The Creature
By Rogue

The soft cries of the seagulls relax the lone figure standing quietly staring out at the sun setting into the multicolor sea. Purple creeps slowly into the sky. Her feet submerged in the cold-blooded sand not feeling time drift by. The cool breath of Poseidon awakens her need for the cool waters that splash softly against her feet. The tug of the wave as it wraps its frigid hand around her leg silently challenges her to enter her beloved water. She was planted firmly, a wall of flesh as the waves, becoming more insistent as time goes on, crash numbly against her. She stood tall, not moving an inch for her once beloved friend and confidant. She pretended to search the horizon. Her incredible blue eyes scanned over the sea, looking, searching for the dark shadow that she knew flowed just below the waters surface. But she saw nothing. No sign of its return. The great expanse of the ocean slowly begins to engulf her. The ocean's call on the wind, trying to coax her, tugging and pulling against her legs, trying to draw her back into its depths.

The wind howled. The waves crashed against the rocks and Regan's illustrious brown hair waved around her face like a mourner's veil. Her clear, sea-green eyes, always bright and alert, were now dazed as she looked out at the ocean, daydreaming ... remembering.

She walked the beach from end to end at sunset everyday. Her limp barely registering to her because her mind drifted to a faraway place and time. She loved the way her bare feet sunk into the cold wet sand and the feel of the salt water washing that sand away. But she no longer loved the ocean, nor did she love investigating the mysteries that lay beneath it. Those mysteries frighten her now. The unknown hidden in the dark depths scare her worst than any nightmare that she had ever had. Though, two years ago, before her attack, it was a whole different story. Two years ago, her mind drifted back to that fateful day. She had loved the ocean then, would have preferred to live within its waters, never leaving it if that were possible. Her friends and family swore that she was part mermaid. She would ride the waves as they came crashing back to the shore on her board. She'd sit for hours on her surf board drifting with the ocean's current dreaming what it would be like to travel on and with in the ocean. It was during one of her many mind wanderings that her life had taken a terrifying turn, making her afraid of her beloved ocean, a fear so strong that since that day she has never gone back into its waters. From that day since, she never again sat upon a surfboard drifting with the current.

The sun was low in the sky, much like it was on this day. Bright reds and oranges radiated from the sun extinguishing itself in the ocean waters. Reagan believed it was about 6pm. She waited while the sun slowly lowered into the boiling sea before she realized just how far out she really was. She had drifted out many miles from shore. The shore was a line barely visible on the darkened horizon. It was going to be totally dark by the time she got back to shore. So she figured, what would it hurt to wait a few more minutes, she was going to be late returning home as it were. She loved sitting on the narrow board with it gently swaying beneath her as her legs dangled on either side summerged to her knees into the water. This was one of her most favorite times of the day. She knew she would have to land soon, but only here with her board and the ocean below her did she feel free, peaceful, and wild all at the same time. Only here did she get away from all the woes on land. And only here did she have the strength and the independence she so desperately craved in her life on the land.

Finally, after minutes ticked by, she decided it was time to return to shore. However, she rejected the idea of returning; she knew that she was a creature of the land and didn't belong to the sea as much as wished that it were true she knew it wasn't. Though she visited it, she knew she could never survive within the cold waters for very long. She didn't want to give up her freedom and independence so soon. She started to get lost in a dream again, stalling, thinking a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. She felt a nudge at the bottom of her board, making her snap back into reality, quickly. At first she thought that she had hit a piece of drift wood, but then it happened again though this time it was more fierce. The nudge rocked her violently, nearly capsizing her. When finally she regained her balance, she noticed the dark object protruding from the choppy surface of the water. It was circling her with slow calculated precision. She was frightened. Her eyes widened as she finally realized just what the object was -- just in time to watch in terror as it moved to strike its fatal blow. This time, not only did it rock her board but it knocked her off and into the water. As she struggled to get back onto her board she felt it sink its teeth into her right leg. It rapidly dragged her back into the water and down deep. The sharp burning pain emulating from her leg was unbearable. She tried to scream out the pain but received a mouth full of salt water for an answer. The creature just kept pulling her lower and lower into the dark waters. The water that was once the most precious of things to her, she felt utterly betrayed by the waters. This wasn't supposed to happen to her. She was a child of the ocean. Then all at once, her most beloved dream was swiftly becoming her most dreaded nightmare.

She tried, unsuccessfully, to grab at the surface of the water. Struggling against the coarse gray creature dragging her lower and lower to the murky bottom. The air that she managed to capture in her lungs before being dragged below the water's surface dwindled becoming a painful reminder that she was not a creature of the sea but one who belonged to the land. She began to feel lightheaded, as though the lower they went, the more her air tried to escape her body in any means necessary. She felt as though she were ready to explode. She felt the blood vessels in her eyes bursting with each inch. She felt the blood rushing through her veins valiantly trying to restore missing oxygen to various parts of her body. As she felt the fight leave her body and her mind about to give into the blissful state of unconsciousness, the creature abruptly let her go. She frantically opened her eyes, knowing that this was her only chance to escape if she were able to, looking in all around her she looked to see where the creature had gone. All she saw and felt, instead of the cool salt water that brought her comfort so many times in the past, she found the warm red haze of her own blood surrounding her like a beacon to other bottom dwellers, she only felt the stinging of the salt in her eyes, and a great numbness in her right leg. A desperate need to get air into her lungs, she lunged upward toward the now dark night sky. Though she was weakened by blood loss, her natural survival instinct kicked in. She was too far from land to swim back to shore, especially since she was so badly injured. But she had to get out of the water in case that creature returned to finish her. She frantically searched the dark surface looking for something to grab onto, preferably to get her out of the water. Once she was out of the water she would then worry about her wounded leg. To her surprise, her surf board, though split in two, was floating a few feet from her. Just as she was about to reach the board it drifted away from
grasp. The fight was swiftly draining out of her along with her blood from her wound. She was beginning to sink back under the water as she saw her captor once again swimming her way. She began to frantically splash and kick and hit at the beast that threatened her life. She nearly gave up when she saw the black, doll like eyes roll over into its head and turn to white. The teeth, that had held her captive only a few minutes before, were bright white and as large as shot glasses, sparkled at her in what looked to her as a sinisterly cruel malicious smile. She had no sooner reached the surface again and took in a giant gulp of air when she was dragged unmercifully under the crimson water. Afraid and helpless, not knowing what to do, a terrible feeling of dread consumed her. She was going to die. She was going to be consumed as dinner for this horrible creature. She cursed the creature that now had both of her legs up to her thighs it its mouth slowly chewing them until the bones crushed beneath its mighty jaws and blood squirted down its throat. To her surprise, it again released her. This game of cat and mouse was wearing on her because she knew that without a doubt, she was the mouse to this giant cat. Unlike the last time it attacked, she quickly reached the surface of the water and breathed in the air that her body so desperately needed. She cried out for mercy and begged God to send someone to help her. She knew that the next time that the creature attacked she would definitely die, not that she could possible survive the past two attacks without some sort of divine intervention.

She watched warily as the creature began to circle around her in a preditorial arch. This was it, she thought. She was going to die. She never got to say good by to anyone. Her family. Her friends. They probably weren't even going to have a body to mourn for. They won't even know what happened to her. This isn't how she wanted to die. She wanted to live. She wanted to grow old, to have a family, to live through many adventures. She was too young to die. To be some creature's feast. Tears began to roll down her cheeks mixing with the salt water droplets that dripped from her forehead. Dazed with pain, fear, and regret she didn't notice the soft mechanical hum that approached until it was almost upon her. The hum belonged to a Coast Guard patrol boat. God bless her parents. They must have called and alerted them to her absence. With a deafening blast, simultaneous rounds of bullets pummeled the creature's head. She watched horrified as one bullet entered the creature's now white eye and its blood exited its mouth mixing with her blood as it was about to strike its final death blow. Finally, she was safe. Her heroes pulled her from the dark water and quickly began to see to her wounds. They were amazed that she had survived such a vicious attack.

"You are a lucky girl, miss. This was a hungry Great White. Normally, they don't eat humans they often mistake surfers for sea lions, but this one seemed determined to eat you. It must have been very hungry indeed." Said the older Coast Guard captain. She was just thankful that she was out of the water and away from that monster. Finally as they approached land, she let herself drift away into blissful oblivion, just giving thanks to everything and everyone that she survived.

She now stood on the wet sand after two agonizingly painful years in recovery. Standing on her own two feet, able to walk. It had taken many hours of reconstructive surgery and physical therapy on her legs, though with a cane and a limp, she still walked on her own and stood here looking out at what she once believed was her ocean. She was now able to sleep through the night without waking up screaming for mercy, crying out the pain that is no longer there, reliving that day everytime that she closed her eyes. She was still unable to enter the once beloved water where the dangerous mysteries below are hidden by the beauty above. Her dreams may have once laid within the arms of the ocean but her feet now stayed firmly planted in the sand. She will never feel the gentle swaying of her surf board beneath her as she drifts with the tide out to the ocean's mysterious depths again. The creature installed a great fear within her heart. The fear of one's own mortality. A fear that she will never over come. For now, she just stands at the edge of the ocean letting the waves pull at her legs, just grateful to be standing there feeling that cool water and the sand between her toes. Sad that she will never trust the ocean again. The sky, now dark, erupted in a display of white electrical streaks and thunder rumbled in the distance. It was time to return home. To the safety of her house. She turned, never glancing back at the ocean as it waved a final farewell to its beloved mistress.

The End.