Rising Tides

15

The 4th of July holiday was coming up. Just three more days left. Everyone was excited, planning parties and events with grins of glee on their faces. Sarah hobbled with her crutches down the hall, Sam and Danni at her side.

"There's going to be a big party on the boardwalk!" Danni chirped, her dark hair swinging behind her in a long, thick braid like a pendulum. A big grin on her tan face. Sam quietly strode at Sarah's right, hovering protectively around Sarah like a mother hen. She had been particularly upset when she heard about the "shark attack" and never wanted to let Sarah out of her sight. "Everyone will be there. There will be music, fireworks, rides and games, and some really yummy greasy carnival food. Oh, I can ready taste the funnel cakes. Everybody will be there."

"Sounds like fun." Said Sarah.

"I wish you could come, too, girl." Danni said sadly. "I want to go, but I don't want to go to a party knowing you're injured and will miss out on all the fun."

"It's okay. Really." Sarah reassured her with a soft smile. "I'm not one for parties, anyway. I want you to have fun."

"It won't be as fun without you, though." Danni pouted.

"I can stay with her and keep her company." Sam offered.

"No. I know you want to go to the party, too, and that your crush, Thomas McDonnell,  asked you to go with him." Sarah said. "Please don't postpone your fun for me. It would make me feel so guilty."

Sam's big brown eyes looked so sad, glinting with tears behind her glasses. "Everytime we leave you alone, something bad happens to you. First Alexander molests and harrassess you, and now you're in crutches with a cast on your leg from a shark bite. What if I go and come back to find you lost a leg or something?"

"Rowan will be with me. He won't let anything happen to me." Sarah said with confidence, stopping to give her hand a comforting squeeze. "Please, go and have fun for me. Both of you."

Sam still looked unsure. Danni just frowned. "Alright, then. If it will make you happy. Oh, by the way, did you hear the news this morning?"

"Yeah. How awful." Sam said, looking grim and sad. "I can't imagine how their families must feel."

"What happened?" Sarah asked, confused. "I haven't been keeping up with the news lately."

"Dead bodies have been washing up on beaches all over the coast." Danni grimaced. "They were all ripped apart and marred so badly that the authorities had trouble identifying them. Limbs and sections of their faces and torsos were gone, some were decapitated and their bodies split in two, organs and guts were completely missing from their bodies, deep scratch marks and fang marks covered every inch of their skin. It sounds as though something was eating them. It sounds so horrifying! Thankfully, they didn't show any pictures. I don't think my stomach could handle seeing those corpses." Danni covered her mouth and made a face like she wanted to throw up.

"The authorities say that sharks attacked them, but that doesn't sound right to me." Sam added. "Sharks don't leave scratch marks. I don't know what happened to them, but it's not just here in America, but bodies are appearing in other countries, too. I have a friend in Australia who stumbled upon a bloody body on the beach last week during her morning jog and she was traumatized. She was sobbing and in hysterics while on the phone with me."

Sarah's blood ran cold and chills ran down her spine. She had an idea of what really happened to those people, but there was no way she would be able to explain it without sounding like a lunatic."That's terrible."

"It's freaky." Said Danni. "I'm kinda nervous about going in the ocean now. What if I'm  next?"

"Hmm. Freaky." Sarah said, lost in thought. She would have to ask Rowan what was going on when he got back. He said he was going home a while to meet with his adoptive family and that he would be back in a couple of days.

"Yeah. You were attacked by a shark, right Sarah?" Sam asked her, curls falling over her forehead and tumbling into her eyes. "What was it like?"

Sarah hated lying to anyone. Especially to her friends. She felt her heart race and beads of sweat drip down her temples. "It was terrifying. It was a large great white shark and it sank its teeth into my calf. Rowan had been giving me swimming lessons when it attacked me. I was lucky he was there to save me or I would have lost my leg."

"That's so horrifyingly romantic." Danni swooned. "How are you two, by the way?"

Sarah's mood lifted and she giggled. "I am head over heels in love with him, and he feels the same about me."

"Is he a good kisser?"

Her lips and skin tingled at the memory of their last make-out session. "The best."

"Aww. You look so good together." Sam said with a warm smile. "I'm happy you found each other. He would do anything to protect you, and I find that so beautiful. I hope I meet someone who loves me that much someday."

"Well, your crush did ask you out." Danni said as they entered the small cafe located in the main building if the University.  "That's a win in my book. Maybe he's your Mr. Right."

Sam gave a small, shy smile and looked away bashfully. "I hope so. Thomas is so cute and sweet and gentle. I really hope he's the man for me."

They were going to order lunch, but Sarah's cellphone went off. She fished it out of her bag and read the number. She was surprised to see it was her mother's number. "That's strange." She muttered. Her mother hadn't once called her since she started at Hampton. Why would she be calling now?

"Is something wrong?" Asked Sam.

"It's my mom. I'll be right back." Sarah walked briskly into a nearby bathroom and answered it. "Hello? Mom? Are you ok?"

"Sarah! Thank goodness you picked up." Came her mother's frantic voice from the speaker.

"What is it? You sound upset."

"Listen. I have something to tell you, but I can't tell you over the phone. I need to talk to you in person. Can you meet me at the dorm buildings in an hour?"

Now Sarah was worried. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Honey, it's about your father."

She almost dropped her phone. My father?

Her mother's voice sounded choked up, like she was crying. "He's dead, honey."