Moonlight Transformation: The Story of Luke

Chapter 1

     Smell of sea salt filled my nose. However I smelled sea salt everyday. It was like it was part of my life. I breath heavily and knew my father was home from work. He usually came home around noon from fishing. I could hear the clunking of his boots as he walked through the house. I sat up and looked at my clock.

I cursed under my breath, seeing it was three in the afternoon. Crawling out of bed and slipping into a clean shirt and jeans, I crept downstairs and found my teenage sister reading a book on the sofa.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked brushing my short dark hair with my fingers. Sophia looked up at me and shrugged.
"Thought you needed your beauty sleep." Sophia teased grinning. I sat next to her and yawned.

"Look who's up." My father said walking into the living room. Turning my head, a tall, muscular man placed his hands on his hips. I tried to hid a smile.

"Staying up too late Luke." My father said shaking his head and ruffled my hair.
"I just went out with Opal and our friends." I said shrugging. Ever since summer started two weeks ago, that's all I've been doing. I hang with Opal and our friends and swim by the beach.

Opal stone, my best friend since diapers, she's quiet but will open up to you once you get to know her. Opal can get aggressive at times. Once in junior high when I used to get picked on a lot. The bullying got worse. I was made fun of daily for smelling like fish and names called. The most famous name I got called was "mermaid". I felt so alone until Opal found out about my situation. She protected me and saved me from the students. I owe her everything.

"Have you been drinking?" My father asked sitting on his recliner and opened his book.
"No." I responded.
"You need to focus on your future, " my he said looking down at his book "not goofing off." He continued.

I sighed. Every teen hears this speech once in a while but I hear this speech everyday. I already know my future; studying marine biology. Ever since I was young, the the sea always felt like it was just calling me. I'm an expert surfer and surf daily with Opal.

I stood up and put on my jacket.
"I'm gonna take a walk to the beach." I said and picked up my swim trunks.
My father looked up at me.
"Alright, but be back before 6:30. I'm making hamburgers and hotdogs." He smiled and Sofia grinned.

"I will, don't worry." I said and escaped my home. I turned around and gazed at our old shack. My father tells me he'll fix it up but never gets to it. Heard it was in better shape when my mother was around.

I never meet my mother. I was very young when she died and can't remember anything else. I don't see many pictures of her except one in my father's room and the hallway. She's beautiful, just wish she was around.

I followed the short cut to the the beach and changed quickly into my swim trunks. Nobody barely comes here, many people prefer the beach in on the other side of the town. I didn't mind. This was the perfect place to swim and surf.

"Hey, thought you'd be here." The familiar sweet voice said behind me. I turned to see Opal wearing her one piece bathing suit. She brought a cooler of water bottles.
"You know me so well." I said grinning.
"We've been friends since forever." Opal said throwing me a bottle. I took a swig of water and sighed smiling.

"Come on." Opal said hitting me in the head and ran to the water. I rubbed my head and chased after her.
My feet touched the cool water and I dived in. I resurfaced and looked around for Opal. Suddenly I was dragged under and I panicked scared. I swam back up and saw Opal laughing.
"Gotcha." She grinned. I chuckled but breathe heavily.

"Don't scare me like that." I said an floated on my back. Opal swam next to me. "Your birthday is coming up soon." Opal said.
"Yeah?" I grinned looking at her.
"Totally  know what I'm going to get you." She said and swam under the water.
I sighed and stared at the sky. I'm going to be 19. It feels so surreal. I'll be leaving soon for university and Opal will too.
"A world without Opal..." I muttered closing my eyes, taking a deep breath.

Something suddenly tickled my feet. It felt like seaweed so I didn't care. One moment I was enjoying the silence then I couldn't feel anything. My lungs felt tight and I was losing air fast. I tried to swim up but couldn't. Something was dragging me down to the ocean. I screamed but was useless. It felt like I was being pulled down to the center of the earth. My body felt cold and lifeless. I felt frozen.

"Help..." I gurgled and my eyes slowly closed.
"Guess this is how I die." I thought in my head until I felt a hand pull me to the surface.

"You idiot what were you doing!" Opal yelled as I coughed up water.
"Something pulled me down." I said and looked down seeing that the water was only to our shoulder length.
"Pulled you down?" She asked.
"You were just laying underwater for what it seemed like forever." Opal said and swam back to shore. I followed quietly behind her and we both sat in the sand.
"Don't go under like that, it scared the life outa me." Opal said softly.
"Not my fault, something pulled me under. I couldn't breath or move." I muttered quietly and stared at the waves crashing against the shore. The distant cry of seagulls filled the hair and the wind blew against our faces.
Suddenly Opal touched my hand. I looked up and her face turned bright red.
"Sorry." She muttered Nervously and laughed a little. I chuckled and laid in the sand.
"Don't worry." I yawned and closed my eyes.
Opal laid next to me. I could sense she was looking at me.
"We should have a little party here tonight." Opal said excitedly. "I'll invite Danny, Taylor, Carissa-"
"Wait, what if we get caught here?" I asked concerned.
Opal shook her head. "We should be fine long as we don't do anything illegal." I sighed and nodded slowly.
"Alright, guess it couldn't hurt to have a little fun." I said smiling softly.
Opal stood up and immediately went to her bag and cooler.
"Great, I'll go tell the gang." She said packing all her things. I followed and put my shirt on.
"I'll see you at 7:30?" Opal asked sweetly.
I nodded softly.
She said her goodbyes and we both parted ways back to our homes.

I walked down the short cut path and looked at all the ancient buildings that used to house knick knack shops and people selling fried seafood. My father, Daniel Crane, works as a fisherman with on of the successful fishing business in our town.  Ashcreek is an oasis of plentiful fish in our town. Though, many fishermen believe to see strange things out at sea. One man was known to have seen a kraken and another swore they saw a mermaid.
I stopped at the steps of my house.
Legends have been said throughout the history of this town that mermaids have been seen. My father even stated he saw a mermaid . I was told these stories every night as a child.
"You know, your mom saw the mermaid too," he said once when I was a child. "I wanted to catch her but you're mother stopped me."
I smiled.
"My mother must've been beautiful." I muttered and entered my shack of memories