Jellyfish

Category A: Highly Commended (2025) Monash Short Story Writing Competition
Author: Vivian Su

Hundreds of humans are dotted along the sandy coastline, stampeding into the polluted water. I watch from a safe distance, but the waves that the children made are slowly pushing me closer to the shoreline. Curling up, I think back to the time another jellyfish had been squished under the terrifying soles of a human. It was a horrendous scene, and my mates had reminded me to stay away from them - just before they were scooped into a cave sized bucket. I had always stuck to their word, but what if I didn’t go near humans on purpose? What if, what if… my fear swallowed me into a void of worries.

I exited the extreme nightmare and studied the purple sky. It was already sunset, and if I didn’t go back into the water, the nasty beach patrol would fling me onto the jagged rocks. Again. ‘They are always careless’, I would think when I watch them every evening. ‘Our species are lucky we don’t have bones. If we were humans, we’d probably been killed by now.’ A patrol trudges over to where I am. I attempt to dig and hide in the sand. She sneers at the damp sand around me and leaves. I release the tension in my flimsy body. The tide is slowly dragging itself back into the ocean. I guess I just have to wait until the high tide comes back in, washing me back into my natural habitat. My dehydrated body droops as I remember that if it was high tide when I came in, it would be low tide for most of tomorrow. Well, we’ll see if I’m lucky enough to survive the frightening day ahead of me.

A foot is placed right next to me as I try to heave myself further from it. Then steps another. Eight pairs of feet waddle around me as their eyes gave a malicious look. Before I was aware of anything, the teens raise an enormous stick. I shrank back into the prickly sand but it was too late. The menacing stick flew down like a spear, piercing through my fragile body. I embraced the calmness of the ocean’s waves before the sudden impact.

The violent force had ripped part of my translucent body. Before I had time to do anything, I was scooped into a shell filled bucket. All I heard from the inside were many high-pitched giggles and squeals. “We caught a jellyfish! We caught a jellyfish!” chanted the children in a sing-song voice. They shook the bright blue bucket up and down, up and down, thrashing me around in the shallow pail. I glanced up at the lavender sky. It was almost high tide. The children’s parents called them over to leave the crowd-dispersing beach, throwing me like trash, until the sandy stretch lay quiet.

The current slowly crawled back into the coastline. A familiar, gentle current pulls me away from the beach. Has my nightmare ended, or is it just the beginning?