An Ocean in a Drop of Water - Charlotte, age 12

“Come on, Katie!” My mom stood on the other side of the parking lot and beckoned me to the car. “Let’s hurry before it starts thundering!”

We were caught in a downpour and were heading home. I pulled my raincoat hood over my head and splashed through the puddles to the car.

Suddenly, something caught my eye. There was a single drop of water in a small dip in the parking lot. But that wasn’t what was odd. Instead of reflecting the street behind me, the drop of water reflected two mermaids swimming in the ocean. Confused and surprised, I looked behind me, but nothing was there.

“Hurry up, Katie!” My mom called.

I ignored her and turned back to the drop of water. The reflection was still there. But I told myself, This is nonsense. I must be seeing things.

Suddenly, there came a whooshing sound. I was being sucked into the drop of water, down, down, down.

“Katie!” I heard my mother calling after me.

But her voice was only a distant echo.

As soon as it all started, the whooshing sound and the spinning stopped. I found myself floating in dark, green water. I realized I was in a strange ocean. But somehow I could breathe perfectly fine.

Then, I saw two figures swimming towards me. They looked oddly familiar. I gasped when I saw that they were mermaids. And what was even more bizarre was that they are the same mermaids from the reflection!

I realized that the outside world and this ocean had to be connected. I was in an ocean hidden behind a single drop of water.

But how could this be? How could there be a whole ocean inside of a drop of water? How?

That day I learned that not everything is what it seemed. That day I learned that anything is possible, even an entire ocean that is hidden inside a drop of water.