Eddy's successful scam (Patreon)

Eddy: Come one, come all, to see a real mermaid who can stay underwater for hours without breathing, and for just one cent, you can give her some air! Come on, kids, you don’t want her to have a bad time, do you?The neighborhood kids gathered around to watch, and some quickly tossed in a few coins to help Sarah. Among the first were Rolf and Kevin, who found the ridiculous mermaid costume—likely thrown together by Double D the day before—pretty amusing. They gave a couple of coins and left.Eddy: Haha, what suckers! Now we’ve got enough to buy candy for everyone, let’s go!Double D: But Eddy, what about Sarah?Eddy: Hurry up, Double D, take advantage of Ed being asleep!They left, leaving Sarah alone. It had been just over a minute since the air hose was pulled out before it automatically locked due to the box’s mechanism. Then Rolf showed up, shocked, genuinely believing Sarah was a real mermaid. He donated a cent to help her and went back to his chores.After a couple of minutes, no one else came by. Sarah’s face was red as she struggled to open the cylinder, sealed tightly with thick tape, but it was no use. Her abdomen was sucking in desperately, making her ribs stand out sharply. After three minutes, Sarah couldn’t hold on any longer and exhaled all her oxygen, swallowing water instead. Fortunately, her throat instinctively closed, though it wouldn’t matter much. After several more minutes, Sarah’s face turned completely blue, with an oddly peaceful expression…