Waking In Water

• Olivia Mc Mahon, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2014

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 but 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. There's no time to think as a huge wave rushes over my head and it’s over. What’s the point in struggling back up just to fall back down? As these thoughts cross my mind, I take my last breath and fall…
But then I notice it’s not over; I am not unconscious. Why can I breathe? Why am I not drowning? I notice that I’m shrinking, my feet are merging and my arms are now tiny fins. I’m a fish!
Other strange things are happening. I'm hearing things I've never heard before. I hear a snapper screaming in front of me: “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.” I answer: “Sun King? Who’s he? I just want to get out of here.” “If you ever want to be that weird thing that you were before, you will want to come with me,” replied the snapper. What choice do I have?
I followed the fish to a huge palace made of all sorts of rubbish. I swam through shiny curtains of bubble wrap, glowing with a soft orange light. As I entered I saw a neon orange shark swimming in circles. I had never been fond of sharks, but it was so hard to take this one seriously. I giggled but luckily the shark didn’t seem to notice. He asked me to swim forward and tell him what happened. I blurted out that I was a girl and thought I had drowned but instead had turned into a fish. I asked him if he could turn me back. The Sun King replied, “A girl? Is that a sort of landfish? I had one of those once… gave me gastro, if I remember.” “Could you please help me? I’m begging you on my bended… fins,” The Sun King said I would have to eat first and stay overnight. He would look after everything.
****
The shark had his own plans, however. Later,after the new arrival had eaten her plankton chips and had fallen into a deep, cleansing sleep, he let the drugs do their work. She would remember nothing. The Sun King felt he should have told her, but what was done was done.
****
When I woke up I had a throbbing headache. In the following days, I was doing all the things I normally did, but felt as if something was missing, something was wrong. But what? Every day the same: I swim, I eat, I sleep. A nagging thought was always with me that, somehow I was something else. Something more... Somehow connected to the landfish I often saw diving and blundering in the waves, with their strange separated fins and their weird seaweed heads.