I’m a mermaid,

Day Top Bottom
Odd Fish Human
Even Human Fish
Figure 1: The Mermatrix.

but only part-time.

I guess there just aren’t a lot of full-time mermaid positions available in Idaho.

Blank Map of Idaho
Figure 2: Idaho. Mermaid population: 1+.

I struggle to fill the demands of my position in a landlocked state, but I scrape by on a room full of seashells and sand dollars.

This is the only job I've known since my wind-soaked skin felt saltwater for the first time.

Yet, I am a mermaid who's fought the sea god, my creator.

He was never a sea-faring man, but his temper was as turbulent as the sea in a storm, crushing little boats beneath his heavy, salty hands.

He is an almost Poseidon, but there is a difference between Poseidon, the sea, and him, the ocean drowns all sailors just the same,

but my father only ever hit me.

Perhaps confusing me for a siren who drowned his favorite sailor he would leave whirlpool bruises to show his displeasure.

The land would not have me, the god of the sea would kill me, and I am drowning underneath the weight of both, licking lips of salt and blood.