Short Stories

Sherlock Sebastian – Planet or Plastic

Sherlock Sebastian
by Arti Rajput

The water was a creature, its company made her feel invincible. She could take on the world, one flipper at a time. Letting the sun guide her way across the seven seas.

Delia bumped heads with her brother Sebastian. Time for the race. He never let her win. Always swam ahead; aggressive, cunning & quick. She knew his every move, the little sounds he made to the way he propelled his flippers before taking off. That was her signal to the spontaneous races. She plunged back into the water as graceful as a flying fish.

They raced deeper into the Pacific Ocean. It used to be full of light. Sebastian tackled the bright purple coral & Delia was delighted. Delighted Delia. She caught up with him, going around the purple as if it were delicate. A great treasure of the reef. One of five left.

‘You’re so dopey Delia. Dopey Delia. Always getting distracted. Distracted Delia.’ Sebastian taunted from further along the reef. She was distracted, a little ditzy and delighted when she saw bright & show-stopping colours.

‘Look what I found,’ Sebastian shouted with excitement. She loved her brother when he wasn’t taunting her. He got into super detective mode. Sherlock Sebastian, the underground, underwater specialist with all things new & undiscovered.

‘Arr I’m a pirate & I’ve found my gold.’ He’d abandoned the race, forgotten in the depths of his discovery. Delia approached him cautiously, not wanting to disrupt the sea bed or jolt his findings.

‘What is it?’ Delia didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t shiny or bright, it was blue but not ocean blue. She traced it with a fin, bumped her nose against it & quickly retreated. It felt weird & grainy. Sebastian was entranced.

‘Daring Delia, this can be our home, us pirates can use it to cover our heads, make our own beds with seaweed as our covers.’ Sebastian changed tact & games quicker than any sea creature she’d met. He approached it, caressed the part with a gaping hole, swam through it a couple of times. He had the wicked look of childhood in his eyes.

‘This is it Delia. I’ve made my findings and assessed them. Remember dad told us about these things called bags. Plastic bags he’d said. He said they weren’t rare, but we shouldn’t go near. This is a treasure. Greater than anything I’ve ever seen.’ Sometimes Delia thought her brother was delusional. Delusional Sebastian didn’t have a ring to it, unfortunately.

‘Seb, if dad said to steer clear, should you be swimming inside it?’ He was swimming forward, moving the bag with him like a pufferfish, which they were not.

‘Look at me Delia, I’m the king of the seven seas.’ His muffled voice didn’t help her anxious heart. Soon what he was saying became unclear. Twists & turns, his flippers flapping uncontrollably.

‘Are you okay? Stop pretending. It’s not funny. Shall we finish our race?’ Delia was nervous. ‘Sebastian?’ He wasn’t paying her any attention, moving inside the bag faster than she’d ever seen him move. She went over to help slow him down and uncover his head.
‘I thought I was stuck. It’s okay. I’m okay.’ He didn’t sound okay. With a quick assessment, he changed tact.

‘Let’s finish this race’. He raised his flipper to start racing but as he pushed forward, he was dragged back. They both looked at his flippers, the bag had knitted around the bottom of his body, like an overcoat.

‘Look, I’m wearing a plastic bag. Latest fashion accessory in the reef.’ He cheered. She saw him raise his flipper, the indication he was about to race, but with a sinking heart, she knew he’d never win again.