Shattered Soul

Chapter 1- Dead

The first thing I felt when I woke up was a terrible headache; damn, I had never had such a headache in my life. Believe me, I know what a headache is, my brother is a vegetarian shark… speaking of which, where was he? I looked around, but there was no sign of Lenny anywhere, only sand and a few rocks. However, one object attracted my attention; I slowly approached it with caution, it was one of those human devices to keep their ships in one place…

An anchor.

Suddenly, my headache got worse. I growled in pain and tried to calm it down by rubbing my head with my fins, but to no avail. I was SO gonna get Lenny for this. Leaving me alone here when I tried to help him! but strangely enough I couldn't remember what had happened… the only thing I could remember was chasing after a fish my brother had refused to eat… everything after that was a blur… I decided to think about it later and swam back home oh, when I find Lenny, I'm gonna smack him so hard that it'll leave my other hits to shame. However, I was missing something important here… Lenny doesn't usually leave just like that… had something happened?

"Have you remembered already?" I was startled by a voice from behind; but when I turned, I saw no one.

"Who are you?" I called out in annoyance; if someone was playing a trick on me…

"So you have not?" the same voice asked, this time above me.

"Show yourself!" I growled threateningly

"As you wish," suddenly, in front of me, it appeared. I was initially stunned, nut I growled at the new presence after a few seconds. It was a fish… but there was something weird about this fish… she had pure white scales, and her tailfin was shaped like a feather. Light blue markings were all over her body, and her icy blue eyes would have anyone frozen in fear… but not ME! I growled at her

"Oh, you're not scared?" she asked me with all the calm of the world, "Wow, you're the first one,"

What's wrong with this fish? I'm a Great White shark! The terror of the ocean! Why wasn't she trembling in fear and begging me not to eat her? She was simply floating in front of me, relaxed and with no trace of fear in her eyes. What did she think that I was another puny fish she could talk to? Didn't she know that I could eat her in the blink of an eye?

"Are you sure you wanna keep doing that?" she asked me raising an eyebrow calmly, "growling and snarling at me?"

REALLY, this fish was getting on my nerves!

"Who the heck are you?" I snapped, "don't you know what I am?"

"You're a great white shark," she replied, again with no fear

"So? Why aren't you afraid?"

"Why should i? in your current state, it would be pointless for you to eat me,"

"Hey, I don't know who but-!" I stopped abruptly when I heard her, "what do you mean in my current state?"

"You haven't realized what happened to you yet?"

I was confused; what happened to me?

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped in annoyance once again

"It means that you shouldn't bother going home; what you'll see there is going to hurt you,"

That was IT! I've had enough of this puny fish! I lung her at her and opened my jaws, expecting her to scream in terror and try to escape. However, she just stayed there, and didn't move an inch. Fine, have it her way. If she wanted to die so badly, so be it. However, I didn't expect what happened next: she just disappeared! just when I was about to close my jaws, she vanished.

"You missed me," I heard her voice from behind

I twirled back and, indeed, there she was, with her fins crossed and an annoyed loom on her face.

How… how did she do that?

"You want to go home? Fine, so be it. go, but don't come crying if you're hurt,"

Those were her last words before vanishing, as mysteriously as she had appeared.

As I swam back home, I kept thinking about what she said.

Haven't you realized what happened to you yet?

What had she meant with that? Had something happened that I was not aware of? But who as that fish, anyway? This was the first time someone had the nerve to stand up to me! she had not been afraid of me, and she had this strange power of appearing and disappearing.

XOXOX

When I got home, the first thing I wanted to do was to find Lenny and smack the life out of him for leaving me there. I swam silently, expecting to find him hiding somewhere. However, there was something… wrong, here. There was no one in here, the corridor was empty. And there seemed to be an eerie air around me; suddenly, I heard a noise in the corner. In fact, I saw Giuseppe the hammerhead turning sharply around the corner, but something was wrong with him…

"Hey, Giuseppe! Where's everyone?" I asked him

However, he didn't reply; actually, I seemed as if he hadn't heard me. he just passed by next to me, looking down. What was wrong with him…? I chose to ignore it and continued on my way. I passed by Pop's office, and the door was open. I couldn't resist and took a look inside… but Pop was not in there, neither were Luca or Lenny. What was happening, where was everyone…?

"Don't tell me you haven't realized!" the same annoying voice from before snapped, startling me.

I sharply whirled around and there she was, the same annoying fish from before.

"Oh, come on! You again?" I growled, "and what's with that appear-and-disappear thing of yours?"

"Hey, I'm a ghost. I can appear and disappear at will,"

Now, THAT was something. A ghost? She? What did she think I was? A three-year-old pup?

"a ghost? Don't try you play a trick on me! You're not a ghost!" I bared my teeth at her

"Oh, really? Then what am I?" she crossed her fins in annoyance

"A prankster wanting to annoy me, that's what!"

"Could a prankster do this?"

Suddenly, before my very eyes, she disappeared again. I looked around the room tying to find her, but she was gone. I heard knocking from behind, on glass. When I turned around, I was shocked to see the fish inside the tank where Pop kept his piranha pets. However, much to my shock and confusion, the piranhas swam away from her in fear. They huddled up on the corner of the tank, watching at the puny fish in fear.

"So do you believe me now?" the fish asked me in annoyance

I had loss of words; my Pop's piranhas were AFRAID of a little fish. This was weird enough already, but what happened next was even more weird. I heard somebody swimming into the room; when I turned around, I indeed saw my mother swim in. Oddly, she was crying her eyes out.

"Mom! Finally, someone normal!" I sighed in relief as soon as I saw her, "hey, mom, do you have any idea of what's going on?"

However, she just sat in the sofa and kept crying. Hadn't she heard me? first Giuseppe, and now mom? Just what the heck was going on?

"Mom, hello?" I called out for her in annoyance as I swam closer, "am I invisible or something?"

Then I stretched out my fin to touch her shoulder… but I'll never forget what happened next…

My fin went right through her.

I pulled back my fin in shock; what was that? My fin simply went through her, I couldn't touch her… and she didn't even notice my presence-

"m-mom?" I whispered in shock, and again she didn't seem to hear me

"Do you understand now?" that fish was starting to seriously annoy me.

"Would you just leave me alone?" I snapped at her in fury

"What's wrong? Can't you face the reality?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The fish sighed in annoyance and swam towards the doorway; she turned to look at me.

"Follow me," she whispered coldly.

Although confused, I decided to follow her. my mother didn't stop crying, this was confusing enough for me…

"Wait a minute!" I called out to the fish

"What is it?" she turned to look at me

"Could you at least tell me your name?"

"…just call me Sonia,"

Sonia? What kind of name was that? We swam through the corridors of the ship, and again no one we passed by seemed to notice our presence. I started to lose patience!

"What's wrong with everyone? Why are they acting as if we were not here?" I growled

"You shall see soon," Sonia replied as she stopped right in front of the Dining Hall, "listen carefully… what you're going to see might hit you HARD. Are you sure you want to go in?"

"Let's just go in there!" I pushed her aside and entered

Even today, I wish I hadn't.

When I entered the dining hall, I noticed everything was different. Usually, the other sharks were enjoying themselves with their comrades while sharing some fish as a snack. Right now, however, they didn't seem to be enjoying themselves… everyone seemed sad, there were flowers everywhere and, once again, they didn't notice my presence.

"What's this?" I whispered in confusion, "did someone die?"

"Exactly," Sonia's annoying voice replied

I turned to look at her

"Who?"

However, she didn't answer. I started to lose patience again.

"I asked you a question," I growled at her as I swam closer, "whose funeral is this?"

Sonia pointed towards something with her fin; my gaze unwillingly followed it and I saw Pop sitting next to one of the tables, but he seemed… sad. It seemed as if he had lost all of his strength, but why?

"Pop, can you hear me?" I called out as I swam closer to him, but he didn't hear me. as I got closer, I could hear the other sharks speaking to him.

"I'm terribly sorry, Don Lino," I heard Giuseppe say to my pop, "everybody loved Frankie,"

I froze in place. What was that supposed to mean? I was right here! But why couldn't they see me?

"do yo want to know what's going on?" the annoying fish's voice filled my ears again

My heart skipped a beat; all I could do was nod my head slowly and look into Sonia's eyes.

"… you're dead,"