Clara had one of those old fashioned claw-foot tubs in her bathroom. A shower head, rod, and a light blue floral shower curtain that matched the parts of the wall that weren't covered with white tile had been added to it to modernize it, but the classic look of the tub somehow still remained. A lot of the furniture in their house were classic antiques. The house itself for that matter looked rather old, like most of the buildings in the town. Must have been part of the small town charm, but for someone who had lived among skyscrapers for years it took a little getting used to. Clara was perched on the sink counter in her robe flicking through her phone while she waited for the shower to get steamy. Her Chicago friends had sent her some Facebook messages, but she didn't feel up to responding to them right now. It hurt a little more than she cared to admit to remember the time only a few months ago where she wasn't considered freaky by classmates. Though why Melissa Jenkins even thought that about her was a mystery.

She set the phone on the counter and shrugged out of the robe with a disgruntled sigh before handing it on a town rod on the wall. The shower should help take her mind off of things, and she could finally wash away the grime and last remnants of the salt water from that pool. She carefully stepped into the tub, though she had a mat under her feet so she had no fear of slipping, and close the curtain around it. Then Clara stood under the shower head and allowed the warm water to pour down on top of her. It felt exquisite, and she closed her eyes and felt herself relax.

It only lasted about ten seconds. Then Clara started to feel strange, like her entire body was tingling. She opened her eyes and looked down at herself, then felt her heart almost stop beating. The streaming coat of water that was touching her skin had taken on a horribly familiar shimmer, but before she could react properly the shimmering spread, covering her, and it intensified into bright light. The tingling sensation became more intense for a long moment, then everything was gone. The shimmering, the tingling, the light, all of it. Clara didn't get a chance to look back down at herself, though. Because in a millisecond she felt her balance leave her and with a surprised shout she fell backwards, pulling the shower curtain down with her.

She must have lost consciousness for a few moments, or had gotten the wind knocked out of her, because it took a little while for her to move again. When she opened her eyes she was staring up at the ceiling, her back hurt, she could feel the shower curtain under her, and the water was still pouring from the shower head. Tenderly she reached out to turn off the flow and let out a soft groan. At least her arms worked. Clara tried moving her legs next, and was struck by the strangest, most frightening sensation. It hadn't felt like she had moved two limbs, but rather only one. 

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Clara's rose rose from where it had been resting against the edge of the tub to look own at her legs. Only she didn't see them. Instead, where her legs should have been, she saw a glistening, scaly tail. And at the end of it the tail spread into a very large coral colored fin. Clara felt her breath catch in her throat, but she was noiseless as she stared at it. She just kept telling herself that it couldn't be real, that it wasn't really happening. She had just hit her head when she had fallen and she was hallucinating. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the dream away before opening her eyes again. The tail was still there. She made a weak sort of whimpering sound as she reached a hand out to touch it. The wet scales felt slightly slippery and horrifyingly real against her fingers, and she pulled her hand away immediately. Then, after taking a shaky breath for courage, Clara willed the lower half of her body to make a simple motion, something as simple as flexing her foot or bending her toes. 

It was only when the fin flicked, when she felt it flick, when she could not deny that she appeared to have made it move, that it seemed to be a apart of her, that Clara screamed.