Wahash Albahr ~ Sea Monster

• Thomas Brady, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2016

The water bubbled on top of the clear sea. Foam arose from the back of the boat as the rotors spinned. I watched as they floated and popped, not like I had anything else better to do in this stupid place. I hate the outdoors, who likes the sun? All it does is hurt your eyes and burn your skin. And clouds, oh clouds do I hate them. They bring rain, and hail, and storms.

Dad’s always trying to get me out of the house and he thinks this is a great opportunity because we live by the water in a hotel in Egypt and there’s talk of a creature of unimaginable size, they call it Wahash Albahr, which means sea monster in English, from Arabic, what the people of Egypt speak. I think it’s all fake. How could something like that, in the waters of Egypt!? I slump back at the back of the boat and play with some bait, and watch them squirm and wriggle, then I put them back in.

“Huh, how ridiculous, a sea monster…” I mutter.

“It’s real!” Dad shouts back. “ I’m telling you!”

I can still see the silhouette of the island but I swear it’s been like two hours. I hang over the railing and graze my hands on the water and watch as it sends little droplets flying. I lean over the railing by my stomach, hands skimming the water. I kick the side of the boat angrily, I just want to go home. I can hear whistling following my hand. My hand touches something soft, like a snake. I fly back, nearly over the rail on the opposite side of the boat, I breathe heavily and try to pick myself up.

“Just a fish…” I reassure myself. It can’t be, there’s no such thing. The island is no more to be seen and a fog settles in…

“Fog?” I ask.

“Can’t be,” Dad replies anxiously. “We’re heading back.”

But we don’t know where we’re going. We can’t even see the island, Dad backs up to the back of the boat with me, something’s not right, we both know it. I give him a scared look. A ferocious storm comes by in what seems a matter of seconds. All we can see is thunder, all we can feel is rain. The waves tower over our boat and push us farther. At this point I’m drenched in water. We come to a stop, hitting hit something hard. In the middle of the ocean?

It’s red eyes light up, it stands up, putting the Empire State building to shame. It’s white like they say! It looks like a large octopus, like that of Cthulhu. It stares at me, it’s fiery war-torn eyes of mercy bestowed upon me and were ingrained into my head, before it disappeared with the fog that lifted and revealed the way home.. It is part of me, forever with me. Every day, every night.