1. 31/05/11WALT: Write creatively for enjoyment.Mystery Writer Activity - Mystery StoryBrief SynopsisBeginning:One day someone goes missing after they took a walk on the beach.Nobody has any idea where they have gone.Middle:Attempts to find the missing person are unsuccessful, but some kids work out what happened.End:They find the missing person is actually a mermaid.Story:I watched closely as Gareth Green walked along the sea shore, staring blankly at the waves. Manypeople had told me he was a mad man, ever since his daughter had drowned at that beach, hewalked along there everyday. There was something about him though that made him seem quitemysterious, different from everyone else, he seemed almost spooky.Just as I was looking away, about to place another log on the fire, I noticed out of the corner ofmy eye that Gareth had jumped into the rolling waves of the surf. Puzzled, I decided to take acloser look.From where I was sitting, it looked like he was just going for a swim, but with black cloudshovering about the sky and the air temp outside a grand total of five degrees, that seemed quiteunlikely.Slightly baffled, I kept watch on the surf, waiting for Gareth to resurface. But, after ten minutes ofwatching, and with no sign of Gareth, I decided to investigate.Hoping that Grandma wouldnt notice, I snuck into the hallway, pulled on an overcoat and somegumboots and ran out the front door.I continued running along the sea shore, my nose red with the cold, until I got to the spot whereGareth had dived into the water. The swirling grey water did not look nice. There was nothingthere though, no sign of Gareth. The water wasnt that deep, but no way was I going to dive in fora better look. Instead, I started calling his name. Many thoughts crossed my mind. Had hedrowned? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Did he get out of the water when I didnt see?I dunno, I said aloud. Just as I was turning to walk away, somebody started bellowing my name.Sally, Sally! Come here! Sally! Turning around, I noticed that it was Ron, a ginger haired boy,about my age, running towards me from the opposite side of the beach. Likewise to me, he wasstaying with his Grandparents for the summer holidays. He was quite a nice guy.Oh, hey Ron! I yelled back him.Hi! He replied, as he stumbled the last couple of metres to me in his over large gumboots.What did you want? I asked.Well, I was wondering if you saw Gareth Green dive into the water just before. I did, and Inoticed he hadnt resurfaced. Had you?Yea same. I was watching him from Grandmas and youre right, he hasnt resurfaced. I was justthinking about the different possibilities, maybe he drowned or something. What should we do? Iasked Ron.Well, I have no idea. Gareth did seem to be the swimming type, I mean, my Grandma said hewas an excellent swimmer back in the day. She said he spent his life in the water, as though hewas in another world! Maybe we should go to the Police? Ron responded.

2. Somehow, going to the Police didnt seem like the right idea, I mean, they would end up doing allthose investigations about murderers or whatever. That didnt seem right at all. Somehow, I hadthis feeling the Gareth Green was still out there somewhere. I just couldnt put my finger onwhere.Some days passed, and, even with my and Rons watchful eyes on the surf, there was no sign ofGareth Green. Somebody reported his absence to the Police and Search and Rescue, but neitherthe Police or Search and Rescue could work out where Gareth had gone. Ron and I just sat on thebeach, watching boats float along the water, scouring it for any evidence of Gareths absence,with people diving off the sides, cameras at hand so they didnt miss any action.About a week later, everyone, even the Police, gave up and Gareth Green was categorised asMISSING.Ron and I thought that this was extremely pathetic, so we decided to take matters into our ownhands.Our first step in what we called the Green Investigation was to ask other people living along thebeach if they had seen Gareth dive into the water at any stage.Most of the people we visited gave us weird looks, but one elderly woman named Perriconcluded she had seen Gareth Green dive into the water, but she said that was nothing out ofthe ordinary, he did that everyday.That was news, I mean, how many people do you know that dive into the same spot of watereveryday? Not many I suspect.Anyway, this news from Perri made Ron and I even more curious about Gareth Green.As we walked out of the little seaside bach in which Perri resided at, Ron and I agreed to take ourinvestigation a step further. We were going to investigate the water, but more thoroughly thanSearch and Rescue. Firstly, Ron and I were going to need a boat, and the only way to do that wedecided, would be to hire one of the catamarans from Charlie. Charlie was an old man that hiredout catamaran boats to people. His boats were pushed up on the beach next to the pier, a walkthat took about 5 minutes from Perris. Firstly, we walked to my Grandparents house. After Ronand I told Grandma that he and I were going snorkeling in the freezing weather, she agreed tolend us scuba diving gear and wetsuits. Ron went back to his Grandparents house to get changedand get their permission to go snorkeling. I got changed into my wetsuit, and snuck granddadscamera into a bag, and some money for the boat hire. Ron and I had agreed to meet at the pierto get the catamaran from Charlie, so I started making my way down there.About 15 minutes later, Ron and I were happily sailing the catamaran along the surf to get to thespot where Gareth had descended into the waves. Well, to say happily was probably anoverstatement as it was freezing cold weather, and the sea salt stung your eyes. Anyhow, it tookRon and I about half an hour to sail from the pier to get to our destination.Once we had chucked this anchor type looking thing from the boat and into the choppy greywaves, our investigation of Gareth Greens disappearance was underway.We both scoured the water from the catamaran, then, with a deep breath, jumped into thefreezing waters below.But there was nothing but blackness, and I got that awful feeling that there was somethingwatching me, you know? And it wasnt Ron. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the water, Icould make out the outlines of people. Yes, people. I turned and looked at Ron. The look ofbewilderment on his face indicated that he had noticed something I hadnt. And, it was then thatI noticed every person under the sea had a tail, a fish tail. They were mermaids. Not only that,the sea water had miraculously changed to an aqua blue, exposing a large underwater castle andtownship. Different multicoloured fish glided in schools around the castle, as though they weretrying to paint a magnificent picture. It was like another world altogether.At the entrance to the glorious underwater castle was Gareth Green. His arm around a young girl,who looked mysteriously like his daughter, that apparently drowned. 3. Reaching down to the belt tied around my waist, I pulled the underwater camera of Granddadsout and started taking photos, shaking as I did so. A sudden beeping let me know that my air tankwas nearly empty, so I carefully made my way back up to the boat, as did Ron.As Ron and I pulled ourselves up onto the catamaran, we were too shocked to say anything. Buteverything started to fall into place. Gareth Green was a mermaid - well, a merman I guess. Hisdaughter, who looked very similar to Gareth, had drowned but actually, she was a mermaid too.That also explained Gareths regular swims in the sea, even on freezing cold days. And you knowwhat? I think Rons grandma was right. For Gareth Green, when he was underwater, he was inanother world.