Bottled Letters

Chapter 1

The mist rose up out of the ocean. Nah, that sounded so boring. How bout, The mist cast shadows onto the ocean. It still feels to..... old-fashioned and confusing. Ugh, I am never going to finish my essay if I can't write the first line. I'm gonna get a big, fat F. Well I'll just add it to my collection. Maybe I'm like Albert Einstein and my true colors won't show till I'm out of school. In that case I still have a lot of mad parent-teacher conferences to go.

"Mom, I'm going to the beach, I'll be back soon."

" K honey. Make sure you bring your phone just in case."

There's no place like the beach, the sand on your feet, watching the waves come and go and hunting for cool shells. It is a place like no other.... Since I live right next to the beach I can go any time I want, within reason. I walk to the Santa Monica Pier every day, which is a mile from my house. It's a good way to clear your head and exercise your legs after sitting in school all day. Wow that is a cool shell or piece of glass. It is rounded at the top and dark green. It looked more like a bottle than a shell I realized, once you looked close enough. The tide had just washed it in, so I quickly grabbed it and then stopped. It wasn't the top of a bottle like I'd thought. It was a full on bottle, complete with a stopper and a scroll inside, suddenly the stopper popped off and the scroll scouted up in the bottle so I could take it out. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen it to. All I saw was a couple surfers and they were far out at sea. I looked down at the bottle again and the scroll nudged out some more. Whoa, that was very,very creepy or like weird or both, probably both. I wanted to just drop the bottle but it was stuck to my hand. I wanted to yell for help but no one would ever hear me. I ran not knowing where I was going. My feet seemed to carry me on the familiar path to my house then up the stairs to my room.

" Honey are you okay? You came back early."

" Ya, I'm okay mom. I wanted to do something in my room before dinner."

Whoa, that was a close one. Now about getting the bottle of my hand. I can't even get the parchment out of the bottle with one hand. As soon as I thought that the bottle dropped off of my hand like it wanted to be read. Major creepy alert. I was getting the chills up and down my back. I took out the scroll and unrolled it. There was a old paper, parchment would be more accurate. It was written in a bluish ink and had water stains all over it (probably tears). I scanned it, recoiled in shock and read it again. Here is what it said.

Hello

My name is Ivy. I am writing in case someone finds this bottle and reads this note. I have been captured by pirates and taken from my homeland in The Land of Mermaids ,as you can tell I placed some of my last magic on this parchment so it could be found. They have taken me into the human world and plan to sell me to a circus as a show or whatever he called it. The circus is called 'Santa Monica Shows' If you read this please help me. And yes, I am a mermaid, which makes my capture even worse. If a mermaid is gone from her birthplace for more than a year she will die. It has been 11 months since I returned to my homeland. Please help me, I will die soon, I am getting weaker by the day. My life rests in your hands.

Sincerely

Ivy Longfellow

P.S. Please write your response and put it in the jar. I have charmed it to return to me. All you have to do is put it in the ocean.

I stared a the letter even after I had read it many times. I heard my mom vaguely in the background. I didn't know what to do. I was going to the Santa Monica Shows this Friday because I had heard that they had a new show. I couldn't believe what the show was. Then common sense came back to me and I realized this must be a prank of some kind. Of course, I had been so foolish to believe this pack of nonsense. Then I remembered the weird stuff on the beach and how the bottle had stuck to my hand for 10 minutes. That was not real. I decided to answer her letter but not give away any personal information. And if this was real and if this Ivy person was still alive, I would try to save her. I grabbed a pen and paper, wrote the first sentence and then got called to dinner. Once I got back (now filled with lasagna) I finished my letter and proofread it, because you know they teach you some things at school.

Dear Ivy,

Hi. My name is Sophia. I read your letter and I feel really sorry for you. I hope I am not too late to help you. I live really close to the Santa Monica Show's headquarters, I might be able to help escape. I will visit you pretending to be an innocent bystander while I actually help you escape. My father is the has a productive businessman so I can "borrow" a plane and fly you back to your homeland. You don't know who I am so I will describe myself so you can be on the lookout. I have blue eyes, brown hair that will be in a ponytail, I will be wearing a plain, blue, long sleeve shirt, black sweatpants with pink stripes on the sides, and tennis shoes. I hope that is enough description. The owner of your show is saying if you pay 100 dollars you can talk to the mermaid for 3o minutes. (which is you) I will pay up and sneak away with you during that time.Hopefully they won't catch us.

Sincerely,

Sophia Westheart

            I immediately ran to the surf and tossed the bottle into the ocean. Even as I was watching the bottle changed direction and started floating towards the pier. So it was true, she would read my letter.

       Today is the day! I have spent almost every waking hour planning Ivy's escape. Of course, this could be all a hoax, but I have to believe it just in case. My mother thinks that I am going to go with some friends to the circus (totally not true).

" Bye mom. See you around 5."

" Be safe and don't take to strangers."

Oops, I will break both rules. The first one hopefully I will keep. The second one not a chance, after all I am going to try and save a mermaid, just a normal day in Cali. This feels like something from a book or something, ha. I am going to take bus there and then call my dad to pick me up with Ivy, since my parents are divorced I don't have to worry about him tell my mom anything. Okay, the bus is here, stage one of plan rescue mission is complete. Now double check I have 150 bucks, check mark again.  And I'm on the road. Mind shifts to faraway places as the driver calls out the stops. Then something brings me back to reality.

" Next stop,  Santa Monica Pier."