Whoosh! I jumped into the water, feeling a familiar chill wash over me. Even though I have to swim daily for schoolwork, I still enjoy spending my weekends at the beach. After swimming one lap without resurfacing, I blinked my eyes twice. When I finally came up for air, I saw a blurry yellow thing floating nearby. I stared at it for about five minutes before the yellow blob said, “Well, since you didn’t say it — hello, seaweed.” The voice could only belong to my best friend Belle — mainly because all of my other classmates are either too scared of me or think I’m weird.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you... I had water in my eyes,” I said sheepishly.
“Sure,” she replied, dragging out the ‘u.’ I rolled my eyes at her before ducking back underwater and swimming toward the nearest rock. That’s when I saw it — a sight that made my heart sink. The beautiful corals that used to thrive here were now pale and lifeless. They were dying. Or maybe already dead.
Sadly, the weekend had to come to an end, and school began. I sat in my usual seat — the last one in the very corner. “Class, please go sit next to your partner for ORP,” Ms. Claire announced. ORP stands for Ocean Restoration Project.
Recently, more and more ocean life had been dying. Coral bleaching was spreading fast. Five percent of ocean life died each year. Our project was to research and find possible causes for this extinction. Our school, the Northern Meridiane Academy of Oceanography, was assigned this project by the school district.
Belle came and sat next to me. She was always my partner — mostly because everyone else was too scared to be paired with me.
I have green hair. Most people think I dyed it, but my classmates have known me since kindergarten — they know it’s real. Naturally, people in my class made up rumors about it. Most didn’t even make logical sense. They usually included some kind of superstition. Some even thought I was an alien.
Today was the day we went diving to collect evidence for our research project. Each student was given waterproof phones and diving gear.
I admired the unique colors of the fish as they swam past. I recognized a species we had learned about in class: the Archean Angelfish. At this time of year, they normally migrated west — toward the state of Roakane. Wait a second. Roakane was across the world from Meridiane, the state we lived in. Other creatures were moving west too. Something must be scaring them off.
I swam in the general direction they were coming from until I approached what looked like a sound barrier. I snapped a picture of it, making sure to save two copies — just in case something happened.
Suddenly, I heard a loud noise — the kind you hear when your neighbor’s doing construction. I quickly hid behind a mountain of rock and pressed the record button on my phone.
Two men were carrying a crate with the word "FRAGILE" written on the side. The top of the crate fell off, revealing a glowing neon-green plant inside. It looked almost cabbage-shaped.
I followed where the two men came from and found a white building — probably a lab where they studied the plants and dug them up. Something fishy was going on. (Haha, get it, fishy? Never mind.) This was definitely not legal.
I hid behind a machine, recording them as they dug up the plants. Each time they pulled out a plant, the surrounding creatures and plants turned pale and floated to the surface. Dead.
Inside the lab, I found a desk covered in documents. Most explained the strange characteristics of the plants — except for two.
The first document explained why they needed the plants: Supreme Commander Kitt Johnson had requested them. So... it was legal?
The second document explained why he needed them: He was using them for nuclear energy.
I remembered learning about the war with Polare in history class. There were only two countries in the world. Somainia — my country — was led by Supreme Commander Kitt Johnson. The other country, Polare, had a republic. Ms. Claire had told us that republics were evil societies where people couldn't prosper. That's why Johnson wanted to "save" them. Polare responded with war.
A few months ago, the news said we were winning — that Polare was about to surrender because of a "powerful weapon." At the time, I wondered what that weapon was. Now I knew.
After changing out of my gear, I started walking back to the dorms. “Marina, what happened? You’re as pale as a ghost!” Ms. Claire said when she saw me.
I told her everything — showed her the evidence I had against Mr. Johnson.
“Stop fooling around, Marina! That’s probably fake — a prank. He wouldn’t do such a thing!” she said.
“I’m not fooling around! This is real!” I insisted.
“I will not tolerate such behavior. Go to your dorm! And stop telling such lies!” she said, walking away.
I guess it was a good thing I didn’t tell Belle. She probably would’ve thought the same thing.
The next day, I went back to the spot. I had saved its coordinates. This time, I recorded everything — the crates, the digging, the lab — everything.
When I got back to the dorm, I ran into Belle. “Hey Mar, why don’t you have anything useful for ORP yet? You’re usually better at collecting info — and you’ve been acting strange,” Belle said, curious.
“If I told you what I discovered, you wouldn’t believe me,” I said.
“Oh yeah? Try me,” she challenged.
And so I told her everything.
“I believe you,” she said immediately.
“Really?!” I said, way too enthusiastically.
“Yep! I have a plan,” she said. “When we livestream our research at the end of the month, we can reveal all the evidence to the world!”
“That’s brilliant!”
Finally, the day came. All month, Belle and I had been gathering evidence about the real reason ocean life was dying.
Now we were about to go up on stage — and present it to the world.
“Hello, Somainia. For months, you have been lied to,” I started. “Supreme Commander Johnson has been using an important plant — necessary for ocean life — for selfish reasons!”
Belle continued, showing all of our evidence: the documents, the videos, the recordings. Everything.
After we finished, there was no angry screaming like I had feared — only shocked gasps. They believed us.
We did it.
It has been four months since the livestream, and so many things have changed.
First, Ms. Claire was fired for blindly believing Johnson. Second, Johnson had been overthrown — and our nation was peacefully conquered by Polare. It turned out to be a good thing. Now, we live in a republic — and the new government is made up of good people. We have more prosperity. People can actually earn money now.
Third, I’m no longer treated like an alien. My classmates think of me as a hero.
The news even called me: The Hero of the Sea.