The Little Pink Fish by Rachel Johnson (best summer books TXT) 📕

out over the water.
“Look at that fish! It’s pink!” Charlie exclaimed.
“I saw that fish back in Antarctica! I didn’t know they lived out here too. That fish is really strange though. I put it in a tank with some other fish, and the next day, all the other fish were dead and the salinity level had dropped.”
“Interesting.”
The ship began to rock and sway.
“…I flew this same plane coming over here… What? Huh? Sydney?” said a startled Charlie.
“Charlie? We are back in the plane, we’re back!” exclaimed Sydney.
“Finally. We must have crossed the North Magnetic Pole when we were in the boat,” Charlie suspected.
“How are you guys doing back there? Not too rough of a flight so far I hope,” said Charlie father, George.
“You have no idea,” Sydney said.

-3-

The rest of the flight was uneventful. They landed in Sydney, Australia and soon Sydney, Charlie, and Dr. George were on a flight to LAX.
“I wonder if we will do any time-traveling on this flight,” said Charlie.
“I hope not, I was looking forward to a nice long sleep,” replied Sydney.
“We are experiencing some slight turbulence due to a storm outside. Please put on your seat belts for your own safety,” a nervous voice called from the intercom.
“Great, I really have to use the bathroom, but now I’ll have to hold it,” said Sydney.
“No, go ahead, airlines always take too many safety precautions,” said a later to be proved wrong Charlie.
Sydney then stood up and walked towards the bathroom. But before she was able to reach it, she stumbled and fell onto the floor of the cabin. Charlie immediately stood up and raced towards the spot where Sydney had fallen. To his amazement and horror, Sydney was nowhere to be seen. Charlie searched everywhere, but to no avail, she had vanished.
Meanwhile, Sydney was having the time of her life. She had been transported not to the past, but to the future. Where she was she was not yet certain, but she guessed that she was somewhere in America, because of how people were talking. She was standing in some sort of line, what she was waiting for she also did not know. All she knew was that she still had to use the bathroom.
“Excuse me, where can I find a restroom?” she asked the person standing in line in front of her.
“It’s down that way, but if you leave you will have to go to the end of the line when you come back,” replied a tall, green-eyed boy about her age.
“Oh, what are we waiting for anyways?” she inquired.
“You sure are clueless aren’t you? This is an amusement park, and this is the line for bungee jumping,” he replied.
“Bungee jumping? Uh… I think I’ll just go to the bathroom,” she nervously replied.
“Oh come on, don’t chicken out now, we’re almost there.”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“We’ll go together. I’m Sam by the way, what’s your name?”
“Sydney.”
“It’s nice to meet you Sydney. Now, won’t you join me for a thrilling experience of jumping to what might seem like our death but in reality is perfectly harmless?” asked Sam as he held out his arm for Sydney to take. She then took his arm and tried desperately to shove down the terror that was rapidly bubbling up inside her.
“Excuse me, I was wondering if we could go at the same time,” Sam asked the man who was selling tickets.
“Sure, so, two tickets?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Sam said as he handed him money enough for two tickets. “My treat,” he said to Sydney with a wink.
Then, after they were connected to the bungee cords, they leapt. They soared through the air at an increasingly rapid speed, Sydney felt as though she was going to throw up her stomach. And just when she was sure that she was going to die, the pull of the bungee cord yanked her and Sam back up towards the sky. Over and over they bounced until the bouncing was done.
“Do you want to hang out? We could go get some cotton candy,” Sam suggested.
“Sure,” Sydney smiled. “Hey! An aquarium! Do you want to go in?”
“Okay, but it’s not that cool, I’ve been there before.”
Sam turned out to be right; it looked more like a museum then an amusement park aquarium. But then something caught Sydney’s eye. A small pink fish, identical to the one she had found in Antarctica, was in a tank in the corner. Below it was a plaque that held information about the fish.
“That is an interesting fish,” said Sam.
The plaque read the following:
This small pink fish was discovered in 2009 by Sydney Peterson. The fish was originally a fresh water fish, but after being tossed into the sea by an unknown source, it developed the ability to absorb the salt in it’s surrounding water, allowing it survive. However, due to the salt decrease, other fish that are near this fish perish.
“Hey look! A girl named Sydney Peterson discovered it. What do you know?”
“Yeah, funny isn’t it.” Sydney said. “Where does she live, this Sydney Peterson?” That’s weird; my last name is Smith, not Peterson. Oh! Charlie’s last name is Peterson, so I married him. That is very strange.
“Um, she’s dead, she’s been dead for about six years I think,” Sam said.
“How did she die?” asked Sydney.
“Old age, people just die sometimes,” said a bored Sam.
“Sydney!” Charlie called out through the aquarium.
Charlie had been searching for Sydney and had eventually given up. Then he had gone back to his seat and unconsciously fallen asleep. When he woke up he was in the aquarium.
“Charlie! How did you get here?” Sydney asked in astonishment.
“I’ll tell you about it later. Who’s your friend?”
“This is Sam, Sam this is Charlie,” Sydney introduced.
“Greetings,” Sam said coolly.
“Hi,” said a confused Charlie. “Sydney, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure Charlie, excuse me Sam.”
They then walked out of the aquarium and into the crowd of the amusement park.
“Ok, can we please try to get out of here, I really don’t want to be stuck for hours with that guy in there,” pleaded Charlie.
“He’s actually really nice, we went bungee jumping together earlier,” said Sydney.
“Oh, I get it, you like him don’t you. Well, I have some news for you, he’s a little young for you.”
“He is fifteen!” she argued.
“Yeah, and you are what, sixty?”
“Actually I’m dead, there was a plaque in there about a fish that I discovered and I’m uh, dead now,” Sydney said.
“My point exactly.”
“Are you jealous or something?”
“Of course not, maybe, okay a little bit,” Charlie stammered.
“Don’t worry, I don’t like him like that, just as a friend. Besides…” she stopped and decided not to say what she was going to.
“Besides what?” Charlie curiously asked.
“Nothing. Forget it.”
“Come on, what is it?”
“Nothing, let’s just go back inside, Sam might think we ditched him,” Sydney quickly changed the subject.
“It’s not a bad idea, he would never find us in this crowd.”
“Charlie!”
“Sorry…”
They then walked back into the aquarium, and to Charlie’s disappointment, Sam was still there.
“Sydney! I was just talking to someone who works here and there is a book about Sydney Peterson’s life in the gift shop at the front of the aquarium, do you want to get one?” suggested an eager Sam.
“Sydney Peterson?” asked Charlie.
“Yeah, the girl who discovered this pink fish. Sydney was interested in her because they have the same name.” replied Sam.
“Oh! I get it now Syd,” Charlie said with a very large smile.
“Let’s just go get that book,” Sydney quickly and quietly replied. She was annoyed at herself for letting Charlie find out about Sydney Peterson, but more so she was annoyed at herself for a feeling she was forming for him.
After they had gotten the book, Sam had to go.
“What’s your e-mail address, I’d love to talk to you sometime or get together maybe.”
“Sure, it’s [email protected]” she said.
“Nice try, I was looking through that book earlier. That was Sydney Peterson’s old e-mail address. If you don’t want to give it to me just say so, you don’t have to lie. See ya,” then he disappeared into the crowd.
“Well, I hope that’s the last we see of him!” said a very pleased Charlie.
“Me too,” said Sydney.
“You don’t know how nice it is to hear you say that. Let’s go.”
Magically, they were whisked back into the airplane of their own time. And Sydney finally was able to use the bathroom. The rest of the flight was uneventful. Other than Charlie’s constant smiling and euphoric state, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Finally, after their long flight was over, they arrived in LA, only to then get on a bus to Paso Robles, where the Petersons lived.

-4-

After an uneventful week, Sydney had hoped she and Charlie could have gone on another adventure, Dr. Smith returned to bring Sydney back home. Sydney then assumed that there would have to be no more of her mysterious adventures. But her assumption was wrong.
As Sydney and her dad were getting on the plane to go home, she began to feel very strange. It was like her head was rolling off her body and falling down an endless pit. She lifted her hand to where her head should be and it was still in it’s proper place. There was no pain in the feeling, only strangeness. Then everything went black.
When she opened her eyes, Charlie was standing over her, smiling.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“I have absolutely no idea,” he replied in a care-free tone. “And you were worried we wouldn’t have anymore adventures...” he added.
Where they were was undetermined, when they were was unknown. What they did know was they were in a large room with mirrors on all the walls, floors, and ceilings. And in the center of the room was a small white light. On its own the light wouldn’t have illuminated the entire room, but with the help of the mirrors, the room was as bright as day.
“So are you coming or aren’t you?” Charlie asked.
They then stood up and went over to examine the mysterious light. It was not connected to anything and didn’t appear to have a power source. Ever so slowly, Sydney reached out her hand to touch this magnificent light. As soon as she did, everything melted away and she and Charlie were on the roof of a very tall building. In the middle of the roof, the roof was flat, there was a square pool. It reminded them of one of those hotels with a swimming pool on the roof. They walked over to the pool. Inside they saw, once again, the same little pink fish. It looked as if the fish was trying to tell them something. They leaned forward to try to see better and to their surprise, they were pulled in by an invisible force. Once in the water, they could hear the fish quite plainly.
“The world is deteriorating rapidly.