Mermaid Metamorphosis Ch. 03

Sarah was nervous when she woke up; it was her first day of finally working for the casino. Early on, Sarah realized that a regular job did not suit her. Even if she cleaned up, there was no way for her to hide her rough childhood and personality. Her customer service was nonexistent, and she had problems taking orders from others. She had tried at the few jobs she managed to get, but the first incident with a rude customer or a stupid superior was usually enough to set Sarah off. There was one incident in a coffee shop where she may have thrown a pitcher of milk at the customer, but in Sarah's defense, the milk wasn't hot.

She scolded herself for being so nervous but couldn't berate herself enough to squash the feelings. Sarah always knew that there was always another job she could try getting or another scam or criminal job that she could do to make ends meet, but this time, she didn't have that luxury. If this didn't work out, she would have gone through the gene splicing for no reason and would find herself back in prison.

Sarah was up earlier than she was used to. She probably should have gone to sleep earlier, but she was used to doing jobs on small amounts of sleep. There was a knock at her door, and a moment later, Rachel walked into the room with a couple of casino workers. Sarah stared at Rachel, not believing how well she was put together this early in the morning. "What?" Rachel asked as the workers pushed in the cart that they would use to transport Sarah.

"Just wondering how much makeup you are wearing," Sarah said.

"Isn't it too early to already be such a bitch?" Rachel asked.

"You would be an expert on it," Sarah responded. The casino workers shifted awkwardly. They didn't see the women smile at each other or notice that the usual venom in Rachel's words was toned down.

"Are you ready?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah." Sarah had picked out one of the bikini sets that was sky blue and featured a short ruffled skirt around the section where her body transitioned from human to fish. The cart she was loaded onto had a box that they closed to cover her up. Sarah had never been good with confined spaces, which seemed to have worsened now that she was in her new body because she struggled to keep herself calm. It was a long way down from her penthouse suite to the casino floor.

Finally, they opened the box up. They were in some utility room. In front of her was a glass aquarium that took up the entire wall. An electric lift at the side went up to the top of the glass wall. Sarah stared at the beautiful sight before her. The water looked crystal blue and was full of colorful plants and fish that swam back and forth in schools. There were even some larger fish deeper in the large aquarium. Sarah had longed for a bigger pool to swim in, and now she would have her chance.

They pushed her to the lift, and she climbed out the side of her cart the best she could. The lift rose with a hum. She stared into the vast tank as she was raised. She had heard that the fish tank in the casino was huge, but she had never been able to appreciate its size and beauty before. Rachel rode with her in silence.

"This back section can be blocked from the view of the customers since it is sunken into the room. You will have an hour to get used to the new tank before we show you to the public. I will contact you when it is time to come back. Here," Rachel said and handed Sarah a small earbud. "So that you can hear me when it is time. Don't go past the marker poles or you can be seen."

Sarah took the earbud and placed it into her ear. It fit snugly, but if the device short-circuited and electrocuted her, she would have to bitch slap some communications nerd with her tail. Sarah looked down into the water; the way it rippled and shimmered called to her. Without taking a breath, Sarah dove off the platform into the water.

The chilly water shocked her system after being so used to her mostly room-temperature pool. Again, her senses heightened when she entered the water, but this time, they were stronger, and there was so much more to stimulate her. As she swam to the bottom, she could feel the swirls of mini currents moving around her and the slight differences in water temperature that they brought. Her eyes caught all of the movement of the fish and the moving plants around her. She glided along the bottom of the tank, her tail splashing up the sand as she reached out and skimmed her hand through the sand, scaring the hermit crabs and other bottom feeders into hiding.

Sarah laughed as she chased a school of fish. Over a hundred fish swam as one to evade her. They turned much quicker than Sarah could, but she could swim faster than them. Sarah was in awe of their beauty as they twisted and turned in the water, the bright light reflecting off their scales. Sarah was about to catch them when she saw she had herded them toward the bright poles, the barriers she wasn't supposed to cross yet.

"Don't pass those barriers!" Rachel said in her ear. Sarah wanted to keep on going after those fish. She had been gaining on them when they passed the poles. Sarah's momentum would take her past the poles if she didn't do something. On instinct, she did a flip, and once facing the other way, she did a powerful flap of her tail to slow her momentum. She then started swimming back the way she had just come, stopping and reversing her momentum in seconds.

Sarah spent the rest of the time exploring the parts of the tank to which she was allowed access. There was a lot of wildlife, plant life, and reefs to keep her occupied. While exploring the bottom of the tank, she found a cluster of starfish. Sarah reached down and gently scooped one up. She giggled as she felt its little suction cups grasping at her hand. Sarah was about to put the starfish back down when she had an idea she knew was a bit dumb but wanted to try it anyway. Sarah lifted the starfish and placed it to her hair right above her right temple, where her black hair naturally parted. Sarah felt a slight tugging on her hair as the starfish latched on, and then it was secure on her head.

"Why did you do that?" Rachel asked her.

"I saw it in a book once. How do I look?" Sarah asked.

"You look so cute that I want to throw up. Hopefully, when you go to pull it off that thing doesn't pull up patches of your hair with it."

"Shit," Sarah said as she touched the starfish. She hadn't even thought of that. She wanted to pull it off right then, but it probably wouldn't be a good idea if she was missing patches of her hair the first time she was shown off to the public.

Sarah practiced different swimming tricks that she hoped would entertain her audience. As Sarah swam around, she would keep reaching the barrier and have to turn back around at the last possible moment. She longed to go deeper into the aquarium. When Rachel finally called her back to the platform, Sarah's nerves returned. She was excited about going into more of the water, but the thought of people watching her swim was scary. She had spent all her time swimming alone, with no one to judge her. What if they think I am a freak?

Sarah swam up to the water's surface right near Rachel's platform. She hit the top of the water so fast that she burst out from the water halfway out of the tank and caught herself at the edge.

"I was about to say how graceful you looked until you almost launched yourself out of the tank," Rachel said.

Sarah shook out her hair and breathed in the air. " It's easy sometimes to go faster than I am expecting."

"Are you nervous?" Rachel asked, dropping her usual tone and throwing Sarah off with how caring she sounded.

"Yeah," Sarah said after wondering if she should try to lie.

"Don't be. You are going to look amazing. Those fuckers are so used to being zoned out on the slot machines that they will be overwhelmed at your beauty when they see you."

"Thank you," Sarah said. She climbed back up onto the platform. She was lowered down into the waiting box below. After the immense feeling of freedom she had just had, the confined space of the box was overbearing. Sarah closed her eyes even though the box was already dark. She replayed how amazing it had been to swim in the aquarium and then imagined what it would be like to swim in the ocean. She knew the oceans were overfished and full of trash and pollution, but in her imagination, the water was crystal clear, teeming with plant and fish life and free of trash. Her thoughts seemed so vivid, almost like she was drawing from memory. The colors from the slot machines and gambling games worked their way through the edges of the box, embedding themselves into her fantasy as if she were underwater and the water was reflecting beautiful lights.

After about ten minutes of being pushed, Sarah was jolted out of her daydream when she was thrown to the back of the box, pushed up a ramp, and onto a platform. The sound of a murmuring crowd invaded the enclosed box. She wanted to be back in the water.

The harsh sound of feedback from a microphone cut through the crowd's conversation, and then John started to speak. "Thank you, everyone, for being here for my big reveal. The human imagination is great, but our will to make our fantasies into reality is even greater. Thanks to Gene Inc, we no longer have to content ourselves with just our imaginations. We can finally make our fantasies a reality."

Sarah heard a rustling as the cloth thrown over her box was pulled off. A moment later, a mechanism in the box was triggered, and the walls fell open, each taking a section of the top with them. There was a hush among the crowd as Sarah was revealed to them.

After the darkness of the box, the bright lights were overpowering, and Sarah held up a hand to shade her eyes. The hush broke as the sound of cameras clicked, and people in the crowd started to try and ask questions. Cameras flashed as hundreds of photos were taken of Sarah.

Sarah had spent so long living at the edges of society, trying her best not to draw attention to herself, and now she was out in the open. Sarah scanned the faces in the crowd. All of them seemed to be in awe and shock. The reporters clamored as they asked questions. Their questions mostly overlapped, but "Beautiful" and "stunning" were the first words she picked up on.

"People, please calm down," John said with his too-perfect smile, eating up how they were reacting. "There will be time for questions, but not if you all shout at once." The crowd quieted, and he started pointing out reporters to ask questions. John handled each question flawlessly, always talking up the casino resort and Gene Inc. as he did so. Some asked if Sarah was even human, and he said yes, only that she had been modified. After that, a question was asked if Sarah had volunteered for this or had been forced into it. He answered how she was willing and that the gene splicing could be reversed easily if she ever wanted to return to her human form. A reporter asked why Sarah wasn't speaking for herself. John gestured for Sarah to speak.

Sarah had been given a statement to make, but she forgot it for a tense moment. When she started to talk, her voice caught up in her throat, making her clear her throat before restarting. "Hello, everyone. My name is Sarah, and I look forward to seeing you when I am in my tank, and also at the meet and great times if anyone would walk to talk to me in person." Sarah tried to smile but could only manage a rough half-smile that she quickly dropped. Some other reporters started to try and ask her questions, and the room erupted in noise again as they all began to try and shout questions over each other.

Luckily, John saved Sarah. "She isn't answering questions right now. It's about time we get our Mermaid back into the water before she dries up," he said. The platform that Sarah was on started to rise so that it was over the top edge of the aquarium. A hush again fell over the crowd as Sarah looked into the water. It called to her, already easing her anxiety at the promised safety. Sarah pulled herself toward the edge of the platform and then dove down into the water. Sarah hit the water with minimal disturbance to its surface, her body sleekly cutting through it. Sarah's momentum carried her down to the middle of the tank that was nearly eye level with the crowd. The cameras flashed as they took nonstop pictures from the moment she was at the platform's edge. With her heightened hearing, Sarah could still pick up the conversation from the crowd and the relentless clicking of their cameras, but the water dulled the sound, making the conversations sound like they were happening in another world. Sarah used the momentum from hitting the water to do a flip and then flap with her powerful tail to propel her forward.

Sarah stayed in that section of the aquarium despite how badly she wanted to explore the rest. She figured that it wouldn't be good for her payment if she instantly disappeared behind some coral. Sarah swam along in that section of the water, swimming in circles, building up speed, and performing tricks in front of the glass. She would spin so that she spiraled through the water like a bullet, perform abrupt changes in direction, and would occasionally pause in front of the cameras to wave and blow them a kiss. She could tell from their excited conversations and attempts to get the best pictures that they loved every moment.

Sarah performed for the crowd for hours before it finally started to break apart. Even though Sarah swam so much, she didn't feel tired and lost all sense of time. Sarah saw Rachel standing in front of the glass during one of her passes. "It's time to go back to the utility room," Rachel said through the earpiece when she finally got Sarah's attention. Sarah made the swim towards the back end of the aquarium for the first time, taking in all the new sights. Sarah knew that tomorrow would be her first day having free range of the aquarium. She promised herself that she would take advantage of that.

Sarah swam up to the aquarium's edge and climbed onto the lift. "How did I do?" Sarah asked.

"You were definitely among the top three mermaids we have performed here," Rachel said. This time, when Sarah climbed on top of the pushcart, they didn't close it up because she wasn't being kept a secret. The trip back to her room was much better now that she didn't have to be hidden. When Sarah was back in her room, she crawled over to her bed and climbed into it with a sigh. It was still awkward for her to pull herself around on the ground, but even though her arms were sore from the continuous use, she could feel it getting a little easier the more she did it. Today's mental part took more of a toll on her than all of the swimming that she had done. Sarah had some time before her dinner arrived, so she decided to take a well-deserved nap.

*****

Sarah fell into a new routine over the next week. She would perform in the aquarium every day from eight AM to ten PM with some gaps between breaks and eating. At first, when Sarah saw how much time she was going to be working, she thought it was impossible and that she would get burned out, but that wasn't the case. While Sarah did like the respite from the public that her room provided, compared to the large aquarium, her room seemed too confined and bland. All of her swimming burned off all the calories she ate, and her body got even more toned as she put on lean muscle. She could swim so much faster through the water now. A reporter had clocked her going ten miles an hour on one of the first days, and now she was hitting eighteen miles an hour. Sarah slowly improved at the parts of the job where she had to deal with people. She made money by doing meet and greets with customers, taking pictures with them, doing autographs on pictures of herself, and selling other merchandise.

Sarah's unexpected perk of the job was how much she enjoyed when young girls would come up to her and how excited they were to meet her. That kind of unbridled happiness brought a big smile to her face, and Sarah found herself doing all that she could to make those little girls happy. Sarah would talk with the parents, who didn't seem like the usual stuck-up rich people who frequented the resort. She learned that many of them came from the neighborhoods around where she had lived growing up and her whole life.

Sarah put herself in the little girls' shoes to figure out why they were so excited to meet her. Growing up, if she had something a little magical, it would have made the nights when she went hungry, and her mom argued loudly with her boyfriend in the same room as her as she tried to sleep much more bearable. Even though it meant less money, Sarah would tell the worker who handled the merchandise table to give them a discount on whatever they wanted. The first time she did this, the worker paused, saying he couldn't do that. In almost a sing-song voice, Sarah reminded him of whose face was on all of this stuff, so if she wanted to sell it at a price where a nice family could afford it, then they would.

On the opposite end of the decent families that came to visit her, the rich people came to see another oddity to freshen up their boring lives. These people were much more demanding, asking her to do tricks for them. Sarah wanted their money, but she still had some of her pride. When they did this, Sarah would politely say how they could watch her in the tank if they wanted to see her do any of that. This was her time to rest and meet the resort's guests and her fans. Some seemed to be understanding, but others would leave without buying anything. Even worse were the rich men who asked if she was available for private meetings, their words oozing with insinuations. Sarah would turn them down as well, but not as politely. Some of the men were actually incredibly attractive, possessing a handsomeness that only the ultra-rich could achieve with expansive trainers, diets, and more plastic surgery than Sarah could even list. The thought of a good fucking sounded great, but Sarah wasn't about to whore herself out to any of these sleazeballs.

No matter how desperate she was in the past, she never had to sink so low as to sell her body. She had seen it ruin people all her life, and no matter what, she wouldn't let herself go down that path, even if it meant making enough money to earn her freedom faster. Sarah laughed at herself as she realized what she had allowed to be done to her body, but even with allowing her body to be spliced, it was still hers, and she wasn't going to let some rich asshole make her one of their conquests. They could pay for anything that they wanted, anything but her, and knowing that she held that kind of power over them made her smile no matter how disgusting they were.

Sarah didn't see much of Rachel during her first week of work. Resort workers would ask her when they dropped off her meals if she needed anything, and she could call the front desk at any time with requests, but it wasn't the same as having Rachel there to help her out. Sarah hated a lot about Rachel, but at the same time, she did enjoy her company, both sexual and nonsexual. Even though Rachel was a bitch to her, that seemed to be her default setting in treating people. With everyone fawning over Sarah and staring at her, having someone treat her how they treated everyone else was nice.

After the first week, Sarah received her first paycheck. She was surprised by how big it was. Along with an hourly wage, which was pretty high, she also received a percentage of all the merchandise she had sold. While that percentage wasn't very high, and she hadn't sold a fantastic amount of it, it was nice to see how there was a variable that she could influence that would help her earn her freedom faster. Sarah now had money to spend but didn't know what to spend it on. The resort took care of all her daily needs, and if she went and started to burn through all of her paychecks, she would be stuck here for that much longer since she wouldn't be able to pay for her freedom.