Swim with me?

Rise and Shine

Jasper

Great. Just great. Another family trip. I huffed and looked out the window of the plane. Why, out of all places that we could've gone, why a beach cabin? I turned on a different song and it blared through my headphones. I should at least try to sleep until we're there. My mom said it was gonna be a long flight and we'd been in the air for less than an hour. I leaned back in my seat, still facing the window and closed my eyes. I couldn't wait for this to be over. Five weeks. Just five. Weeks.

"Jasper. Hey, wake up. We're here." I was shaken out of sleep by my mom. I stretched and sat up. "Come on kiddo. We're taking a boat now." She said. I groaned and stood up grabbing my carry on bag. I followed my family through the terminal and to the baggage claim. We all grabbed our bags and decided to get lunch, seeing as we had about an hour before it was time to leave. As soon as I was done eating I walked over to the gift shop and looked around. I found a couple of small trinkets, one was a necklace with a large shell that opened up into a compartment. The other was a small box and inside was a figure of a mermaid, well merman. I know it seemed stupid for a sixteen year old guy to even think about buying it, but, for some reason I was drawn to it. I picked it up and paid for it

I put the necklace around my neck and met my family outside of the airport. "Okay, our boat is right over there. We'll be taking it out to the island and stay there for the five weeks we're here." My dad said leading us to a medium sized boat that was tied to the dock. We put our bags in and climbed in. My mom untied it and my dad steered us into the deep blue waters. I reached out my hand and felt the cool water as we rushed through. We floated through the waters for maybe forty minutes when the island finally cam into view. "That's where we'll be for the next few weeks." My dad said. "I can't wait to see what it looks like!" My younger sister, Jaquline, said. "Jasper, are you okay over there?" My mom asked. "Hm? Oh, yeah. Just lost in thought I guess." I stared back down at the water and I could've sworn I saw something pretty big moving around underneath the boat. But it was gone before I could point it out. 

We pulled up to the shore and docked the boat. We lugged everything inside and started putting our stuff away. As soon as I was done I collapsed on the bed. It was still kind of early. Only 7:30 in the morning here.I picked up the little figurine that I bought and began to mess around with it. It wasn't very detailed, despite being the size of my hand. It was a basic figure, the tail looked like something you'd see from Mako Mermaids. Really simple. I huffed and set it down. Still tired, I closed my eyes and tried to get some more sleep. When my eyes finally shut I was thankful. 

"Jasper! Dad said to get up! We're going swimming!" I yelled as I tumbled out of the bed. I landed on the floor with a painful thud. "Jaquline!" She was standing at my door laughing. "What time is it?" I asked rubbing my side as I stood. "9:45, now get up." 

"Yeah, yeah. Get out so I can change." I said shooing her out. At least I slept for a couple of hours. I pulled out my swim trunks and a tank top, pulling them on. I took off the necklace I had bought and set it out on my bed. No way was I gonna risk losing that. I yawned and walked outside. My mom, dad, and sister were already in the water splashing around. I walked out and sat on the sand, letting the warm water wash over my feet. "Come on Jas, don't be a buzzkill." My sister said. "Excuse me for just waking back up." I yawned. "Get in the water or I'll drag you in myself. I groaned and pulled off the tank top, wading into the water. Compared to the heat of the sun, the water felt amazing. 

I dove under the water and started to swim around. Maybe this would be fun.

I opened my eyes and looked around. There were fish and different stones and shells on the floor of the ocean. Something big was moving in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw the tail of the fish disappear from view. I swam up and got air before diving back down and trying to spot it again. I swam towards the rock that it disappeared behind.

When I pulled myself around it I was hit with a burst of bubbles, sending me back a couple feet. I reoriented myself and looked around. Whatever I had seen was gone and there was no point in hunting it down. I swam back up to see my sister and my mom making a sad castle and my dad digging around in the shed. I swam back up to shore and climbed out, walking over to my dad. "Hey Jas, you wanna take these out a little ways?" He pulled out a paddle board. "Um, yeah. Sure." I said. He handed me a blue one and gave me a paddle. "Me and Jaquline are gonna go make lunch. You two have fun." My mom said as we walked out and put our boards in the water.