When My Mouth Opened
By: Acacia Faye
When I was a child, the sirena only had one purpose among the triton. We were to breed with the them. The triton believed they all needed a smaller triton that looked like them. They took them from us after they were weened and raised them to believe they were above us. Our entire purpose was to make the baby triton and give them away when it was time.
We lived in the coldest, darkest part of the ocean. The triton lived in the castle on top of the hill beside us. We couldn't swim or explore too much. The triton told us it was because a sirena was most beautiful when she was skinny, not muscular. But, it was really because if we got strong, they could no longer control us. The triton brought us enough food to keep us alive, but not enough to create the beautiful curves that we wear with such pride now.
If we swam passed the foreign artifact for any reason, at any time, we would be punished. I saw the triton punish my mom's best friend as a kid. She had just had a beautiful baby sirena. The baby needed her to produce milk. She couldn't because she herself was starving. So, she took a chance that no one else would have dared. She waited until all of the triton had left for the day. It was the perfect time because it was to be a full moon that day. The triton always go to watch the moon hit the ocean. My mom and several other sirena tried to stop her, but they couldn't. She told them in our own way of communicating, "I don't care what they do to me. My baby needs food to live." She broke away from the other sirena. All of the sirena just watched her as she swam into the forbidden sea.
We were all nervous, but no one expected one of the triton to come back. He found her right as she had crammed the last bite of fish in her mouth. He took the sirena by her gorgeous red curls, opened his mouth and made sound in her ear. You see, sirena can't make sound, we wouldn't want to. I'm not sure I have the words to describe how it hurts our ears when the triton make sound. Everything in the sea hears a triton's sound. If he makes sound in your ear, you will never hear again and be glad of it because you will never again have to hear that awful noise. Not long after that, all of the triton in our glamor were on top of her, ripping out her gorgeous curls. They never grew back.
My mom said, "You shouldn't have done that. You should have waited for them to feed us."
"Look," she said as she lifted her baby to her chest, "my baby eats."
I know it doesn't make sense, but ever since that moment, I wanted to be just like her.
One of the triton picked me to be his breeder. Every. Freaking. Time. There was something terrible about him. I mean all of the triton were terrible, but this one especially. He was the leader of our glamour and I hated him. I can't tell you why he got under my skin so much, but every time he came for me I pictured him dying mid-breed. He was old, with a grey beard and these offensive green eyes. He had this way of swimming... and communicating...and chewing, even pooping that just made me angry. Every move he made was more arrogant than anyone. I still can't understand how someone can poop as if he thought he excreted waste better than anyone.
When the triton came back from one of their excursions, he would come to me. If I wasn't pregant, he would take me. Again. This time I was. I thanked God for the baby in my womb because for the year it took for the baby to come, no one would touch me. It was a triton. We knew this because one of the sirena in our glamour can tell by putting her ear to our bellies. I was almost happy for him. How is a mother supposed to feel knowing her baby would one day grow to oppress her and yet would never be oppressed because of it?
When a triton reached the age of seventeen, they had The Ceremony of Tritonhood. We were only allowed to know about the part of the ceremony that concerned us.They brought our seventeen year old baby tritons in to pick the prettiest sirena to breed with. To be chosen at the ceremony of tritonhood was the highest honor. They lined us all up and examined every inch of us. When he chose, he held her up in the air like a prize and carried her to the castle, then he would feed her double the size of our regular portions.
I had two more triton before my oldest reached seventeen. After examining us all, every young gorgeous sirena in our glamour, he picked me. I had never seen a young triton pick his mother before. They always picked younger, prettier sirena, the ones who are barely old enough to breed. I thought, "Surely, he doesn't know I am his mother. He was too young when he was taken from me." So, I politely told him. I caught every eye. The sirena all looked at me terrified. My mother tried to swim towards me, but the other sirena held her back.
The old, arrogant triton that I hated knocked me out of consciousness with his tail. I then understood why I hated him so. His tail print marked me from the bottom of my stomach to the top of my head. It looked horrible, but when I woke up I still had to breed with my son. That's when I realized what a dishonor this great honor was.
After I was permitted to come home, my mom was there in an instant, doctoring my wounds, laying me down, and bringing me food. "Daughter, when your baby triton leaves you, he is no longer yours. You are his potential breeder. Nothing more. Just like the instant a baby sirena is born, she is no longer the triton's daughter. She is his potential breeder."
All of a sudden, I was curious.
"Which one of the triton is no longer my father?"
"You don't need to know."
She tried to swim away, but I wouldn't let her.
"Which one!?"
I was angry now. I felt I had a right to know. We all had a right to know.
"Leader."
I had no idea I could find anymore hatred in my heart for him, but I did. I literally prayed for him to die. To who? I don't know. But when you're powerless, you just need someone to pray to. You just have to hope something out there is listening. Maybe God was a shark and would eat him for me. I fell asleep as I prayed. I dreamed of God. In my dream, God was a shark with hands to communicate like us. "You eat him."
I said, "I can't. He's too big. He's too strong."
He started swimming away. "Open your mouth and eat him."
"I can't." I kept saying, "I can't." But, he kept swimming.
I looked around and I realized I was swimming in the exact spot where my mom's best friend lost her hearing. I panicked and swam as fast as I could back to safety, but there was a giant wall where the foreign artifact was supposed to be. So, I swam up and kept swimming until I ran into something. It was Leader. He grabbed my hair and I opened my mouth and I woke up.
I told my mother about the dream, but she stopped me. "Never tell anyone about this. Dreams like this are a death sentence. The triton would kill you if they knew you even had it. They fear dreams like this spark rebellions. They would count it as treason."
A few years later, I had the most beautiful sirena baby in the world. There was no way I could be sad that day. She lit up my entire world. The best part was, I would never have to give her away. I knew it was a selfish reason to be happy, but I now had something to live for.
I was distraught when she turned thirteen. She was old enough to breed. That very day, guess who came: Leader. But, not for me this time, instead he came for her. He came for my child! His child! I was too angry to think. Sometimes, you just can't think. You act before you know you've done it. I jumped between them and before he realized what happened, I opened my mouth, wide. I guess I thought I was really going to eat him, but I let something came out instead. It wasn't sound and I couldn't see it, but it was everything I had been feeling for years. It was what I wished for most. It was the death of Leader. It was the rebellion of my mom's best friend. It was the power of God, the shark. It was the love of a mother coming out of my mouth. It was so many things and it was all too much for Leader. He couldn't even make sound. He grabbed at his neck like I was choking him and fell over dead.
There was stillness among the sirena after the death of Leader. I wasn't sure if the stillness was to honor the dead or the soon to be dead. This was treason. I was going to die, but I was going to die fighting, because I had already started. So I grabbed Leaders body, held it above my head, and threw it in the middle of the sirena calling them all to battle. My mom's best friend, bald as she was, grabbed my hand. My daughter grabbed my other hand, and my mom hers. Pretty soon, everyone was holding hands, telling me in our own way they would die fighting, too.
We waited hand in hand, completely still for the rest of the triton. Soon, one came, saw his fallen leader, and made sound. This sound was different. It wasn't as loud or painful, or maybe we were just getting stronger. In a few seconds, all of the triton in our glamour were there. One of them asked who did it and I opened my mouth, wide again. The four triton closest to me followed their leader in death. That started the war. They came after all of us. Some sirena found their God power. Some didn't. We killed several triton. They killed several sirena. Some lost their hair and some lost their hearing, but we won. I mean, we killed the most. I mean, the triton surrendered. I mean, we'll never be bothered again, but no one wins wars. Everyone loses something. I lost my mom and several brave sirena, but I still had her best friend and my daughter.
I went back to where I slept. I found my first son, who was no longer my son. He was crying. I had never seen a triton cry before. He said, "I'm sorry mom. I shouldn't have bred you. I should have picked someone else when you said you were my mom. I should have stood up for you. I shouldn't have let Leader hit you. I'm so sorry!"
I should have told him to leave. I should have opened my mouth again and let my God power kill him. I should have eaten him, like the God-shark said, but I couldn't. He was my son no matter how many people tried to tell me he wasn't. I couldn't say anything. I was actually proud. Out of all the triton, my child was the only one who was strong enough to say he was wrong, to cry, to apologize. I took my baby boy into my arms and held him there as he cried and thanked God for him as I did when he was inside my womb.
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