Annie
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked, horrified.
Thomas smirked. “Nope. We get sharks here occasionally, mostly a few reef sharks and sometimes the big white.”
“What’s a big white?” I felt kind of stupid asking a question that seemed to be so obvious to the others; they were all gaping at me.
“You mean you’ve never seen one?”
I looked over at Seth. “I live inland, remember? No sea nearby.”
“Right.”
“Well here’s a picture of one,” Amy passed her phone over. “They can grow up to six metres or so. Although I’ve heard stories of an eight metre giant.”
Looking at the phone screen, I felt my stomach drop. The animal depicted was large, and scary to say the least. I’ve always known what a shark looks like, but this one was way larger, a dull grey colour with a white belly. Its pointed nose and beady eyes made it seem malicious, and then there were the teeth. This picture was of a great white with an open mouth, and I could clearly see rows of serrated teeth, looking razor sharp. I shivered and handed the phone back to Amy.
“So you get those around here?”
The others nodded. “It’s a rare case, usually they’re just sighted off shore a ways out by a helicopter. The beaches close and no one goes in the water.” Caroline tried to console me.
“But one time,” Thomas whispered. “Only last year, there was a guy that went swimming out there,” he pointed to the water, not too far out. “And he disappeared. The rescue team found his bathers ripped to shreds on the sea floor, and no sign of him.”
“Stop joking around!” I whined, trying to rub goose-bumps off my arms.
“I’m afraid he’s serious. The investigation was never concluded, but I think it’s been a suggested shark attack.” Seth chimed in.
We’d cleaned up dinner earlier and were all sitting on the rug, staring out at sea, save for Nathan and Bella. I looked over at my untouched bottle of beer, and decided to take a sip. It was lukewarm now, but I was thirsty and needed something to take my mind off the dangerous creatures that lurked so close to shore.
Ryan laughed when he saw me grab my beer. “Have we spooked you that much? I thought you didn’t drink.”
“Yeah well tonight I do.”
The rest of the group laughed, but we settled into a comfortable silence. On the tiers of grass around us, families were eating dinner, and their little kids played happily on the sand. The waves had grown larger, and the sea looked more restless and choppy. Seagulls mulled around where we sat, squawking at us for food and moving on when we didn’t oblige.
“I want to go for a swim,” I announced.
“Really? Right now?” Amy grumbled.
Caroline frowned at me. “I thought you didn’t want to go before.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I’ll go in my undies, they’re just like bathers, right?”
“Alright, I’ll accompany you.” Thomas stood up and linked arms with me. “After all, who’s going to protect you from the man-eating sharks?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “There are no helicopters, and heaps of people are in the water. I’ll take my chances.”
Thomas shrugged and winked at the others. We left our shoes behind and moved down the wooden stairs to the sand. The sun had gone down a while ago, but the sand was still fairly warm. It felt silky smooth, and I pushed my toes into it with each step, reveling in the unique feeling. When we were a few metres away from the water, I took off my shorts and thin jumper, and dropped them on the sand. I’d worn a plain black bra and undies – thank goodness – so it wasn’t too revealing. From afar, I’d bet they looked like bathers.
