Revelations Unfurled

Chapter one

Summer was over, fall had begun and the beach was closed to public. To any other ocean addict this public announcement  would have been very dispiriting, but for the adventurous Kyla Shoal it was a gift from the tides. She loved the ocean, and was a little protective over it. She would rather be alone  on the beach than be with any family member. That fact was probably because Kyla's family was broken. Only the shared belief on the environment held Kyla and her father together. Kyla had also grown up with the ocean, and it became like a real father, a father she could lean on. It did help to have an oceanic father that didn't tell her how abnormal she was, then try and make it sound like a complement by calling it uniqueness.

Kyla always had the feeling she wasn't normal, and the school's harassment of Kyla's passion for the ocean didn't help. But her love wasn't the strange thing. It was the fact that sometimes water would follow her, that sometimes she knew what the future held before it happened. It wasn't like a vision or anything, it was just an idea Kyla would get. And then it would happen just as Kyla had thought, just as the idea had played out in her head. It was as if Kyla had a sixth, seventh and eighth sense. It wasn't like Kyla was psychic or anything, she just felt like she wasn't meant to be in this day and age. It was like there was another type of person that Kyla belonged to, but just couldn't find. Sometimes she wondered why she was even on the earth, especially when she didn't fit in to any group at all. Kyla was a lamb in a wolf pack, and was reminded of it every day.

Kyla's bond to the sea must have come from her father, because he was always around the ocean. Her father worked for a marine hospital and zoo called "The Shoal," and had worked there for about twenty years now. When he had first opened the hospital and zoo, it was just him. Now they had five other workers on the "team". Anytime there was an injured animal or creature of the ocean, be it a whale, dolphin, turtle, fish, crab or whatever problem washed up, the Shoal response team would get together and take the creature back to the hospital in thirty minutes at most.

If it was a big creature in the deep water, too hard to help without equipment, they would send a ship to carry a large strap that would lift the creature onto the deck, and carry it to the shore. Once on beach they would take a truck and load the boat onto a trailer, and carry it back to hospital. It was a complex hand off, but it had happened enough times that the Shoal team could get an orca back to the hospital in about fifteen minutes. They were always improving their routine to get faster, and helped draw attention to the growing problem of the dying world.

If a simple creature like a turtle or a dolphin washed up near the shore, Kyla's father would leave the team at the hospital and carry it on a stretcher back to the hospital himself. He would always make a point to tell the citizens that if a creature ever did wash up, it was important not to harass the animal. They never listened, but the message was out there. Being on the beach was the most dangerous place for marine animals. The people would stress them, the birds would hurt them, and the lack of water would kill them. Kyla's father always did his best to get to the beach as fast as possible when a report got to him. It was more often than not he would have the animal back in about ten minutes. Kyla's father saved a lot of lives, but sometimes he arrived to late. The job he had was both heartbreaking and exhilarating. But it wasn't the number of lives that made him feel satisfied, or the attention he got. It was the fact that in his mind he made the world just a little bit better. That was enough for him.

The Shoal hospital also had other marine creatures that were not habituated to the California region. Sea animals like sea lions, seals, penguins, and polar bears were brought to The Shoal if they could not be returned to the wild. Animals all over the world were taken to The Shoal, because they took the best care of their animals, and they were the only place to go to. Not that anyone really cared that much, but there were a few souls sprinkled here and there that did truly care about the world, and would pay the Shoal hospital to take in the injured animal. Those select few were those that helped the hospital stand and thrive to the best of its ability. They always sent money and animals, and wished them the best. More and more animals were being sent in as the years progressed, which saddened Kyla. "At least they have a good home," her father would say. The only problem was that every year that number of animals were increasing, but the number of caring people were getting smaller and smaller. Kyla's father feared that soon, he and Kyla would be the only ones left that really loved their world, and with their only hospital income being from those who donated, it didn't look good. As much as they tried to spread the passion the Shoal team shared, no one wanted to listen. There wasn't much else they could do except save lives and believe in the power of nature, hoping that the people of earth could open their eyes and see the crumbling world around them.