The Story Dig: Part One
Hi everyone! The day I am writing this is a Thursday, a whole weekend ahead of the time I plan to publish this! If I manage to post this on time, I will be really pleased with myself.
Today, I have a brand-sparkly-new series for you! It’s based off a series called The Storywell that I enjoyed on The Arbitrary Fairy Blog. You should totally check it out!
Anyways, the premise of the story is that the Author has created a Storywell to travel into her stories, where she introduces the Reader to her characters and world. I thought I would do something similar, but instead of a series of posts exploring my current WIP (Work In Progress), I thought I would go through my Google Docs history and show you all my old stories! There might be some rewrites, you might get a sense of what a weird person I used to be, and it’ll be a lot of fun! So pretend the little Read More button is a door. Once you click on it, you’ll walk out into the Story Dig.
Shutting the door behind you, you blink against the blinding light. The sandy dirt underfoot has been churned up, with debris laying everywhere. A buoy, a walking stick, a weathered carpet bag…
“Hi there!”
You start at the voice. A girl has appeared next to you, with thick hair in a ponytail and a hat pulled low to shade her face. “Nice to meet you. You must be the intern from the Fictional Industry.”
You stare at her. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
She stares back for a moment, planting her hands on her hips. “Hmm. Well, I can use you anyway. You got average intelligence? A tolerance for pain?”
“Um, how much pain?”
“Depends. My workers found one tunnel that doesn’t seem so dangerous, so you’re probably off the hook for today. The name’s Grace.” She extends her hand. “The Fictional Industry sent me here for a history project. They wanted me to discover all the alternate universes that existed in this realm.”
You shake your head in confusion, shaking her hand. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Hey, I love Star Wars!” She leads you past a sagging pair of columns and several roped-off areas to a narrow, steep canyon. “There’s our ladder,” she says, shimmying down one made of rope. You follow her to the bottom of the cavern, where a couple people are chipping away at something in the ground. They swipe sweat from their brow, squinting and smiling at you. “This is Fiona, Sam, and Matthew.”
“Hi,” they say. One of them, a girl with short hair and freckles, stands.
“You gonna go in this one?”
Grace nodded. “Mm-hm. The Industry said they were going to send an intern instead, but apparently whoever this is has no idea what’s happening. It’s semi-safe, right?”
“Yeah, seems to be pretty safe.” She pulls a dirty, torn index card out of her pocket. “Urban fantasy, maybe aquatic in nature.”
“Awesome.” Grace smiles at you. “This’ll be easy. Promise.”
You shrug. “I mean, I don’t know how to get home right now, so I’m stuck with you.”
She laughs, leading you to the trapdoor the others were uncovering. It looks like the porthole of a ship, with one of those wheels you turn to lift the door. Grace grabs it, grunting as the old hinges and gears grind slowly. With a great yank, she manages to open it. A burst of sea-salt smell rushes out to you, and you inhale the scent. “Down the rabbit hole,” says Grace, sliding in and grabbing the edge. “Just fall, okay?” She lets go of the edge and drops out of sight. You lean over the hole in concern, but you can’t hear or see her.
“Go on, don’t be afraid,” says Sam. “You’ll be safe.”
Sighing, you jump. There’s no sensation of air rushing past, which is oddly disconcerting. You fall and fall until what had been a faint hum in your ears grows into a loud roar. Just as your eardrums feel ready to burst, your body jolts as you break through some sort of invisible barrier.
You’re in a void, with something swirling around. It’s words, you realize. Words like ‘mermaid,’ ‘sea,’ ‘shark,’ and ‘boat’ coalesce, and color floods onto the scene.
(Hint: the actual excerpt will be centered and in italics. Minimal edits have been made)
Mermaids are Real!
Mermaid discovered off the shore of Key Islamorada in Florida.
Zhalel thrashed against the tangled knot around her tail that pinned her to the buoy. Not at all far away, lights pierced the fog. She pulled harder, but winced as the rope cut into her tail. If blood got in the water she could draw sharks to her. She stopped struggling, trying to reign in her panicking senses. She reached out and began to pick at the knot, but it was seemingly impossible to undo. Her fingers slipped and scrabbled at the material.
By now she could hear sounds from the boat. Whirring, laughter and chatter came as the boat drew closer and closer. She squinted, able to see the silhouettes of a few people. She tried to duck under the buoy, but her tail was firmly caught and there was no way to hide. By now the boat was not ten yards away, and she plastered herself against the buoy, breath hitching in her chest.
“Hey, what’s that?” someone on the boat asked. “There’s something at the buoy.”
“Hand me the flashlight,” said someone else. A light powered on and Zhalel winced, pressing closer to the buoy. The high-powered beam swept over the calm waters, lighting right on Zhalel’s buoy. “Yo, there’s like, something stuck there! Christine, you’ve got your dive gear, right?”
“Yeah,” said a feminine voice.
“Okay, yeah. Go and see what it is.”
“Got it.” A figure climbed over the side of the boat and splashed into the water, swimming towards Zhalel. They stopped and a light shone from their forehead, right onto Zhalel. “It’s a girl!”
“What the heck is a girl doing at the buoy?” asked someone from the boat. Christine ignored them, swimming towards Zhalel.
“Hey, are you okay? What are you doing here?” Zhalel just whimpered, hugging the buoy. “Are you hurt?” Christine asked, getting within an arm’s-length and reaching out. Her head light caught the glister of scales on Zhalel’s arm, and she squinted before her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh.” She touched Zhalel’s arm. “Hey Jordan? I think you need to get the boat over here.”
***
When I swam into the main area of her house I knew something was wrong. Zhalel was gone. Mom was pacing to and fro, long scarlet tail flickering. “Mom?” I asked. “Where’s Zhalel?”
“Dorea.” She sighed. “She snuck out again and hasn’t come back. Your dad is searching for her.”
I pursed my lips, biting the corner of my mouth with one pointed tooth. “Was she going with Jonah again?”
Mom made a snicking sound deep in her throat and bared her teeth, snarling. “Yes, the worthless sea slug.” She shook her head. “I’m sure she’ll be fine; she’s probably at his cove.” She smiled.
I nodded, swimming out of the cove and into the beauty of the coral reef. I slipped through the rocks and schools of fish, out to the more open part of the ocean where other merchildren played and caught fish for breakfast. Smiling, I let out a greeting hum.
“Hi!” called Edlyn, snatching a fish out of the water and taking a bite. She noticed my face and swam closer. “What’s wrong?”
“Zhalel,” I confided, catching a fish and letting it wriggle out of my fingers again. “She’s been sneaking out and going places she shouldn’t. Especially with Jonah.”
Edlyn nodded, playing with a strand of hair and chewing it. “His sister hasn’t been here, either. Should we go to his cove?”
“I think Dad might’ve done that already, but maybe we should go again.” Edlyn nodded and we began to travel across the reef. But about halfway to Jonah’s cove, we stopped and ducked behind a rock. A few boats were idling above the reef, more than usual.
“What’re they doing here?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” said Edlyn. The water splashed and we pulled further back as two divers entered the water. “There!” Edlyn pointed to a tiny cave, low to the ground and overhung with kelp. We slipped through the rocks and crammed into the cave, tails and arms rubbing as we sensed the humans swimming above.
It was forever before we didn’t sense anything anymore. “I’ll go out first,” said Edlyn, sliding out of the cave. Just as I squeezed out, blinking, Edlyn screamed. My eyes opened wide as my fingers snagged in a fine filament, dragging along the ocean bed towards me and sweeping me and Edlyn into its trap. It caught on my scales and I struggled and tried to pull away, but all too soon it was pulled up.
The net that had ensnared us was being pulled between two boats, and we were scooped onto the left one. A young woman wearing a long, loose white coat over a crop top and shorts gawked at us. “There’s more!”
“Well, what did you expect?” asked a lanky young man, hauling me out of the net and placing me flat on the floor, turning my face from side to side. I jerked against him, snarling ferociously. He made a face, pressing me harder to the floor. “Stop!”
Edlyn was thrown down next to me, thrashing. Her tail smacked the boy against the face and he stumbled back, pressing a hand to his welt rising on his face. Edlyn thrashed to the side, attempting to throw herself off the side of the boat. Someone grabbed her. They threw her back down, yelling in words that I didn’t know. “Stop cussing, Jerome,” said the girl with the cropped top, grabbing a black box with dials and a round thingy on it. She held it over me and clicked something, then did the same with Edlyn. “Get ‘em in the tanks.”
We were dragged down a staircase and thrown into a large square box, filled with water. I gawked–in one of the other boxes Jonah was huddled in the corner. “Jonah!” I pressed my nose against the glass as the person who’d thrown us in disappeared upstairs.
He looked up, dark brown hair stained with blood. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Where’s my sister?” I asked, the hum growing deeper in my throat. “What did you do to her?”
He stared at me, finally shaking his head. “I went for help, but I…I forgot. I wasn’t in my right mind.”
“You forgot about Zhaleh?” Ire rose in my throat. “How could you forget her? You kept saying you loved her!” Edlyn grabbed my arm and I sat down hard, curling my fin into my chest. The boat started to move.
***
They brought us to a sterile place. Two long bed-like things on wheels were brought out and I was lifted out of the tank, struggling. “Quit it,” growled one of the hands, laying me on the thing and clapping something over wrists, waist, and the part of my tail where it tapered into a fluke.
They wheeled us into the building and to a room with beds in them. Undoing the restraints, he lifted me onto the bed and left. The woman with the crop top–she’d changed into a strange blue shirt and trousers–walked in, followed by a few others in the same clothes. “Let’s see,” said the crop-top woman. “They’re going to get weighed and measured later.” She pulled out a small tool and a light shone from it. She checked up my nose, my ears, and down my throat. “Looks healthy.” She did a few other things and then nodded. “Take ‘em to the surgery. Dr. Walker will perform the one on the boy, and Dr. Golde will take turns with the girls.”
We were raced down halls and into a room with lots of devices. Jonah was taken away and we were left with a pudgy man. “This one first,” he said, lifting me off the gurney and onto a bed, strapping me down to it. I’d had enough straps. I thrashed and the man tsk-tsked, lifting my head and sliding a mask over it. It was attached to a box with lots of whirring and beeping parts. I just remember blinking once and then darkness.
***
When I woke I was in a small glass box, with Jonah curled in the corner. “Where’s Edlyn?” I asked.
“Still in that place,” said Jonah quietly, hugging himself. I looked around. The room was completely dark, and only by the faint glow of both me and Jonah’s eyes could I barely see I was in the box.
Placing my hands on the glass, I squinted into the darkness. I could see shadowy shapes, but nothing substantial. “Where are we?”
“It was dark when they brought me here.”
I settled down, as far away as I could, and pillowed my head on my arms, trying to go to sleep.
***
When I woke the next day I was in a dim room. Across from me was a tank with Edlyn and Zhaleh in it. “Zhaleh!” I pressed myself against the wall and pounded. “Zhaleh!”
She was sleeping, but Edlyn winked at me and nudged her. Zhaleh shuddered awake and caught my eye, smiling. “Dorea!” She caught sight of Jonah and frowned. “What’s he doing here?” Her hands folded over her midsection.
“I guess he was captured.” I shrugged, then looked around. “What happened?”
“I was tangled up in a buoy.” She shook her head. “Jonah left me.” She leveled her glowing green eyes at Jonah once more. “Did they put you guys to sleep?”
Edlyn and I nodded. “I don’t know what’s happening,” said Edlyn. “Will they let us go?”
Zhaleh laughed grimly. “Not a chance.”
As instantly as the story had formed, it broke apart. A human form, loosely constructed from words, caught a few floating words and broke them apart. A door popped into existence in front of you, startling against the stark nothingness of white void and letters. The human figure grabbed your wrist, pulling you to the door and opening it. As you stumbled out, the figure solidified, revealing Grace. “Wow!” she said, panting and tossing back her wet hair. “Wild ride!”
You realized you were wet, too, and smelled like the sea. “What happened? How did we get out?”
“I just rearranged some of the words to form a door and used my imagination to do the rest.” You watched as the door imploded, swirling back into words before disappearing. “C’mon. I have to write a report for the Industry.”
***
That’s the first part of The Story Dig! Now that the actual story bit is done, I can talk a little about my story and the inspiration behind it.
I was reading some mermaid story where a random girl was kidnapped, turned into a mermaid, and dumped into an aquarium. The story’s science wasn’t the greatest, but it got me wondering what would happen if mermaids and other fantastical creatures were discovered and put in zoos and aquariums. I figured nobody would be able to understand them since they probably couldn’t speak English, and there must be anatomically more to a mermaid than art often depicts that would confuse humans and lead them to treat them as less than sentient. I think this is a pretty neat story, and I might continue it someday. I don’t even remember what the surgery was for, though.
Please let me know in the comments if you’d like me to rewrite and re-share the story. Would you read this if it were an actual book? What was your favorite part? What did you think of the world of The Story Dig? A comment would really help boost my spirits, and please share this if you enjoyed it! If you’re new here, why not give me a follow? It’s free, and you’ll only get an email when I publish a new post. Thanks for reading, and be blessed!
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About Us
The Arbitrary Fairy
June 2, 2021
Oh my goodness, how am I only now discovering your blog? This is so cool! My younger self loved the idea of mermaids, and I am still intrigued by them. And I also love your twist on The Storywell. 😉
High Grace Farm Team
June 5, 2021
Hi Ariella! Thank you so much for checking out my post, and I’m glad you like The Story Dig! Thanks again for tagging me on the Liebster Award! I hope you’re having a good week.
Callie
June 24, 2021
Oh my goodness, this is so cool! I love the idea of the author going into their own world of characters and such. Also, the mermaid story sounds sooooo interesting!! I would TOTALLY read it if it were a book
High Grace Farm Team
June 25, 2021
Thanks Callie! So happy to see you stopped by! I’m glad you liked my idea and my mermaid story 🙂 Maybe I’ll rewrite it one day and post it on the blog!