song of the sea: book one

Chapter Twelve: It's a Fish Eat Fish World:

   After getting stuck in the mouth of the Great white, I saw my whole life flash before my eyes.

   I saw myself with my head in the toilet.

   I saw Ruby push me into the pool.

   I saw Mitchel's arm out to pull me to safety.

   I saw Ruby with the stapler.

   And I saw nothing but Mitchel.

   Mitchel's eyes when they are looking at me deep in mine. And him when he is about to kiss me.

   I saw myself with him for the rest of my life, and now I'll never get that chance. Well, not if I let this shark eat me.

   I would have to be dead first. Grabbing onto the shark's jaws, I started to swim strait into its mouth, you know, to cause a choking hazard.

   And some confusion. 

   Twisting around and around, I did everything in my power to make sure that it didn't have time to slam down and chomp on me.

   Keeping a hold of its thick bottom jaw, I squeezed into it's mouth and did the splits right away, so that it couldn't swallow me. Now, time for the plan to make it sick. I know that sharks can indeed throw up. And that is what I plan on making it do.

   I'm so glad that I bought that spiked choker a few days ago. It is going to come in handy. Right now to be exact.

   Building up the stomach for an explosion, I took the spikes on the collar and stabbed it into the roof of its mouth over and over again until I felt the shark shaking, and I noticed a smell like dead rotting fish, and knew it was about to happen.

   "Come on," I screamed,"Throw up already!"

   And pretty much on my command, it happened.

   Its actual stomach came out of it's throat, hit me like an airbag, it's mouth opened, and I came out with the contents of what was in its stomach.

   Holding my breath, which I would have done anyway, because let's face it; shark puke STINKS, I swam away as fast as I could, so I could get away from the muck, I rocketed up, breaking the surface of the water. 

   Again.

   And this time, the boat was right where I needed it to be.

   Not too far. Very good.

   My energy level was running on empty, which meant that this was my last chance to swim myself to safety.

   And that is when a wave ruined my only chance to survive. The force of it dragged me under, twisting me around every which way, and my vision went all stars, swirls, and spots.

   Only the spots were glowing. So beautiful.

   They seemed to pulse like a heartbeat, matching mine. Oddly, it calmed me down. If I wasn't under water, I would have sighed at their beauty. Soft orange, pinks, and yellows filled my now stable vision.

   Swaying under the waves, as each one rolled over the surface, it only brought the lights closer to me. And it would've been peaceful to get a better look, if only I didn't know what they were.

   Oh. No.

   As soon as I knew what those mystery lights were, it was already too late. I screamed as one of them stung me. Burning pain seeped into my new and bleeding shark bite in my right calf.

   I touched where I was stung, yet I couldn't hold my breath and cry at the same time. I had to make a break for it.

   Swimming as fast as I could, I struggled under the pressure of making it to the boat in time. But first, I needed a breath. A fresh one at that.

   In this situation, it's a fish eat fish world, and I chose not to be eaten. I eat fish for breakfast.

   No, literally. I love fish, well, that's a story for another time.

   Right now, I need to escape the jellyfish army that seemed to be just a few yards away from me. And they are coming closer but the second.

   And fast.

   With a few more waves, and my entire body was surrounded by bright lights, tentacles in every square inch, and there was no way out without getting stung like Dory.

   So I stayed as still as I possibly could, not even my head moved, for fear of having my eyeballs singed out of their sockets.

   I would have to wait it out. And who knows how long that would take.

   I can't hold my breath forever. I can hold it for now, but when the stars are about to come, and the edges go black, I knew what I had to do. I had to breathe. And bad.

   I did the unthinkable.

   Feeling the burn of my lungs poisoning my blood, a jellyfish tentacle was swimming right in front of my eyes. 

   That's just great. 

   I don't want to be blind, but I don't want to be dead either. Darkness lined the edges of my eyes, heat built up, and I just couldn't take it anymore.

   I pushed the jellyfish away from my face, causing it to sting me many, many times in my face, arms, and neck. Swimming as fast as I could upwards, I felt like I was burning alive in a literal oven. The pain was so bad that I let out my breath in a scream.

   Getting stung over and over again, I almost gave up. Screaming, crying underwater, and holding what might as well be my last breath, because I felt like I was going to die. And right now, I wanted to.

   Not only did my vision turn double, I thought I saw the edge of the water right up ahead. And I was kind of right. Pushing up again, I hit my head on something, really freaking hard.

   Now, I really was seeing stars.

   Feeling like a hot pocket in a microwave, my skin was bleeding in places I never even thought I would bleed. Or get stung in places that I never thought I would be stung. 

   Jellyfish were the least of my worries at this point. I had to find shelter and get out of the water.

   Finding the last bit of strength I had left, I swam to the one thing that I would call my home for the next four months.

   I grabbed a hold of the side of the boat, and pulled myself in, flopping on the floor of it, finally safe from the water itself. But another thing stood in my way.

   Food.

   Fresh water. And trust me, this is not the freshest water.

   And land. I needed to find land. Any land would do.

   But first, I needed to scavenge. Scavenging will be my main priority for a while. Searching out from the edge of the empty life boat, and I liked what I saw.

   Luggage was everywhere.

   There might be something out there that might be of some use.

   But the only problem was that there were no oars. I had to get back in the water.