
The Little Mermaid took the knife and ran to the prince’s bedroom. She loved him. But if she couldn’t have him, she didn’t want another woman to have him, either. She plunged the knife into his heart, put it in his new wife’s hand and wet her feet with his blood. They stopped hurting. She flung herself out the window and into the sea, watching her legs turn into a fishtail again.
Despite the transformation, the Little Mermaid wasn’t herself anymore. She spent her days rubbing away an invisible stain on her tail, voicelessly complaining about her ever bloody feet.
***
Story 19 of 31 for Story A Day May – today’s prompt suggested we retell a fairy tale, so I injected a little Shakespeare into the ending of the Little Mermaid.