UNDER THE OCEAN (Original)

Chapter Eight: Separated

 Sam and Sarah forgot all about Jasmine and were having great fun exploring this fantastic new world. Sam was thinking how-on-earth could they discover everything about this place faster.

As they climbed under a large ledge, Sarah found a large clamshell lodged into a tight gap. Together they tugged at it and pulled it loose. Hidden behind was a cave, about the size of a bedroom. It looked as though the shell had been used before for a door but had long since been discarded. They sat inside to try it for comfort. It was okay but had a few uncomfortable rocks jutting from the floor. They pulled them up and shoveled the white sand into the gaps with their hands, making a tidy little shelter.

“What did you manage to stuff into the duffle bag for us? I'm hungry” Sarah chirped eagerly.

“A few cans of fruit, some baked beans and . . . oohhh look, spaghetti and sausages!”

“Yum! Open it! My favourite. You have some toast too? It's gotta be on toast.”

“I don't think toast is on the menu today Sarah.” He laughed while he looked around for a can opener but he had not rescued one when he was loading the duffle bag. “Great! Now what are we going to do?” He was grumpy now, and his head told him how silly he was for forgetting.

“You saved the knife there, see if that will work?” Sarah was trying to be helpful . . . she wanted to eat!

“I’ll give it a go.” Grabbing the knife he tried to stab into the hard silver top but it only dented uselessly. He tried to saw it but that still did not work – he was getting furious now. He threw it to the sand. Sarah found a nice smooth rock next to her knee and picked it up. Exploring the surface with her slender finger she said, “Try this Sam.” He snatched the rock and started banging on the can, but still to no avail.

“This is hopeless, I can’t do it!”

“Well, use the knife and the rock together . . . that should work?”

Feeling foolish now he picked up the knife again and put the point to the lid; then he used the rock as a hammer to bang it into the can. At last, something worked and he slowly worked his way around the now dented and mangled can. After a few mouth-watering moments, he then met with success. Sarah clapped and squealed with delight. Careful not to cut themselves on the jagged edge, they scooped the cold worms and squishy sausages up into their podgy little fingers and began to eat. After the first few mouthfuls a look of confusion warped its way across their faces.

“This doesn’t taste right,” Sarah said disappointed.

“You’re right, it’s yuk! Really bland! Eww. I'm not eating that!” Scratching his head, he could not work out what was wrong. It didn't look rotten, it sure didn’t seem like anything was wrong with it at all. Throwing the can and contents away, he was angrier than ever. “So annoying!” he huffed in disgust!

Meanwhile, as Sam was still boiling inside, Sarah looked in the duffle bag to see what else there might be.

“Sam?” Sarah asked curiously. “Why have you got the battery fan? What a dumb pick.” She eyeballed him like he was from another planet! “Surely a can opener would have been much more useful!”

“Don't rub it in will you! I don’t know. Maybe it might get hot!” he said with a snicker. “I rescued some spare batteries for it too – so there!” He had a sting in his voice, hoping to make amends for his choice.

“Yeah right! Just like we were hot in the caravan last night huh? We’re not going to get hot – more like freezing cold!” After a self-hug pretending to keep herself warm, she pulled the fan out along with the walkie-talkie set. She switched on the set and began to speak into one of the receivers. “Hello Sam. Earth calling Sam . . . are you there?” The other one repeated immediately, in a static crossover voice. “Hello Sam. Earth calling Sam . . . are you there?” Well that worked: excellent, she thought. Walking out of the cramped cave with her set, she tried again. “Hello Sam. Can you hear me?” She heard the other set repeat. She went even further away. “Come on Sam, pick it up!” Sam didn’t care – he was sulking. He picked up the fan and pressed the high-speed button. It quickly took off away from him and banged into the rough rock wall. While it bounced around hard against the barrier, he reached out for the stop button. It responded and dropped to the sandy ground.

“Sam . . . Pick it up!” She was almost out of view by now. “Don’t be a baby!” She began to tease him through the walkie-talkie. “Sam is a baby. Sam is a baby!” He was more interested in the fan now than what his silly little sister had to say. He grabbed the fan again and this time held it tight. Aiming it out of the cave entrance, he pressed the slow speed-button: it took off and dragged him along behind.

“Wohoooo, this is cool!” Very quickly, he forgot about the spaghetti and sausages and went zooming towards Sarah with his new transport device. As he pointed it upwards he pushed the high-speed button: it responded by dragging him fast, skyward.

“Look at me Sarah! This is better than a can opener!” Laughing at his sister below, he shot high over her head; she tried to run and follow, but his contraption was much faster than she was. Turning the fan-head, he changed direction back towards her and came down low beside her, then took off again just above her head.

“Wait for me will you!” Sarah was running and swimming as fast as she could, but Sam was much too fast for her. Turning back, he came towards her and switched it off. It slowed and he settled down by Sarah.

“Wow! That was awesome! We could explore the whole ocean with this!” He was thrilled with his discovery. “I wonder if it could tow all three of us,” Sarah gasped when Sam said that. It had just dawned on her.

“Where is Jasmine?” Panicking, they both had dreadful thoughts of what could have happened to her. Had she been sucked away by the abyss? Had she been eaten? How stupid of them to forget about her! They were terrified and wasted no time. Sam grabbed the fan and told Sarah to hold on to him tight. Unanswered questions raced through their flustered minds. Where do they start searching? The ocean suddenly became dauntingly huge and disturbing to them. What a disaster!

Searching over where they had ventured so far, they called out continually for Jasmine. “Jasmine! Where are you? Can you hear us! Jasmine!"

Their voices were hoarse and after some time, they watched hopelessly as the ocean turned to a deeper shade of blue. The night sky above their new world subsided into darkness. A short time later when they were too tired, and the inky blackness covered them over as a blanket; they were forced to turn back and head for their shelter. Another night was upon them. They will have to continue their search first thing tomorrow. Who knows what could happen to someone on their own during this unbeknown night.