Jake
“There was something murky in the water that day. I know it. I know what I saw.”
The gorgeous sky loomed over my head. The sun just started to fade, replaced by darkening clouds. There always had been something stunning about a moment before a storm. Something so peaceful, entrancing. The clouds themselves could devour me whole if I-
“Savannah!”
I gently lifted my head off the edge of the paddle board. Mom stood on the corner of the dock, her eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed.
“Dinner,” she said curtly.
“What?” I shouted back at her.
“Dinner.” Mom’s eyes glanced quickly around the ocean. “Where’s your brother?”
I sat up on the paddle board and turned to my left.
“He’s right-“ But he’s not there. He wasn’t floating next to me with his ugly neon swimsuit, thick metal bracelet, and little smiley smirk.
I gulped. He came back. Didn’t he? We were on Manatee Island and we fought, sure, but then the sky grew gray and we paddled back. He paddled back with me.
“He must still be on the island. I’ll go get him,” I told mom even though I knew he couldn’t possibly be there. Where else could he be though? There was no other explanation. Jake played some kind of trick and now I gotta go all the way back and get him.
I paddled away from the dock and out towards the island as quickly as possible to avoid any criticism Mom was about to throw at me.
The water was a cold blue almost like ice or maybe glass. Something shimmered beneath the water. Slowly, I reached down below the surface. Maybe a long broken cellphone or lost sunglasses. Could even be a metal bracelet. The thought crossed my mind, but I pushed it out of the way. If I could just grasp-
“Ah!” I let out a blood curdling shriek, yanking my hand back. Blood pooled from my palm. A thick burning sensation ran up and down by arm. I trembled and the board shook underneath me. A long, black fish leapt out of the water. I took a deep breath.
“It’s just a fish. It’s just a fucking aggressive, mean fish. But a fish nonetheless.”
I dared to take another peek at my hand. Blood poured out of it; running hot and sticky down my board. A wave of nausea rolled through me. In middle school, I was known as the girl who fainted in Biology cause I couldn’t handle dissecting a pig.
Through the gaping cut in my hand, I saw white plastic or maybe- it was bone. It was fucking bone. I quickly yanked off my life vest and tore off the strap on the front. I tied it around the wound, hoping it would stop the bleeding. The blood blurred red in my eyes. Nausea rolled through me again and this time I puked over the side of the board. Fucking bone.
The wind began to pick up around me as I inched toward the island. I shivered, wishing I wore something more than a bikini. In the distance, the clouds turn almost black. The water itself turned murkier and murkier. Almost green. I just needed to find Jake and get out of here.
Manatee Island loomed just in front of me. It wasn’t so much of an island as it was a tiny patch of land in the middle of the ocean. From the center point I could see almost entirely around the desolate island. I didn’t see him. Jake wasn’t there. My heart sank.
“Jake!” I screamed his name even though I could clearly see he was not there. “Jake, stop fucking with me!”
Nothing.
Circling in the sky, a group of black vultures caw. Their screeches pierce the thick air. They circle around something just over the side of the island.
“No,” I barely let out.
I drag my paddle board up on to the sand and take off running. Large rocks and sharp shells dig into my feet. Blood runs hot in between my toes. I told you to wear shoes, Mom nagged in my head.
At the top of the hill was when I first saw him. Jake’s lifeless body strewn across the sand like some kind of rag doll. The vultures circled in closer. An inhumane scream unleashed from my body. I charged down the beach, his body becoming bigger and bigger. Rough sand snaked up my body as I fell to the ground next to him. Tears poured down my face. Blood, once pouring out of his head, had now hardened around him almost like a crown. I grabbed him and his skin merely peeled off. I shook my head. He looked as though he’d been there for weeks. I just saw him an hour ago. Laughing, screaming, fighting, breathing, living.
Next to Jake, laid out on the beach, were three letters, H-E-L, written in blood. A vulture swooped down from the sky. The bird reached down and pulled one of Jake’s ocean blue eyes right from his socket. The muscles snapped. I screamed.
“No! No! Don’t take more of him away! Don’t take him.” Tears rushed down my face rapidly. “He’s only eight.”
Jake’s hand reached up and grabbed my hair. I shrieked and reeled back, slamming into a rock.
Everything faded to black.
“Savannah.”
I swear I heard him whisper my name. I swear.
When I came to, everything was gone. The body. The blood. The letters. The vultures. It was all gone.
“No.” I shook my head. “No. He was right here. He was right fucking here.”
Thunder cackled over my head. Even God was laughing at me. I had to leave. I ran back to the bay side. I froze in horror. The paddle and board were no longer on the sand. Down the water, I can barely make it out. The board was at least several miles from me into the ocean. I wanted to cry. I did cry. But then, I charged into the glass sea and started to swim. The salt stung my hand, but I kept going. Further out, lighting cracked through the sky. I swam faster and faster still. If lightening hit while I was still out here...
Monstrous waves began to lap over me. I pushed myself up, struggling for a breath. The water burned my eyes. Another bolt of lightening crackled through the sky. For an instant, the water was illuminated. Finally, I could see beneath the surface. Dozens upon dozens of massive fish swam toward me. Fear pulsed through my body. If you ever see fish coming at you, it means there’s something bigger chasing them, one of my mom’s beach safety tips.
I quickly turned the other way and began swimming with the fish. The waves grew bigger, crashing over my head, stealing my breath. The moments of air grew farther and farther apart. The current pulled me deeper under the water. I struggled against it, but there was no use. I choked, gasping for air I couldn’t reach.
The water began to turn a deep red around me. Something slimy and rough ran up my back. Slowly, I turned around. A large black beast grinned at me. His body was made up of slick black scales. Tiny water bugs buzzed all over the mammoth. His mouth opened wide, revealing four sets of teeth, white and sharp like a shark, each the size of my head. His eyes, a bright red, the color of the end of the world, locked with mine.
Slowly and painfully, a large tentacle reached around me and pulled me under.
“Now Savannah, you know that’s not what happened.”
My face starts to burn.
“It is. I know what I saw,” I plead with the man in the white lab coat.
“No. You killed Jake that night on the island,” he says to me calmly.
I thrash in my chair, tugging at the restraints.
“Nonono. I didn’t! I would never!” I scream back at him.
In the corner of the dark, gray room, I can see them watching me.
“Help! Someone please! Help!” I pull and pull, but the restraints don’t move.
No one comes to help me.
“No, say it. Say that you and your brother got into a fight on that island and you killed him. Say that you killed Jake!”
Tears stream down my face. “I didn’t! I didn’t do it!”
“I think your lying.”
The gorgeous sky loomed over my head. The sun just started to fade, replaced by darkening clouds. There always had been something stunning about a moment before a storm. Something so peaceful, entrancing. The clouds themselves could devour me whole if I-
“Savannah!”
I gently lifted my head off the edge of the paddle board. Mom stood on the corner of the dock, her eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed.
“Dinner,” she said curtly.
“What?” I shouted back at her.
“Dinner.” Mom’s eyes glanced quickly around the ocean. “Where’s your brother?”
I sat up on the paddle board and turned to my left.
“He’s right-“ But he’s not there. He wasn’t floating next to me with his ugly neon swimsuit, thick metal bracelet, and little smiley smirk.
I gulped. He came back. Didn’t he? We were on Manatee Island and we fought, sure, but then the sky grew gray and we paddled back. He paddled back with me.
“He must still be on the island. I’ll go get him,” I told mom even though I knew he couldn’t possibly be there. Where else could he be though? There was no other explanation. Jake played some kind of trick and now I gotta go all the way back and get him.
I paddled away from the dock and out towards the island as quickly as possible to avoid any criticism Mom was about to throw at me.
The water was a cold blue almost like ice or maybe glass. Something shimmered beneath the water. Slowly, I reached down below the surface. Maybe a long broken cellphone or lost sunglasses. Could even be a metal bracelet. The thought crossed my mind, but I pushed it out of the way. If I could just grasp-
“Ah!” I let out a blood curdling shriek, yanking my hand back. Blood pooled from my palm. A thick burning sensation ran up and down by arm. I trembled and the board shook underneath me. A long, black fish leapt out of the water. I took a deep breath.
“It’s just a fish. It’s just a fucking aggressive, mean fish. But a fish nonetheless.”
I dared to take another peek at my hand. Blood poured out of it; running hot and sticky down my board. A wave of nausea rolled through me. In middle school, I was known as the girl who fainted in Biology cause I couldn’t handle dissecting a pig.
Through the gaping cut in my hand, I saw white plastic or maybe- it was bone. It was fucking bone. I quickly yanked off my life vest and tore off the strap on the front. I tied it around the wound, hoping it would stop the bleeding. The blood blurred red in my eyes. Nausea rolled through me again and this time I puked over the side of the board. Fucking bone.
The wind began to pick up around me as I inched toward the island. I shivered, wishing I wore something more than a bikini. In the distance, the clouds turn almost black. The water itself turned murkier and murkier. Almost green. I just needed to find Jake and get out of here.
Manatee Island loomed just in front of me. It wasn’t so much of an island as it was a tiny patch of land in the middle of the ocean. From the center point I could see almost entirely around the desolate island. I didn’t see him. Jake wasn’t there. My heart sank.
“Jake!” I screamed his name even though I could clearly see he was not there. “Jake, stop fucking with me!”
Nothing.
Circling in the sky, a group of black vultures caw. Their screeches pierce the thick air. They circle around something just over the side of the island.
“No,” I barely let out.
I drag my paddle board up on to the sand and take off running. Large rocks and sharp shells dig into my feet. Blood runs hot in between my toes. I told you to wear shoes, Mom nagged in my head.
At the top of the hill was when I first saw him. Jake’s lifeless body strewn across the sand like some kind of rag doll. The vultures circled in closer. An inhumane scream unleashed from my body. I charged down the beach, his body becoming bigger and bigger. Rough sand snaked up my body as I fell to the ground next to him. Tears poured down my face. Blood, once pouring out of his head, had now hardened around him almost like a crown. I grabbed him and his skin merely peeled off. I shook my head. He looked as though he’d been there for weeks. I just saw him an hour ago. Laughing, screaming, fighting, breathing, living.
Next to Jake, laid out on the beach, were three letters, H-E-L, written in blood. A vulture swooped down from the sky. The bird reached down and pulled one of Jake’s ocean blue eyes right from his socket. The muscles snapped. I screamed.
“No! No! Don’t take more of him away! Don’t take him.” Tears rushed down my face rapidly. “He’s only eight.”
Jake’s hand reached up and grabbed my hair. I shrieked and reeled back, slamming into a rock.
Everything faded to black.
“Savannah.”
I swear I heard him whisper my name. I swear.
When I came to, everything was gone. The body. The blood. The letters. The vultures. It was all gone.
“No.” I shook my head. “No. He was right here. He was right fucking here.”
Thunder cackled over my head. Even God was laughing at me. I had to leave. I ran back to the bay side. I froze in horror. The paddle and board were no longer on the sand. Down the water, I can barely make it out. The board was at least several miles from me into the ocean. I wanted to cry. I did cry. But then, I charged into the glass sea and started to swim. The salt stung my hand, but I kept going. Further out, lighting cracked through the sky. I swam faster and faster still. If lightening hit while I was still out here...
Monstrous waves began to lap over me. I pushed myself up, struggling for a breath. The water burned my eyes. Another bolt of lightening crackled through the sky. For an instant, the water was illuminated. Finally, I could see beneath the surface. Dozens upon dozens of massive fish swam toward me. Fear pulsed through my body. If you ever see fish coming at you, it means there’s something bigger chasing them, one of my mom’s beach safety tips.
I quickly turned the other way and began swimming with the fish. The waves grew bigger, crashing over my head, stealing my breath. The moments of air grew farther and farther apart. The current pulled me deeper under the water. I struggled against it, but there was no use. I choked, gasping for air I couldn’t reach.
The water began to turn a deep red around me. Something slimy and rough ran up my back. Slowly, I turned around. A large black beast grinned at me. His body was made up of slick black scales. Tiny water bugs buzzed all over the mammoth. His mouth opened wide, revealing four sets of teeth, white and sharp like a shark, each the size of my head. His eyes, a bright red, the color of the end of the world, locked with mine.
Slowly and painfully, a large tentacle reached around me and pulled me under.
“Now Savannah, you know that’s not what happened.”
My face starts to burn.
“It is. I know what I saw,” I plead with the man in the white lab coat.
“No. You killed Jake that night on the island,” he says to me calmly.
I thrash in my chair, tugging at the restraints.
“Nonono. I didn’t! I would never!” I scream back at him.
In the corner of the dark, gray room, I can see them watching me.
“Help! Someone please! Help!” I pull and pull, but the restraints don’t move.
No one comes to help me.
“No, say it. Say that you and your brother got into a fight on that island and you killed him. Say that you killed Jake!”
Tears stream down my face. “I didn’t! I didn’t do it!”
“I think your lying.”