Hi, I'm Shelby. I'm here to tell you about the day I lost my cousin and the horrible memory that magnified my childhood fear.
I sat on the beach, in my bathing suit, as far as possible from the water, watching my two older cousins, Sara and Kate, play in the shallow.
From time to time they would beckon me to go and play with them. I'd quickly refused their offer.
I don't think I'll ever go swimming in the sea again because I really don't intend to relive that moment of my life. That was my darkest moment and the beginning of my fear.
"Shelby." My big sister, Molly called behind me."Come on, lets go take a dip with the girls."
I turned and glared at her. Its not like she didn't know my condition or what had happened to me. It was actually all her fault. She was the one that wanted us to go swimming out in the deep. I should have said no. Now I'm the only one who has to go through this.
Molly gave me a sheepish smile. "Shelby, please, it has been three years since then, you need to get over this."
"This is your fault, Molly." I deadpanned.
Molly frowns. She holds onto my arm and pouts.
"Shelby. If you want to get over this problem, you have to confront it."
"I don't need to confront it!" I half shout.
Molly shushed me and grabbed my arm. She then began to pulled me towards the water. I tried to pull out of her grasp and run back to my previous spot.
"Come on!" Molly shouted, grabbing the attention of the girls in the water.
"No!" I screamed and tried harder to push away from Molly but couldn't. Her hand was tightly clasped around mine. My heart rate went up. It felt like it was going to pop out of my chest.
We stopped at the edge of the water. Molly then proceeded to pull me into the water but I wasn't budging. Molly's eyes met mine as two narrow slits.
She looked furious. Her eyes seemed to be darker and her pupils looked bigger. It could've been because of the lack of light but this looked a little too weird. Sarah and Kate stopped what they were doing and came over.
We continued to stare into each other's eyes until Kate rested her hand on Molly's shoulder. Molly looked at her, her face becoming neutral.
"If she doesn't want come in you shouldn't force her." Kate stated while Sarah unclasped Molly's hand from mine.
"Let's go and leave Shelby here Mols." Sarah said pulling her into the shallow.
"Let's run to the deep." Kate suggested excitedly then they were off.
I decided to go inside and get some cola to calm myself. As I walked up the the back gate that led to the back yard and pool, I noticed someone in our pool, two persons actually. I walked up to find Molly and her creepy boyfriend Steven making out in the pool. I started to jog to pass them, since I didn't want him to talk to me at all.
"Hi Molly, hi Steven." I say jogging pass them.
Then it hit me. If Molly is on the beach with the girls, how could she be here too? Molly's face became confused as she watched my horrified face.
"Kate and Sarah!" I blabbered and took off back to the beach to get my cousins.
Molly must have ignored me because there weren't any footsteps behind me. There was a horrifying scream that sent chills through my body. I tried to locate the girls but it was way too dark to see beyond the shallow water. I ran faster and reached to the edge of the water to find Sarah lying on her back, a few feet away from me, in the water, horrified. Kate on the other hand looked like she was being dragged out to sea by something.
I looked down at the water. I had to get get over this fear or I at least had to save Kate, so I ran. I ran after my cousin and and held onto her bloodied hands, and pulled, I wasn't sure from what. I pulled with all my strength and she came flying towards me and knocked me over into the cold, salty water, that went into my mouth and covered most of my body. She held onto me, her body shaking as she cried. I pushed her to the side and looked for her assaulter. What I saw reminded me why I didn't go into the sea anymore.
The creature I saw that night. Its long thick body that stretched back into the dark sea.There were two white orbs the creature used for eyes. The mouth was pulled back into a horrid grin that showed little teeth. The creature had no other limbs but the clawed hand coming out of its head. That's how it got is victims, by grabbing hold of them and dragging it back to the deep to its lair.
Kate and I were frozen in place. The creatures body loomed over us, swaying from side to side. It smiled, displaying its jagged but unbelievably perfect white teeth. My mind was telling me to get up and run but my body wasn't listening. The creature came close. So close that I felt it's breath on my face.
"He-. Hel-. Hello." It rasped.
At that moment I could've felt my body weakening, like I was going to faint. It was going finally to take me, since it didn't get a chance last time. It's hand reached towards me, or rather behind me, towards Kate, which had moved away from me crawling backwards. I saw her look at me then at the creature looming over me before it's hand grabbed her leg, lifted her flailing body over me and clearly said,
"Good Bye."
I watched helplessly as it darted back to the deep taking my screaming cousin with it.
I never went into the sea again. It even got to the point were I couldn't bathe or consume a glass of water because I felt like I was reliving the trauma.
