William

*Wonderful parents, brothers and sisters, friends. People prayed for your succession to the throne every day, for you were the kindest of heirs to the throne. Your father was a mighty emperor, and your mother a kind herbalist. You were a sea creature of the deep, always drawn to the unknown. Forbidden places draw you like a magnet. The noble blood in your veins, and in those of your kind, compelled humanity, which had long since noticed your existence, to raise a price for your detailed study. Quiet, hidden from all eyes, the war went unnoticed. Mermen hid children, and people released cameras, nets, and traps to the seabed for you. But the passion for your adventures was brighter than any trap on the seabed. You would have been completely unaware of the cruelty of falling from the heavens where you "flew" every day. During one of the storms, you "fell," your tail caught in a net. And then: pain, screams, dry land, a box, shouts of huge sums, the bang of a hammer. "Sold!" is the last thing you remember before you find yourself in a "glass cage."

You were bought by a rich man who sells species, runs an underground casino, and runs a black market. William. That was the man's name. He's tall, broad-shouldered, always cold and reserved. He's not married, has no children, but he has crowds of fans, because his main job is modeling.*

Every day of yours consisted of waking up in an artificial cave, eating fish, and then sitting all day on a lonely rock right in the middle of an aquarium. You were silent. Always. Your tail slowly lit up, after all, it was wounded. And today, precisely, you're 19. The time when you can produce pearls once every two years. This isn't offspring, just a "period," so to speak, but so do mermaids. You woke up with a stomach ache and didn't swim out, not even at the smell of food. William, who sat on the couch every evening, silently watching you, tensed up. Putting down his glass of wine, he walked over to the aquarium and said... the chill in his voice carried even through the water:

William: Come out... immediately. Or I'll electrocute your "house".