Sharks!
by Rowan

The crash of rolling waves and the cry of seagulls surrounded us. My brother, Kirun, and his friend, Nick were wading into the ocean with me. The three of us were heading out to catch some waves on our boogie boards. We jumped on our boogie boards and started paddling out. That’s when I noticed her.

She was some lady in a frilly green swimsuit and a snorkeling mask. “Hey kids,”she casually said, “you know there are some sharks twenty to thirty feet down the beach.” I slowly sucked in my breath and let it out. Deep down at heart I knew I was excited to see sharks but my outer core simply felt scared. All three of us were thinking the same thing, I want to see but I’m scared. Then we all turned and ran to shore dragging the boogie boards behind us. We ran partly out of panic, partly out of excitement.

“Do you think we should go see?” I asked on the way up the sandy beach.

“It could be a trick,” my brother remarked. Both of us looked at him and rolled our eyes.

“Let’s go with an adult,” Nick suggested. So it was my mom who ended up tagging along with us.

Our feet padded along the wet squishy sand. The waves lapped at our feet. I kept taking deep breaths to calm myself.

“I think this is twenty to thirty feet,” I cautiously said. We shuffled into the water. As we got closer, the water seemed to freeze on my legs. Every step got heavier. Once we were waist high I said, “I don’t see any thing maybe we should turn back.”

“Wait,” Nick said grabbing my arm, “there’s the shark lady.” I looked at him. My face had a doubtful look on it. I half wished he hadn’t sighted her. To answer, he took a wary step forward. We followed. Shark Lady stood as if waiting three feet ahead of us. Every sound made us jump. Pieces of shadowy kelp made us back away.

“They’re right up here. Just stand and wait. They’ll come,”she assured us. When she turned around to talk, I nearly jumped fresh out of the water. Silently and slowly, the two boys next to me managed to coax me further on.

I stood and waited next to Shark Lady. Somehow, my mind wouldn’t let my eyes go down. I could sense Shark Lady moving around looking for sharks. All I thought about though was “sharks, sharks.” I was beginning to get creeped out by the whole idea.

“There’s something,” Nick whispered as loud as he could. My brother started to back away. I shifted my spot a bit but managed to stay put. With all the courage I could muster, I jerked my head to where he was pointing.

There it was! A shark! I stood there in awe. The sharks swirled around with such ease. They glided up to my feet causing me to tense but then backed away. After a while, I frowned puzzled by their behavior. All they were doing was swimming in circles. I watched them and my body felt light instead of rigid. I realized they were totally oblivious to me and were only two feet long. I felt a smile come across my face. My brother did not feel the same way. I saw him dash away in fear stammering, “I think I’ve seen enough.”

It was just Nick and I marveling at the sharks. Now that my fear was gone I soaked up everything. Thoughts of discovery shows with vicious sharks I pushed away and focused on the sharks in front of me. They had pointy fins that looked as sharp as a knife. I found myself resisting the urge to reach out and touch them. Nick turned to me and asked, “Are you ready to go now?”

We swiveled around to go. Then I realized there were sharks blocking our path. I turned sideways.

Sharks.

“We’re surrounded,” we both cried. I stood there waiting for something not knowing what. The dark cloud of fear hovered once again. Nick faced forward again and I got the clue. We ran forward and jumped over the sharks.

Heart pounding in my chest, I sprinted out of there. I forced myself not to look back. We arrived on the shore panting. Pausing for deep breaths, I said, “That was so cool!” I walked backed to our spot on the beach, ready to tell the news.