The Galapaghost

Yesterday, upon the event of being incredibly bored, I sat down and wrote a 600 word story. The creature in this story lives in the Bermuda Triangle, and is called the Galapaghost. The whole idea of this story originated in geography class last Thursday when a kid pronounced the Galopagos in Galapagos Islands wrong. Upon hearing him pronounce it as Galapaghost, my friends Halle, Ellie, and I created a monster with incredibly long arms that grabs boats and airplanes (pretty much the explanation for all the aircraft/boats that have gone missing in the Bermuda Triangle).  Just so you know, this isn't my proudest work. But anyway, here's how that story goes:

The Galapaghost

by Emily Johnson

“Attention all passengers: we will be expecting some very rough turbulence, so please remain sitting with your seatbelts fastened. We’re traveling over the Bermuda Triangle, so beware,” the co-pilot laughed. “That should scare ‘em.”

    “Your brain really needs help, Oliver,” the man on his left glanced over. “You should just let them enjoy their flight.”

    “Oh, come on, Joel, you gotta admit it’s kind of funny.” Oliver chuckled.

    “You know, a normal co-pilot wouldn’t be messing around like that.” Joel wasn’t very amused.

    “And a normal pilot would find it funny.” Oliver replied.

“Whatever,” Joel smiled. “Okay, I suppose it was a little funny.” His attention quickly turned back to flying as he felt a sudden jolt. “Whoa.”

“One thing’s for sure, that wasn’t just any old turbulence.” Oliver was worried. “Joel, we’re losing altitude fast.”

Joel watched the numbers on the dashboard in front of him drop dramatically. “I’m trying to pull us back up, but it’s not working. It’s like something is pulling us down.” He started to panic. “Ollie, I can’t do anything.”

Oliver’s heart dropped to his stomach. He picked up the radio to try contacting the air traffic control tower, but he got no reply. “We’re in trouble, Joel.” The water was about 300 yards below them, and at the rate they were falling, they had only a few seconds of life left.

“There really was something true about that myth,” Joel had a saddened look on his face. He swallowed. Memories of his family saying goodbye to him that morning flashed through his head. ‘I’ll be right back,’ he had told his three year-old son Alex. ‘Love you buddy.’ Joel took a deep breath. “This is it.” He closed his eyes as his head throbbed.

Oliver grabbed his seat squinted tightly, waiting for the cold water to break the windows and fill the cabin at any second. After a few seconds, he opened one eye. Shouldn’t they have crashed by now? He looked below him. A brown arm retreated into the water. “Joel, open your eyes.” Oliver’s words sounded like mush, and even while he was talking, he knew that no one could understand him. It was enough to get Joel’s attention though, and as he opened his eyes, he took a deep breath. The plane was gaining altitude quickly, and he wasn’t even doing anything. He, too, looked into the frothy water below. He saw a brown blob splash the surface, and watched until he couldn’t see it anymore. Joel grabbed the controls in front of him and quickly brought their flying height back to cruising altitude.

Oliver grabbed the intercom and laughed shakily. “Jack up here just thought he’d scare y’all. Sorry about that, in hindsight that probably wasn’t such a good idea,” Oliver didn’t use Joel’s real name. He gently placed the radio back. “Hopefully no one had a heart attack or anything; I know I almost did.”

Joel placed his head back on his head rest. He still hadn’t uttered a word since what happened. He sat there, eyes wide, staring off into space. “I saw a…and it was….and it had…” Joel could barely talk. His heart was pounding in his head. He had almost just crashed the plane, and he was pretty shaken up.  But I bet you would be too if you knew what had actually happened in the ocean down there. The Galapaghost had just revealed himself.

I'm debating a sequel.... any suggestions or comments for either?