“Follow me not, for my path is followed by the foolish and the blind.”
-Merlin, First Duke of Einia
The most important day of my life started out normal. Of course it didn’t stay that way, but for the last few hours, it was like any other. The only thing that was remotely special about the occasion is that it was the last day of elementary school, the final hurdle before summer and the transition from St. Patrick's Elementary School to St. Laurence Middle School. And that may sound special, but compared to what would follow, it was downright pedestrian. Afterall, it’s hard to hold a candle to the serpent and the merchant.
I sat idly in my seat upright as the final minute of school ticked by. My feelings were hard to describe, I suppose I was excited but in a sort of separate way like I was only feeling that way cause I was supposed to feel that. It wasn’t that I hated summer but that I didn’t hate school, at least not the aspects of it most people did. But even then, I preferred summer, so my lack of real excitement surprised even myself. It was almost like, there was something deep within me telling me that I should relish these final moments for some reason, like that when I left this building, everything would change. But why?
I didn’t have time to ponder the query as in the bell rung. But I didn’t jump out of my chair, not immediately anyway. But as I was about too I felt a hand on my kempt black hair.
“Earth to Mikey, earth to Mikey.” A voice I recognized instantly. If I didn’t recognize the voice, the fact that she called me Mikey -my least favorite nickname- was evidence enough. It was Miranda, an annoying girl and my polar opposite. And unluckily for me, my twin sister.
“What are you doing! Get your hand out of my hair.” I try to swat her hand away but she just giggles in that high pitched way of hers.
“That was uncalled for, I was just about to get up.”
“Sure.” She said her hands on her hips and her foot incessantly tapping the ground. “Anyway, c'mon I wanna go home!” She grabs my hand and starts pulling me out of the school.
As I lag behind her only keeping up by the force of her pull, I try my best to take in the school in my final moments within it, there's the locker that Miranda trapped me inside in 3rd grade, there's the fist mark that Miranda made in 4th grade during a fight and there's the library I spent so much time in, these were the final times I would ever see them. I was sadder about that than normal.
The breeze of the outside world hit me hard, the famous New Dublin summer air giving me not blissful wonder at the beauty of nature but instead slight annoyance at the further messing up of my hair. Not that I cared all too much, but it was just another pebble on the mountain of issues weighing on me.
“I brushed my hair for so long this morning.” I say hopelessly trying to keep my hair from blowing out of shape.
“Forget it Mikey, your hair is untamable. Besides, you looked ugly before anyway.” She says in the closet she comes to a compliment.
“Thank you so much!” I say still desperately patting my hair.
“You’re welcome.”
I eventually give up on my hair and start to take in what surrounds me. We were at the top of the hill at the center of New Dublin, a bright green grassy respite from the rest of the beachtown, at the very peak where we were was a rickety set of schools including our school, St Patrick's Elementary. Or should I say former school.
It was a steep hill that was green and dotted with several rocks basically everywhere except for a thin path that avoids them. Going down the hill was not difficult, unless you were travelling with Miranda. Because Miranda doesn't let you walk, she bolts down the hill at full pace and you have to do everything in your power to keep up with her.
And like clockwork, only a few seconds after leaving the building Miranda took off. I do my best to keep up with her but even if she was short and couldn’t take as large strides, she made up for that with pure speed. She only increased the gap and seemed to only get faster the longer she ran. By the time I had hit the halfway point down the hill she was already at the base tapping her foot and wrapping her arms in an impatient form. I stumble my way down like a lanky giraffe using its legs for the first time and huffing and puffing manage to hit the bottom.
“Took you long enough.” Miranda said without sounding remotely fatigued.
“I… Shu… Shut up.” I say between puffs.
She ignores me and starts bolting again and I follow her, like always. Not that it ever got easier.
After what feels like an eon we (read I) struggled my way through the town section, down market street and all the way to our home. A two floor black cottage built of stone and wood. Bronte street number 981. At least I wouldn’t have to run anymore. Miranda looked completely fine as we got home. I didn’t quite know what I looked like, but I felt like a sweaty mess. My hair messed up by the wind and further messed up by the sweat probably looked like a tragedy.
The door was opened and a bulky bellied old man with suspenders and thin hair and wrinkles across his face. Yet he was also a kindly boisterous man who probably was where Miranda got her energy if not her athleticism. Meet one of my Grandpa’s, we call him Gramps.
“Hello Michael, hello Miranda.” He looked at us one at a time as he said our names. He has a thick accent that’s the same as my other grandparents. I've never quite been able to place it but it’s somewhat Irish and somewhat Scottish at the same time. “Come inside, tell me about your last day of school. I want to hear everything.” He ushered us through the door where we were precedingly greeted by our other grandfather, we call him Grandpa. He’s a frail elder man who peers at you with sharp blue eyes that seem to gaze past you and directly into your soul.
“Hello.” He said with his raspy voice in the same accent as Gramps.
“Hello.” We say together.
“Come on, let’s talk about your day, how was it? Was it fun? Was it boring? Tell us everything.” Gramps sat me and Miranda on a couch and Gramps, Grandpa and Gramps wife Granny and Grandpa's wife Grandma sat on the couch. Gran is the polar opposite to her boisterous husband and prefers to knit and read rather than do much else. She’s frail and has thin white puffy hair. Grandma is the complete opposite to Gran and opposite to her husband too, she doesn't look a day over 60 and has salt pepper hair and impressively few wrinkles considering her age. She’s full of energy and feels out of place next to the three other grandparents in the house, besides maybe Gramps.
“I don’t know it was fine I suppose I was a little sad to leave but I…” I start
“Boring.” Miranda answers their question interrupting me without hesitation.
“I mean it was a little sad to say goodbye…”
“I was so excited to leave to be honest.” She once again interrupts me and this time I didn’t bother trying to say anything afterward.
“So… good or no?” Gramps says slightly perplexed.
I sigh. “What Miranda said I guess.”
“Alright.” Grandma said. “Well regardless, you deserve a good meal. You’re our little graduates now!” She is smiling ear from ear, she also speaks with that kind of irish but not quite accent.
“St Laurence is just as bad. I’m not excited at all…” Miranda said, a little dejected, putting her head in her hand. I couldn’t say I fully agreed but I didn’t disagree with Miranda for once.
“I mean El… School might be a little different I think.” Grandpa growled from the back. He spoke slowly and deliberately.
Grandma trying to be discreet shoved his shoulder, and it seemed like he would break on contact. He was so frail but he lived. Grandma proceeded to change the topic, “How about me and your grandpa taking Miranda shopping and your gran and gramps can take Michael fishing. Get some Herring and Grans stew for dinner. How’s that sound?”
Miranda and me both nod despite the fact that I hated fishing and Miranda hated shopping almost as much. But Herring and stew sounded pretty good.
“Good lad! I can finally show you my favorite Herring spot, you’re old enough now I believe! And you’ll get to see your Gran in action, she’s quite the fisherwomen if I do say so myself.” Gramps exclaimed.
“You’ll make me blush…” Gran said, wriggling in her seat.
“Come with me Miranda. Shopping time dear.” Grandma took Miranda by the hand and ran out of the building with almost as much speed and agility as Miranda and poor Grandpa hobbled behind them. Little did I know how that particular shopping trip would end, nor did I understand how this fishing would end either.
I got fit into some ill-fitting ocean blue fishing gear that used to be my moms and felt like an awkward giraffe in clothes that were far too small. The fishing rod was frayed and old but according to Grandpa had not once failed his family in the five generations it had belonged to them. The one weird thing is how expensive everything seemed. The fishing rod was dirty but it had pieces of gold in it and the fishing gear was also degraded but you could tell that at some point it was silky smooth made of expensive cloth. It seemed a little out of our paygrade, we weren’t poor but we weren't this rich.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“How did we afford all this?” I asked while Gran was fiddling with my hat trying to loosen it.
“Oh, our family splurges on fishing stuff.” She said vaguely as if that explained it.
“I mean sure, but even if this stuff is old, it’s super high quality… seems a little too much for us to afford…” Gramps interrupted my thoughts as had happened so many times today and told us he had gotten the boat ready to be boarded. Gran looked a little relieved I had seemingly stopped interrogating her.
We together got out in the back of our house and got down to the beach on our property. These beaches in New Dublin were famous, and the ocean here even more so. People come from all over to this little beachtown in New Jersey to see these waters and feel this sand. But as I would soon find out, there was a deeper aspect to these waters. Nothing would ever be the same once I found it.
We pushed off the coast and into the open atlantic in the rickety little boat with childish black handwriting scrawled on the side that said S.S Kinhorn the trusty little boat was in bad condition but just like the rest of our fishing gear it was expensive. It was sturdy enough that after years it had never sunk nor failed us. It would, however, never set sail again after today.
“Here we go, isn’t this nice!” Gramps said rowing was hard enough for all of us, within minutes we had already gotten out beyond sight of our house. I was rowing too I suppose and so was Gran, but it was kinda like the little siblings playing the unplugged controllers tell you the truth.
“I guess.” I say simply. There was something about the water that always spoke to me, something about the ocean breeze that gave me life. But that didn’t stop fishing from being boring.
“Here we are, give me your rods and I'll get them in fishing condition, should get some good fishies out here.” Gramps held out his big hands for me and Gran. We handed him our rods and he applied the bait and handed them back.
Worms. Disgusting. I tried to hold back my revolution as I clumsily got my rod into the sea.
“Don’t expect much for a while dear.” Gran said consoldly. “The fish are probably still scared from how fast we rowed here.” And indeed, we didn’t get anything. Not one bite. For hours.
The minutes ticked by slowly and agonizingly, nothing not anything for what felt like eons. Sure I had fished with my Gramps and my Gran before but normally one of us at least got a bite after a while. But today, we were shooting blank. I suppose sometimes you just get unlucky but it seems odd is all.
I didn’t notice the rumbling when I first spoke up.
“Gramps… is it normal for there to be no fish in this area?” I ask. I had gone fishing before but I had never been this far from the coast.
Gramps doesn't answer, his eyes are wide like saucers and he’s biting his lip. After a moment he realized I asked a question.
“Very abnormal lad. Very abnormal.” He says and then speaks with Gran for a minute.
“Oh it’s fine. Nothing to worry about.” Gran said reassuringly and Gramps absentmindedly nodded though it was clear his mind was somewhere else.
Take a moment to relish the previous normality so far, this is the moment my life changed forever.
“What’s happ…” I suddenly felt a tug on my fishing rod that was extremely powerful. Much more powerful than any fish I had ever previously managed to lure. Then the serpent emerged from the water, a massive hulking beast of a sea snake that I managed to only catch a glimpse of as it pounced on our boat. I was desperately tackled off by Gramps and Gran also abandoned the boat which I heard faintly shatter as I went underwater.
` I had forgotten to close my mouth and I panicked, before I realized something, I took a breath and I took a breath out. Nothing happened. It was like I could breathe underwater.
Must be adrenaline. I thought.
I frail around as Gramps and Gran swim back toward the surface, I vaguely feel titanic waves as the water moves around due to the serpent, I can’t make out what’s going on, but I know it isn’t good. Poor Gramps and Gran, and probably soon poor me, there's no way we could take on a serpent like this.
And yet I think, I try to plan, I feel calm despite the chaos, something about being in the water was making my brain go into overdrive as I plot. I make a plan: I will emerge from the water and try to swim away back to shore for help, I don’t know who to ask, maybe the coast guard? That can be worked out later, the most important thing is that I leave.
I swim up and my head breaks above water, and yet I don’t feel a need to take a breath, I had probably
been underwater for at least a minute, yet I didn’t feel short of breath. What I discover at the surface, shakes me to the core. The serpent was still alive, yet I saw Gran and Gramps seemly uninjured, Gran was standing on a piece of ice I hadn’t seen before and was waving their arms and waves seemed to be timed to her movements, crashing against the serpent in thundering blows. Gramps was at the head of the serpent and was using a shard of ice he must have found to bash against the serpent's head making zero progress and unable to get through the scales of the serpentine beast. I got a better appreciation for the scale of the serpent, it was huge, its head must have had a diameter of all three of us stacked on top of each other, plus a few feet. It was hard to gauge the length as I assumed most of it was underwater, but it must have been long. It was a type of fish I had never seen and seemed almost to be physically impossible.
“SWIM… AWAY! WE’LL CATCH UP! GO!” Gramps screamed over the roar of the serpent in pain due to the waves and the ice shard repeatedly being bashed against its head.
As Gramps shouts at me the serpent seems to notice me and looks straight at me and starts thundering toward me. Gran moves their hand and a wall of ice rises and blocks the serpent. This close to death encounter spurs me into swimming as fast as I could.
One arm in front of another as I swam with speed I didn’t know I was capable of, the water gave me no resistance, the waves seemed perfectly designed to help me on my way. It was a lucky break. I suppose.
Once I washed up on the canvas white sand that people came from round the world to experience, I scurried up the shore and crouched maybe 50 feet from the water, I stayed like that for a long while, my breathing rapid and my eyes wide like saucers. It took a long moment to collect myself but after a moment, I took a deep breath, and did what I did best, planned and plotted.
It was a bleak situation overall, but I figured there were two possibilities. One was that I just stayed at the beach and prayed that Gramps and Gran survive and make it back, or… I could go back and fight. But the second prospect was quite the gamble, I had little to know physical strength or fighting prowess. I could easily do nothing more than add to the serpent's kill count, especially because it seemed like the serpent was particularly interested in me and killing me specifically. But then, I had an idea, it was risky, but it was my best shot. If I couldn’t get through the sea snake's scaley shell, I had to kill it from the inside. And if it was interested in eating me, I had to let it happen. And get past its defenses into the maw of the beast. It was probably suicidal, but I didn’t have a better idea.
I ran up to the house and grabbed a kitchen knife and ran into the ocean doing my best not to accidentally cut myself while I swim back into danger but occasionally getting a few unintended nips, nothing serious. I made it back to the serpent where Gramps was still desperately trying to get his ice shard into the serpent's skull but the scales seemed invincible. Like I had assumed, now my risky gamble was the only shot. Unfortunately.
I swam up to Gran and after reassuring her that I would be fine after she insisted I swim back to safety, I told her my plan and she took a deep breath.
“Let me or your Gramps do it… It’s too risky…” She told me worried for my safety.
“They don’t want you, they won’t go for you. I need to be the one to get inside.” I told her insistently.
She took yet another deep breath but with apparent reluctance approved of my plan with a small timid nod. She then informed Gramps to let the serpent get at me and he seemed to understand. They stopped trying to control the serpent and it leaped toward me.
My life did flash before my eyes, even if I was pretty sure I'd live, it was a quick flash. I wanted to live in the bliss of the moments going by forever, even the moments of Miranda. Even if I had spent all my life so far hating her guts, somewhere deep inside, she was one of my favorite people in the whole world. My twin sister.
And if this went wrong, it was a little sad to admit, but I was disappointed I might never see her stupid face again.
The serpent opened its jaw and swallowed me whole. My plan went into action and I grabbed a tooth
with strength and speed that had as of yet been absent in my life. I managed to hold on and while still gripping with one hand I used my other one to take my knife out and stabbed it into the top of its mouth, if this worked, my plan worked, and if it didn’t… we were serpent food. The knife went straight into the tissue and the serpent let out a pained snarl for the first time.
I kept stabbing and it started trying to shake me out but I managed to barely keep hold of the tooth. In most realities, I slipped off the tooth and fell into the throat. But for once, I gambled, I flipped the coin and it came up heads. Against all the odds I managed to grip onto the tooth and keep stabbing the head through the tissue of the mouth until it died.
Upon death, I felt half a second of joy until the jaw closed in and yet I was still within it. I was now trapped in its mouth. And the jubilation faded quickly.
“Good job lad!” Gramps said with a pep in his voice and let out an almost childish “woohoo.” that could be heard all the way in Albuquerque I’m sure.
“Gramps! Gran! Help!” I shouted out, muffled by the mouth but I managed to get those words out.
“Oh dear.” Gran said, peeking through the teeth and seeing me. I made eye contact and I’m sure I looked as panicked and scared as I felt. She called Gramps over and together there combined strength as well as what I could muster pushed against the mouth until it opened just a crack.
Gramps with his arms looking strained but looked at me as I was about to climb out. “Grab a tooth!”
“Why?” I asked puzzled and I paused my advance out of my mouth.
“You killed the snake, grab a tooth. It’s customary.” He groaned. I noticed Gran seemed to be rolling her eyes slightly as if this was not uncommon for him. I felt like I was seeing a new side to my Gran and Gramps I had yet to learn about.
Still confused I used my kitchen knife to cut off a tooth and grab the slimy boney thing in my arms and managed to climb out.
“Spoils of war lad. You would have regretted not taking a trophy for your first slayed beast.”
Gran slaps him. “He’s scared Peter and you’re just confusing him.” He mumbles agreement but I still grip the tooth. I don’t know why, but I hold on tight like it’s a crown jewel.
With Gramps and Gran swimming back is even easier, it’s like the water was opening up for us and the waves perfectly positioned to boost us without putting us underwater. They are strong swimmers, sure, of course Gramps was a strong swimmer but even Gran was quite capable. They seemed almost too powerful, too good for their age. My mind was a swirl, my normal faculties thrown out the window as I tried to piece together what was going on. What was that serpent, how did Gramps and Gran manage to fight it off for so long and why were they acting so weird. Frankly I wasn’t sure if I even knew who they were anymore. Were Grandpa and Grandma also hiding something?
We arrive at the shore and we walk in silence to the couch, I go to change my clothes but they’re dry. Confused but out of the brain energy to question this. Too much weird stuff has happened for me too. I put my tooth on my bed and walk down the stairs and sit on the couch. I simply look at Gran and Gramps who are awkwardly sitting next to me.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“We’ll tell you when Miranda gets back.” Gramps says not looking at me. His cheery demeanor from immediately after the fight is replaced with the weary worry of an old man.
“Fine but… tell us everything. Every detail. You’re hiding something from me and I’m tired of being in the dark.”
Gran takes a deep breath. “We’ll tell you… We’ll tell you who you are.” She says simply and we stay in silence as we wait for Miranda, Grandpa and Grandma to return home.
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