Lily's Turtle Soup

This was a story continuation I did when I was 12.

Started by: Mr. Alessio

Continued by: Rika :P

It was spring again. Lily was sitting by the pond her father had dug in their backyard three years ago, just before dying. It had been spring then too, but her father never got to see the white flowers of the apple tree reflected in the pond. 

Lily liked to feed the turtle that lived in the pond whenever she became sad. And she became sad every spring. As  she was sitting there, waiting for Luke the turtle to the surface, Lily began thinking about her father. She began remembering his face, his beard she used to hate, his voice. 

“Lily.” 

Lily looked up. She knew there was nobody around but someone had just called her. 

“Lily.” 

There it was again. She looked around but she still couldn’t see anyone. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to her but she couldn’t tell whose it was. 

“Lily I’m down here.” 

Lily looked down and saw Luke the turtle. His head was just about poking out of the water, and he was looking her straight in the eyes. 

“Hello, Lily. I’m Luke. You gave me that name, remember?” 

Lily didn’t know what to say. 

“Hello Luke, how do you do?” she asked. Lily was a polite girl. 

Luke nodded. “I have a message for you, Lily.” 

Luke the turtle looked around to double-check that they were alone.  

“It’s from your father,” he said in a whisper. “He wants you to come to him. He’s waiting for you down here with all  of us.” 

“In the pond?” asked Lily. She couldn’t believe her father would fit in the pond. It was very shallow. 

“Yes, he’s been here this whole time, waiting for you to come and visit him. All you have to do is kiss my forehead  and I’ll take you to him.” 

Lily wasn’t sure she wanted to kiss a turtle’s forehead. Her mother had told her scary stories about kisses. Things  happen when people kiss, she had said, and they may never be undone. But Lily was fairly sure her mother hadn’t mentioned  turtles. So she mustered all her courage, leaned in, and kissed Luke’s forehead. Just as she did so Lily slipped and fell into the pond. 

RIKA'S WRITING STARTS:

Lily fell and fell and fell and fell. It felt like she was falling upwards through the water. It was a very strange feeling,  and Lily wasn’t sure she liked it one little bit. Eventually, she began to see a light above her (or was it below her?), and as she approached it, it grew brighter and brighter until Lily had to cover her eyes.

When she opened them again she was standing in a large hall with many columns that stretched far away into the distance. There were shells plastered on the columns, and strange-looking lanterns hung from the ceiling. Lily walked closer to one of the lanterns. She saw that they were glass jellyfish in all shapes and sizes that glowed from within.  

“Each one of them volunteered to become a lantern,” a voice behind Lily said. 

She spun around like a whirlwind. 

A tall man was standing there. She knew his face. She hadn’t seen it in three years but she would never forget it as long as she lived. She knew that beard; she used to hate it. She knew who this was. But something was strange. 

Her father’s beard was almost greenish, whereas it had been jet black before, and the hair he had worn short all his life was now long and wavy and looked like wet leaves.  

Or algae. 

“How are you my Lily? I haven’t seen you in such a long time. I’ve missed you terribly my little girl.” 

Lily didn’t know what to say. She knew her father was dead. Her mother had cried for weeks. And her mother never cried. Lily shook her head. 

“What’s wrong darling? Don’t you want to hug me?” 

Lily shook her head again. 

Her father looked at her for a moment then burst out in loud laughter. 

“What a clever little girl you are, my love, I am proud of you.” He looked desperate, with his empty open arms, but in his eyes, Lily could see his love for her. “I have been cursed,” he said. “I have been locked in this pond for three years, and  if you don’t free me, Lily, I will remain here forever.” 

“Why?” she asked. 

“It’s a long story sweetheart, and we don’t have much time. I want to leave this place. I want to leave this body.  Look at me!” 

“Who cursed you?” 

“A turtle. I believe you call him Luke.” 

Lily couldn’t believe this. Luke was her friend. She fed him every day. She had kissed him. 

“He is an evil turtle. This is not a hall, but his stomach. We are inside the turtle and we cannot get out unless you help me. Will you help me?” 

Lily nodded. 

“Here’s something that will aid you.” 

He took a necklace from his pocket and gave it to Lily. A bluestone hung from it. 

“It’s a magic stone,” Lily’s father said. “You need to give it to the evil turtle. If he eats this he’ll become magically stoned, and I’ll be able to free myself from this curse. Then we can all go home.” 

“But how can I give this to Luke if we’re inside him already?” 

“You’re a clever girl,” her father said. “You’ll find a way.” 

As he said that his hair began dripping and dripping until a waterfall was flowing down his head, covering his body,  and then he was gone. 

Lily was alone. 

Lily knew what had to be done. 

Lily had the stone. 

She grabbed a jellyfish lantern by a tendril and started walking down the hall. 

The hall was long and tall. Lily couldn’t see the ceiling, and the jellyfish lanterns seemed to float in mid-air, their translucent tendrils streaming down from above like wavy streaks of light. Lily’s lantern was beginning to dim. She stretched her hand trying to grab another one nearby. As she stood on her toes almost reaching for a lantern she heard a squeaky sound behind one of the columns. 

Lily stopped cold. The sound came again. 

“Who’s there?” asked Lily to the impenetrable darkness behind the column. 

No one answered. 

Lily shrugged. She reached for the tendril again and again and she heard the same squeaky sound. “I can hear you,” Lily said. “Come out.” 

Lily looked in the direction the noise had come from. Two small hands emerged from behind a column, followed by a cute nose and the largest eyes Lily had ever seen. 

“Hi,” said the creature. 

“Hi,” said Lily. “Don’t be afraid. Come out.” 

The creature hesitated. It wasn’t every day one encountered a girl in a turtle’s body after all. But then again, the turtle was magical, so really anything could happen anyway at any time. The creature shrugged, deciding that it had seen more wondrous things in its life than a little girl holding a light by its tentacles. 

“I’m Tom,” said the creature as it stepped out of the shadow. “Tom Sawer.” 

Indeed Lily could see a surprisingly large saw strapped to the creature’s back. 

“You’re an otter,” said Lily with excitement. “You are so cute.” 

“I should warn you, miss. The last person who called me cute turned cubic.” 

“What does that mean?” asked Lily. She lifted her jellyfish lantern higher to better see the silent otter. It was grinning from ear to ear like a mad cat, and its yellow teeth shone in sharp contrast to its blue-ish fur. 

“Have you been cursed too? Like my daddy?” 

“Cursed?” cried Tom Sawer. “Not at all. I am otterly blessed.” 

“What are you doing in this dreadful place then? Everything here is strange. There are no walls, no ceilings, it smells  fishy and I cannot surf the internet: my phone doesn’t connect to the network.” 

“I don’t understand half of what you’re talking about,” said Tom Sawer, “but I do understand when someone bad mouths my home.” 

“Oh I’m sorry Tom the Otter,” said Lily. “I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that everything's happening so fast. One  moment I was at home feeding Luke by the pond, the next instant he starts talking to me and I kiss him then I fall into the  pond then I fall up the pond then I meet my dad but he’d cursed dad then I get a bluestone then I meet you and I don’t know where  I am and I don’t know what to do and I need to check my Instagram account.”

“What is an Instagram account?” asked Tom the otter.

“You don’t know?”

“Little girl, I have been stuck here since 1876! Don’t expect me to know everything in your era!” protested the otter.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” apologized Lily. This otter seems to think that everything she says is offensive. 

“Well, I recommend you get out of here, or else you’ll be next.”

Lily gulped. She didn’t want to be next, whatever ‘next’ was. But she knew the otter might hold some knowledge about curses and bluestone necklaces. She gathered her courage and spoke.

“I’m really sorry to still be bothering you, but can I ask you a question?” Lily spit it out in one breath.

Tom hesitated and said, “Spill it. For some particular reason, I seem to be automatically controlled by people like you. You know, I used to be a spy, spying for a super-secret organization called…hmm…what was it? I can’t seem to remember. Well, you know it’s been years already so it ain’t my fault! I was spying on this big fella when he gobbled me up whole!” he patted the corals inside Luke the turtle.

Lily couldn’t help but laugh. Tom Sawer had been eaten by the person he was supposed to spy on. But she quickly stopped because Tom might just turn her cubic next. The otter glared at her. Lily covered her face with her hands and peeked through her finger gaps. 

“I’m sorry, again,” said Lily.

“Apology accepted,” sighed Tom, “so, what were you going to ask me?”

Lily started remembering what happened before Tom told his ridiculous story. She was going to ask him about curses, and how to break them. 

“Oh yeah. Do you know anything about curses?” she asked.

“Actually, I do, in fact, I would say I’m an expert at them!” he started, “The first step of breaking a curse is to get out of this soup.”

Lily looked around. She didn’t see any soup anywhere! What did Tom Sawer the otter meant by soup? Then she looked at Tom, confused. The chatterbox otter rolled his eyes. Then, he told Lily what he had meant by ‘soup’.

“Soup equals TURTLE’s belly,” he made his hands into an equal sign. Lily nodded her head slowly, then sighed. How could they possibly get out of Luke’s stomach? Even her own dad that has been stuck in here for three years doesn’t know. She picked up the bluestone and stared at it. In the corner of her eye, she could see Tom Sawer’s eyes bulging right out of his face. 

“Are you okay?” she asked politely.

The otter didn’t answer. He was dead silent. Then suddenly, he jumped onto Lily’s head.

“MINE!!!” he shouted as he reached for the bluestone.

“What?! No! It’s mine!” answered Lily as she pulled it back from Tom. If her mother were here, she would’ve scolded Lily for pulling something from someone else’s hands. But this was a different case. He pulled it from her first! 

As the human girl and the otterly blessed otter man fought for the bluestone, the cold gem started shimmering. Then, it burst into infinite lightness. Then, before they knew it, they were both separated to the ends of the turtle wall. 

Lily lifted herself up. She saw something glowing not very far away from her. She knew it was her bluestone necklace. 

She quickly swam towards the glowing light. She squinted her eyes. It was almost as if the light was trying to blind her. Then, the light vanished, revealing a figure in the depths. It was Tom Sawer. He was holding the bluestone in his hands. 

“I believe this belongs to you,” he said, softly, “and I apologize for my rude behavior.”

Tom handed Lily the gem. She picked it up and it started glowing again. Tom’s face beamed. 

“So you are the Vision Child,” he whispered under his breath. Lily smiled ear to ear. Her precious rock had started glowing again. Then the light dimmed. She put the necklace around her neck and said.

“C’mon, what are we waiting for! The curse isn’t going to break itself!”

It was her own unique way of saying ‘I forgive you’. The otter smiled. Then suddenly, it turned into a frown.

“We have to hurry. There’s not much time left. If we wait any longer, the curse will slowly consume your father until the original him is gone forever. Whatever he told you about the rock before was a lie. It was his evil side working,” Tom explained as he gathered his things. 

Lily couldn’t believe her ears. Could the curse have been that bad? Will it actually consume her father whole? Will she never see her old father ever again? How could Luke have done this to him! Now she was furious at Luke. She didn’t like him a bit. Then the otter continued.

“You are the Vision Child. You’re the only one who can fully break a curse. Defeating Luke and getting out of his soup is the first step. But, getting out of the soup is just to weaken the curse. Without the waters surrounding your father, the curse won’t have any backup. The next step is for you to figure out yourself. I have no participation in the following part, but I’ll always be right beside you if you need anything. Now, hurry up!”

Lily thought and thought. How are they supposed to defeat Luke when they’re inside of him? Was there a chance of defeating him? Lily thought hard. Then she remembered something. Luke was a sea turtle! She had thought of Luke as an evil mastermind the first time her father mentioned that he was evil. She tried thinking back to her classes. Did she learn anything about sea turtles? Maybe what they were allergic to? 

Then it clicked. 

She had figured out a way to defeat Luke from the inside. She whispered the plan to Tom and they were on their way to the head of the turtle.

It felt like hours had passed, but she wasn’t sure. That is, because there are no clocks inside of a turtle’s stomach, and her phone has been dead for a long time now. Her stomach has been gurgling for hours. What do they even eat down here? She often wondered. Suddenly, the ground began shaking. Something emerged from the ground. Giant pink corals rose up and formed a humongous maze. 

“Oh bother,” said Tom, “He found us out!”

Lily didn’t need Tom’s explanation to know who ‘he’ was. She was certain it was Luke. Though she thought knowing what is currently happening in your stomach was a really cool ability. Then, the walls boomed.

“OoOOOOOOOooOooooOOOooh!!!! CHaLLenGeRssSsSss!!!! In order to continue, form a plan deep within you. Intelligence is the key, only if you want to defeat ME!!!! Mwahahahaha!!!” 

Lily thought and thought. Intelligence is the key. What does that mean? Then, she recalled when she was little, her grandma liked to tell her about ancient myths and legends. She had heard the one about the maze and the Minotaur. Ariadne had used a ball of yarn to guide Theseus into the maze! If they did it, then so can she!

As if Tom had the power to read minds or something, he nodded and started making a long rope with seaweed. Tom was working really fast that Lily couldn’t keep up. She giggled. Her friend was really funny. Moments later, he handed Lily the rope. Lily said thanks and headed inside the maze. 

Hours had passed. It was like a labyrinth! Lily almost thought she couldn’t make it through. But, the thought of saving her father pushed her through doubt and to never give up. She turned left, then right, then straight, then left again. Until she saw an opening. Could it be? She rushed to the light. As fast as her two little legs can carry her. But, it was a dead end. She sighed and continued walking. 

After ending up in another dead end, Lily was so tired that it felt like all her bones broke. She sat down to think. Intelligence is the key. The words repeated inside her head. Intelligence is the key. Intelligence is the key. 

Suddenly, the bluestone glowed. An arrow had appeared on its surface. Was it showing her the way? She followed in the direction the arrow was pointing to. She’s at it again. Left, right, straight, back, right, right, left, right, left, straight, and… Down?

She didn’t see any door or anything on the ground. But the arrow didn’t budge. She tried to shake it. Maybe it was malfunctioning? The arrow still pointed in the direction of her feet. She decided to sit down and think. What was this all about? Why is the arrow pointing in that direction? Then she thought, Maybe, the maze was built so there is no way out! She started brushing the dust off the ground. Then all of a sudden, she fell into infinite darkness.

Lily rubbed her eyes. It took her a moment to see where she was. She was out of the maze. An otter sat next to her, looking into the surface of the soup. Did I do it? She asked herself. 

“You did it!” exclaimed the otter as he burst into cheers. 

“I-I-I did it!! But how?” she asked. 

“Since we’re connected by the string, when you fell into that hole, I was pulled in too. That was our way out!”

“Oh. Okay!” she said, “So, are we at the turtle’s head yet?”

“Yes we are. Now our plan can begin.”

Moments later, Lily was using a seashell to rub something off of Tom’s fur. It had a  yellow-ish black-ish color and looked like oil. Because it is! Since sea turtles were allergic to oil, Lily had an idea of damaging Luke’s body from the inside! She scraped and scraped off the oil. Tom ruffled his fur. It was tickling him. But, not long after they arrived, Luke had made his move. He was watching them in every corner. It was his head anyways, so there were two giant eyeballs in the ceiling. They came to scrape off the oil at  the head of the turtle because that is where the turtle takes most damage, at least that’s what Tom Sawer told Lily. 

Lily hoped there won’t be any more disturbances from Luke the turtle, but boy was she wrong. Suddenly, Luke appeared in front of her. 

“Dearest Lily, what are you doing?” he asked.

Lily simply ignored him and continued her business.

“I see that you have chosen to ignore me. I’ll let you get out of here, you stop doing what you’re doing.”

Lily still won’t open her mouth. Just a little more! She thought.

“If you are not willing to cooperate, then I will have to make you comply.”

Then, a huge wave washed over. Lily couldn’t hold on. Tom was slipping away from her grasp. 

“NOO!!!” she shouted. 

But then, she started to realize she couldn’t breathe much. She was running out of air. Was this Luke’s doing? She tried to hold on. One moment, she had been able to breathe underwater like a normal sea creature, now, it was like she’s turning into a human again. Her stomach was slowly pushing out the last of her air. She choked. Her cheeks were filled with air, but she couldn’t breathe them in. She twisted and turned in the water. She couldn’t die here! Not now! She was so close! She grabbed some seaweed and tied it to a jellyfish. If Luke makes another move, she thought, I’ll hit him with this!

Then, at the other end of the soup, Tom sees Lily struggling. He can’t believe Luke would do something like that to Lily, to the person who fed him every day and took care of him! He knew he couldn't stop. He continued scraping off the oil from his fur. If this is for Lily, then I’m willing to do it, no matter what it takes! He thought. He was weakening from the lack of oil in his body, but he still continued to do so. 

Suddenly, hundreds of Lukes appeared in every direction. 

“Oh LiliLYyyYy!!!! JuST GivE UpPPp!!!” they boomed.

Using all of her strength, Lily swung her jellyfish lasso at one of the Lukes. Ten went down. She swung again. Another five. And again. Seven more. And swung again. 3 went down. At this point, she was too tired. She had no air left. Her body fell onto the ocean floor. 

Dad, I’m sorry.

Just when Lily ran out of air, Tom finished scraping off all of his oil. He stirred it into the water with his two flippers and glared at the Lukes. 

“This is for what you did to Lily,” he started, “I call this, LILY’S TURTLE SOUP!!!”

Then, the water around them turned yellow, then green, then black. All the Lukes burst into bubbles. The water stirred wildly. All at once, an opening appeared. Light shone in as quickly as a cheetah. Everything got washed out. Including Lily.

Lily didn’t know where she was. Or if she was dead. She just knew that she was wet. Soaking wet. She touched her face and pinched it. 

“Ow!” she cried.

She was still alive.

Lily looked around her. She saw her yard, her house, and the turtle pit. She was back at home. Then, beside her lay Tom, unconscious. She picked him up.

“Tom! Tom! Tom! Are you okay?” she shook him fiercely, “Tom! Can you hear me!”

Then, Tom opened his eyes. He coughed. 

“Lily,” he said, “I did it.”

Tears started gathering in Lily’s eyes. She was so proud of her friend. She hugged him as tight as she could. Tom smiled and said.

“Lily, it’s your turn now. Save your father,” he said.

“You’re going to do it with me, right?” Lily sniffed. 

“It’s the end for me now. I can’t go on,” he said, “But it’s just the beginning for you. I have no more oil. I'm helpless now.”

Lily cried. She didn’t want to see her friend die. After all they’ve gone through together. Not like this! She thought, It can’t end like this! 

“Please! No! Stay with me! I can’t do this alone!” Lily wailed. 

“You can, Lily. I believe in you,” he said. 

Then, his eyes closed. He was as still as stone. 

Tears streamed down Lily’s cheeks. It was like she was a waterfall. Tom’s really gone. He’s actually gone now. She gave her friend one last hug, and then she lay him down on the soft green grass of her backyard. She looked at Tom. 

“May you rest in peace.”

Then, someone was choking beside her. Choking on water. She turned to see who it was. She can’t believe her eyes. It was really him. No algae hair, and the same type of beard. After all these years, he’s back. But, he lay still on the grass, eyes closed. Lily looked at her bluestone. Now, it had the shape of a heart. It was still beating. She gathered all her might and was ready. She moved closer to him and placed the gem on his chest. 

The bluestone sank in. Leaving no trace of anything behind. Then, a lively color returned to his face. The man sat up. Eyes wide. Lily didn’t know how to react. 

“D-D-Dad?” she muttered.

“Lily,” her dad said, calmly.

“DAD!!” shouted Lily as she slumped onto him, “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.” He wrapped his hands around her.

They were finally reunited. Lily and her dad. 

           <<<------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>>>

On a saturday morning, Lily lay down on the green grass of her yard. She gazed upon the white fluffy clouds strolling along the sky. She smiled. The past week, she had saved her dad from an evil turtle, met a talking otter, and the best part is, she made it out alive. She looked at the clouds. That one looks like her dad, and that one looks like her mom. Then, she saw another cloud that looked like, Luke. Her smile immediately changed into a frown. Why did Luke do that to her? It just doesn’t make sense. If Luke was the one who cursed her dad, why did he let her go into his body to rescue him? It’s as if Luke wanted her to go in and break the curse. Maybe Luke actually wasn’t the real evil. Maybe there’s another evil mastermind controlling him?

Lily was determined to figure out the real answer to Luke’s mystery. If he actually wasn’t a bad guy, then she can’t let him die. Even though she didn’t like Luke now, she still can’t push aside the fact that Luke was a kind turtle to her. He never bit her fingers like the other turtles. 

Lily stood up. The wind blew in her hair. Her hands turned into fists. She looked up into the wide sky. 

Luke, I’m coming for you. 

Author's Note

written: Aug 2022