The Eighteenth Year

Chapter 9

11:24 a.m.

My mission began in the deepest, darkest part of the Southern Ocean. I was looking for anything. Fin prints, mysterious creatures, private conversations, anything. I was desperate to go back home. I decided that I needed to go into the trench that I had been avoiding. It has death written all over it. But I didn’t care, the thought of seeing Derek again was enough to make me do anything.

I entered the trench slowly and quietly. I was scared to death that something was going to attack me. I kept reassuring myself that I would be out of the trench sooner than I knew it, but from the inside looking out, this thing stretched for miles. I was just looking for clues. Anything to point me in the right direction. I was on the verge of something, I could feel it. Something was about to jump out at me, maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

1:26 p.m.

I heard something from behind me. It was moving, I was being followed. I saw a large rock and swam towards it as fast as I could. I don’t think I am visible from here, so I just scanned the whole trench waiting to see something. There was something, I can see it now, but there’s multiple of them. Eight dark shadows were swimming behind me. Once they got closer I could see that they were sharks. Why did they have to be sharks? Sharks are what I am most afraid of, ever since I was little I have been terrified of them, and now here I was, face to face with eight Great White Sharks.

1:42 p.m.

They were circling above me, and I could hear what they were saying.

“Don’t worry they’ll never find it.”

“But this is King Neptune. Broker, he’s got a point.”

“Enough, we hid the triton in a place that he’ll never search,” Bingo. “I mean, why would the King of The Ocean travel to our lair? What business does he have at the corner of the Indian Ocean? Trust me boys, this plan will work. Once the magic inside him wears off, he’ll have no powers left. He’ll be nothing without his triton, and when that happens, we can swoop in and take charge of Mermaidia, and the rest of the ocean!” They laughed in a disgustingly evil sort of way. Once they were gone, I turned around and headed straight for the Indian Ocean.

8:51 p.m.

I was so tired, I needed sleep badly. I couldn’t swim any longer. My fins were about to fall off. So I laid down in a bed of seaweed and fell asleep.