Ocean Orbs

• Ruby Poustie, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2014

The ocean smell, the ocean feel, the way you slice through the waves, the way the water feels like velvet. The way the water supports you until you feel weightless. And underwater…

The water consumes you, and you can breathe! There are silver orbs wobbling up to the surface, and you just realise they’re air bubbles. Skinny trevally flash past and before you can acknowledge their presence they’re gone, just like the silver orbs. Why are the trevallies terrified? Then a huge shoal of tuna whip by, and one huge tail makes a slit in your arm. You realise why all the fish are so scared.

Before you can close the wound, the great white shark torpedos past after the tuna, succeeding in slaying a couple. You dart past the trevally and hide under a coral reef. The hardened rock is cool on your hurt arm. Then the shark stops its mad killing spree and chews a piece of tuna while its pointed nose moves from side to side. You look around the salty water in horror and realise a trail of your blood has been left behind, leading the shark straight to you.

The shark propels itself along the trail of blood and before you can understand what’s happening you are face to face with a great white shark, and a huge one at that.

The shark takes an empty bite at you, misses and lunges again. It’s head smashes into the coral rock and you take the chance to escape. You torpedo away, you tail flicking up and down madly. You swim and swim and swim until you are facing a giant cliff wall, and you realize the beach is just five hundred metres away. You could swim there or home. The obvious choice is home. You feel the cliff face until you find a knob, and you swim into a tiny opening just above it. The tiny hole leads to a huge hole, which is a room. You swim in and settle yourself on a comfortable couch, just in time.

Your dad slowly swims in. “Hi Dad.” You say nervously, waving your hand and sending bubbles through the water. His long blue-scaled tail whips around and he says, “Oh, hi, it’s my lost daughter, Pearl.” as he swims out the door quietly, like he’s been hurt. “I’m sorry Dad, the humans are just really interesting!” you yell after him, but he just yells back “Whatever!” like a teenager and sulks off.

My dad has major problems. The world is like a spindly orb to him, and he says one day it will pop, just like an air bubble, and then what will happen?

Come to think of it, Dad is like a fragile orb. He pops when you annoy him, but he is revived just like the bubbles. I hope that the orbs can keep on stretching to the surface, because I think when the silver orbs die, so will my Dad.