What if...

This story takes place under the sea

With the one and only Ariel,

The Little Mermaid.

Once upon a time was how the story started,

A mermaid who fell in love with a man

Who “conveniently” lived on land.

But what if this story took place now- the summer of two thousand seventeen.

Well once upon a time there was a mermaid who lived in the Pacific ocean

And a huge island of plastic and other garbage

Was slowly but steadily headed towards her father's kingdom.

The day was fine,

The water was blue and bright,

The fish were happily swimming,

The mermaids were all getting ready for the sea ball.

Ariel on her way to a sunken ship,

Gets stuck in a net.

There is a lot of litter around her

She is worried she won’t make it on time to the sea ball.

Flounder, her blue and yellow fish friend

Frantically tries to free her from the net

But her tail, the green shining tail is stuck.

Her father, the king, is worried.

The sea ball is set to begin in five minutes.

Time is running fast and if Ariel doesn’t show,

It would be an embarrassment to the whole royal family.

Ariel is struggling.

Flounder is breathing frantically.

The net is tangled around her tail

Almost as if it's a piece of string trying to weave itself around her tail.

Flounder has almost given up when suddenly

A forceful and strong current came upon them and the net slipped off.

Flounder and Ariel them quickly swam behind rocks, away from the unruly current.

Two minutes until his majesty has to speak in front of his people.

Ariel is most involved with the people of this kingdom. It would be a shame if she missed this

For if she is not present, she cannot take part in government decisions.

Then Ariel saw a vision,

It was as clear and vivid as the water around her.

‘Her dad was standing before her and strictly, very strictly

Reminding her about the oh so wonderful sea ball.’

She grabbed flounder by his fin,

Maybe a little too firmly,

And they swam, as if it were a life and death situation.

They had one minute...

…

His majesty is furious

He can hear his ecstatic people yelling from the stadium.

If he wasn’t under water there might have been steam coming from him.

As Ariel’s father is about to go up onto the stage,

Out of nowhere Ariel is frantically swimming towards him.

All Ariel can think of is how she must tell her father,

He must let her speak to the people of his kingdom.

She has no choice,

She has to warn them about the island of garbage that is headed straight towards them.

She saw it on her way back,

It looked like a dark storm cloud, looming over everything

Destroying sea life as everyone knows it.

He had a planned speech, it was all supposed to go by the plan.

His majesty wasn’t very joyous about the news that Ariel had brought to him.

He had absolutely no choice,

Ariel had to warn everyone.

As Ariel was talking to the people,

Telling them about her dreadful experience,

There was dead silence.

The only noise was the occasional gasp and the water swirling around them.

As Ariel was finishing her speech no one knew what she would decide to do.

Ariel needed to do something, and quickly,

But actually thinking of what to do was not that easy.

She was researching and asking around for three days until she realized

She should go to land and

ask the prince for help.

It of course is dangerous going there,

And her father would probably never allow it,

But she had to try.

She must go to the darkest parts of the ocean and ask Ursula to turn her human.

…

The day was bright, the sun was high in the sky,

Yet there is always the light breeze that comes from the blue ocean.

The prince was known for loving the sea,

He was there everyday.

That might just be what Ariel needs, someone who loves the ocean unconditionally like her.

The prince has been worried about how much trash is emitted into the ocean.

He has been trying to do everything in his power to stop the whole mess.

There have been beach clean ups,

Prince passed a law that trash isn’t allowed in the ocean.

His father didn’t like any type of nature or habitat,

He was focused on expanding his land and making it more technologically advanced.

The prince despised it when the beautiful nature around him

was replaced by a looming skyscraper.

The big trash island was all over the news.

He knew that fish were dying everywhere,

He also knew he must do everything in his power to stop it.

…

The trip to Ursula was not a simple one.

Ariel had to swim for miles

And with every mile the sea got darker and more gloomy.

She saw sea creatures she had only heard about in stories and fairytales.

When Ariel finally arrived in Ursula's cave,

She could almost sense the fear that came off the walls of her cave..

It was very dark and it looked scarier than anything she has ever seen in her entire life.

Her father had told her to never travel this far.

Everyone knows that Ursula doesn't just give favors,

Ariel knew she would have many restrictions.

But in order to save her people,

Ariel had to do whatever she could.

As she was swimming into the cave

She heard Ursula talking to herself,

It seemed like a recipe to a potion.

Ariel was very frightened,

And she was sure Ursula would know that.

Then she saw her standing there.

She had skin that almost looked gray.

A long black dress that was tight around her and her tentacles.

Her eyes were a very vibrant yellow,

And her lips looked like the color of a red rose.,

Ariel's bright orange-red hair,

Dark blue eyes,

And green tail,

Where a very odd contrast to Ursula’s features.

Ursula had fish and other sea creatures coming to her

So she could perform some of her magic on them.

They wish for all kinds of things.

Most fish wish to work for the king,

And have a lot of fortune.

But the magic she uses isn’t one sided,

Whoever wants something must give something in return.

…

Ariel was scared out of her mind.

She swam very slowly and looked at every crevice in the walls.

She had heard many tales and legends of Ursula.

But she needed to become human, she had no choice.

The only thought Ariel had was,

“What will my exchange be?”

For Ariel didn’t really think of Ursula of evil as some say she is.

Ariel knew that her magic didn’t work that way.

But where Ursula lived, it was quite the haunted house.

Ursula’s cave wasn’t exactly a sight to behold.

The water inside it felt different, less pure than Ariel’s home water.

Maybe it was because of the potions,

Or maybe the chemicals.

There was absolutely no light entering the cave so it was pitch black.

By feeling the walls,

Ariel could tell they were bumpy, hard, and there was a lot of algae on them.

Talking with Ursula was quite the experience.

She was extremely sarcastic.

Ariel could see she was trying to act very nonchalant about her news,

But she could see the worry.

Because of Ursula's concern her trade with Ariel was small,

Her voice for human legs.

…

The prince was on the beach for his usual daily walk.

He breathed in the perfect air,

The sun was shining in his eyes,

Eric was living the life.

Then he saw the a girl,

She looked very confused, so he came up to her.

Without saying anything Ariel just handed the note to Eric,

It explained why she’s  on land.

Eric’s hair was jet black

He had eyes the color of the ocean and very pale skin.

He wore a loose white shirt,

With dark blue jeans that had red belt around them.

His boots, to Ariel, were very strange,

They were big and as dark as his hair.

Reading the note about Ariel was surprising.

Eric found himself believing she’s a mermaid.

In her letter she mentioned the pile of trash in the ocean,

And he knew he had to help.

It’s too bad she can’t talk,

He was very curious about what her voice would sound like.

Eric started speaking to her about organizing a massive beach clean up,.

And bringing out a bunch of boats to the trash island to make it smaller and less harmful.

Ariel nodded her head almost a hundred times,

Her hair swaying back and forth with the breeze.

The next day Prince Eric spoke to his father,

Who is still the business man he always was,

And if Eric could get him to care they would be able to get enough boats out there.

Eric had charm and his father did love him deeply,

And he was happy that the Prince was showing interest in something.

Finally Eric and his father,

After a grueling two hour conversation,

Agreed on getting forty ships out to Ariel's home and cleaning up that area.

When Eric came to Ariel’s room she was acting strange, as usual.

She was using a fork to brush her hair,

She wrote on her notepad that a bird told her that forks are used like brushes.

She really is an odd one, thought Eric.

…

Ariel’s time on land only lasted a week,

And she was happy about that.

She hated being on land.

The people were rude and the weather was too unpredictable.

Ariel’s deal with Ursula was that she only had one week.

So when that week was coming to a close, she gets her voice and tail back.

Eric saw what Ariel looked as a mermaid.

Her hair was an interesting orange and red color,

Her tail was was the shiniest and most sparkly color of green he had ever seen.

After Ariel and Eric had said their goodbyes,

Ariel swam to the people of her kingdom.

What she saw was not good.

The water was too dark and murky,

And there were too many fish in the hospital. She prayed that Eric would hurry up with the ships.

Ariel's father was so excited to see her, and when he heard the good news, he announced it.

Everyone started rejoicing and that’s when Ariel's father had surprised her with the ultimate gift.

He boomed with his empowering voice that Ariel was to be the queen of the kingdom.

And that's when the magic started to happen,

Everyone could see the ships coming and then they saw beams of light.

All the plastic and oil was being removed so the light could finally reach the bottom of the ocean.

And that’s when Ariel, her father, the prince, and their friend Flounder

Knew that it was the end of their story and it was the ‘happily ever after.’

Ariel’s story ended with a magical ending,

But what if this wasn’t a story.

What if this huge island of trash in the ocean ruins the ocean.

People need to be like Prince Eric and stand up.

What if we all stood up and tried to make a change...