The Little Mermaid: A Rewrite

 

Me: Rewrite the story of the Little Mermaid into a horror story with a sad ending

In the darkest depths of the ocean, there lived a curious little mermaid named Nerida, whose longing for the human world consumed her every thought. One stormy night, she saved a handsome prince from a shipwreck, cradling him as he lay unconscious on the shore. When he awoke, he saw only the face of a human girl who had wandered by, leaving Nerida heartbroken and desperate to be with him. Fueled by her obsession, she sought out the Sea Witch, a hideous creature who dwelled in a sunken trench filled with the bones of mermaids who had come before her.

The Sea Witch agreed to grant Nerida legs but warned that the transformation would be excruciating, and if the prince didn’t love her in return, she would wither away to foam. Undeterred, Nerida agreed, and with a flick of the witch’s blackened claws, her tail was ripped apart, every scale peeling off in agony until she had legs that bled and trembled with each step. When she staggered onto land, the prince found her and took her in, enchanted by her beauty but puzzled by her haunting silence, for she could not speak a word. Time passed, and though he was kind, his heart belonged to the girl he believed had saved him, and he married her while Nerida watched, silent tears mixing with the saltwater still coursing through her veins.

On the night of the wedding, as the prince kissed his bride, Nerida felt her body begin to dissolve. Her skin melted like wax, flesh bubbling and bones splintering, her screams echoing silently in the night air. Just as she was about to disappear completely, the Sea Witch appeared beside her, grinning wickedly. “You should have known, my dear,” she whispered. “Love can’t exist without pain.” And with a wave of her twisted hand, she cast Nerida’s soul into the ocean depths, forever cursed to haunt the waters as a twisted specter—neither mermaid nor human—forever yearning, forever screaming, a warning to all who might dare follow in her path.

Now, when the sea churns and storms rage, sailors say they can see her shadow lurking beneath the waves, her face twisted in sorrow, her cries lost to the wind—endlessly reaching for a love that will never be hers.