The waves crashed into the sand, rose and crashed again. The first light of a milky dawn rose where the ocean touched the sky. Aroua felt the cold salty water touch her feet. She was standing on the soft sand of the beach waiting for her older brother Andy. They had decided to take a swim in the ocean, secretly, while Mum was sleeping. Aroua knew if Mum knew, she would be blowing hot sizzling steam out of her ears. Aroua and Andy didn’t know why Mum wouldn’t allow them to swim in the ocean they swam all the time in the town pool all they knew was that right now would be their chance. Aroua remembered the last time she asked Mum. She had a stern look in her face and Aroua decided not to ask anymore. But that didn’t stop Aroua not going out to swim in the sea. “Where did he go now? All he needs to do is get out of bed and secretly meet me here. I survived!” whispered Aroua to herself. She looked up at the sky. It was nearly the time when Mum woke up. Aroua decided to return to the small house where they lived. She was disappointment. When she went upstairs to go to Andy’s room she found him sleeping on the bed preforming a disgusting loud snore. Aroua stomped next to his bed and got ready to expel an earsplitting shriek that was sure to teach him a lesson. But then Aroua remembered that Mum was still sleeping so she had a better idea. She brought up a tall stool and stared down at her brother with an evil smile. She pounced off the stool and landed on her brother with a big thump. Before Aroua could laugh in victory, Andy bolted up with his eyes red hot with anger. Suddenly Aroua felt small and scared, but then remembered that he was the one who forgot to meet her outside. “You idiot! You forgot to meet me outside! Now we don’t have a chance to swim!” hissed Aroua, careful not to be too loud. Andy just stared at her with his honey-brown eyes. His hair was ruffled, looked like it had survived a big explosion. “Oh yes, I remember now. I’m sorry Aroua,” said Andy trying to sound innocent. Aroua narrowed her eyes together and then left the room. She went to her own room where the sun was streaming through the window. The walls were aqua blue with dark blue waves perfectly painted on the wall. Aroua looked at her dressing table which was decorated with the beautiful shells her Mum gathered together. Aroua flopped on her bed and looked up at her plain ceiling. It was Summer Vacation and there was

nothing to do. Dad has gone fishing with his crew and hasn’t returned when he was supposed to. What if there was a storm and the ship was sunken, what if a shark has gotten them, what if… thought Aroua. Her heart filled with sorrow every time she thought about Dad. She felt bitter tears roll down her cheek, but when she saw Andy standing beside her door, she quickly held them back. Andy walked to her bed and sat beside her looking up at the ceiling. “Don’t worry Aroua, he’ll be back soon. I promise.” said Andy hugging Aroua. Aroua liked the way Andy hugged her, she felt protected and safe with him. But what if he doesn’t come back thought Aroua grimly. She shook the thought away. Of course he’ll come back. Then Aroua felt the bitter tears again flowing out of her heart like a waterfall. Andy stroked Aroua’s long dark hair. “I’m starving.” said Aroua, trying to change the mood. “Yeah me too. Let’s go downstairs and have breakfast.” said Andy standing up. Aroua followed him. She tired. There was a stiffness in her legs as she walked down the stairs. Her eyelids felt heavy. “Are you alright?” asked Andy. “Yeah, I’m just tired,” Aroua said walking and sitting down on the chair. Andy brought up the plain cornflakes on the table and some milk that Andy and Aroua collected from Miss Davey, their neighbor. Aroua devoured the plain cereal from her bowl, while Andy ate slowly. “I’m going upstairs to my room,” said Aroua washing her cereal bowl. She walked up the stairs, went to her room, and she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were aqua-blue. Dad called her eyes the treasure of the sea’ and would also call her hair dark chocolate (which was Aroua’s favorite chocolate). Every time she thought about her dad, Aroua would feel an empty spot in her heart, just like when you lose a tooth. Aroua decided to go down and see what Andy was doing. She knew Mum wouldn’t wake up until another hour. How Mum loved to sleep. Aroua saw

Andy washing his cereal bowl. “Do you want to go outside for fresh air? You know that Mum isn’t going to wake up until another hour. You know how she’s like on vacations and weekends?” asked Aroua. “Sure,” said Andy leaving the sink. They went outside and the cool salty breeze brushed into their faces. They saw the ocean fresh and glimmering in the sun. Aroua and Andy both looked at each other. Then Aroua said, “I dare you to run down the hill and swim in the ocean.” Before you could even say go, the two of them were already racing down the hill and heading for the ocean. Excitement filled Aroua’s heart. They were splashing in the water, not caring that their clothes were soaking wet. Aroua felt the cold salty water crawl onto her body. She saw Andy laughing happily splashing the water at her. “Let’s go under underwater,” said Aroua excitedly. Then they both went underwater. She saw that Andy was swimming underwater, but going a bit farther. Aroua followed him but felt a grab on her leg, then a pull. Aroua felt panic and fear spreading through her body, like when a snake bites and the poison spreads. Aroua wanted to call Andy, but only bubbles floating out of her mouth. The vision of Andy got smaller and smaller until Aroua couldn’t see him anymore. Aroua felt her head spinning, like when you spin thread. She looked at her feet where something was pulling her away from her home and Andy. She saw a hand grasped tightly around her feet and a fish tail swishing, and piercing yellow eyes staring at her threateningly. Aroua closed her eyes and felt salt rushing into her ears and mouth. The water of the ocean kept rushing over and under Aroua. Her lungs screamed for air and were burning as if they were on fire. Aroua tried to kick away the hand that was grabbing her feet, but the hand only held tighter that pain was souring through her feet. Aroua screamed with agony and fear. She gave up kicking and went limp. Maybe I’ll die here thought Aroua sadly. She felt so much pain in her lungs and foot. Aroua closed her eyes, then the cruelness of the dark surrounded her. When Aroua woke up, she saw bubbles around her and saw two creatures with a long fish tail with glowing yellow eyes and razor sharp green teeth.

The size of their bodies where about the same size of Aroua’s dad and Aroua’s dad is pretty big. The two creatures were both staring at her menacingly. Then Aroua remembered that she had been kidnapped and nearly died because she couldn’t breath. Breath. Aroua realized that she was breathing underwater. Fear was beating through her heart. This had to be a bad dream thought Aroua. She realized that the creature had a tongue that was shaped like a snake’s tongue that hissed like rattle snake ready to strike. “Why am I here?” asked Aroua. Her heart was beating loud with fear, that she was sure that the creature heard it. “Well first of all, you belong with us. In other words you are half of us. You should be happy. You’re in your rightful home, not in that stinking piece of land. Surprised?” said the creature. Aroua felt dizzy in her head and she felt her whole body shaking. How can I be one of them? I don’t have yellow eyes and a tail which is like fishes’ thought Aroua. “Why do you not look like us? Because you have our blood.” said the creature. “But how do I have your blood?” asked Aroua. The creature smiled showing its’ green sharp teeth. “Well it’s very hard to explain. You see, our kind is called a Merdisha. So that means that your half Merdisha. Well what were truly saying is that we have no idea why you’re a half-blood and we find that quite interesting so we want you stay here and become like one of us. But you will look like us and you will act like us.” said the Merdisha. The Merdisha stared at Aroua blankly. Aroua felt homesick and felt like she never even wanted to exist. She felt alone without Andy. Aroua looked up at the Merdisha. The Merdisha was smiling showing its’ green teeth, as if it was the most important thing in the world. Aroua wanted to wipe the smile off its’ face. “We will take you to your room with other half bloods.” said the Merdisha. Take me to a room with other half bloods? There’s more thought Aroua. She could do nothing but follow the Merdisha. The Merdisha took Aroua to a dark gloomy room with other half bloods. They looked human just like Aroua, but they all had sadness in their eyes as if they were missing their family just as much Aroua missed hers’. “Here is your room.” said the Merdisha. Aroua looked around the room. Her bed was made out of dark green seaweed and there was a big grey rock at the corner of the room. Aroua’s room was dark and felt cold as if there was something lurking

around. There was also other seaweed beds around the room. “Do I share this room with other half bloods?” asked Aroua. “Of course you do. You better get some sleep now.” said the Merdisha. Aroua crawled into the seaweed bed. It felt uncomfortable and was itchy. The Merdisha left the room and other half bloods came in and crawled into their bed. One of them looked at Aroua and smiled. Aroua smiled back to her and closed her eyes. When Aroua opened her eyes it felt like she only slept for five seconds. She got out of her bed and rubbed her eyes. Aroua looked around and saw that other half bloods were still sleeping except for one. “Are you the new girl?” asked the half blood. Aroua looked at the half blood. She had long brown hair like Aroua and brown eyes. She looked nothing like a Merdisha. “Uh yeah. My name is Aroua, what’s yours?” asked Aroua. “My name is Jessica. I was taken away from my family when I was swimming with my older sister in the ocean. You know what one day I’m going escape from here and go back to them!” said Jessica. Her brown eyes were fixed on Aroua. “Me too. But how are we going to escape from here. The Merdisha will just bring us back here.” Said Aroua doubtfully. Jessica smiled. “But I know a secret way to get out of here. I’ve been here for months trying to be like a Merdisha and trying to act like them. But that’s not what I just do. When I have my spare time, I go out and try to find ways out. Last week, I discovered a new one. We go into a cave and there is a little hole that probably we can fit in, but it’s going to be a tight squeeze. But once were out we can go back home. The Merdisha can’t fit into the hole, so they can’t get us.” Jessica finished talking. Aroua felt a little flicker of hope inside her. “Isn’t their guards?” asked Aroua. Jessica nodded. “We’ll talk about this later when were alone. It was nice meeting you Aroua.” Jessica crawled back into her bed and Aroua did the same and closed her eyes. Maybe I will go back home and see Andy and Mum. Maybe even better that Dad might be home thought Aroua hopefully Aroua opened her eyes and saw a Merdisha waking everybody up. “Come on wake up!” Aroua stepped out of her seaweed bed and stood up. The

Merdisha lead them into a room full of disgusting food. “Eat up!” the Merdisha said clapping its’ hands. Aroua saw Jessica and stood next to her. Aroua looked at the food. There was eel, octopus legs, jelly fish stingers sharks eyes. “Isn’t there anything more appetizing?” Aroua asked Jessica sitting down. “Nope but the octopus legs are pretty good. The others, not so much.” said Jessica eating her octopus leg. Aroua stared down at her food and decided it was better than nothing. She gulped down every mouthful with a shudder along her spine. When they were done the Merdisha lead them to their classroom where there were more Merdishas. “Here you will learn the history of the Merdisha clan.” whispered Jessica. Aroua stared around the room. It was plain and dark like all the other rooms. She sat down next to Jessica and looked at the Merdisha in front of them. It was blabbing on and on about the history of the Merdisha clan. Boredom quickly settled in Aroua. Finally when the class was over, Jessica grabbed Aroua and dragged her into a small corner. “Remember we wanted to escape from here? Well right now is the perfect time. There’s not much Merdisha guards around this time of hour, but we better be quick. Come on I’ll show you the place that I was talking about earlier.” Jessica said. Her face was serious, but a hint of excitement in her voice. Aroua nodded and felt fear and her heart leaping in her chest. Aroua followed Jessica to a corner that had a small hole big enough for Aroua to fit in. Jessica squeezed through the hole and went to the other side. “Come Aroua, you can do it.” said Jessica. Aroua tried to squeeze through but her waist wouldn’t entirely squeeze through. She tried to push through but only a little bit would fit in. Aroua heard a voice shouting, “Stop them! They’re getting away!”. Aroua knew who it was. The Merdishas. “Come on Aroua push a little more! They’re coming!” shouted Jessica. Aroua pushed more and felt the Merdishas coming closer. She pushed harder and gradually her waist squeezed through. Relief spreaded through Aroua and fear mingled together. Her heart was beating like a drum playing music loudly. “Let’s go before they call an alarm.” said Jessica holding Aroua’s hand. They swam as fast as they could until they were sure that they were far away

from the Merdisha camp. “Let’s take a rest.” said Aroua. It felt good to see the sunlight streaming through the ocean. Aroua looked at Jessica. She as staring up closing her eyes, then she looked at Aroua. “We’re free Aroua. Now we can go back to our family.” Aroua nodded in agreement. “Come on, let’s keep going.” Aroua said. The two girls kept swimming farther and farther to the shore. Aroua wondered what she was going to say to Mum, why she was gone for so long. She thought it would be better to not say that she was half Merdisha. Aroua wondered that if Mum even knew that she was half Merdisha. Shaking the swimming thoughts away, Aroua looked up at the ocean, where the sun was streaming its’ sunlight. Joy filled Aroua. Jessica and Aroua swam faster until there heads were bobbing on top of the ocean. “Where home!” said Jessica. Aroua smiled and swam to where the soft sand was. She could see her house on top of the green hill and two figures running over to her. Aroua saw that it was Andy and Mum, but no Dad. Her heart filled with disappointment, but happiness at the same time that she was home. Aroua was back and nothing would separate her from her family ever again. Even though she never knew why she was half Merdisha, she was happy to be herself and nothing would separate from her family ever again.