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He needs to move NOW! Just because he has water doesn’t mean he can breath! He needs to swim to get the oxygen he needs, why doesn’t these stupid humans understand? Can’t they see that’s he is in pain, or do they just not care?
If the water level had been a little bit lower he could have used his lungs and breathed air. It would have required him to push out all the water from them first and that would have hurt a lot, but it sure as hell beats drowning!
He had been captured and chained to the bottom of a big aquarium, all because he had been curious as to what humans would be like. Sure his father had told him stories about how awful humans were, how ruthless they could be.
Never ever approach a human vessel, it’s dangerous!
But he never really believed them, surely they couldn’t all be horrible,
how wrong he had been..
As soon as they had spotted him near their ship they had started screaming and shouting orders at each other.
”Merman! It’s a Merman! Quick ready the nets!”
Frightened he tried to swim away but the harpoons fell around him like rain and made him retreat closer to the ship he had tried to escape, the next thing he knew was a net surrounding his entire being. He had tried freeing himself but struggling only tangled him up even more, and now he was caught.
The shackles holding his hands behind his back are so tight that they are chafing his wrists.
The chain on the shackles connects to another on his tail, and then a shorter chain connects him to the bottom of this awful and tiny aquarium.
Moving is almost impossible, and there is absolutely no circulation of the water, so oxygen will be scarce in time. He tugs on the chain and tries to break free, but nothing gives.
He feels himself get more and more tired as the minutes goes by, his vision becomes blurry and his eyelids feel heavy. He no longer has the strength to keep moving, and he feel himself start to sink before everything finally goes dark.
”Why does this always happen?” - A tall man asks himself.
”They always seem so healthy before caught, and then they all die on our way to land.” - Another slightly shorter man adds.
”Yeah, It’s a shame, and this one was so pretty too. It could have gotten us a fair price at the market. I guess we’ll have to try and find another one then, aye?” - The tall man says before patting the other on the shoulder as they walk away from the now lifeless body in the aquarium.