Trapped with a Way Out

by Jeffery Martinez

  "Oh, how I do wish I were fifteen!" she said. "I know I shall love that world up there and all the people who live in it."

  William frowned at this, for she was a year younger than the youngest princess and so had that much longer to wait. She often looked wistfully up as she did her chores alone in the dark, and might have grown even more dour had Schrödinger not often come to pester her, or Harkonnen kept her busy working as a stage hand for the royal opera house.

  Over the years, William slowly regained her cheerful nature from before her parents' demise, and she took more chances going closer and closer to the surface. Her fear of open water lessened and her desire to explore sunken ships increased. In fact, one day when she was sent to collect fishing nets to decorate the stage for a royal concert in honor of the youngest princess's birthday, William had trailed close to a ship above.

  From below the water, she could vaguely hear the mariners singing words that sounded like:

  I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

  And it's hey to the starboard, heave ho!

  Look out, lad, a mermaid be waiting for you

  In mysterious fathoms below!

  Little did they dream a pretty young mermaid was down below, stretching her white arms up toward the keel of their ship!

  Or that she cut off part of their net to take with her in the mysterious fathoms below.

  William wrapped the net around her shoulders like a coil of rope and looked again upon the ship above. She felt she could vaguely hear them talking and see them looking out over the edge, yet she could not get close enough. Oh, how she wished to break through the surface to see their faces and hear their chatter!

  From beneath the water, she almost thought she could see one of the humans looking down at her.

  William gasped and darted further down in the fathoms below, looked back up worriedly, and then sighed with relief. Not wanting to get in trouble with the authorities again (for she often came too close to the surface for their comfort), William darted back down to the sea floor and drifted along, passing reef plants and sea mammals resting at the bottom, until once again she drifted into the magical waters of the Sea Capital along with the other merfolk.

  As they all gathered to be seated in the royal concert hall, William drifted backstage with the net to help set up.

  "Oh, thank Neptune you have returned in time," one of the stage hands exclaimed. "You found the sea net in the sunken ship I told you about?"

  "No," William said, "but I found some off a ship that was passing by."

  This was met with a mixture of disapproval and admiration.

  "You took this from a ship still inhabited by humans?"

  "William, you're too young for that!"

  "Don't worry, I did not break through the surface or let them see me," William said.

  They would have argued further, but the lead stage hand reminded them that the curtain would draw in less than ten minutes and they had to hurry.

  Outside, William could hear the announcer welcome the royal highnesses, the Sea King and Dowager Queen, with much pomp and circumstance, and the royal court composer Baron Harkonnen with considerably less celebration. William felt it hardly fair since he wrote and composed the concert, but figured she was not the one in charge.

  As Harkonnen took his place, William could hear him exchange a few words with the king.

  "I am so looking forward to this performance, Harkonnen," the Sea King said enthusiastically.

  "Of course, Your Majesty!" Harkonnen cried, "This will be the finest symphony I have ever conducted! Your daughters will be spectacular!"

  "Yes! And especially my youngest!"

  "Yes… Yes, Sire. She has the most beautiful voice…" in a much quieter tone, he grumbled, "If only she would show up to rehearsals every once in a while."

  William furrowed her brows. Show up to rehearsals…

  Right on cue, the stage hands in charge of handling the princesses were beginning to panic. The elder princesses had long come out of makeup and taken their places in their stage shells. The youngest princess was not here. This was to be expected. The audience was full and she had not yet arrived. This was normal. The curtain was about to pull and she was not here… this was bad.

  Most of them panicked and scrambled over what to do. Should they claim technical malfunctions and try to stall for time? No, the concert was already starting and they could not hold it back. Should they announce that the youngest princess was late and hold the concert? No, they would all get in trouble and it could mean their jobs. Should they…? Should they…? Should they…?

  Amidst the panic, one of them spotted William.

  "You were the princess's double during rehearsals!"

  "Well, yes, because she was often absent and did not know her own lines…"

  "Most of the audience has never seen the youngest princess! They will never know the difference!"

  "But their royal majesties will never allow it!" William cried.

  Before she could object further, they pushed her into makeup and threw the ceremonial garments on her.

  Out on stage, the music started. It was too late to turn back now.

  Ah, we are the daughters and granddaughters of Triton and Amphitrite!

  Great father and grandmother who love us and named us well!

  Aquata, Arista, Atina, Adella, Allana!

  "Please, this will never work!" William cried.

  "Too late now!" and they shut the clam.

  "And then there is the youngest in her musical debut

  Our final little sister, we're presenting her to you

  To sing a song Harkonnen wrote, her voice is like a bell

  She's our sister, Arie-"

  When the giant ceremonial clam opened, the sisters all gasped in horror.

  Harkonnen gasped as well, and looked back fearfully at the royal majesties.

  They might have been able to save the show, had the Sea King and Dowager Queen not been livid.

  "WILLIAM HANNA!"

  William' eyes snapped open almost a year later. She was slumped over a large rock on the outskirts of the Sea Palace grounds, where the water was colder and darker thanks to the weaker magic. She pulled herself up with difficulty, and felt the weight of the sea net filled with large clams pulling her down.

  After the debacle of the youngest princess's musical debut, William had been punished more thoroughly than she had ever been punished in her life. The Sea King and Dowager Queen had called her to the royal throne room after their subjects had been sent home, where they gave her the verbal thrashing of her life.

  The lifelong threat of pushing her out finally came true when they stripped her job as a chamber maid and forbid her from ever working for royalty ever again, since she had shamelessly used her connection to try to impersonate one of the royal princesses. To that end, she was forbidden from ever working or performing for Harkonnen, or singing to the public ever again. She was never to sing before their royal subjects, even if it was within the chorus.

  Harkonnen himself received a not insignificant slap on the wrist, but he was still a baron and a court composer, and so his penalty was not so severe.

  William fell into another depression following the Sea King and Dowager Queen's punishment, and resigned herself to a life of labor in the ocean floor. She continued to indirectly help as a stage hand because she liked Harkonnen, but took a second job harvesting bundles of clams to bring to the Sea Palace (so city merfolk would not have to scavenge for their food, just as human farmers grow food to sell to people in the city) since she often went out to explore sunken ships with Schrödinger anyway. It was not such a grueling job since there was not such an overwhelming demand for clams, but it was tedious and disheartening.

  To go from a chamber maid in the beautiful and sparkling palace, whose only duty was to straighten the royal princesses' many toys and later baubles, to a laborer who went around the dark outskirts of the glittering city with a large net slung over her shou
lders, collecting large clams and lugging them back to the sea capital where everyone sang and danced all day but she was forbidden to sing or dance among them… this was not the life she had ever wanted.

  Harkonnen looked on her with pity when she dropped a net full of clams and star fish for his stage.

  "William… Miss William…" she heard the familiar baritone murmur behind her.

  "What is it, Harkonnen?" she sighed.

  "William, I just came to see how you were doing. You seem so down lately."

  "Wouldn't you be?" William asked.

  "Come, William, it is not that bad. Soon you will be able to rise to the surface just as you have always dreamed!"

  "But my birthday is not for many days yet, and it just seems to take forever! The closer it gets, the longer I have to wait!"

  Harkonnen blinked, and Schrödinger laughed in the background.

  "William, your birthday is tomorrow."

  Her eyes widened.

  This was William' life before she finally turned fifteen, when she was allowed to explore the surface above.

  I'll admit my classism came out in this chapter. I'm not a fan of the idea that people from wealthy families are inherently more worthwhile than those from poor families, or even that "royal/noble/pure blood" means anything since financial situations are circumstantial; socially gained, socially maintained, socially lost.

  Also, I dislike Ariel. Not because she "sold her voice to get a man" (which I think is asinine since the film makes it clear she already wanted to live on the surface long before she ever set eyes on the guy), but because I think she is selfish and inconsiderate. She does whatever she wants, whenever she wants, without any regard for how her actions affect others. I would not mind if she ever showed any remorse when called out on it, but she just blows people off when they try to tell her how her actions affect them. (Especially Sebastian.) I really have no patience for people like that, so I kind of wanted to portray how much it sucks being the person who has to clean up after her.

  When William Hanna was finally old enough to visit the surface, she cried out with joy and shot up like a bullet. After years of watching the royal princesses go up time after time without being able to follow, William was finally able to swim to the surface above.

  "William Hanna, wait up!" they cried.

  "Please wait up, William!"

  "We can't keep up with you!"

  "WILLIAM HANNA! WAIT!"

  But William would not wait. For years, she had watched them go up without her as she waited for her turn, and so she now she was done with waiting. They could watch her go up without them for once.

  William did not realize she had felt like she had a dead weight inside of her for most of her life until she departed for the surface. The higher she swam, the lighter she felt, until she felt like her insides were light as a bubble. She looked on in rapture as the ocean around her turned bluer and brighter. She felt her heavy spirit lift lighter and lighter, until she felt as giddy as a bubble. She giggled with a giddy joy.

  "Well, Well, I don't remember seeing you this happy," a familiar voice said beside her.

  She gasped, and turned to see the impish little boy that looked too much like her.

  "Schrödinger?!"

  "Surprised to see me?" he smirked, "You shouldn't be. I am everywhere, und nowhere."

  "Whatever that means!"

  He said that so often, yet he never explained what it meant. In fact, Schrödinger rarely gave William straight answers to anything, no matter how often she asked.

  "You ready to see the surface, William?" he smirked.

  "YES!" she grinned, her joy renewed.

  "Well then, the last one to the surface is a rotten shark's egg!" and he darted above.

  "Hey, no fair!" William laughed, and she darted up as well.

  Faster and higher they went, darting like squids. Soon their race softened to a kind of dance and they swirled around each other as they ascended, laughing and giggling.

  On the way up, William encountered a huge pod of giant sperm whales. She knew their kind very well, for they were one of the few species of whale species that swam deep enough to encounter merfolk, hunting giant squid for their meals and returning briefly to the surface only to breathe. Do not think their massive size makes them an evil species though, for William had encountered many sea creatures in her life and knew few as friendly or obliging as the sperm whales.

  Their language was that of a series of chittery clicks and creaks, and their disposition as playful as a dolphin's, despite their massive size. William knew a bit of their language from her father, who in truth was fonder of the sea than her mother had been, and William learned more still from random encounters in the deep. William used to ask them questions about the surface and their lives above, whenever they swam near her little grotto.

  Presently, they clicked in greeting, and William squealed in reply.

  They made questioning sounds after her well-being, and she squealed to let them know of her joy. She was happy and having fun.

  They squealed and clicked in joy for her. They were pleased that she was happy and having fun.

  William quickly passed the sperm whales, as she was still racing Schrödinger. Rising above the massive whales, each as large as ships, gave her a shudder of joy. She had never risen above whales before. Always, she had looked up at them from below, awed and cowed by their massive sizes and shadows, just as she looked up at the keels of ships. She could see and sense that the surface was close, and felt a great thrill like that she had never known.

  She remembered a song she had once heard mariners singing on their ship when she drew close enough. Something like: "down in the bottomless fathoms below…!"

  William laughed with joy, did a great somersault in the water, and darted for the surface with reckless abandon. "Up in the endless fathoms above…!"

  She broke through the surface with a big splash and inhaled her first lungful of air like it was her first breath of life.

  She then sank back into the water, practically catatonic in her joy. William could not remember being this happy.

  "You're so slooooow, William," Schrödinger smirked from a little ways off, "In the time it took you to make go straight to the surface, I went all the way to the ocean floor, got chased by a shark und came back. Perhaps you should think of binding your breasts, mein Schatzi."

  William scoffed to let him know she didn't care. She grinned as she lay back so that her body could bob up upon the waves. She was not used to the bob of the surface, as she was more familiar with the sway of the tide, and so found it to be great fun.

  Harkonnen had kept her working till very late, so the sun had just set by the time she broke through the surface. Nevertheless, the clouds still shined like gold and roses, and in the delicately tinted sky the clear gleam of the evening star did shine. The air was mild and fresh and the sea bobbed rather gently.

  Out in the distance, a group of ships sailed by. William watched them curiously, now a little shy since she could see them from above. They did not look at all like the giant sea turtles she saw from below, or like the busted, sand and algae-covered shipwrecks wedged into the sea floor. They seemed so… flat and smooth and clean, like the little ships she found in bottles. She knew the people inside could see her if they looked out too, and so she approached with caution. Not once did William dive below the water though. She had spent far to much of her life underwater. She did not want to go back if she could help it, even if it meant avoiding human eyes.

  There were three ships in all, two smaller two-masted ships, and one big three-masted one. She cautiously approached the great three-master ship. Music and singing came from it, and as night came on dozens of brightly colored lanterns sprang into view, shining through the windows and doors. This fascinated William, but as she drew closer several rockets flew through the air and exploded in light.

  William yelped and ducked back underwater.

  From below, she could hear muffled
booms and see colorful lights.

  Schrödinger laughed and laughed.

  "You're such a duuuuuummkopf, William!" he gloated from above. He placed his hand under his chin, and seemed to rest his elbow against a wall that was not there, with his tail over his head. "You know those things can't hurt you!"

  "What are they?" William asked.

  "Fireworks, I think," he said, "They're used for celebrations."

  Curiosity drew her head back above water, and she stared in rapture at the glowing lights. It seemed like all the stars in the sky were exploding in vibrant colors and trailing like stardust all around her. Never had William seen such sparkling displays. Great suns spun around, splendid fire-fish darted through the air, and glittering showers draped around her like the leaves of the kelp gardens.

  William stared in amazement, and then she cocked her head. She soon began to giggle with the same giddy, bubbly joy that she felt on drawing near the surface.

  "You like them, William?"

  "Very much!"

  "Want to get a closer look?"

  "You bet!"

  And they skipped over to the ship like dolphins at play.

  William looked up shyly at the ship and the many people she knew were within.

  Careful to avoid detection, she swam around the window of the main cabin. Each time she rose with the swell of the waves she peeped in through the glass windows to the crowd of thickly dressed people within. She was little disappointed to find they were scruffy, dodgy, hang-dog fellows. They were dressed in coarse fabrics, and covered with grizzles and eye patches and peg limbs and other deformities. It also looked like most of them were heading up a flight of stairs, toward their "surface."

  Curiosity compelled William to grab onto the wooden ladder embedded onto the side of the ship and climb until she was able to look in on the deck of the ship, thanks to a hole in the wooden sides, or bulwarks.

  William could hear joyous music piping from the deck, and see dozens of sailors all drinking and dancing. They were dancing and singing so joyously that even she could not help being swept up by the fun, no matter how scruffy they looked. Soon, William began grinning and bobbing her head to the music, and wished she could climb on deck and dance among them.