“Looking Forward to a New Year”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “It’s the beginning of a new year”.

A new year. The possibilities are endless. Honestly, I’m looking forward to it. Before, I always dreaded the coming of a new year, but I feel like this year is going to be different.

“Myra, are you ready to go?” Becca calls to me.

I turn to see her standing at the doorway, already wearing her wetsuit. I grab my flippers from my bed and nod.

“As ready as Anton is for feeding time,” I joke, nudging her playfully as I pass.

She chuckles as we walk towards the seal pen together.

“I have a feeling that even the animals know that today is special,” she says, watching as Martin, one of the penguins, dances across the ice in his enclosure.

I roll my eyes. “Of course Martin knows. He knows everything that happens here, remember?”

Shaking her head in exasperation, Becca replies, “Sometimes I think that Martin is just a human child in disguise. I swear, he’s got to be the smartest penguin I’ve ever seen!”

We reach the handler’s shed and I open the door for Becca. I follow her inside and breathe in the familiar fishy scent. Beside me, Becca wrinkles her nose.

“I’ll never be able to understand how you like that smell,” she complains. “I find it disgusting, and I practically live here!”

I laugh at her and start collecting the equipment I’ll need for the day. When we’re finished in the shed, we head back outside.

I stop in my tracks. Something doesn’t feel right.

“Myra?” Becca asks hesitantly. “Is everything okay?”

I look around. I can’t quite place what’s wrong, but I know that there’s something off about the zoo.

Then it hits me: it’s completely silent.

Immediately, my heart starts to pound. My fingers tighten around the shovel in my hand.

“Myra?”

Becca’s voice comes out as a breathy whisper. I turn around slowly to see her fall to the ground, her face white. Her eyes are still open and filled with horror.

I stifle a sob and clasp a hand over my mouth to cover my gasp.

My best friend is dead.

“Yes, and you’re next,” a deep, scratching voice whispers into my ear.

Final Comments: Cliffhanger! (In other words, I ran out of time…) This one took a bit of a weird turn. Originally, I hadn’t planned for there to be a murder, but as I wrote the beginning, the plot seemed a bit too tame. So, I had to throw something in to spice it up. This was also a different genre from what I’m used to writing (I usually have some type of magic in my stories), but I found that I didn’t mind writing about something more realistic. Maybe I’ll try it more in the future.

Overall Rating: 😈