I Think I Might Be Drowning

• Olivia Mcmahon, Grade 5B
• Short Story
• 2014

I Think I Might Be Drowning
As I am swimming, I am freezing, because the waves keep whooshing over my head. I can’t find the ground and I am getting tired and it’s too far to swim back. My head is falling, my legs keep stopping and I’m afraid I might not be able to keep going any longer. I am screaming but no one can hear me; well, it is 3:00 in the morning. Why did I have to go looking for my valuable iPod case? As I think these last thoughts a huge wave rushes over my head and it’s over. There’s no point in struggling back up just to fall back down, there was no point in living this life just to die. As these thoughts cross my mind, I take my last breath and fall…
But then I notice it’s not over; I have not fallen into an everlasting slumber. Wait, why can I breathe? Why am I not drowning? But then I notice that I’m shrinking, my feet are mushing together, and my arms are now tiny fins. I’m a fish!
I’m not sure if this is amazing and I’m so lucky to be alive or if this is the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me. What are my parents going to do when they see that I’m gone? They will send search parties, but to no result. Then I see a tiny fish come up to me and scream, “What was that? H-how were you that giant thing and now an ordinary fish! I’m taking you to the Sun King; he will know what to do.” “Wait! What!” I answer. “Sun King? Who’s he? I just want to get out of here.” “Suit yourself, but if you ever want to be that weird thing that you were before, you will want to come with me,” replied the tiny fish. “Okay then. Fine” I answer angrily, like I have no choice.
It was a long swim to this so-called Sun King, but after what seemed to be forever we finally got there. There was a huge palace made of all sorts of rubbish – plastic bags, drink bottles and more – but surprisingly it all came together to make a very impressive underwater castle, a hundred times bigger than me. The tiny fish told me to enter. I swam through two vast iridescent curtains of bubble wrap, with each plastic blister as big as my head, glowing with a soft orange light. As I enter the throne room I saw a neon orange shark swimming around. I had never been fond of sharks, but it was so hard to take this one seriously. I giggled under my breath but luckily the Sun King didn’t seem to notice. He asked me to swim forward and tell him what happened. I blurted out that I was a human and was looking for my iPod case in the sea when I seemed to drown but instead turned into a fish. I asked him if I would ever see my family again and if he could turn me back. The Sun King replied, “Human? Mmmm… So, you were a landfish? I had one of those once… Not very nice, gave me gastro.” “Could you please, please help me? I’m begging you on my bended… fins!” The Sun King said that he would try his best, but I would have to stay overnight.
The Sun King slowly swam out of the throne room with me, and at that moment I had a craving to eat some two minute krill. I asked the Sun King if I can eat something, the Sun King replied that he has more important things to do than give me some plankton chips. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind but then I remembered that I don’t want to mess with the person who’s helping me, so instead I kept quiet. Then Sun King brought me though all these spiralling halls (still made of rubbish) until I finally got to the room I stayed in. The Sun King told me to go to sleep quickly in a gentle voice like I was a little baby.
I’m not so sure if I like this Sun King, first he sends me to bed without dinner and then he talks to me like I’m his baby, you know that I did not swim all this way to be treated like my mother was still here! I slammed the door of my room angrily and then noticed that there was no bed. Why is there no bed? Does the Sun King want me to sleep on the ground or something? I tried to close my eyelids but then I remembered that I did not have any. So I finally just found a way of sleeping; it was hard at first but then I started to get the hang of it. As I watched the Sun King leave that night, I wondered how he might help me.
?????
Outside the sleeping chamber, the Sun King realised that he would not be able to turn the new arrival back into a landfish. Much simpler to wipe her memory of her family and her old life forever. The Sun King crept into her room and slowly he pressed a tiny needle into her dorsal fin for five seconds. That would be enough; she would never remember anything. The Sun King felt as if he should had at least told her he was going to wipe her memory. He might feel bad but what was done was done. He could not change it now.
?????
As I woke up a throbbing headache was beating in my head, like a huge bass drum. My Mum told me to wake up quickly for school and go outside to find some food to eat. As I swam the five hundred meters to get there my fins were so sore. They kept on twisting in weird positions that were very painful. As I finally got to school I met up with Frank the clown fish and Lisa the gold fish, who are my two best friends, and then went into class, but I felt as if something was missing, something was wrong. Weeks, months, years passed by but, still felt the same like something was missing. As time went on this feeling started to be even worse and made depressed. Everything was boring, every day was all ways the same. Eat Work Sleep.
As time went on I became older and the last 10 seconds of my life I remembered. I remembered what I was, my old life and what happened on that tragic day and those last seconds were the happiest seconds of my life.

Author: Olivia McMahon