Ocean Paradise

• Kayla Tappan, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2014

It was a peaceful day, the seagulls were screeching and the majestic blue ocean waves crashed on the shore. Jenna walked along the boardwalk to her favourite snorkelling spot. She stepped onto the golden sand, which almost mimicked the colour of her long,wavy hair. The sand was gritty under her feet and the humid sea air made her whole body feel warm and happy.

She grabbed her goggles and put her feet in the water, it had a cold feel to it this time, almost icy, but Jenna snorkelled everyday. Today was going to be no different, no bad feeling would stop her. She slid the goggles on, and as they normally would, they pinched and pulled her hair causing immense pain. She continued adjusting the 'hair torturerers', walking confidentially into the deep blue water, waves crashed in front of her and before she was even in, her face was already wet and salty.

After passing the waves the soft sand became slippery rock and seaweed, the water was no longer a deep blue, now a dark brownish black. Jenna knew the beauty that lay beneath the surface so without hesitation, she sat down down on the algae covered rock, shimmying her way to the deeper water where the rocks formed homes and caves for its colourful residents. Soon she was at the end of the reef, her legs dangled over the edge and she sat staring into the dark water. She began getting anxious, feeling like something was going to grab her legs,but what? A little fish? She gave a little nervous giggle at her crazy thoughts and didn't hesitate, diving into the black, icy water.

Her first few breaths were fast and erratic and she doggy paddled a few metres before calming down. Even though she'd been doing this every morning for the past 3 years, her first breaths in the water always sent an adrenaline rush through her veins, maybe that's why she loved it? Sometimes she wished she could be a little nemo fish as she called them. To never have to go up into the real world again. She loved her life, she loved her job, helping children through illnesses, but something always dragged her back to the water, like a siren's song to a sailor, the ocean sung to her. It called her back whenever she was away and she never felt alone in the water, perhaps she wasn't.

She calmed down after a couple of minutes and she now calmly swam through the water, her eyes looking for fish like an eagle looks for its food. She saw movement through the corner of her eyes and slowly turned her head to see a beautiful orange and white striped clown fish. Her eyes lit up and her heart fluttered, she couldn't be any happier if she tried. It's bright orange and white stood out against the dark greens and browns of its surrounding home. It's gills moved in sync with her breaths and it's fins moved back and forth in perfect timing with her feet going up and down. She stopped paddling and just floated, not taking her eyes off for a second, but with one sharp movement it had gone. Vanished under a rock.

The only thing she had seen, the only thing that brought some happiness to her was gone, the water became icy once again and the dull colours filled her goggles. Nothing to be seen in sight except some dark green seaweed swaying to the current, except something behind the seaweed, something that almost glowed.

Jenna stayed still for a moment, squinting to try get a better understanding of what it was, like squinting would clear her gaze. It didn't, and so there was no other option but to swim closer. At first thoughts whizzed through her mind, "a penguin, seal, dolphin, giant shell, amazing fish, coral..." These thoughts kept passing through her head until she froze. The water was even colder then before, but now she could see it. It wasn't a dolphin, or a penguin, not even coral. She didn't know what it was, her heart beat louder every second and she had a feeling of blood rushing to her feet.

It had a human face, female by the looks of it and a nose, but that was it. It's ears, if that's even what they were, looked like Siamese fighting fish tails, but sharper, like they could slice your finger apart. It mouth was partly open, ready to attack, it teeth, were like a thousand needles, and they were tinted scarlet. But it's eyes. It's eyes. They were evil. It had no eyebrows, but it didn't need any, you could see the fury and you didn't need any more convincing. They were black, like endless holes into hell and violence. Nothing there, no sympathy, no regret. Jenna stayed still, she could feel her eyes tearing up as she studied the creature, it was like she was in a horror movie; there was no escape. She got a glimpse of its forearms, they appeared skinny, but the muscles above the bones looked as if they would pop through the skin any minute, and by the looks of it the creature wouldn't feel a thing. It's hair floated freely with the seaweed, and could've been mistaken for a piece of the plant, with its dark green tinge.

After what may have only been a few seconds, but felt like eternity to Jenna, the creature lunged out and grabbed her by the arm. She tried to pull away but as she looked down, it's razor sharp, slender fingers where lodged deep within her skin and they weren't about to let go anytime soon. She struggled for air and was choking on the salty water, mixed with the metallic taste of own blood. She still had her goggles but her snorkel had long since sunk to the inky depths of this underwater hell she'd once called paradise.

Jenna woke up in some type of container, at first she'd thought it was a bad dream, but she quickly remembered the horror she had just gone through. She scrambled to a corner and once realising she was alone, began bawling her eyes out. "Why can't I just be dead already!" She mumbled. Just the face of the creature tormented her. Every sound and movement made her heart pound in her chest. Imagine the feeling when your worst fear comes true. Then pretend that it's locked you up and is about to torture you.

She looked around herself, unable see much from the tears that blurred her vision. Maybe that was a good thing. But they eventually stopped coming when she had no more liquid to cry out. She was in what appeared to be an old submarine, there was one window showing the endless stretch of sand of what looked like the bottom of the ocean. There was blood all over the walls of this chamber. Partly from her, but there were handprints along the walls from where someone had clearly been dragged. The floor was littered with fleshy looking chunks, accentuated by the stains of dried up blood. She sat there trembling. That thing gave her nightmares, it made her delusional and she even got hallucinations of it next to her. Just the though of it sent the blood rushing away from her head and her body went cold and numb. She sat in the dim room, only partly lit from rays of sunlight coming from the surface - that seemed like a million miles away.

She stood up and with weak and shaky legs, stumbled to the window. The whole thing was only maybe three metres in diameter and perfectly round, the only window being the one she was now peering out of. She looked out into the distance, and fell into a heap on the bloodstained floor. This was like some lunatics nightmare, this was way out of her comfort zone. She saw things, floating...arms, legs, areas where blood still hadn't perfectly dissolved with the seawater. There were bones on the sandy floor, and worst of all, right beside her just outside the glass was a dolphin, eaten inside out. There was nothing left of its insides, it had been unevenly ripped in half and it's contents devoured leaving only it's scarred and tattered skin to rot.

She lay in a ball beside the window, screwed up her eyes and cried. What else could she do? She felt light headed and couldn't remember what had happened after the traumatising scene of the dolphin. All she heard was a tapping of the glass, constant and rhythmical. At first she thought she was imagining it, but once she realised she wasn't she shot her head up.

It was there, it's black eyes of hatred and nothingness starting straight at her, but this time she wanted to vomit, her stomach felt weak and dizziness overcame her. This time it just floated there... 'tap, tap, tap, tap...' But with a grin, the type of sick, crazed and slightly insane grin somebody gets when they've completely lost it. It was like torturing someone without even trying, like slicing their eyes out without touching them. It was pure evil.

Jenna woke up. Her whole body was wet and the air was humid, she was shaking and tears rolled down her face like a leaking tap. She was in her bed. Her whole body trembled but she kept crying, it still haunted her, had it just been a dream? It was so real. Even her arm ached. She rubbed it, desperate to relieve the pain, but something was wrong. She threw the blanket off and stared in horror at her limb. 5 holes in her forearm, deep holes which resembled the eyes of the creature. She burst into tears and curled into a ball, pulsating violently, it was agony. She couldn't escape something that wouldn't leave her alone.

Her arm throbbed and twitched, and like the sea had once called her, it now called her wound. She couldn't fight it. It was too strong, there was no reason to even try. The girl left her home, taking the route she took everyday, trudging through the streets like a zombie. As she got closer to the sea water the twitching slowed and the pain decreased. She lowered her arm into the waves as they crashed and tumbled around her. That was it.

Jenna was never seen again, but a body was washed up on the beach, in the same place her family claimed was 'her favourite spot.' However the corpse was unrecognisable. It had been ripped in half and the insides removed, deep gashes covered the flappy skin and the head, once full of hair had been scalped. There was however five deep holes in the right forearm. The sign of a monster.