Shattered Soul
Chapter 8- We Started with the Wrong Fin
"Hey, wake up," a feminine voice resounded in my ears
I growled in irritation covered my head with the pillow
"Franklin, wake up," the same voice spoke
"Five more hours, Mom," I pleaded
"FRANKIE!"
I woke up with a start and hit my head with the shelf above.
"OW!" I growled in pain and looked around, Sonia was trying to repress a laugh, "what was that for?"
"Sorry, but you were sleeping like a whale," she replied still trying not to laugh
I rubbed my head and shot her a dagger glare. When I looked around again, I noticed Lenny was still sleeping. He struggled slightly like when he was a baby.
"Hey, speaking of which, can we go to see Angie at once?" I growled again while still rubbing my head
"Come on, follow me," Sonia twirled around and swam through the storage room walls; I followed soon after.
The sun was just coming out from, it was still dawn. That meant the fish of the reef were still asleep, it was a bit dark.
"Hey, what time is it?" I yawned, still sleepy.
"It's 5 A.M." Sonia replied
"Why did you wake me up at 5 A.M.?"
"Angie is still in her apartment, alone. We can speak to her with no worry,"
"Where does she live, anyway?"
"In the bottom of the reef,"
Bottom of the reef? There was caste in the reef?
"Yeah, there's the top of the reef, where the rich and famous live, downtown reef, where the middleclass fish live, and the bottom of the reef, where Oscar used to live." Sonia explained
"You must be wondering why I don't know about the reef as I should since I am supposed to be the next Don along with Lenny."
"Yeah,"
"Hey, the only times I came to the reef was to find something to eat. I never cared about the castes or something like that,"
"I don't want to imagine what kind of Don you would have been," Sonia snickered while looking around, "follow me, we're almost here,"
I followed Sonia to a balcony where I noticed there were various kinds of plants. This Angie girl obviously had an affinity for sea flowers. However, I realized there was a minor problem.
"Sonia, I don't fit in there," I whispered
"Don't worry, you can go through objects, remember?"
"But I'll feel weird if she just speaks to my head,"
"Fine, then you wait here and I'll get her to come out," Sonia rolled her eyes
I nodded my head and saw her enter through the closed window. I waited for a while, anxious. Was Angie really a Medium? After some more time, I knew Angie was indeed a Medium when I heard a blood curling scream from the apartment. I jumped a few steps back all of sudden; I hoped she would not wake the entire reef up. I could not resist and swam closer to the window, tying to hear what they were saying.
"a g-ghost? A-are you serious?" I heard Angie's shocked and terrified voice
"I know it sounds impossible, but yes. I am a ghost," Sonia replied
"But how can I see you? I thought you were invisible!"
"That's because you are a Medium,"
"A Medium?"
"That means one of your ancestors was a Medium, too,"
"… My mother once told me that my grandfather claimed he could speak with the Dead,"
"You must have inherited it from him, then,"
Apparently, Angie was calming down, at least.
"What brings you here, anyway?" I heard her ask
"See, I need your help with something," Sonia began to explain, "do you know Lenny? He's a Great White shark,"
"Lenny? How did you know about Lenny?"
"I'll tell you later, the point is that I need you to help me to bring his brother back to life,"
"h-his brother? Frankie, right?"
I looked towards the window in surprise. Angie knew about me? Lenny must have mentioned me when he told her about Oscar's lie. I heard the door of the balcony open and twirled around towards the balcony. Angie was floating there in terror and astonishment.
"… I-is he F-Frankie?" she mumbled terrified
"No, I'm Jaws. Of course I'm Frankie," I replied in annoyance
"Well, you don't look like Lenny at all…"
I sighed in annoyance. Everyone always said that Lenny and I don't look like brothers at all; we were as different like the day and night. His eyes were green, mine were hazel. He was weak, I was strong. He was slightly fat, I was slim and muscular. He was a vegetarian, I was a cold-blooded killer. Some people even thought that Lenny was not Pop's son by blood, that he was adopted.
"What kind of help do you need?" Angie inquired, apparently she felt speaking to Sonia more comfortable than speaking with me.
"See, to bring him back to life we need to find his body. But since we're ghosts, we can't touch things. That's where you come in. you can get someone big or strong enough to bring Frankie's body back here," Sonia explained
"That's all?"
"And try not to mention this to Lenny and Oscar just yet,"
"Oh, come on! What would I tell them? it's not like I can simply go and say 'hi, guys! I encountered a ghost fish and the spirit of Lenny's older brother who need my help to bring him back to life!"
"So you get it?"
"Yeah, and I think I know the person for that,"
"Hello? I'm still here," I spoke up in annoyance
Sonia turned to look at me.
"sorry." she turned to Angie, "I think you two started with the wrong fin. Angie, this is Frankie, Don Lino's son and Lenny's brother." Then to me, "Frankie, this is Angie, Oscar's best friend and co-worker."
We stared at each other for a while; Angie was calming down. After a while, I extended my fin to her; Angie jumped back a few steps. But she figured out what I meant, and extended her fin as well. Surprisingly, she was actually ABLE to touch my fin; we shook our fins.
"Nice to meet you," Angie tried to force a smile
I didn't say anything; what could I say? This was the first time I actually shook fins with a fish.
"Who you say can help us with his body?" Sonia pointed at me
"He's a dolphin, he might be able to bring his body back here," Angie explained
"A dolphin?" I yelled, "are you nuts?"
"Forgive him, he's tends to exaggerate a bit," Sonia explained to Angie, much to my annoyance
"I don't exaggerate!" I growled
"Anyway, where does your dolphin friend live?"
"Oh! He lives in midtown, follow me!" Angie exclaimed as she swam towards the center of the reef. Sonia and I followed after her; Angie turned to look at us.
"But listen this; I can't speak to you in public when we get to midtown, or everyone will think I have gone man." She explained
"We understand," Sonia nodded
"So, you're Lenny's older brother?" Angie turned to look at me
"Yeah."
"He told me you often were a bully and an airhead,"
"He did?" I growled
"… but he also said you were a good brother,"
The anger that had started to build up inside me cooled immediately after she said that. Lenny thought I was a good brother, despite the fact that I loved to tease him. I turned my attention back to Angie and followed her into the reef.