Sub-junior 1st Prize Winning Story - Safe Sea

“Safe Sea” by Garam (Momo) Lee, Bangkok Patana School, Thailand, is the First Prize winning story in the sub-junior category of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

Safe Sea

One particularly windy day, when all of the creatures of the ocean were playing their favourite game, Wave Chasers, a thick cloud of oily goo drifted into the Friendly Zone.

“What is this disgusting slime!?” said Emmy the Eel.

“No idea, but it must have come from you because you’re the same colour!” said Jenna the Jellyfish, accusingly.

“How dare you! What about those floaty white things over there?” asked Emmy, looking at the white plastic bags floating nearby. “They look just like you! It must be you Jellyfish who are bringing this stuff into our home!”

The creatures argued and argued for the entire morning.

“Please, everybody, STOP!” shouted a voice. It was Tippy the Turtle, one of the smallest animals in the ocean. “Deena the Dolphin and I will visit the Wise Whale and find out what’s going on.”

All of the creatures agreed, so Tippy and Deena set off to find the most intelligent animal in the whole ocean.

When they arrived at the deepest darkest part of the ocean, they saw the Wise Whale fast asleep.

“Excuse me, sir… Sorry to interrupt, but there have been some very strange things floating in the ocean lately,” said Deena.

“Everyone is blaming each other for it,” said Tippy. “Do you have any idea what it is and who is responsible, Your Great Whaleyness?”

The Wise Whale knew exactly what they were talking about. He had travelled the whole entire ocean and seen everything that was going on.

He began to speak in a low voice. “It’s the Land Walkers. Follow me and I will show you.”

The Wise Whale led them to a beach not far away. “See over there? The Land Walkers don’t live in the ocean like us, so they throw the things they don’t want into the water.”

“Thank you, Wise Whale,” said Tippy, and the two friends swam back to the Friendly Zone to explain what they had learned to the other animals.

After talking to the other animals, everybody was furious!

“We should get revenge!” shouted Pepper the Puffer Fish.

“Yeah! Let’s squirt their faces with black ink!” suggested Simmy the Squid

While the animals were shouting about how angry they were, the sharks in the Danger Zone on the other side of the rocks were listening to everything.

“We better get there first. I’m starving,” said Shakey the Shark with a gigantic grin on his face. The other sharks laughed evilly. “Make sure you swim low so the Land Walkers don’t see our fins coming,” Shakey ordered.

Meanwhile, Tippy and Deena didn’t like the ideas that the other animals were discussing, so they left the group and went to try to make peace with the Land Walkers on their own.

As the two friends were getting closer to the shore, they heard a hostile voice coming from the Danger Zone on the other side of the rocks.

“DIVE, SOLDIERS! DIVE!” shouted the voice. It was Shakey, the leader of the sharks.

“Oh no! The sharks are going after the Land Walkers! What do we do?” said Deena, panicking.

“I have an idea,” said Tippy. “Quick, stick your fin up in the air, as high as you can, and swim towards the Land Walkers.

“I don’t understand,” replied Deena, confused.

“Trust me, Deena.” said Tippy. “Go, NOW!”

Deena trusted her small non-finned friend and took off, with her fin high.

The Land Walkers were playing in the water, splashing each other merrily, when a voice shouted “LOOK! It’s a shark! Everybody out of the water!”

The Land Walkers hurried out of the water and onto the sand. Deena came up to the surface and gave a friendly wave. The sharks also came to the surface, looking frustrated.

“Look at all those sharks! The dolphin saved us!” said one of the Land Walkers.

The disappointed sharks turned around and swam off into the distance.

“There’s some string caught on the Dolphin’s fin,” said one of the smaller Land Walkers with long hair. She walked towards Deena and untangled it.

Tippy finally arrived and the Land Walkers noticed he had a plastic bag stuck in his shell. They picked him up, gently pulled it out and placed him back into the water.

“I’ve had that thing in my shell for years!” said Tippy, relieved.

The other creatures of the ocean had seen everything.

“Maybe the Land Walkers aren’t so bad after all,” said Jenna the Jellyfish.

This was the beginning of a new friendship between the animals of the ocean and the Land Walkers.