Below the Surface

Chapter 1

The dark blue waves pounded against the surf. The moon hung high in the night sky, surrounded by twinkling stars. The ocean breeze was cool and tasted of the ocean. It blew my long brown hair back while I dug my toes into the sand. I looked behind me, and saw the sand meet up to grass, and eventually a red brick house. I glared at the house, as if it somehow caused all my troubles.

I looked back at the sea, practically calling me to its depths. I waded into the shore, my jeans staying dry even in the water. The waves crashed against me until the water was up to my chest. I took a deep breath, even though I didn't need it, and dove down below the surface of the water. As my eyes adjusted to the water, I felt my lungs reject the first breath of water I took. It felt like my lungs were contracting, then growing, until it realized water was ok to breathe.

I swam straight down, and saw a figure appear next to me. I looked over, and saw it was my best friend, Janise, swimming along beside me.

Her long brown hair was in a ponytail, with a few locks of hair loose. She had on a pink tank top, with a lacrosse stick on it, along with faded jeans, and white sneakers. I smiled, and continued swimming down.

We swam like this in silence for a while, until a glow began to emerge through the water. Eventually, a grand castle appeared, surrounding it was a variety of pastel colored coral homes. Little figures moved in and out of them, as we got closer, I recognized my friends and neighbors, all coming home from a counsel meeting. They were held in the castle which was pretty much Disney Princess style.

It was a pastel orange color, that glowed with a natural light. All of the formations down here glowed softly, since no light from the surface made it all the way down here. Janise and I swam down to the baby blue brick road, and said our goodbyes. We magically stayed down on the floor, and could move around as fast as we could on land.

Just before I was about to swim away to my house, Janise said, "Hey, did you finish your math homework?" My face went slack.

"No! I forgot it there!" Janise put her face in hands.

"Oh, Summer," she sighed. "You can copy off of mine."

I jumped up and down. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I ran forward and hugged her, even though she wasn't much of a hugger.

"Well," was all she said as I ran back to my house. My house was on the outskirts of town, surrounded by tall seaweed in all directions. The coral was a deep blue, that shimmered softly, sending rays of pale blue light into the ocean. I opened the coral door, sliding easier than it should of according to physics. When I walked in, I through my book bag on the green squishy couch, and kicked my shoes off by the door.

My mom was in her room sleeping most likely, while dad was probably talking to one of his buddies at the meeting. I walked past my deep blue living room, and into the kitchen. I went into the fridge, and pulled out a sea urchin. I plucked off the spines, and deposited them into the garbage can. I bit into the sea urchin, it tasted like a mix of chicken, and lettuce.

I quickly finished my meal, and headed up the pastel green stairs to the 2nd floor. I walked past the bathroom, the guest room, my mom and dad's room, until I finally got to my light purple door. I pushed it open, and took of my sweatshirt and through it onto my chair, which was located in the corner of my room. In the other corner was my dark purple bed, sheets all disheveled, and covered in clothes. I pushed off the clothes, then changed into a light pajama t-shirt, then climbed in bed.

I was asleep in about three seconds.

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The next day, I woke up, and continued my routine before school. I got changed into a t-shirt and jeans, brushed my teeth, and had a bowl of seaweed for breakfast.