He pushed me. He pushed me!

That was all my mind could think, over and over as I held on the the edge of the cliff. My world came crashing to a halt in that single instant. Everything, everything I had done since my parents died was for this man. Yet he had taken it and thrown me out. It wasn't possible, there had to be an explanation, there had to be. He wouldn't do this, I know he wouldn't. It's not possible.

"Why didn't you just fall, damn it!" He screeched, looming over the side of the cliff.

That was it, that was my breaking point. I felt tears slide down my cheeks. For years I had tried to be strong, tried to hold on. But as I watched his mask crumble and the real man leak out, I couldn't hold it back anymore. The terrible, leaching numbness that I had fought off for years came seeping back into my limbs. I suddenly felt so tired, so unbearably tired. As I felt the familiar empty ache in my chest return, I took one last look at the creature I thought was a loving man.

Then I gave in...

I let go.

Darkness...

Where am I?...

I... I was doing something... had I closed my eyes for a second?...

Oh... I suppose I should open them before I fall over...

I opened my eyes, and was amazed by what I saw. A world so full of color, it almost hurt to look at. All I could do was sit there and drink it in, but the more I looked the more wrong it all felt. None of this felt familiar, none of it felt right. Then as I looked around once more I was met with a shocking revelation, I was under water! Yet I was breathing? Wait, was that a tail where my legs should be? Ho-

I was suddenly startled out of my self reflection as a something bumped into my shoulder.

"Hey, what are you doing? You're in the middle of the road!"

I turned to look at who had bumped into me and was surprised to find a fish staring me down. I slid my eyes from its frumpy expression to find an explosion of color. Its beautiful, gleaming scales were a fiery red on the face then faded from a sun kissed yellow to a deep navy blue on the back fin. the thing was huge compared to the few fish I'd seen in person, it was about half my size!

"Just take a picture, it will last you longer." The fish stated sarcastically

with a start I realized I had been staring at him for a rather long time.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude I've just never seen such a beautiful fish." I blurted out before I stopped to think how absurd it was that I was having a conversation with a fish.

He seemed to pause at that, giving me a long look before a tiny smile graced his lips.

"Well, can't fault your taste, I am the the most handsome fish around." He said, raising his chin a little before the frown slid back onto his face

"You aren't from around here are you?" He asked, giving me a once over.

"Um... no?" I said looking around me some more.

I was really underwater! looking left and right I found fish of all sizes and colors swimming past, seeming to be in a hurry. I looked up and saw the sun rippling through the water as it split into little sun beams, highlighting all the little particles floating in the water. then I looked down to see lots of sand, and all sorts of coral and other sea plants. but my examination stopped there as my eyes where dragged to what I had seen earlier. a tail! a long, scaly, blue and green fish tail, right where my legs should have been!

"I... I'm a mermaid" I heard my self screech at a startling volume.

"Is that a bad thing?" The fish asked rather dryly, forcing my gaze back up to his slightly amused but still frowning face.

"I don't know, is it?" I asked a little at a loss for words now that I was starting to realize I had no idea where I was or how I got here.

"Depends on who you ask" he said, the frown slipping into a sly smile for a second before coming back in full force.

"But how do you not know?" He asked a bit of concern slipping through his frown.

"I... I'm not really sure." I answered, trying to be honest. 

"Hmm, are you here for the school then?" He asked lightly.

"No?" I said, trying not to sound too pathetic.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" He said while razing one eyebrow.

Which only served to distract me with the fact that, as a fish he really didn't have eyebrows. I forced that thought to the side to face the more pressing matter, I couldn't really remember much and I had no clue why I was here. I only had a slight recollection of living above water and definitely not being a mermaid.

"I really don't know why I'm here." I said to the fish as he seemed to be getting impatient.

"Don't know much, do you?" he said, his frown scrunching up his face even more.

"Do you know someone in the area, or have a place to stay?" He asked.

"No." I said. I was pretty sure I didn't because nothing around here looked familiar, and I would remember a place like this.

Well... I think I would.

"Do you at least have a name?" He asked.

That question made me pause. I had a name, of course I had a name. Everyone had a name, but as I dug through the few things I could remember, it came up blank. I couldn't remember my own name?! How could I not remember my own name?! I felt my breath coming in short gasps as I started to panic. Only to be reminded of the fact that I was breathing water, which caused me to panic even more.

The fish swam up to my face and grabbed it with both fins, forcing me to look him in the eye.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. Just take a few deep breaths, it's ok if you can't remember your name. That's actually pretty common around here. Between the occasional curse and the mer-people's tendency to hit each other on the head, there are quite a few people who had to get new names. It's not the end of the world so just calm down, all right?" the fish said.

"Ya, ok." I said after a couple shaky breaths. I was still concerned about the whole water breathing thing, but I wasn't drowning so that could wait a little bit.

"Good." He said. "My name is Bart, and I work at the near by mer-school. What do you say we head over there and we can get you checked for a curse? If that doesn't pan out then I'm sure the headmistress would be happy to let you stay until you get yourself figured out."

"Alright." I said, my spirits lifting at the thought of getting my memories back.

Then I had to stop myself from letting my hopes get too high. This didn't seem like it would be as simple as removing a curse and getting all my memories back. After all, what kind of curse would give me memories of living above the water?

Whatever, I thought swimming with surprising ease to catch up to Bart. I guess we'll see.