Disgusting.
That is the word that enters my mind as I look around my feculent kingdom.
Beer bottles are scattered on the sand; broken fragments injuring many of my people with the uneven edges.
The glass injuries are easily stitched and healed, although not pleasant, but the plastic floating around my murky waters are murderers.
Most are aware that plastic, the flimsy human material, is not meant for consumption, but hundreds of unfortunate merpeople mistake plastic for food, signing their death certificate on the first bite.
My kingdom is suffering because of the carelessness of our brethren above.
They litter as if the ocean is a dead, uninhabited environment meant for their emptied bottles and candy wrappers.
Even now, as I look out my bedroom window, I see the merpeople under my rule dodging dreadful, dirty pollution that does not belong here.
“Your Majesty?”
Yorgos, one of my many servants, approaches me slowly, aware that I hate to be startled when stressed.
“Yes, Yorgos?”
Yorgos’s deep green tail flicks back and forth nervously behind him, and I know I am about to receive terrible tidings.
“Get on with it, Yorgos!”
Yorgos grimaces at my harsh tone, but I have no time to wait for him to gather courage and tell me. If I am needed to fix something in the kingdom, I must know immediately.
“It’s Angeliki, My Lord. She mistook an aluminum can for food.”
No. No!
“Take me to her.”
I struggle to maintain a calm and composed expression as Yorgos quickly leads me to the hospital Angeliki resides in. My stomach churns more and more every second passing, and my heart beats faster and faster as if trying to jump out of my chest and race to Angeliki itself.
“She is in the room down the hall and to the right.”
Yorgos leaves me, and I race down the pearly white halls, barely excusing myself for bulldozing the nurses obstructing path.
“Angeliki?”
A nurse with pink hair, matching her pink tail, turns toward me at the sound of my cracking voice, “King Alexandros! An honor.”
The nurse bows deeply, allowing me to see the top of her head,
“What is happening to her? Why are her eyes closed? What is that thing stabbing her?”
Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, the nurse answers, “She took a bite of an aluminium can masked by seaweed, and upon swallowing the piece of aluminium, a sharp edge
cut the tissue in her throat. Pieces of it are still stuck inside. The machine poking her right now is helping her breathe. We are taking her into surgery shortly.”
Her words sink in slowly, an anchor attached to the meaning and heavily hitting the bottom of my gut. I let a loud sob out; the sound so raw that it feels like I recently consumed fire.
“I will be right back with the doctor, King Alexandros. I’m sure you're daughter will make it...she’s a fighter.”
I do not bother responding and continue to let tears paint my face.
She lies so peacefully; so beautifully despite what is going on around her. Needles are stuck in her pale arms, the room is filled with monitors beeping loudly every five seconds, and I sit helplessly crying next to her limp figure.
Her beautiful, yellow hair is splayed out around her face like sunbeams, and her lips are curved up in a small smile. Angeliki always smiles. Even now, unconscious and on the brink of death, she smiles.
“Angeliki, Angel, daughter...I do not know if you can hear me. I do not know if-if you can understand anything right now.”
I grip one of her small hands in both of my calloused ones.
“But I want you to know that you will make it through this. I know you will. You have to, Angel. For me. I cannot fathom a life without you.”
Her hand is cold inside mine, and I rub soothing circles on her palm, “I love you, Angeliki. Ok? I do not tell you enough, but I do. I love you so-”
The door opens, indicating the arrival of the doctor, so I quickly wipe my tears.
“Hello, King Alexandros. I will be taking Angeliki into surgery now. It should not take longer than six hours if all goes well.”
I nod, unable to speak, and the doctor, along with two nurses, remove Angeliki from my sight.
I am told to wait in the holding area where many other families anxiously await to hear from a different doctor about how their loved one is doing.
At least eight other families wait with me, many looking at me in awe, some in pity.
However, at this time, we are all equals, anxiously awaiting the verdict of our loved ones fate by the judge we call “Doctor.”
One by one, each family receives news on the one they are waiting for. Each patient in here for the faults of humans.
Some hear good news, others not so much.
I watch the receivers of bad news crumple from the force of the punch the death of their loved one created. Humans are not even aware of our life down here. They do not know of the torture they inflict. Why are my people suffering due to human ignorance?
I am the last one here in this tiresome setting; my mind mulling over why I continue to deny the merpeople the saving they crave from the land creatures above. I let this happen to Angeliki with my lack of action against the monsters upstairs. If she dies, it is my fault.
“King Alexandros?”
The nurse with the pink hair appears at the door of the holding room. Her pink tail flicking back and forth much like Yorgos’s does when he is nervous.
“She is dead.”
I say it monotonously. It is not a question; it is a fact.
“Yes, but she fought until-”
“I want to see her.”
The nurse shakes her head, “I am not authorized to allow you to-”
“I am King, and I want to see my daughter.”
She nods once, adjusts her uniform, and leads me back into the surgical room where Angeliki lies motionless.
“Leave me.”
The nurse swims away briskly, forsaking me to look upon my daughter alone.
The familiar feeling of swallowing fire builds up into something greater than I have ever felt before. I want to scream, cry, and die all at the same time. But I do nothing. My body will not let me do anything.
Instead, I stare down at my, once lively, daughter.
I remember every moment we ever spent together; from when she was born until today. She was the sun, and now the sun is gone, leaving me in the dark.
How many families have gone through this? This unbearable pain? This daunting darkness? It is like the weight of the world is on my chest, and there is nothing that can relieve me of it. And for what?
Because humans are too lazy to find a trash bin?
No. No longer. I will not let any other family go through losing a child like I have today. Humans have had their chance. Now it is time for merpeople to extract revenge.