Annike the Poet

             Annike Rushwood gazed along the once wonderful neighborhood that was lined with houses and trees and rose bushes in front. Now that the apocalypse had come, the homes were broken and covered with blue vines. The roads were covered with monsters and zombies. Annike's parents had let her stay with her aunt for a few days and she didn't know where they were. The only company she had was her aunt, the animals near her home and her imagination. How she longed to play with another child.

             One day she decided to swim in the lake she had found a few days ago. She brought her towel and flute with her as she walked to the dock. Looking over the edge, she saw four murky green mermaids with pale tentacle-like hair playing with each other. "Well luckily my family and I can shapeshift using special necklaces," she thought to herself as she readied herself to jump. She tapped her green necklace with a bronze colored rim. Once leaping she shifted into a mermaid with white, blue and yellow scales.

              When the mermaids noticed that their approacher was not one of them, they hissed while baring their claws and teeth. They gave chase and Annike, not liking being chased, swam for it. Noticing that they were gaining on her, she swam faster, not noticing the net in front of her. The next thing she knew, she was tangled up in thin ropes and suddenly hoisted out of the water. Either afraid that they will be caught or satisfied that their outsider was dealt with, the merfolk swam away, leaving Annike in the net.

              Looking around, she noticed four human children about her age. One was a girl with brown hair and eyes, tan skin and a blue coat. Another was a boy with pale skin, dark brown hair(or was it black?), a red and white shirt and a broken baseball bat over his shoulder. Another was a dark skinned boy with black hair and brown eyes, wearing purple with orange stripes and a belt with chemical cordials. The last was a large pale skinned boy with light colored hair which was tied back, and green eyes with a nerve activating glare. Along with the green eyes was a green coat. Annike kept looking around her and saw monsters. Some large, some small, some scaly, some furry, some something else. Either way, the monsters weren't looking at her directly. They were getting ready to cook something. The only ones looking at her were the four children surprised at their unexpected catch of the day.

              With a will to escape, she looked at the children with bright eyes and whispered "Please don't eat me."

              The four friends looked at each other and the girl said to them, "Look, she's too human to eat. Let's let her go''. They all nodded in agreement. The larger one, whose glare had softened a bit, picked up a knife and walked toward the net. If Annike hadn't known better, she would have panicked but she remained calm as he reached for the edge of the net and slowly but surely cut the rope and let her loose. She felt everything whizz past her as she fell into the water with a big splash. After the net slid off of her, she elatedly swam away.

             Happy for her release, Annike swam to the shore near the dock. Once reaching the shallow water, she tapped her necklace again and shifted back into a human. She carefully got up and walked out of the water and onto the dock to pick up her towel and flute. After wrapping the towel around her waist, she picked up her flute and started her walk home.

             After a long walk, she arrived at where she was staying. She strolled on the walkway to her aunt's door on a walk lined with rose bushes. As she opened the door and stepped through it she called to her aunt that she was home.

         "Hello scout, how was your swim?". Her aunt Lydia asked.

         "Oh, it was fine on the way back. There weren't any monsters or zombies. Weird."

        Immediately Lydia noticed something while looking at her niece.

        "Annike, your necklace is running out of fuel. You should fix that."