The Eyes of the Water

Chapter 1: A Horrible First Day

When the sun rises in the early morning, most cities began bustling as people head to their jobs or when they are coming home from the late, night shift. But Sea Salt beach was different, being the small town that it was. The small town in Florida was always oddly quiet. Not even many cars went down the road because many people just took the local bus and others always walked. Most things always remained the same. The two old ladies and a young musician would always go to the café in the mornings when it was quietest. A lady would always walk her dog along the beach and a sweet young girl would always watch the waves and collect seashells. Occasionally, couples would stroll the cool beach in the mornings but not many people visited early in the day. On the bus, on those quiet mornings you would always see the same faces. Some would change seats, some would always be sitting in the same spot. Those people would always go to the same places, nothing changed. Until one morning, a teenage girl, stumbled onto the bus, with a yellow uniform. She pushed her ombre brown hair out of her face, wiping sweat from her head. She plopped into a seat and didn't say a word. Not like there was much conversation anyways. You could only hear faint murmurs and laughter. The bus ride felt long and tedious to everyone there. The atmosphere felt different, and slightly uncomfortable. When the girl's stop finally arrived, she waved to the bus driver and dashed out.

"Don't screw this up, don't screw this up, don't screw this up." she thought to herself as she opened the doors to a small office nearby where you would buy tickets at Water Paradise, the top underwater theme park in miles of that small town, where her new job would be.

The man sitting at the office's desk was intimidating. He stared deep into her eyes, looking her up and down.

"Please, take a seat." he said.

The girl took her seat, twiddling her fingers uncomfortably, as the man typed something up on his computer, he glanced away from his computer.

"What is your name?"

"Erm...Carmen. Carmen Rivera? I applied for a job here and got accepted in."

He slowly nodded, pursing his lips and typing some more. He turned away from his computer, folded his hands onto his desk and leaned towards her. Carmen could feel his breath on her face. She felt even more uncomfortable.

"So, I know you've already been accepted Ms. Rivera but you have never talked to me. We take things very serious here at Water Paradise. We are a prestigious institution! So, might I ask, why did you apply to work here?"

Carmen began to sweat more, she was at a loss for words. Never in her life had she been more intimidated.

"I... I want to be a m-marine biologist." she stuttered, "I hear they give good scholarships to Whitewater Institute. That's the college I want to go to."

"You've heard correctly Ms. Rivera. But as I said, we take things very seriously here, so if you mess up, you can kiss your scholarship goodbye." he said, snapping at Carmen. "If anything goes wrong you report to me. My name is John Carver, but you will call Mr. Carver or sir."

He looked back at the paper, "Now, it says here you've worked with marine life before, you have a main course of study in marine life at your school, you one three awards in the year 2045 for your marine life research and conservation project. It also says you..." 

He paused and chuckled a little bit, rubbing the beard on his chin, "Am I reading this right? It says here you can't swim!"

"Yeah, even though I love the sea and marine life...I've never learned to swim." She stuttered

Carver laughed and took off his glasses rubbing his eyes.

"A girl who wants to be a marine biologist who can't swim?" he sighed, "Best story I've heard yet. Listen, I can't trust you with those animals if you can't even swim. You'll be cleaning tanks with Carl Damien."