.”
Yet Tameka did. If she’d rescued her sister that day, instead of letting her die, they would’ve grown up together. They could’ve been real sisters.
Two days later Tameka sat down, grumpy. Asha watched her, waiting for her to vent. The mermaid was very prescient when it came to her moods. Sometimes Tameka wished her sister would get angry sometimes, or maybe cause a scene or have a tantrum.
“My agent says they cut my scene,” snapped Tameka. “The bastards.”
“Did they give you a reason?” Asha asked.
They hadn’t given her a reason, just that it had to be cut. Tameka suspected it was because the network needed more commercial airtime, which was usually the case. Network television nowadays was basically a bunch of commercials with snippets of programs sandwiched between them. They only cared about the advertising dollars.
I am so fucking cynical.
Tameka gave a huge sigh. “I played a really good corpse, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not sure I really care to be honest. My heart wasn’t in it.”
She’d tried to be the best hooker who’d died from auto-erotic asphyxiation as she could, but it hadn’t been enough. Maybe it was because her last career in television had ended so badly. She did get pregnant after all and vow to never work in show business again.
My baby…
“Perhaps you should try theatre,” Asha suggested. She started humming something, a tune that Tameka couldn’t quite identify. “I remember going to see The Lion King in New York. That looked like…fun?”
Tameka wanted to laugh at the question mark at the end of Asha’s sentence, as if she couldn’t quite comprehend what fun actually was.
“I remember going to see The Lion King too, but I don’t remember you there. I wish I did.”
“Think back to that day. Think. You might remember something.”
That day was lodged in her memory forever, pretty much like everything she’d experienced. Sometimes she hated her eidetic memory.
She thought back. “Well…I remember being in the car. Mom kept yelling at me to shut up, even though I was reading a book.”
“That is because it was me making all the noise,” said Asha. “I was kicking the back of her seat.”
“Hmm.”
The car journey made a lot more sense now. She hadn’t been able to understand why her mother had been shouting at her to stop making a fuss. She knew she hadn’t been doing anything wrong and it had upset her. What other odd things had happened in her life that could be solved by the simple fact that her sister had been taken from her memories? How could she trust anything she knew to be fact?
Did I blow out the candles on my fifth birthday cake, or did Asha do it? Was I really lonely on my first day of school, or did I have my twin to comfort me?
“I bet there are all sorts of strange gaps in your memory that make no sense,” said Asha. “That will be where I was ripped from them.”
“I wish I could remember,” Tameka admitted.
“You will. I promise. It is just taking a little time.”
Tameka was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I think there’s a way for you to get all your real memories back. I’m working on it. You have to trust me.”
Tameka turned away as she pressed play on the laptop. Asha had been begging to see footage of her sitcom for weeks. The trouble was she was embarrassed by it. She’d been a little diva back then, unhappy and willing to make everyone else around her miserable. What fifteen-year-old girl could resist the lure of the limelight? It wasn’t until she’d had her own experience with an actual online troll she’d realized she was a selfish little bitch.
Well, that and I realized I really hated being on a sitcom.
Shit. I hate acting altogether.
What the hell am I doing, trying to get back into that life? I must be insane.
Asha looked up into Tameka’s eyes with confusion. “Is this supposed to be funny?”
“I know you don’t experience emotion much anymore, but…well, no, it’s not funny.” Tameka laughed, seeing the funny side to her acting career now. “It’s shit. It’s puerile, lowest common denominator shit. I can’t believe I won all those Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. All I can surmise is that my agent gave the judges money, blowjobs or both.”
“What is a blowjob?”
Tameka laughed again. The innocence in that one question was delightful. “Please don’t ever ask me that again. I’m begging you.”
They continued until the episode was over. Tameka then ejected the DVD and spun it into the sea. She vowed to burn all her DVDs when she got back home. Not that that would stop anyone from watching it. It was on Netflix now for the whole world to enjoy over and over again.
If only the royalty checks weren’t so delicious.
“You hated being an actress?” Asha asked.
“Not at first,” Tameka admitted, remembering those first days of auditions and excitement. “I loved it. I loved being in character. It made me feel powerful and it gave me an outlet for what my parents called my extraordinary talent. But after a while it started to make me feel bored. So I became a brat and had sex with the man who played my dad on the show. Biggest mistake of my life.”
She’d never regret her affair with Stafford Chalk, the actor who played her father on the show. He’d given her a precious baby. Her parents had called him a pedophile and a pervert, but she’d been almost seventeen at the time and knew what she was doing. He seemed to regret i
t though, and had blanked her afterwards. That was the last time she’d fully trusted a man.
“You gave it all up,” Asha stated.
Tameka smiled. “I gave it all up and went to college. I put the past behind me. After that I sort of ended up using my gifts to help people, which eventually led me to working as a consulting detective with Red.” She paused, thinking about her dragon shifter and how he was doing. He always made her smile, even if her feelings for him were bitterly conflicted at the moment. “But that life is gone now. I’m back to being an actor again.”
“You hate it.”
“I fucking despise it. I…” She closed the laptop, not wanting any reminders of her teen sitcom days. “It just brings back some unpleasant memories of a time I was miserable.”
Her child was five now, perfect and healthy and cute as a button. She was doing wonderful with her new parents. Tameka didn’t regret giving her up, not one bit. She hadn’t been capable of being a mother back then. It had been the right thing to do.
“You could still be a detective,” Asha suggested. “You do not have to work with Red.”
“I’ve got an audition with CSI: Blue City tomorrow,” said Tameka.
Asha blushed. “Fuck them.”
Tameka laughed. She’d never heard her sister swear before. It made her think there truly was hope for her.
“I could be a private detective,” Tameka mused. “Open my own agency. Be my own boss.” She smiled as the possibilities overwhelmed her. “I have the money. I could do this.”
She didn’t mention she was a millionaire. It seemed crass, considering that Asha lived in the ocean. While her sitcom hadn’t paid much, and the residual royalty checks were okay, she’d made most of her money off the back of a bunch of commercials she did for a Japanese sushi company. The less said about that the better.
“You can do this,” Asha urged her.
Tameka felt a little panic at going out on her own. “Or I can just go back to the police. Red…”
“I am sick of hearing about Red. He lied to you. He is a dragon. The danger he presents to the both of us is real.”
“I know,” she admitted. “I just miss him I suppose.”
She hated herself for missing him, but it was the truth. Every day that passed she thought about Red and his adorable smile. It didn’t matter what had gone on between them. She just missed his very presence in her life. Maybe she always would.
“You are in love with him?” Asha asked.
Tameka was shocked. “No! No…I’m not sure. I just miss him.”
“He will use you and spit you out. Who knows why he was sent to watch you? I fear…I fear it might be because of me.”
Tameka looked away, guilty. She hadn’t mentioned the fact that Red had been sent to watch her for when Asha made contact. She didn’t want her sister to panic and never come back to visit her again.
“You think he knew about you all this time and was sent to watch me, just in case you made contact?” Tameka asked, acting to perfection.
“It is the only thing that makes sense,” said Asha.
“You’re right. That lying shit. If he hurts you…”
“If he hurts either of us, then he will pay. After yesterday evening…”
“What happened yesterday?”
“Maybe Red had nothing to do with it. I do not know.”
“What happened?”
“I was swimming near the coral reef when I saw the shadow of a dragon pass by. I thought I was going to die and I panicked.” Asha halted over her last word, considering it, almost as if it was a new concept for her. “The dragon must not have seen me because, as you can see, I am alive. But at the time I was scared.”
Tameka wasn’t sure Asha could ever be scared. Terror was an emotion, and Asha didn’t exactly feel emotions. Yet her sister was evolving, albeit slowly, so it might be true. Maybe she had been scared and hadn’t known how to process it?
“Dragons fly,” said Tameka, hoping to settle Asha down if indeed she was scared over the incident. “That’s what they do. Maybe they were just passing by on their way to Starbucks or something.”
Asha shook her head. “We have a non-aggression pact with them, and the coral reef I was referring to is on the edge of mermaid territory. Dragons are not allowed there.”
“So what was it doing?”
“I fear they are planning an attack. That is the only explanation.”
She clutched her sister’s hand, hoping to calm her down (if she was indeed anxious. Tameka couldn’t really tell). Asha’s skin was cold to the touch, almost like she was plunging her hand inside a freezer.
“We can take care of ourselves, do not worry,” Asha assured her. “Mermaids are strong.”
“Those scales of yours look like they could repel bullets.”
Asha smirked. “Believe me, they can.”
Tameka refused to open her eyes or take her hands off her ears. She didn’t want to hear the waves. It was bad enough she had to smell the salt air. Quite why she’d offered to go out to sea in a boat to get over her fear of water she had no idea. It had seemed a good idea at the time, and Asha wanted to help. Tameka hadn’t had the heart to deny her sister when she was trying so hard.
“You still fear the water,” said Asha.
Tameka removed her hands from her ears. “You can’t make me open my eyes.”
“The water is life essence. It makes up everything living.”
“I can’t help it.”
The boat rocked a little. She used her hands to cling to the sides, terrified that she was going to end up in the water. Maybe Asha would save her if she started to drown but it didn’t matter. It was still water, and it was still deep, and it could still kill her.
“Water did not kill our parents,” Asha told her. “The dragons did.”
“But the water pretty much killed everyone else on the cruise ship, and it nearly got you too.”
“I will get you to love the water one day.”
“Maybe when I’m old and grey. But that’s never going to happen.”
“Why?”
Tameka smirked. “When my hair starts going grey I’ll just dye it black again.”
Asha clutched her hand as they walked down the street. It was early in the morning so the sidewalk wasn’t as busy, though the traffic was still noisy and the smog could be seen floating over the skyscrapers like a menacing fog.
Her sister was wearing some of Tameka’s casual clothes, a blue sweater, jeans, and a pair of trainers. She had a stylish red bobble hat that covered her bald head and the strange marks on her scalp. Now they looked like sisters. Now they looked like like twins.
“I do not come on land much,” said Asha. “Is it always this…stable?”
Tameka smiled. “Pretty much.”
They carried on, passing a clown collecting money for charity. When he looked at Asha she gave him an odd look and pulled Tameka away.
“Is everyone looking at me?” Asha asked, eyes taking in the whole urban scene around her. “Can they smell the sea on me?”
“Stop being so paranoid,” Tameka told her. “Embrace the land.”
“The land can hurt you.”
Asha dropped the half eaten cheeseburger onto the table. The expression on her face made her look as if she’d just licked the bottom of a shoe. Tameka wasn’t sure what was wrong with her. Her own cheeseburger had tasted great.
I better not try her with hotdogs then.
“I feel sick,” Asha groaned.
“The burger wasn’t that bad, although maybe the cow did object to being slaughtered,” said Tameka. “But you’ve had burgers before, right?”
“When I was human. My mermaid senses are different.”
Tameka took a sip of her strawberry milkshake and sighed with pleasure. It was ice cold and thick and beautiful. She motioned for Asha to drink some of her own milkshake. The mermaid hesitated at first.
“Drink it,” Tameka ordered.
“It is cold,” sa
id Asha.
Tameka sighed. “That’s the point. Just drink it.”
Asha pushed the milkshake away from her.
“I cannot be here,” said Asha. She looked like she was about to have a panic attack. “The humans smell so awful, and the air is choking me, and they are all looking at me and they know what I am and…”
“Shit. Try to breathe.”
“I cannot breathe! I need the water! Take me back! Now!”
Asha slipped back into the water, still wearing her human clothing. Tameka watched as her sister stripped, letting the clothes sink into the depths.
Those trainers were expensive.
“Are you okay now?” Tameka asked.
“I freaked out,” said Asha, pulling off the bobble hat. She sniffed it and tossed it behind her. “I am sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s…fine.”
She hugged herself, shivering. The air coming off the sea was freezing.
“But the burger was nice,” said Asha. “I could taste the fear of the cow. It was delicious.”
Tameka felt uncomfortable for a moment. “You’re joking.”
“Yes. It was a joke.”
They couldn’t exist in each other’s worlds. Tameka had panic attacks on water, and Asha had panic attacks on land. There would always be a barrier between them. They could never be proper sisters, share an apartment together or go on double dates or even do something as simple as having coffee. Yet they had to try. Fears could be overcome in time. All they had to do was persevere.
Learning to know my sister is worth all the pain, even if she is weird.
“Yes, I’ve made my mind up,” said Tameka, almost shouting to be heard over her agent’s protests. “I’m quitting. Goodbye.”
She hung up and turned her cell to voice mail so she couldn’t be contacted again. Her agent would just try and convince her to stay with her and she might eventually cave in. The woman could be very persuasive.
If she offered me a movie that involved a sex scene with Chris Pratt I might relent.
“You were a bit harsh on her,” said Yenay, eyeing her disapprovingly.
The two of them were sat on the couch, catching up. Yenay had popped in to find out what happened with Asha, and Tameka was curious about her friend’s new career as a yoga instructor. Secretly she thought yoga was boring.
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