themaskman14

Original story idea. Danielle the masked dolphin belongs to me, I do not own The Mask. —————— If Coastal Highway was the main commercial hub of Ocean City, the boardwalk was its cultural one. The first inhabitants on the Maryland shore built their houses here, soon to become hotels, ballrooms and amusement centers. Today, the wooden boards stretched for just over 3 miles, with all manner of shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions at the south end that truly had something for everyone. The north end of the boardwalk was quieter by compare. Here, only condos and hotels had entrances to the boards and the white sandy beaches. The populace were mostly those looking to exercise - either by hard jogging or cycling, or by a leisurely walk. A couple taking the quiet route were the Grants. Ed and Sharon were now happily retired, and were in a financial position to finally own the three-month rental at their dream condo. It was early evening, the perfect time to walk their black lab Rosie, their current pup in a long line of past animal companions. It was at 23rd Street that she approached - such a ridiculous sight that Ed thought she must be some type of promotional mascot, while Sharon wondered what new restaurant or attraction they had missed out on. But the strange creature didn’t offer to sell anything - instead, she made a simple request. “Hi!!! Can I pet your furry friend?!?!?” “Uh sure, she doesn’t bite.” The strange green-headed creature knelt down, rubbing her webbed hands through the dog’s thick fur. “Your friend’s very cute! My name’s Danielle, what’s hers???” “Uh, her name’s Rosie. I don’t mean to be rude - but what exactly are you?” The green dolphin creature smiled, showing a set of exceedingly huge white teeth. “I don’t know yet, but I’m sure having fun! Nice to meet you, bye!!!” As she walked off, the Grants could only look at her oddity, how completely comfortable the creature was in her weirdness. Once she was out of earshot, Sharon whispered to Ed. “Have you ever?” “No I never.” Continuing on her way, Danielle noted a few thoughts that were on her newly-opened mind. First, the warm thing above felt really nice on her body. Even her face, which was cold to the touch from the green rubber skin it was made of, felt warmth and pleasure from the big yellow circle. Her ears, although hidden from sight, could pick up strangers conversing about something called a “tan” - when she was done walking, she needed to find out more. Second, she was doing rather well on these new legs, becoming adept to the point where just a slow walk seemed boring. What else could she do then? She didn’t want to do a spinny thing and scare everyone off, but there had to be some way to go faster. Something told her to do a jump - and reflexively she did, rising ten feet in the air. Until another force brought her back down, sending her crashing through the boards. “That didn’t go so-“ “Freak!!!” “Idiot!!!” “Way to ruin our boardwalk, stupid dolphin lady! Get out before we call the cops!!” Now Danielle was feeling a brand new emotion, one that wasn’t at all pleasant - something humans would recognize as humiliation. She had to get out of here, get away from these cruel strangers. She asked in her head for her spinny thing - and she got it, immediately whisked a mile away. Coming to a screeching halt, she found herself in front of some benches. Taking a seat in an empty one, she covered her face and sobbed. Maybe she wasn’t worthy of this awesome gift, maybe she should go back to the water and be a normal dolphin again… “Don’t worry ma’am, don’t cry.” She looked up, then down. A little boy of no more than seven years old looked up, his brown hair and cute smile bringing a warm fuzzy feeling back to her. “Oh, thank you! What’s your-“ “Mason, how many times have we told you not to talk to strangers?!?” Another woman strode over - this must be the mother of the family pod. “I’m sorry miss, was he bothering you? We tell him all the time, but he still doesn’t listen.” “No, he made me feel a lot better actually. Can I hang out with you sometime?” The human woman blinked - she wasn’t expecting to meet a beach friend in this way, but the lady in the dolphin suit seemed nice enough. “Sure. We’re the Winklers, we’ll be over on the beach close to 6th Street, come over after your shift. Look for the red and white umbrellas.” As the family walked away, the green dolphin decided to continue on her journey. The tears were gone and her optimism was happily renewed, but she still had a big problem - there was so much stuff to do. There were beachwear stores, popcorn shops, arcades, ice cream stands and more, all of which she wanted to buy, taste or experience. Eventually she decided to focus on the grand pier and the many amusement park rides for her choosing. There was one ride in particular everyone with the guts chose to do - the slingshot. Its support towers stood 100 feet in the air easily visible to anyone looking south, and shot riders in its metal ball 150 feet straight up before the forces of gravity bounced them around. It was a ride thought up in the minds of those with crazy impulses and cartoon thoughts - and though she did not know, Danielle’s cartoonish being was about to become a real problem. Down below, she was strapped in, seatbelt around her waist and shoulder harness around her chest. The operator, a local kid on his summer job, gave the signal, and the ball slowly lifted from the platform. This is going to be awesome, she thought. She was doing things she could only have dreamt of less than two hours before, she couldn’t wait for what came next. Any moment now. Suddenly, the ball shot up, hurtling her towards the heavens at 50 miles per hour. Screaming with joy, she began to fall back down to earth - but to the sudden horror of those below, not all of her green visage fell with her. ——————