Fishing - Personal Essay

“Finally, it is spring! I’ve waited for the whole winter to finally go fishing! Fishing! Fishing!” Annie shouted, dancing around in her tiny dining room. As a 17-year-old undergraduate, it is rare to find a day without deadlines and preparation for tests. The twittered sound of the birds and the breeze that brought the aroma of the blossoms to the small apartment made her became more determined about the thought of fishing. As she packed up the fishing tools and headed for the dining table, she passingly turned on the television. The news broadcast was broadcasting about a young girl who accidentally drowned when she was playing in a river near Nine Valley. The weed entangled her leg, and unfortunately, she did not escape. Her corpse buried under the river, right where the accident happened. “Well, well, it’s a pity for such a young girl to pass away…her parents should be responsible for that.” mumbled Annie. Nothing was going to stop her from fishing today. She quickly rapped up and threw the dishes into the sink, along with the used pan and soup ladle, just so she could go fishing as soon as possible.

After an hour of jolt, Annie arrived at the nearest river around her city— Nine Valley. She screamed and spread her arms out, feeling the fresh air that is distinctively different from the smell of pollution and petrol. The valley was quiet except for the occasional sound of a car or truck on the highway. It was even possible to hear the faint gurgling of a small stream. It was yellow everywhere, except for the red colour on those apple trees that added some colour to the view. The laughter of people was so lively and it quickly excited Annie up. It took her less than a minute to set up her fishing tools, and what’s left now is just to be patient. Ten minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour has passed, not a single fish rise to the bait. “It seems like it’s time to enjoy some chillness of the water, and maybe I could fish bare-handedly.” Rolling up her pants legs, she reached her foot out and tentatively felt the water. As cool as she thought…Without hesitation she stride into the water, it was comfortable at a level that it aroused her uninspired brain from doing too much work, also relaxing her body a bit. Suddenly a hard object bumped into her leg. It was a current bottle, except it didn’t look as old as has been drifted from the other side of the ocean. Out of curiosity, Annie opened the bottle, and pulled out the parchment. A crooked line on the top of the paper said, “Would you like to be my friend?” Annie was surprised by the content of this letter. ‘Shouldn’t it be some SOS messages or a secret from passed-away nobility?’ Even so, she still replied to the message with a huge “YES, and who are you?” across the letter and threw the bottle with the reply far into the river, where it joins with the sea.

Unexpectedly, the fishing rod finally moved just as the bottle disappeared in her vision, waging side to side, hinting Annie that her first fish of the day has finally came! She strode towards