Twice the Fun-Part 14

 Ariana H. King


My face was burning with rage as I swam towards the surface. Aurora won the vote. I was supposed to win. I always won! Not to sound selfish, or anything, but Roar was never supposed to win a vote against me! I was so mad, I left while they were talking. And did anybody notice? No! They probably still didn't notice at that time.
 Part of me told me to turn around. Seriously, Ariana? It's just a stupid vote. Besides, you turned away from shopping?! I thought. You've never done that before. Then the other side of me kicked in. Yeah, well Roar never won a vote before either-there's a first time for everything! Besides, I'm super homesick! I just want to go home!
So I swam on...and on...and on...
 And finally-
 I burst through the surface and drank in the sunshine. I gulped fresh air. It seemed like forever ago I was getting off the bus. That must have been four hours ago. It took me at least on hour to swim to the surface.
 I looked around me. Just trees. Ugh! I had no idea whatsoever of which way to go. I didn't even know how far away I was from the garden. I wanted to cry.
 I should have just gone back when I knew where I was, I thought in despair.
 I looked down through the crystal clear water. I could see the bottom from there. Apparently I didn't swim straight, because all I saw were fish and sand.
 My tail wasn't pink anymore-it was black.
 Black for angry or sad? I wondered.
 I looked up, cause out of the corner of my eye, something moved.
 I gasped. The garden was in front of me! It was not there before. How? I blinked, just to make sure it wasn't a mirage. I slowly opened my eyes. I braced myself.
 Still there! The shack and everything! I swam other to it quickly, for I was afraid it would disappear.
Once I reached the side of the river, I tried to jump out. It didn't work very well, with the heavy tail holding my legs together. I went about an inch high until I crashed back into the water. I tried three more times, until I stopped to take a deep breathe. This time I'll do it! I'll try my hardest!
 So I tried again. I used all of my strength(which wasn't very much). I used my tail to get me higher out of the water. I used my arms to pull me up. My body was tight. I didn't know if I could do it.
 "Come on!" I screamed at myself. All of a sudden, I shot three feet into the air. I landed hard on the land. "Yes!" 
 Then I thought of something:my tail. How was I supposed to get to the door? Scoot?
 While I was thinking about this, my legs started to go numb. I looked down. My tail was coming apart, breaking off in pieces one by one. Finally, I saw my legs. I got up and wobbled a bit, but I made it to the door of the shack. I held my breath and opened it...