the changed verse
Torn Apart

The scales appear first and she tries to scrub them off. She knows what they mean, has read enough about it in the papers and seen the pictures. She’s not stupid. But still, she tries to scrub them off, tries to stall for more time even though she knows it’s impossible.

Chase doesn’t realize at first. Allison uses clothes that cover up her body and considering how he’s been pulling away, it really isn’t hard to avoid having sex with him. They barely seem to exist in each other’s lives anymore.

But the bones in her legs start to weaken. She takes to sitting a lot, walking only when necessary. One morning, she can’t walk at all, when the bones in her legs seem to have evaporated. Suddenly, she can’t keep the secret anymore.

She cries when she tells him.

“God,” he breathes when he sees the green-tinted scales covering her legs. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She doesn’t know. Did she think that he wouldn’t care? She can’t find the words to explain, but one look in his eyes and she sees that he understands anyway. He would have done the same thing.

They put their differences aside – his secrets, her suspicions, their fears – for a few hours and he holds her in his arms. They lie on their soft bed beneath the covers, simply holding each other. All the while, she can feel the Change coursing through her body, turning her legs into a fish tail instead. In a week, maybe two, the Change will be complete and she’ll have to go live in the ocean.

They have been drifting apart and they both see the end even though they both pretend they don’t. They’re being torn apart, Change or no Change.

Perhaps this is for the best.

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