The Werewhale and the Sea Chest

Prologue.

‘Awoooooo awooooooo.’

Woken by the eerie sound the girl sat up in bed and sleepily pushed back her curtains. Outside, the full moon had a silvery glow, and a few bright, white stars glittered in the inky blackness of the night sky. Rubbing one eye with a clenched fist, she looked down at the street below; it was completely deserted, not a single light shone in the houses opposite, and there was no sign of movement anywhere. Just as she began to think she’d dreamt it the sound came again: ‘Aaaawoooooo aaaawooooo,’ echoed down the quiet street, and she wondered why no one else appeared to have heard it.

Putting on her slippers, she crept downstairs carefully avoiding the creaky bottom step; her mother would kill her if she knew she was out of bed. Cautiously turning the key in the lock she opened the door and stepped outside into the warm, breezy summer night. Everything felt different in the dark; even the trees seemed sinister, their branches like skinny, spiky arms waiting to grab her as she made her way down the garden path. The weird sound echoed down the street again as she reached the rusty garden gate. Instinctively aware that it was coming from the sea she turned right, heading towards the beach.

The large terraced houses, usually full of light and noise, were silent and dark. Apart from the moonlight there were only street lamps, like a row of dots against the black sky, to light the way. Suddenly a car came from nowhere, music blaring, tyres screeching. She jumped, her heart thumping in her chest. As she stopped to catch her breath the lights of the speeding vehicle disappeared into the darkness and the eerie silence descended again.

Reaching the end of the street she crossed the road to the top of a grassy embankment, which led down to a small, pebbly beach. The unmistakable salty smell of the sea was strong, and the sound of waves could be heard, gently lapping against the shore. She paused and stared out across the water, which was pitch black except for a narrow silver strip of reflected moonlight. The wind, no longer buffered by buildings, was stronger here, and her long her red hair flew out like streamers behind her.

Cautiously making her way down the grassy slope she stepped onto the pebbly beach, stones digging into her feet through the thin soles of her slippers. The sound was louder now, and closer: ‘AWWOOOOO AWOOOOO,’ making her shudder as the first tendrils of fear wrapped around her like icy fingers. Although it was a warm evening, she suddenly felt chilled and pulled her dressing gown tightly around her with an involuntary shiver. Without warning the beach was plunged into darkness, as a cloud passed over the moon, blocking out its light.

‘AWOOOOOOOO AWOOOOOOOO,’ the sound was right in front of her this time, making her jump and stumble backwards. Panic gripped her as the sea began to bubble and she sensed the presence of something immense and powerful just under the surface. The cloud slipped away revealing a large dark shape slowly emerging from the sea. It was an enormous pointed dorsal fin, which rose up like a dagger, cutting through the dark water.

The girl stared in horror as a massive, black and white head broke the water’s surface. Blood colored eyes glowered down at her, as if filled with fire fuelled by pure hatred. A gaping maw emerged, its razor sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. Most terrifying of all two long white curved fangs extended from its mouth, curling down to just below the pointed chin. As the creature exhaled, the girl was over-powered by the foul stench of rotting fish, making her retch.

Instinct told her to run, but she was paralyzed with terror as the narrowed eyes, like gashes in the monster’s massive head bored into her. Then the beast spoke, its voice was low and menacing: ‘You are Amphibia. You must return to the sea.’

As her fear finally overwhelmed her, she passed out, falling heavily onto the pebbles. With a great whooshing sound, the killer whale slid back down beneath the water, leaving behind a gently rippling surface; as if it had never been there.

Chapter 1 – A Lousy Life.

‘Sireeeena…..are you oot that your scratcher yet?

Woken by her mother’s hideous screeching voice, Sirena sighed and pushed her shabby covers back. ‘Thank God she’s not my real mother,’ she mumbled grumpily. Slowly coming round her thoughts returned to the dream she’d had the night before, about the huge whale with red eyes, and a shiver of fear passed through her. At least it was only a dream she thought as she dragged herself out of bed. In the process, she knocked Mr Fusty, her beloved cat, onto the floor, causing him to mewl piteously.

Mr Fusty was an old cat. Over the years, large clumps of his fur had fallen out. An eye and a piece of his left ear were missing following a disagreement with an angry Alsatian. His scrawny body moved with the speed of an arthritic old woman, and he didn’t smell too good either. Even though he resembled a creature dragged up from the depths of hell, Sirena loved him dearly. She bent down and picked him up, petting his patchy pelt absentmindedly, her thoughts turning to the day ahead at Silver Salmon Primary, which was actually more horrific than a giant red-eyed whale with razor sharp teeth.

Anger flared up inside her as she thought of her archenemies Amanda and Annabelle, two spoiled brats who took every opportunity to mock her. She could just hear their spiteful, annoying voices.

‘Where do you get your clothes from, the charity shop?’

‘Your skirt’s too long.’

‘Your shoes are soooo last month.’

‘Yuck, your ties all stained, disgusting.’

‘Your hair is such a hideous color and don’t you ever wash it? You totally stink.’

‘Another day in hell!’ she moaned, carefully placing Mr Fusty on the carpet and dragging her weary body along the hallway to the bathroom. At least she had her best friend Jude. Jude had been new to Silver Salmon Primary last year, and they had bonded over their hatred of Annabelle and Amanda. They were pretty close now, almost like sisters.

Oh yes, and it was swimming on Mondays; her gloomy mood improved instantly. Sirena loved swimming, as it was the one thing she was good at, although even this seemed to elicit ridicule from her classmates. Cries of Fish face, gill girl, trout pout, regularly followed her down the school corridors, particularly after swimming competitions, which she always won.

Entering the bathroom, she stopped to look in the ancient mirror which was hanging precariously on the yellowing wall. Lifting up a strand of her hair, she sighed. It was long, red and wavy, and when her mum bought proper shampoo it shone like polished copper. However, as her mum only ever bought shampoo when there was a half price sale at Cash Crunchers she usually had to make do with washing up liquid, which left her long hair limp and lifeless.

At least my face is OK she thought turning her head sideways to look at her profile. She was pale, but her eyes were a striking, emerald green framed by long, curling dark lashes. Looking down at her skinny fame she suddenly froze, feeling as if the blood were being drained from her body. The bottoms of her pajama legs were damp! She leaned down pulled off her slippers and turned them over; they were filthy. ‘No way,’ Sirena cried out in shock. She pulled off her pyjamas and flung them into the wash basket, as if they were contaminated. Jumping into the ancient shower cubicle she turned the water on, flinching as a cold spurt hit her in the face.

‘Oh, I wish something in this house would work properly!’ she shouted, slapping the face cloth against the shower door, in frustration.

As she shivered and showered, Sirena tried to find a rational explanation for the previous nights’ events. She squeezed her eyes shut and let the cold water run slowly down her face. Then suddenly it came to her and her eyes flew open.

‘Sleepwalking, that was it, I was sleepwalking; it was all a dream,’ she muttered to herself. Feeling calmer and more composed, she turned off the cold water, grabbed a towel and quickly wrapped it around her.

‘Sireeeeeenaaaaa … get doon these stairs right now, or you’re in fer it lady,’ her mother bellowed.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Serena called back insolently.

Back in her room she pulled on her scruffy school uniform. The collar of her light blue blouse was frayed at the edges, her tie was ragged and stained, and the hem had fallen down on her skirt. Scuffed, old fashioned shoes and holey tights completed her shabby and clearly not chic look. She looked at herself in the mirror and straightened her tie, sighing unhappily.

‘Just look at the state of me Mr F, no wonder everyone slags me off.’

The dishevelled moggy rubbed the top of his head against her leg, affectionately. He would love her forever, no matter what she looked like.

In the kitchen, Senga, her mother, was standing at the sink looking at the dishes as if she might actually wash them for once. A scruffy old nylon dressing gown with orange and pink flowers on it was stretched across her massive bulk and on her feet were furry cat slippers, one of which was missing an eye and the other an ear, as if they’d been fighting.

‘Have you been day dreaming again, ya’ dozy cow,’ she snarled as Sirena entered the kitchen. ‘If you’re late for school again you’ll end up with an ASBO, and I’ll get the blame; all them snotty cows at the school will say I’m a bad maw.’

‘Whateverrrr.’ Sirena muttered, under her breath.

‘What did you say?’ screeched Senga, as she heaved her immense body away from the sink to glare at Sirena with her narrowed piggy eyes.

‘I said look at the weather.’ Sirena lied, ‘lovely and sunny.’

‘Well you’d better get ma fags before you go tae school,’ rasped Senga. ‘Yer know ma asthma gets worse than ever, if I don’t get ma fags.’

Sirena looked over at her so-called mum, glaring across the kitchen with her ugly screwed up face. Love did not flow freely in Sirena’s house. She was adopted, but heaven knew why this monster had wanted a child. Some kids were adopted by celebrities or aristocrats but not Sirena; oh no. A kind, warm, loving mum, would have been enough for her, but instead she ended up with a bitter, twisted old bat who hated her and only cared about where her next packet of fags was coming from. They lived in a rundown filthy terraced house filled with ashtrays full of cigarette butts. Worst of all she couldn’t find out anything about her real mother, Senga wouldn’t even discuss her; it was like she’d never existed.

‘I’ve told you before they won’t sell me fags. I’m only eleven!’ shouted Sirena, grabbing her school bag and bolting out of the door.

Outside it was a warm April morning. The sun shone down onto the sea, making it sparkle, like sequins sewn randomly onto a beautiful blue silk sheet. Sirena, however, had no time to admire the view as she was late again. Pulling off her jumper, and wondering what excuse she could use this time, she ran all the way to Silver Salmon Primary school.

Chapter 2 – School Schmool.

Sirena ran into the classroom at ten past nine. She threw herself into the chair next to Jude, and tried to look casual, but failed miserably.

‘Oh, Sirena dear, late again; please try to be on time tomorrow.’ Mrs Waterhead didn’t look cross though. She was a bit of a hippy with her frizzy grey hair, long tasselled skirts, flowery shawls and headscarves.

‘Sorry Miss,’ Sirena replied meekly. ‘My cat fell down the stairs.’

Luckily, Mrs Waterhead had turned her attention to Stephen Raskin, who was firing saliva covered balls of paper at the ceiling with a ruler, and missed Sirena’s feeble excuse.

‘Did the old sea monster try to force you to get her fags again?’ Jude whispered conspiratorially.

‘Ah-huh,’ Sirena said, rolling her eyes. ‘You know what it’s like.’

Jude nodded, her shiny, blonde hair brushing her shoulders and her blue eyes full of sympathy.

First period was PE. The class walked in pairs down to the building which housed the swimming pool, led by Mrs Ball their teacher. The smell of chlorine was strong as they entered the changing room, which was filled with rows of wooden benches with hooks behind them. The floor and walls were covered in white tiles, and the communal showers stood at the far end. The girls began to get ready, knocking each other with elbows and knees in the cramped space.

Once changed, they filed through to the swimming pool and stood around the edge, shivering, whilst Mrs Ball shouted instructions.

The teacher’s voice seemed to fade into the background, as Sirena was distracted by a pale face looking up at her from the bottom of the pool. Long blonde hair swirled around it, and its green eyes seemed to be pleading with her. Instinctively Sirena dived in. At first, she couldn’t see anything and then the face she had seen appeared right in front of her, looking terrified. The woman was beautiful up close.

‘Please help us!’ she screamed.

It was so loud and piercing that Sirena had to cover her ears. Then the woman disappeared. Confused and shaken Sirena looked around to see where she could have gone, but there was no sign of her. I am going mental, she thought, as strong arms grabbed her, and she was dragged to the surface.

‘Sirena, are you alright?’ Mrs Ball shouted, turning her round by the shoulders. ‘You were down there for ages, what were you doing? I thought you had drowned.’

Sirena realised that she hadn’t even felt breathless while she was under water; in fact, it was almost as if she had been breathing down there.

In the changing room afterwards, Sirena could see that everyone, except Jude, and Michelle, a mousy, studious type who no one ever really noticed, were staring and whispering about her.

‘You really are a freaky fish face,’ sniped Annabelle. ‘Hey, I’m really thirsty; you couldn’t lend us a squid for a drink. I bet you had a whale of a time down there.’

‘Oh my cod, you are so funny Annabelle.’ shrieked Amanda.

Sirena could feel the familiar sensations that usually occurred just before she completely lost her temper. Although most of the time she was quiet and calm, sometimes she could explode with a speed and ferocity that usually shocked both the recipient of her outburst, and Sirena herself. It started with a prickling sensation at the back of her neck, heat rising to her face and her heart beating rapidly. This would have been the sensible time to take a deep breath and get herself under control, but rational thought always fled just when she needed it. She flew round to face Annabelle and Amanda, but luckily Jude, who could also spot when Sirena was about to lose it, grabbed her arm.

‘Don’t let them bug you!’ she hissed in her ear. ‘You’ll be the one that ends up in trouble, as usual.’

For a second Sirena almost ignored her and was going to let rip anyway, but she knew Jude was right. She breathed out and felt the tension leave her body, her face cooled down and her heartbeat returned to normal, all in a matter of seconds. When Annabelle skipped past, knocking Sirena’s socks onto the wet floor and yelling, ‘sorry, I didn’t do that on porpoise,’ a few minutes later, Sirena was able to respond with a sarcastic smile instead of leaping on Annabelle and pulling out her long, blonde hair by the roots, which is what she actually wanted to do.

‘Thanks Jude, you really are a mate.’

‘Yeah I know, let’s go and get some crisps, I’m starved.’

The rest of the day went downhill from there. The girls who witnessed the strange incident in swimming told the boys, and Sirena heard nothing but fish jokes until three thirty when the bell rang. She could not have cared care less about most of them, but there was one boy she really wanted to impress; John Taylor, aka JT. All the girls in her class had a crush on him, although he considered himself to be far too cool for any of them, with his dyed black hair and long fringe which covered one of his chocolate brown eyes. In clear defiance of the school rules, he wore nail polish of various shades and black eyeliner. He was really into music, but only liked bands no one else had heard of. Sirena felt she had bonded with him through their shared love of poetry, although some of his poems were a bit ‘out there’, to say the least. The last one he’d written was about a meerkat who had broken into NASA, stolen a rocket and flown it to the moon.

‘I love him,’ Sirena sighed, soppily.

‘What did you say?’ Jude asked.

Sirena blushed, ‘Oh er…nothing, what a hell of a day that was,’ she added, trying to change the subject.

‘Yeah, thank cod it’s fin-ished,’ laughed Jude.

‘Very funny,’ growled Sirena.

‘How did you manage to stay under there for so long