Published writing

Chapter II Peter woke with a jolt. He was in a white room, like a laboratory. Everything looked extremely blurry. Eventually, his eyesight focused and the room he was in was indeed a laboratory, but with giant windows on each side, looking slightly blacked out. But Peter was paying zero attention to the windows. His attention was focused on the strange, fish-human creatures that were leaning over him. Peter screamed the loudest scream he had ever done. He started desperately kicking and thrashing. Then he heard slightly disoriented voices in his head, a human voice riddled with gurgles. But they didn’t sound like actual noises. They sounded more internal, like actual thoughts. *Why are you screaming? Why are you screaming? We aren’t going to hurt you. Calm down.* The creatures were talking to him, without moving their mouths or any sort of facial movement. Their faces weren’t busy talking. They were frowning. But not an angry sort of frown. A concerned one. *You’re safe. Don’t worry.* Peter sat up, still hyperventilating. He opened his mouth to talk, then shut it. Then opened and shut it. He tried to speak, but the words came out mangled. “Wha… Nun… Nuhuh?” He babbled. *Num nums?* Asked one of the creatures. *Are you hungry?* The other creatures behind it sniggered. “Are… Who are you? What am I doing here?” Stammered Peter, finding his voice at last. *My name is Finn.* The alien answered. *You are here, well, becuase we saw you pop up out of nowhere, and then started screaming and thrashing about. We swam over to you, and when we reached you, you were just floating on your back, eyes closed, unresponsive. We thought you were dead.* There was silence for a moment. *Yeah! We thought you’d carked it!* Joked one of the aliens behind “Finn”. *Shut up!* Hissed Finn. “Wh-what are you?” Asked Peter. *Well, we were just about to ask you that.* Replied Finn flatly. “Are you an alien?* Asked Peter and Finn simultaneously. *No.” They both responded. “Okay, okay.” Said Peter breathlessly. “What species do you belong to?” *Aqua Rambiotistrique.* Replied Finn. Peter looked frightened. Finn sighed. *The water people.* Peter nodded uneasily. “I am a Homo Sapiens.” Finn stared at Peter blankly. Peter sighed. “Humans.” *OK. You ah… want me to show you around?* Peter nodded. It was the only thing he felt sure about. Finn walked Peter around the amazing lab. It was extremely high-tech, and the doors just opened as soon as you got close to them. Finn also gave a quick summary of the anatomy of “The Water People”. Their skin is a shiny, sky blue colour and it dries out in an hour, so they have to keep it wet. They have long tails that ended in a fork with a large, fin-like red fluke that was extremely strong, and was the main motor for swimming. Peter went white. Swimming? *Are you ok?* Asked Finn. “Yeah. I’m… fine.” Finn then proceeded to explain The Water People’s remarkable telepathic abilities. They could transmit their thoughts to another member of their species within any distance as long as they could see eachother. But with members of a different species, they could only transmit thoughts within a 10-meter radius. *But some of us, with enough training, become exceptional, and transmit thoughts to any species within a 30 meter radius.* Finn seemed to glow with pomposity. *Like me.* Peter rolled his eyes. Suddenly, a question popped into his head. “Finn…?” *Yes?* “Well, you know how you said you have to keep your skin wet? Well, why not build this place near water then?” Finn smiled. *But boy, we are.* He pressed a button on the wall, and suddenly, the walls retracted down. Behind it was a thick sheet of glass. And behind that sheet of glass was one of the most amazing, beautiful… and frightening, sights Peter had ever seen. The building seemed to be completely submerged in water, and outside was the most amazing marine life you could possibly imagine. Creatures with extremely long and bendy necks, leading down to a body with four flippers, like a school of Loch Ness monsters. There were these fish with beaks like a parrot, and glowing stripes down their body. “Woah…” Whispered Peter, his eyes wide. Suddenly, he started shaking uncontrollably. He broke out in a cold sweat. He shrieked and turned and bolted down the hallway as fast as he could.

Chapter I A small, skinny boy raced across the pavement to somewhere, anywhere, that would provide shelter from the horrible, lashing, PETRIFYING, rain. “Aaaahhh!” Screamed the small, skinny boy. The small boy’s name was Peter, and he suffered from full-blown aquaphobia, a morbid fear of water. Like rain. “Help!” He was seen as a complete misfit in the school playground, which was also why he wasn’t stopping to shelter under a tree or his raincoat, because he had a gang of school bullies hot on his tail. Peter was puffing like a steam train, and the bullies were catching up. Peter saw an open door up ahead, so he turned sharply into the doorway, slammed the door behind him and barricaded it with a heavy armchair. Peter held his breath as he heard the stomping footsteps grow louder and louder… then softer and softer. ‘ He then exhaled so much air he could have blown out all the candles on an immortal jellyfish’s birthday cake. He looked out a window. The dreaded rain was still bucketing down, so Peter decided to explore. The room was one big library, with seemingly endless rows of shelves. It looked quite old fashioned, and was dimly lit by a small chandelier hanging from the roof, and a few scattered candles. Even though the rain was still lashing outside, everything seemed eerily quiet. After his eyes adjusted to the low light, Peter saw that there were little white specks rising out from the books, and drifting slowly along the rows. On closer inspection, they were actually letters and numbers and symbols, in random orders, floating gently. He decided to follow them. They seemed to be moving towards a strange pulsating glow of golden light. The light was coming from a large, leatherback book with a title written in golden, classical letters: The Time Book. The letters and numbers flowed into it, seemingly being absorbed by it. As Peter edged closer, the book opened and flicked its pages gently. He opened up the book, which seemed to warm the air around it, and flicked over to the contents page. He skimmed over it, looking for something interesting. It seemed to start at the origins of the Earth to what was happening right that second. At the end of all of that, there was a chapter entitled “Alternate Realities”. “Cool!” Thought Peter. He traced the dotted line over to the page number. Page 912! Peter huffed in amazement as he flipped over to page 912. The first part of the chapter was, “A world without land” And had a picture of these strange, amphibian-like beings that seemed perfectly adapted for life in an ocean. They seemed to be hanging out in this high-tech looking underwater lab, that had a few of the tallest bits poking out. The only thing that abnormal was that it seemed so realistic, so vivid, so real; that Peter couldn’t help but reach out a hand and touch the beautiful drawing. Suddenly, and invisible force clamped onto his arm and yanked him into the picture, slamming the book shut in the process, leaving no trace that Peter had ever stumbled upon the strange library, and changing his life forever. Peter yelled louder than he ever had. He felt like he was being thrusted backwards, through time and space. He didn’t know for sure, but he felt like he was being squashed and stretched in all the wrong directions, images flashing before his eyes, the G-force rippling his cheeks. He didn’t know it, but this was time travel. But Peter felt like he wasn’t going forwards and backwards. He felt like he was going sideways in time. Suddenly, he felt himself stop. He was in outer space, looking down on the Earth. “Alternate Realities” He whispered breathlessly as he was yanked back down to Earth.