The Creation of Oblivion

ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ 1

     Sliding across the clear, blue ocean, I smiled as the taste of salt entered my mouth. My jet black board cruised beautifully along the water, just as it was intended to. The sun was bright, as always, and it warmed my back just enough to keep me going as I rode the Malibu waves. Surfing was my pride and joy, as I've been doing it since I was a child. Of course, there've been times when I thought I was done, I thought it was over; surfing wasn't for me. But over and over again I've proved myself wrong, and I have been living the best life since I told myself I was prepared, confident, and overall, happy.

     As I cruised towards the shore, I noticed my older brother Collin waving me over frantically. I turned my board in his direction and went as fast as I could.

     Nearing him, I noticed a group of bystanders off towards the side of where he was standing. I saw what looked like a stingray lying on the sand. Collin kneeled on the ground and began splashing water on it. I hit the shore, scooped up my board, and ran over to him.

   "I don't know how long this one's been out of the water, but it doesn't look like she'll survive much longer. Help me bring her back in?" He asked, gesturing to the stingray.

     "It's a him. A boy, see his pelvic fins?" I replied, "It looks like he hasn't been out for long, you can still see he has water on him, which means the sun hasn't had time to dry it, so it's alright." I looked up at him and he cocked his head, giving me that what language are you speaking look.

     Ever since I was a child, marine biology was my passion. Being born on the coast of California, it was a natural thing to be drawn towards the ocean, especially from a young age. My dad, also being a marine biologist, influenced my life for the better. My mother encouraged it before she passed away, and so I started looking into it. I hope after leaving school I can get into a good college where I can study marine biology as a permanent occupation.

I sighed. "Grab the underneath, but be careful not to touch his mouth," I told him. We grabbed the ray and carefully brought him back to the ocean. It wasn't but ten feet away, although it took us a time. After we successfully put it back into the water, Collin turned to me.

"Hey Lea, me, dad, and a few of his friends are going out later today, they wanted to see if you would come with us," He said,"We're supposed to be scuba diving, I think they're trying to get more reports for that News guy that contacted them."

    A few weeks ago, according to Collin, one of the local Newspaper editors reached out to my father, talking about how there've been sightings of 'huge, crocodile looking creatures' out about fifty miles from shore. I thought it was a waste of time to check, but I didn't have anything better to do today.

It was a waste of time.

    "Sure, what time are we planning on heading out? I wanted to grab some ice cream from Lulu's in town," I said with a smile.

     "About three. Mind if I tag along?"

     "Be my guest."

                                         ☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

     After getting ice cream and stopping back at home to grab our diving gear, we headed towards the dock off the peer. It was a private one, unlike the crowded public ones off the main beach. Our peer was on a rural peninsula, only five minutes away from where we lived. We met up with my father and a few of his friends, later which I was introduced to as Beckham, Milo, and his son Adrian. Beckham and Milo were both in their late fifties, as was my dad, and Adrian seemed to be in his early twenties.