Intro
[Onsthorpe… Twilight Zone… English Channel…]
A dream… No… A nightmare…
A young red and black boy Lionfish peers out of the window and gazes out into the blue of the Twilight Zone…
In his sight, there's someone swimming off into the distance… A small, dark figure…
The boy tries to cry out… but all he can achieve is the whispering of 'Come back… Come back…'
…
"Come back… Come back…" The Lion fish cries in his sleep.
"Jack?" Speaks an alert voice. "Jack!"
"Whoa!" The teenaged Lion fish opens his eyes and gasps.
"Jack, what's wrong?" Asks a child Anglerfish.
"Did you have another nightmare?" Questions a child Glassfish.
"What was it about this time?" Enquires a child Glowing Blowfish.
The Lionfish, now known to be Jack, shakes his head and attempts to wake himself up. "No, no… I'm alright." He tries to reassure the small group of children surrounding him. "Anyway, what are you all doing up at this hour?" He questions them.
"You woke us up." Replies the little Glassfish boy.
Jack the Lionfish stutters for words. "Well, get back to bed before you wake up the others too." He orders.
"Yes, Jack." - "Sorry, Jack." - "We were just worried about you, Jack." Each of them reply.
The Lionfish watches on as the three younglings swim off into the darkness of the cavern.
Jack briefly gazes around at the short ledges on the cavern walls. The ledges are scattered with sleeping children of all underwater species… and Jack is the leader of them all.
With a tiresome sigh, Jack settles his head back down upon his sponge pillow and attempts to settle himself back to sleep. But all the while, he dreads the fearsome nightmare that he assumes will await him in his slumber.
What the nightmare is about he dare not tell the children… he dare not tell them about the time he witnessed the escapology of one little Glassfish who eventually changed the world.
Alas, the little Glassfish he dreams of is not little anymore and neither is she a runaway. This glassfish triumphantly returned two years ago and has since put her haunting past behind her… Which is more than what can be said for Jack and his troublesome dreams…
Jack the Lionfish did manage to slumber once again, however, just as he assumed, the reoccurring nightmare came back to haunt him once again…
"Come back…" Jack whispers in his sleep. "Come back, Emily. Please come back…"
Chapter 1
Welcome Back!
Hellooooooooo! WECLOME BACK!
It's soooo nice to talk to you again! I'll be you can't guess who this is?
EMILY!
That's right! I'm back! Isn't it great? (Oh, and don't worry. Your favourite Shark Tale characters are back too, but they're just hanging around for a while before their chance to tell this story comes).
Well, just like you read in the last story I made it back home and here I am. Dwelling in the Twilight Zone where I belong. But it's now been two years since that last story and some things have changed; like my age for one. I'm not thirteen anymore, I'm fifteen. And Tyler's not three anymore, he's five and he's going to school! And so am I! I'm back at school now that we can afford it.
Some other things have changes too; like the Twilight Zone being a free world just like it should be… Apart from the fact that there's been an increase in petty crime recently, but that's nothing compared to all the abuse of the labourers all those years ago.
Never mind, I'm just chatting away again. I'm just so excited to have you back!
Well, I'd best get myself ready. I've got to take Tyler to school this morning…
Oh, you won't believe what a clever little boy he is now! He's so bright and well behaved, (I guess he didn't learn that 'well behaved' part from me). He's the smartest in his class and he's growing up so fast… Oh… I love my little brother…
…
"Emily." Tyler moaned at me that morning. "I've got to be at school in fifteen minutes. What are you faffing about at?"
I was faffing about at my own school issues, I was a little late doing my homework. I was sat at the kitchen table and quickly scribbling on my papers with a pencil while Tyler was all ready and floating in the hallway waiting for me.
"Emily!" Tyler moaned louder.
"Emily." Louise joined in the adolescent moaning. "Come on. You can sort that out later."
"No, I can't!" I protested. "Mrs Fish-eye wants it yesterday."
"You're teachers name is Mrs Fisherman, Emily." Louise reprimanded me a little bit. "You shouldn't be so rude about people behind their back."
"Yes, mum(!)" I swaggered with my sarcastic reply.
Louise just sighed "Just take Tyler to school. Now, please!" She started to swim on back to her own work. Louise is at college now and so is Alice. Louise wants to be a teacher and Alice wants the be an actress. Alice an actress(?) Keep dreaming sister! Alice is pretty, but she's also pretty thick!
"Emily!" Tyler squealed at me from the hallway.
"Alright!" I snapped as I closed my book and shoved it into my bag pack. "Yet again I shall sacrifice my good work just so that you can get to school on time."
"That's right." Tyler spoke in my moody tone of voice, he only copied me like he sometimes does.
So, school it was.
I swung my bag onto my back and took Tyler by his left fin and escorted him through the door and into the open water.
The light from the doorway shone out a short distance into the dark-blue saltwater. The Twilight Zone is always dark, but that's the way we like it.
I sighed and smiled as I lightly tugged on Tyler's fin and encouraged him to swim along side me.
And as we swam deep into the abyss, from the point of view of anyone watching… we simply disappeared.