I open my eyes to the stinging sensation of the saltwater; it burns but I keep them open. I begin to notice the water seeping into my lungs and flail my arms around me trying to reach the surface. My arms finally break open the wall of water before me and I lift my head above the water, gasping for air. Somehow I manage to stay afloat kicking my legs into the water. How can this be happening? This was not supposed to happen! Not today! If only I- My thoughts suddenly come to a halt when I feel something cold and scaly touch my leg. And again. And again. I look down to see hundreds of large fish swimming upwards towards my face. My confusion quickly turns into reality as the fishing boat lifts the net from the water. My limbs uncomfortably fall through the holes in the net as I struggle to sit up. I try to ignore all the fish touching my naked body, and how uncomfortable it makes me feel.
“AHH!” I hear a scream come from behind me and as I struggle to turn around I see a boy, probably about 15 or 16, fall to the ground of the ship.
“What are you yapping about boy- OH MY LORD!” A large older man with skin pale as snow, wearing nothing but a Skippers hat and the dirtiest overalls you ever saw, came stammering out of a door on the ship, his surprised face quickly turning to horror as he stared at me longer. “Danny!” he yelled at the boy as he struggled to run back to the door which he came from.
“It’s a- Skipper it’s-”
“Yes it’s a girl! Quickly bring the net in! She’s wounded!” The Skipper shouted frantically in a panicked voice as he leaned into the doorway (that must lead to a staircase because he’s looking down) and shouted something to other shipmates I’m guessing. Suddenly the words he just spoke sent a shiver down my spine. Wounded? This word is filled with horror as it rings in my ears. I move around frantically trying to find the wound he was talking about.
Suddenly I’m blinded by blood dripping into my eyes. I scream loudly, not because it hurt, although it did, but more from the shock of everything that has happened so quickly. When I screamed it made a boy, the Skipper called Danny, flinch and stare at me in a look of shock and horror. I move my hands up to my face and wipe the blood from my eyes and when I can see again I look down to see all the fish that were once flopping around me all turn to bones, one by one. I can feel the cut across my forehead, although I cannot see it, I know it must not be pretty. I flinch as the net is lowered and pressed against the floor of the ship and I feel the net draping over my bare skin and I can feel the sharpness of the fish skeletons pricking at my skin. Out of the corner of my eye I see the Skipper rushing up the stairs with two women, one of the women had pale white skin like the Skipper, a very crooked nose, and beautiful long brown hair carefully done into a bun on the top of her head while dressed in a white floral blouse, and looked to be in her twenties. The other woman also had pale white skin, although hers was a bit more tan, and wearing a mens button up shirt and overalls, her ashy hair pulled back into a cap with bits sticking out the bottom; she looked younger than the other woman, 17 perhaps? The Skipper points over to me and they come rushing over.
They don’t seem to notice the fish skeletons, or if they do they don’t seem too concerned. The younger woman pulls a knife from her pocket and lifts the net from my head to cut me free but accidently takes a piece of my hair with her. The other woman’s eyes grow wide at the sight of my hair coming off with the knife. Just by looking at her you would have guessed she just watched somebody die, but her shocked expression quickly turns blank as she reaches into a bag I didn’t notice before and pulls out a glass bottle and pours the liquid from it onto a white cloth. She quickly pressed the cloth against my skin which sent a stinging sensation through my body. Still holding the cloth firm against my head, the woman waved over another man standing by the door of the ship. The man was very tall and pale, and his shaved head made him look like an old man, but he had a strong build which made me think he was also in his twenties. I was too busy focusing on his strange appearance that I didn’t notice when the woman handed him the cloth. Suddenly he pressed it against my forehead and held my arm in a tight grasp. I shrieked as I was not expecting to feel the sting again. For an instant I forgot the horrific powers that lie within me; they release themselves into the world causing the man before me to age before my eyes, his hair begins to grow long and gray and his bones begin to grow weak. His mouth opens to let out a shriek; his skin rots and he turns to dust before he could make a sound. I killed him.
