The Waves Of Disaster

• Olivia Mcdouall, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2018

As she sifted her feet through the warm golden sand, salty wind tickled her face. Olivia dashed towards the sea, the colours were like diamonds and sapphires swirling together, basking in rays of sunlight. Her hand curled tighter around her homemade surfboard as a strong gust of wind hit the deserted beach. Would she ever come out of those waves again?
“Help! Anyone!” Olivia desperately tried to scream over the rumbles of thunder and her thumping heart. A swarm of jellyfish drifted towards her, surrounding her surfboard in a circle of tentacles and danger. They were the reason Casper bay was deserted. Their luminescent bodies floated closer, they stood out against the crashing waves and dark water. Every inch closer, her heart beating faster.
“Help!” Olivia yelled again. “Why did I choose to surf today?” She mumbled, her voice thick with regret. People said she ‘walked on the line between danger and fun’, look where that got her. Hope drained from her. She gazed up above her and she saw dark clouds painting the sky, raindrops fell and danced on her face like ballerina’s. Her eyes widened as a huge wave headed towards her, fear overcame her with pure terror and she froze. The wooden board slipped from beneath her and disappeared. A scream pieced the air. Raging waves pulled, twisted and swirled around her. Olivia was consumed by black, salty water.
Olivia struggled to gain control over her body again but eventually broke through the surface with great heaving breaths. Waves were falling endlessly onto one another like dominos. Waves of disaster. An endless army of drenched soldiers firing bullets of water onto her, making it impossible for her to see.
Olivia gave up hope of survival. She gazed longingly back at shore, her head barely floating above the water. She wished she wasn’t caught up in these waves. Olivia let out a small gasp from her mouth. Not only did she find her surfboard again, she found she wasn’t alone. A desperate seal had climbed clumsily onto her surfboard, desperate for refuge from the storm. Olivia’s jaw dropped as the seal rode back to the shallows, and climbed onto the sand, safe and sound.
She was so shocked she almost didn’t realise what the seal did. It had shown her a way to escape. She just needed to catch a wave. Olivia knew the ocean like the back of her hand, so catching a wave wasn’t hard. She kicked hard as she felt the wave push her to shore, narrowly dodging jellyfish.
Coughing and spluttering back on the shore, she let out a small laugh. A seal basically just saved her life. She bolted upright, the rain was still pelting down, and lighting was still flashing. She grabbed her isolated surfboard as she ran towards a weak palm tree for shelter. Looking back on the waves as a sunlight broke through the clouds, she just might have seen a tail belonging to a certain seal.