Depths of Despair

Part 1

                                       Chapter 1: Not Just a Nightmare

Today had probably been the worst day ever. Most fifteen year old girls would love to go hang out with friends and a bunch of hot surfer boys at the beach. Not Vanora Dawson though. She hated the water. No one except her mother knew why. No one knew why, after two years ago, she would never go near water again. Last year her mother and father took her to the beach to celebrate her surviving her first year of high school. It was a hot, perfectly normal summer day in San Diego. They were going to their private beach area to surf the high waves. After riding the waves for a few hours, Vanora and her mother had went back to the beach to rest and eat lunch.

"Aw come on guys," called her father playfully, "We are here to go surfing not spend the whole time sun tanning!"

"Give it a rest Brian!" answered her mother, laying down under the umbrella and grabbing a coke from the cooler, "We've been surfing for two hours."

Vanora smiled. This day was perfect. She loved the way that the blue-green foaming waves went back and forth. It was so relaxing. Nothing could possibly ruin this day. But she didn't realize how wrong she was. Her perfect day was about to turn into the worst day of her life. A day that she would never forget.

While Vanora and her mom ate their lunch, her father paddled the surfboard farther out to sea. Vanora knew how daring her father could be when it came to surfing the big waves.

"Brian!" his wife called from where she lay, her golden hair falling over her shoulders, "Are you going to come eat your lunch now or shall I feed it to the gulls?"

"I'll be right there Kristin!" he shouted back.

Vanora rolled her eyes. Whenever her father said he would be right there, it would usually be another twenty minutes before he actually showed up. After another ten minutes, her mother said, "Vanora get the other surfboard and paddle out to where your father is. Tell him to get over here right now."

"But—"

"No buts!" said her mother shaking her finger at her daughter, her sapphire-blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"Fine!" moaned Vanora in mock annoyance, ducking out from the umbrella and brushing the sand off her navy bathing suit.

Tossing her thick brown braid over her shoulder she stalked over to the other surfboard and stepped into the cool water. Quickly, she pushed off the soft sand and swung her legs onto the board. She allowed the calm waves to pull her farther out to where her father was cruising on the larger and wilder waves. She let her finger brush through the waves, smiling in delight when she saw sea lions swimming further beneath the surface. Being back at the beach brought back so many memories. Her father getting her up in the morning even before the sun was up, so they look at the newborn baby sea lions. And of course she would never forget her dad teaching her how to surf. When she was younger, her dad only let her ride small ones, but now she was his Surfer Girl and could ride the big waves as long as he was with her.

"Hey Dad!" she called, "Mom wants you to come back to shore now and eat lunch."

"So the jailer has sent you to come bring me back to prison?" he yelled back, smiling mischievously.

"Yup. She said to bring you back right now."

"Alright, tell you what. Let's ride this wave back to shore.

"Okay Dad, but we'd better hurry."

"Right. We don't want to keep her waiting."

In a few moments the two of them were flying over the choppy water. Vanora loved surfing, especially with her dad. He after all was the one who had taught her. They were still on the large wave when something moved in the water. Squinting, she looked harder at the water. Something was moving far beneath the surface. That something had eyes.

She stepped forward to better see the creature and at that exact moment, the surfboard jolted in the choppy water. Vanora felt herself pitch forward. Flailing her arms, she grabbed at nothing. She heard her father's shout drowned out as she hit the churning waves. It was a lot colder than she had expected. She couldn't see anything. Even though she had trained her eyes to open underwater. Inky black water enveloped her. That was strange the water was only about ten feet deep here. How could the water be black? Something in her brain screamed SWIM, but she couldn't swim. There was something wrapped around her ankle. She kicked hard and her foot came in contact with something cold, clammy and squishy. Where was her dad? He had seen her fall, so why wasn't he here? Her lungs began to ache. She needed air or she would die! Heavy weight dropped on all parts of her body and then her father was there. His powerful arms encircled her waist and he tried to yank her towards away. But the thing holding her was too strong. He soon realized that she was caught and swam down to free her. After a while, the water began to become slightly lighter and she felt the grip on her ankle slacken. Vanora looked down to where her dad was working on the thing around her ankle and saw that something was snaking itself around her father's waist.

Vanora waved her arm frantically to warn him, but he didn't look up. The water at the ocean bottom was still inky black so she could not see the creature holding her in its slimy grasp. Her lungs were now screaming and she felt her life ebbing away. Her father finally succeeded in yanking the thing off her and had begun to swim up toward her. He had reached her waist when it happened. He could swim no further. Her father looked up at her in surprise in fear, realizing that he was now caught.

"Go," he mouthed, "Save yourself!"

Vanora shook her head. Her father frowned and seemed to come to a decision. Reaching up he grabbed her waist and shoved her, with the last of his strength to the surface. Vanora kicked her legs frantically and as she did, she looked down one last time. Her father's limp body was being dragged down deeper into the now black frigid water.

In a few moments she had dragged herself back onto shore where her mother stood waiting, worry etched all over her face.

"What happened? Where is your father? Are you okay?"

Vanora could do nothing at that moment but choke up water and cry harder than she had ever cried before. When she had composed herself and her mom had wrapped her in a beach towel, she told her mom everything. When she reached the part of him shoving her upward, she broke down into renewed sobs. Her mother hugged her and cried with her too, trying to comfort her heartbroken daughter.

They had been unable to find his body and everyone knew that this could only mean one thing. Her father was dead. After the funeral, Vanora made a vow that she would never go near the water again. She knew that she couldn't have even if she had wanted to. She would forever have the terrible scene replaying in her mind. Now, a year later, everyone seemed to have forgotten the traumatizing story. Vanora's friends and even her mother.