I needed a day out after my ordeal at last night's Halloween party, so I decided to visit a new aquarium that just opened. I thought surely that must be relaxing.

They had a nice assortment of beautiful rare and exotic fish, and other sea creatures.

As I was admiring all the fish, a gentleman walked up beside me with dark, but graying hair. He was wearing a suit and tie.

"Are you enjoying the exhibits, miss..."

"Erin." I replied.

"Erin." He repeated.

"Yes, I am, sir." I said.

"That's good to hear." He replied. "My name is Sam, by the way."

"Do you work here, Sam?" I asked.

"You can say that." He replied. "I own this place."

"Really?" I said. "You've got a nice collection of sea creatures here."

"Thank you." He replied with a smile.

"Do you do anything else besides run this aquarium?" I asked.

"Well, I also dabble in magic in my spare time." He replied.

"Really... I love magic." I replied. "I've even participated in some magic shows before."

"Hmm... that's fascinating." He replied

As we were walking, we came to an exhibit that was covered. Next to it was a sign with an outline of a mermaid that said "Coming soon." I couldn't help but stare at it.

"Do you like mermaids?" He asked.

"When I was a little girl, I loved 'The Little Mermaid.' I had toys from that movie, and would pretend that I was Ariel. I even dressed as Ariel one year for Halloween." I replied.

"I see." He replied. "Erin would you like see another area of the facility? A sort of behind the scenes you might say."

"Sure." I replied.

Sam opened a door and led me into a hallway. He then turned to face me.

"Is something wrong, Sam?" I asked.

He waved his hand in front of my face, and said, "Sleep." When he said that, I instantly fell asleep. A man who had walked in behind me caught me as I fell backwards.

I was carried into a back room, laid on a table, and my shirt was removed. Sam then grabbed a saw, and sawed me in half. He then removed my lower half and placed it somewhere else.

"Now, my dear, for the next part." Sam said.

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An hour later...

I slowly started to wake up. I looked around to see that I was now laying next to the top of the aquarium tank.

"Where am I?" I said to myself.

I looked down and saw that I was wearing a bra made out of two seashells, and from my waist down, there was a fishtail with the fins dipped in the water.

"What the...." I said

Just then, Sam walked in.

"Hello, my little mermaid." He said.

"What did you do to me?" I asked.

"I sawed you in half and replaced your lower half with that of a fish." He replied.

"YOU WHAT?!" I said.

"I need a mermaid for my exhibit, and you said you used to pretend to be one, so we both got what we wished for." He replied.

"I didn't mean this though." I said.

"Oh well... it's too late now." He said.

As I laid there I thought of something...

"Wait a second.... you didn't saw a fish in half did you?" I asked.

"Well...uh....yes." He replied.

"That poor fish." I said.

"Oh, come on. Don't you think that if you can remain alive while sawn in half that a fish can too?" He replied while pointing off to the side.

I looked to where he was pointing at and saw half a fish swimming in a tank.

"That's kind of freaky." I said.

"So what did you do with my legs? I asked.

"They're in safe place." He replied.

"How long do I have to stay like this?" I asked.

"Until another girl comes along that has a desire to be a mermaid." He replied.

"How long could that be?" I asked.

Sam just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well it's time to get started. Oh, I forgot to tell you, you can now breathe underwater." He said as he pushed me into the water.

"I can..." I replied as I went down under the water.

He was right, I could breathe underwater!

A few minutes later, Sam was back down among the crowd.

"I'm glad you could be here for the opening of our new exhibit." He told them. "You are about to see something that you won't see at any other aquarium."

With that, he gave the signal, and the covering was removed.

The audience gasped as I swam by and waved to them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Erin the mermaid."

The audience applauded and took pictures with their phones.

"We are the only aquarium on the planet with a live mermaid." He told them.

Seeing the eyes of those kids light up when they saw me made me think that being a mermaid might not be so bad after all.

TO BE CONTINUED....