Candle Castle

• Molly Trehy, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2010

One day Prin was lying in bed. She was a 12 year old girl with wavy blondish, brownish, reddish hair. Her dad said it was like a princess’. That was why he had called her that, Princess. She made all her friends call her Prin and always daydreamed about having parents that weren’t so embarrassing. Right now she was doing just that, listening to her ipod and daydreaming about living in Paris, with parents who didn’t spoil her just so she could get shoes.

“Princess, your friend is here!” shouted her Mother, Sheri Lyn. She had only agreed to call her Princess because she thought her name was fit for a princess. Prin awoke from her daydream and got up from her over-comfy bed. She hurried down the stairs. She was going on a boat trip today with her friend Kim. “Hello Princess!” Kim called over from the kitchen doorway. Prin scowled. “I told you not to call me that!” She snarled. “Let’s get my skateboard.” They walked around the back of the house to the shed where Prin kept her fluoro green skateboard and her bike etc. Then they collected Kim’s backpack and set off down the road on their skateboards. When they got to Kim’s house, they hopped in their van and drove away to the Koorungla Dam. Kim and Prin’s parents thought they were just going for a boat ride and a picnic, but the two girls had secretly put on some swimmers beneath their clothes.

When they got to they dam they met their friends Tina and Sophie Cane, who had also secretly brought their swimmers under their clothes. After they had all picnicked on chocolate rolls, cordial and strawberry jam sandwiches they got into the boat and set off. There was a legend that at the bottom of the dam there was an underwater castle called Candle Castle, and it was flooded shortly after the Ice Age. The girls wanted to see for themselves what the castle looked like. When they finally reached the middle of the dam the girls quietly carried out their plan. Sophie tiptoed over to where the adults were clustered around a huge fish that they had caught and tapped her mother on the shoulder. Mrs Cane turned around just in time to see them plunge down into the calm waters of Koorungla Dam.

The girls swam down to the bottom of the lake. When they got to the bottom they saw the most magnificent castle they had ever seen, not that they’d seen many, and out of the depths of the castle swam, a shark! Then it swam straight at them like a bullet, and Prin closed her eyes, but nothing happened, when she opened her eyes she was safe in bed. She must have been dreaming. She got out of bed, but the funny thing was, she was sopping wet............