Selkie
You stop in front of a particular costume, curiosity getting the better of you. It looks like a mermaid tail, but it’s slick, and brown with a very fine layer of fur. And the fish tail part looks like a single webbed flipper. A Sea lion? Or a seal? Either way, it’s only a tail, and you remember these costumes are still supposed to leave you part human.
But this doesn’t look the right size. And it doesn’t exactly look “leg shaped” like a mermaid tail. You pick it up, pinching it between your fingers as you look at the thing. Would it conform to you? Or would you conform to it? Looked like you’d have to discover for yourself.
You self-consciously glance over your shoulder at the door, then around the glass walls for any peeping eyes. Then you quickly set the tail back down so you can grab your shirt and slip it off. Your hands are trembling now that the moment is finally here, but you move fast to avoid anyone walking in on you changing.
But you hesitate at your bra clasp, realizing that there’s no seashells or anything to cover your top half. You bite your lip a moment before deciding to leave it on.
You grab the tail again, and by now your heart is pounding. You swallow nervously, and whip out the costume so you can open it up and step awkwardly into it. You rustle around the slick insides, shimmying it up and slipping your feet into the thick flippers of the costume. Only after you’re standing in it do you realize the top edges go well past your waist. You wonder if you’re suddenly going to grow another foot tall just to fit it.
Well, you’re about to find out.
An uncharacteristic sense of calm washes over you. Though your heart still pounds in your chest, your tremors have ceased. You release the tail. The fabric floats right where you left it, eerily still in the soft blue light of the deep ocean. A soft whoosh like a vacuum seals the costume to your body, like a wrinkled trash bag, before slowly expanding. It starts at your feet, like filling a water balloon. It is an apt metaphor, since the part of the tail filling with flesh is cold. It numbs your feet and up your calves, like the magical material is eating away at the human part of you to dissolve it into the tail.
You yelp as you fall, your support suddenly gone. You hold yourself up on your forearms, leering down your shoulder to watch in abject awe as the fabric swells up past your knees, up your thighs and hips to your waist.
As you watch the costume work, you realize the ‘tail’ actually reaches up to your chest. As the swelling rises, you hurriedly reach back to unhitch the clasp. You swipe off the straps, and tug it out of the costume just as the magic reaches your ribs.
You gasp, feeling slightly claustrophobic as the magical swelling presses against your lungs. Your chest cramps painfully before growing heavier with each gasp. You wince, a loud crack of your ribs terrifying you into thinking you’ve broken one. But the sound of snapping bones keeps going, and with each heave of your cracking ribs, your breaths get bigger, as your lungs expand along with the rest of your flesh. You reach to clutch your growing chest, in an instinctive urge to stave the panic.
But the transformation doesn’t stop at the edge of the costume like you assumed. That same feeling of your growing lungs is climbing up your throat, making your gasps bark and echo in the silence of the room. When it finally reaches your throat, you sigh in stunned relief, even as your head tingles. Blinking past the new, thick protective membrane of your eyes, a dark curl bounces in front of your eyes. You blink as more follow its lead, and quickly turn your head to peer down your back. Your hair- dark brown to match the tail- is growing at a shockingly accelerated rate. It folds in on itself and the curly, rolling mess tumbles down your back onto the floor.
And then the magic stops, bringing the room into eery calm once more. You glance down at your new body, blinking down at the large, plump curves of the seal.
No, not seal- selkie. The rim of the costume clings to your body like a sweetheart gown, and your breaths, though steady, fill your whole body deeper than ever before.
Then you blink, and shield your eyes from brilliant sunlight. Salt water and rotting seaweed assaults your nose, crying gulls scratch your ears, and a sharp, cold wind stings your face. You peer through your fingers hesitantly as your dark eyes adjust to the sudden change. Once they do, you can’t help but gasp in awe.
You’re on a shoreline, precariously perched on the edge of a short cliff. To your right, there’s a small, but bustling little town. Filled with many, as you note, women with thick, curly hair, ranging from dark to light brown, or light gray to black. To your left, the cresting waves foam at the shore.
Despite your worry and trepidation before, a new sense of excitement fills you, though it is dulled by pesky indecision. Should you head to the town? Or take this new body for a spin straight into the ocean?
Written by HiddenFruit on 31 May 2016