TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN

Roxanna-Lin Lydiannals Waia was swimming as fast as she possibly could, occasionally gliding along, trying to keep up with her sister. Rosa-Li was eleven months older and a competitive swimmer. Anyway, Roxanna did enjoy swimming though she couldn't exactly say she liked beating her sister. Besides, swimming in the ocean wasn't easy. There was only a short distance between the two girls now. Roxanna was too busy trying to win their little race to notice the schools of fish swimming frantically. Or to notice the giant waves heading inwards. "Roxanna! STOP!" called out Rosa-Li "Why?" "There's a rip current, A RIP CURENT!" shouted Rosa-Li at the top of her lungs. And with that, she went to alert the lifeguard. "There's no way," thought Roxanna, "she's just trying to make me quit. Well, not gonna happen!"

Roxanna swam harder and harder. Suddenly, she felt as if she was being sucked down, lower and lower. "What on earth is going on?" she wondered. She felt the sensation of going through a swirly straw. "Rosa-Li", she called out. "Ros", she said using her sister's special nickname that only she was to use.

OOOH! She hated roller coaster rides. And this was no better for her stomach, which she was now clutching tightly. EEEEH! She was not sure she liked this. At all.

Finally things slowed down and she eventually came to a stop. Roxanna looked around. She was in a small room. There was seaweed covering the walls and purple and turquoise fish swimming in mid-air. Five giant pink and purple butterflies were circling around her. Ros would so get a kick out of this! Then she remembered where she was, or where she wasn't.

"H..i..i.."i stammered Roxanna, in a voice she vaguely recognized as her own. "Might I ask, please, where am I?" Her words shocked even her as she wasn't usually so, well…. docile. Wherever she was, it was very out of the ordinary. "Cami Sol" said the largest of the butterflies (Roxanna jumped a little then realized how she should save energy for getting back home, and besides, she knew this place wasn't normal, so a talking butterfly just seemed to somehow…fit in.) "Camisole?" "CAMI SOL, c-a-m-i s-o-l" said the tinniest butterfly, its voice greatly differing from its size. "Thank you." Said Cami briskly. "Anyways," she said to Roxanna "welcome, you've just arrived in the bottom of the ocean." "Excuse me?" said Roxanna, surprised but somehow not. "You heard her." Said another one of the butterflies. " By the way, I'm Lea Tarde", she outstretched something that resembled a leg although slim and black and Roxanna reluctantly shook it. "What was THAT?" said the one butterfly who hadn't said anything yet. "I was shaking her um…. Leg? You know as a sign of greeting?" Roxanna answered, a little puzzled. "Oh really?! Where did THAT come from! Never mind, here, we do this." the smallest of the insects said, with that, she circled around Roxanna 8 times, flapped her wings twice and did 18 somersaults in mid-air, landing on the ground with her leg (? arm?) outstretched. "Now, we shake." A tad wierded out, Roxanna shook her leg. Then she stepped forward, only to find herself falling into another room.

"Who's in there?" a shrill voice called out. Whoever had spoken must have heard Roxanna's feet gently bump against the ground. Roxanna wasn't scared nor was she offended. "Are ya o.k.?" a second voice said loudly, though not as high-pitched as the first and with a southern accent. "Um……yeah?!" Roxanna stated, though it came out sounding more like a question. The two people emerged from a purple door she hadn't even noticed. You couldn't exactly call them "people"; they were more like, what? Well she didn't exactly know what they were; one of the two was what one of her fashion magazines called "long and lean", with a very tall and skinny waist. She wore what looked like to be a string bikini top. She had the high cheekbones, pale skin and blonde hair that were thought of as "perfect body image". The only thing though was that she had a tail. A dolphin tail, for that matter, that was ten times bigger than Roxanna, who was at 14, 5 foot 10. The other one was curvy and even though looking only slightly human, Roxanna found her much prettier than the other girl. It was only her face that seemed human and even then Roxanna found that she had no eyelids. The rest of her body was covered in scales and somehow resembled a fish

"Hey," said the one with the dolphin tail (she was the one with the shrill voice). "I'm Sasha, I'm a mermaid!" She seemed kind of hyperactive. "I love your bathing suit!" said the other girl. "By the way, I'm Daisy an' in case ya didn't know, I'm a merfish."

A merfish? Roxanna wondered if she heard right, she never heard of such a thing. A mermaid, definitely, but a merfish? Then again, she'd never seen either. Sasha started giggling randomly, "What?" said Roxanna, starting to get a little annoyed. Daisy checked her watch, (a watch?) and said, "Oh it's 2:00, that's when she gets her giggle fits, but don't worry, they don't last too long, just two and a half hours" Daisy smiled. "Two and a half hours is short? And giggle fits? I don't get it," said Roxanna. Okay, now she was sounding more like her typical self. Ya…" said Daisy then she burst into laughter "Mine's at 2:05," she said through a mouthful of giggles. "Oh God" said the even more annoyed Roxanna. "Hey Daisy!" said Sasha "want to race 'round ray ringa room?" "Sure! Hey Roxanna, want to race 'round ray ringa room?" said Daisy loudly "Um…what?" Roxanna who was very confused at this point. The two…girls giggled and started to chase Roxanna the room and somehow, she just HAD to join in, even though she didn't really want to. Roxanna soon got out of breath very quickly. Boy did merfishes and mermaids swim fast! Compared to racing Rosa-Li, this was some workout! Every 9 laps, Sasha or Daisy would yell "DIRECTON!" at the top of their lungs/gills and they would change directions. At first it seemed kind of annoying, but as the "race" progressed, it seemed to somehow become…fun!

After going on for about another half hour, there were some loud banging sounds on the floor. Daisy and Sasha stopped and pulled Roxanna to a halt. The each fixed their hair nervously so Roxanna assumed she should too. Eighteen swans came in, somehow using their beaks as trumpets. A nineteenth swan came in and said "Marsh Plant is coming!" "Who the.." Roxanna started saying until Sasha shushed her. The swans played "Pomp and Circumstance" 21 times and finished with a bow of their necks. A chariot rolled in and sitting upon it was what looked like a giant marshmallow. Suddenly it started talking! Roxanna soon realized that she couldn't understand what it was saying! "Is it just me, or is that a giant talking marshmallow?" she blurted out, although her voice seemed somewhat distanced. There was a pause, and then a voice said, " It's just you."

Roxanna opened her right eye then her left. "Hey Rox" said Ros "Hey" replied Roxanna "Why am I in a hospital bed?" Her 34-year old sister Reyanne Lana (Rey) who is a doctor, came out of a small room in the back. "Ya drowned in the ocean. We gave ya CPR, but ya either passed out or fell into a deep sleep. We were checking your blood pressure an' heartbeat to see if you're o.k." Roxanna realized how much Rey and Daisy had in common, Sasha and Ros were also very similar: they both annoyed her sometimes, but in her book, they were both awesome. And the five butterflies DID remind her of her comedic birds at home in Honolulu who were always chirping.

"Your dad is downstairs getting some food," her mum said. "I just have to do a few tests, then we can go eat" Rey said happily.

Roxanna liked that idea very much.