a short story by Cora Kline
Creative Writing Weekly is a gathering of writers of all levels, lead by Michael Rash, that create pieces every week based on prompts. The prompts for this piece were:
below the surface
entirely too many
falling and flying
"but I just saw her yesterday."
In the clearest part of the ocean, just off the coast of Hawaii, there was a fish. Not just
any fish, a clownfish, Amber the clownfish. And Amber wasn’t afraid of anything. Anything
except boats. Whether they were fishing boats or huge cruises, she was terrified of them.
Amber was in her small cave when her best friend, Perry, came in. Perry was a beautiful
parrotfish decorated with blue, red, and green patches.
“Hi, I was wondering if you would like to go for a swim. The waves are huge today so
there might not be any boats,” he said.
Perry wasn’t afraid of boats, but he knew of Amber’s fear. When she was little, she got
sucked up by one of the engines and she couldn’t swim away, she lost some scales that
eventually grew back.
“Sure,” Amber said with the slightest bit of concern.
In a small house on the land a family was visiting friends in Hawaii. They were only
there for a week, and they wanted to make the most of the time they had.
“What’s below the surface,” the daughter, Ann, asked gazing out at the ocean.
Her father didn’t say a word as he led her out to a marina just down the street. The sun
was gleaming so bright that it was difficult to see. They slowly got on the boat and started the
engine.
As they glided along, little ripples pushed out and into the endless water. The waves were
strong and powerful, almost pushing them over. Bubbles were speckled like confetti everywhere,
falling and flying.
Amber and Perry swam up and up. Then back and forth chatting about this and that. They
swam back down for lunch, but a quick lunch. Suddenly Amber saw a small shadow looming
towards them as it got closer and closer Amber realized it could only be one thing.
A boat
Perry was swimming the other way talking, thinking Amber was still there. She rocketed
towards him looking back over her shoulder.
“Perry, there’s a boat! What do we do,” Amber shouted in panic
“Oh, umm,” Perry said looking around, “this way.”
They swam off, hiding behind rocks and coral.
The daughter noticed them and yelled “, Dad look fish. I want them.”
“Ok, fine, tomorrow though,” her dad said.
The next day
“Dad, Dad, Dad wake up, wake up, wake up,” Ann said pouncing on her father’s bed.
Ok, ok,” her said yawning.
They walked down the street and got in their boat. Soon they were at the spot they had seen
Amber the day before.
“Where is she,” Ann asked leaning over the edge of the boat to see.
“I don’t know” her father said scanning the water.
“But I just saw her yesterday,” Ann wined.
“Oh, there” her father said pointing towards the water.
The net flew over the edge of the boat and caught poor Amber and Perry. They were immediately
put in a huge tank filled with water. Ann took so many pictures of them.
“Ok you can let them go now,” Ann said taking her last picture.
“Alright,” her dad said throwing them back in the water.
Amber and Perry had just been on a boat, and not a scratch on them. Amber had faced her fear
and Perry had a great story to tell. From then on Amber wasn’t afraid of boats all because of her
adventure with Perry.
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