There were screams.
Everything was so confusing. Boats crashed into each other, bodies were splashing in the water, and more screams.
She was floating in the water. From the corner of her eye, she saw a huge fin swimming towards her. She saw its scarred face with its doll eyes, black as night, and saw huge teeth sharp as knives right in front of her. The shark opened its jaws, and she knew that she was going to die.
For a split second, she saw her childhood.
She was wearing a white dress for her birthday. Boys from her class were teasing her, but she didn't mind.
She was at church. She was at her sister's wedding. She was a flower girl. She was beautiful and happy.
She was standing still with her eyes closed. She felt warm lips touching hers. It was her first kiss.
She was floating in the water. Someone was screaming for her name. She saw the shark, and lost all hope. She thought she would never see her family again.
The shark… didn't even bother to look.
She was in pain. The shark scraped her, and she was bleeding from the jagged skin. She felt the salty water in her mouth, and she felt she was drowning. Until she felt someone was grabbing her from behind, and she screamed because she thought it was the shark.
Patrick saved her.
Lucy woke up from her nightmare. She was sweating, and her side was throbbing painfully. She wiped her tears, and sobbed. Lucy had been having nightmares for weeks now, since the incident of the shark. It was hard to believe that she was still alive after that. Maybe God really heard her prayers.
Lucy was standing in front of mirror and looked at her wounded side. Her side was bandage because the skin was bleeding when the shark scrapped her. She thought she was going to die. Patrick was shrieking in panic when he saw the shark was swimming towards her, and he swam frantically trying to save her. She almost didn't make it if Patrick didn't drag her to the cable junction island. She loved him so much, even more after the incident with the shark.
She was lucky that she was alive. The shark seemed didn't pay any attention to her, even though she was bleeding badly. The shark was more interested with Chief Brody when he made those sound by hitting the cable by his paddle. She couldn't get the image of Marge's death by that thing, and she couldn't stop praying so everyone would be safe. Maybe because of her prayer, the shark didn't after her, she wouldn't know.
Lucy sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. Her ribs sometimes made her hard to sleep. Either it was the nightmares or the side effect of the painkillers she took everyday that made her even afraid to close her eyes. Patrick came by visiting her everyday, much to her parents' chagrin. Not because they didn't fond the boy, but they thought that he was the one who put Lucy into jeopardy because he took her on the sailing trip.
It had been a month since the incident, but it was hard for Lucy to forget the whole thing. She couldn't even go to the beach anymore because she was traumatized. She remembered the funeral for Eddie, Marge, and that helicopter pilot; there were empty caskets because there were no bodies. Lucy remembered how Tina passed out in the funeral, and everyone was crying because their friends were gone.
"I wouldn't be here either if I didn't pray…"
She wiped her tears and made a decision that would change her life.
Brooke was sitting on her window and she was looking out to the ocean. It was a peaceful night with the sound of the ocean. She loved to hear the sound of the ocean at night because it would make her sleepy. But a month after the incident, she just couldn't enjoy it anymore. She realized that the ocean wasn't just an ocean anymore, but a dark place where there were billions of sea creatures lives.
"Let me forget…" She whispered, as a meteor crossed the night sky. She wished that everyone would be okay including her cousin Jackie who already went back home to New Jersey after the funerals of Marge and Eddie. Jackie decided that she would not stay any longer in the island, and returned home.
In one way, she was disappointed because she was going to missed Jackie around. Nevertheless, she was also relieved that Jackie went home, because she was annoying. As much she loved her cousin, but she knew Jackie wasn't belong in the island.
She was a city girl, and she was flirting with many guys, including with Larry and Polo, even though she was already being set up to be with Michael, her best friend. Michael was devastated when Jackie decided to go home without even saying goodbye to him. Jackie said that she had enough excitement and deaths, and decided to go back home as soon as possible.
At least Jackie had a decency to say goodbye to Chief Brody; after all, he was the one who saved everyone. She gave him a hug and walked away. Brooke sighed remembering her cousin's behavior. She looked at the table beside her bed; there was a rose. She smiled seeing the rose. Timmy had given the rose to her after the funeral. She remembered what he said to her.
"I really like you, Brooke. This incident really puts me in perspective. I don't wanna lose you. I want you to be my girl." He gave the rose and kissed her on the cheek, and then he ran away. Brooke cried afterwards, because it was overwhelming feeling she had after the funerals of Eddie and Marge, and yet she felt that there was hope for all of them after all.
Andy couldn't sleep tonight. Maybe it was the hot night, or maybe he couldn't get the image of his best friend, Marge, being devoured by a shark a month ago. The incident shook him very bad, because he and Marge used to date briefly. She was a wonderful girl, and truly a nice girl. She was also very tomboy and not afraid to do something wild.
She was the one who jumped first when Sean fell aboard. When she died, Andy thought he lost his mind. However, he managed to pull himself together, and focused to the most important thing: Sean's safety.
The poor kid was in shock witnessing Marge's death up close and personal, he shut down temporarily. Andy, Larry, and Patrick were trying to get to him to catch the rope. In his frustration, he managed to threaten Sean that he would hit him if he wouldn't listen to him. Of course, it was an empty bluff. He was so desperate for Sean's safety, when they finally saved him; he was so relieved that he hugged Sean so tight.
He always thought Sean as his little brother, just like he thought Mike as his brother too. When Mike was hit in the head by the pole, Andy was afraid to see him floating in the water where the shark was circling them. Luckily, Timmy and Polo came to his rescue and saved him just in time. Andy wouldn't admit it, but he realized that he had a potential of leadership. He never realized how calm and calculated he was to make everyone safe and sound. Even the hotheaded Larry was able to help him if he asked him to do something.
He sighed and scratched his head, which made his fingers tangled in his curly hair. He cursed because it was hurting his head. He dropped himself into the bed and rolled over to his back, and tried to sleep.
"Marge… Marge… Marge…" He whispered. "I'm gonna miss you… I hope you're doing fine there in heaven."
Doug was playing game of Pong with his Atari. He couldn't sleep so he decided to waste some time until he could fall asleep. It was 2 AM in the morning, and yet it was always the same with him. After the funeral of Eddie and Marge, he was so depressed that he couldn't enjoy any activities that he usually liked. Reading a book seemed unimportant nowadays. He couldn't even go to the docks anymore to tie his new sailboat, because he was traumatized. His dad bought him a new sailboat, but it was still in the garage.
When the shark bumped his boat and dropped him into the water, he was very lucky that he was one of the fastest swimmers on the island, and he was lucky that he was still alive afterwards. He remembered when that shark ate Marge. It seemed time had stopped and Doug felt that everything went numb. He could see clearly like in slow motion, how the shark slowly coming from beneath Marge who desperately climbed the capsize boat...
Then he heard long screams from everyone.
Douglas cursed slowly because he lost again playing Pong. He threw the joystick, and dropped himself to the floor with his back against it. He wasn't loud, because he didn't want his parents to hear him. He put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. He wasn't able to sleep for a month, and he guessed that most of his friends too.
What a month. Who knew his life would change like this? He was only a seventeen years old boy who lived in Amity Island for all his life with his friends, and there wasn't any thing ever happened before… Nevertheless, he remembered the incident in the pond by a shark few years back, but instead another man became a victim. He was playing on the beach with others, when the shark bumped that man's boat and managed to tipped Mike, Larry, and Andy when they were on a sailboat.
Then he remembered how much Tina was suffering too. Losing Eddie must have been the most painful experience ever happened to her. Doug liked Tina, but after what had happened, it would be impossible to ask her on a date.
"Stupid. This is not the time." He muttered to himself.
He wondered whether everything would be the same after the school start again.
Michael was lying on a hammock outside his house. He looked at the view of the dark ocean from where he was lying. The stars were so bright, and he felt at peace. It was a wonder that he survived a shark attack almost a month ago. He was eternally in debts with Polo and Timmy, because they saved him when he fell into the water. He attended the funeral of Eddie and Marge. He couldn't believe that they were dead. Those two were his schoolmates and playmates ever since he moved to Amity Island, five years ago.
Maybe in some way he was lucky that he didn't witness their deaths because he was unconscious, or he would be devastated and in total shock like his friends. He met his friends most of the time, and they were mourning, especially Tina, who couldn't stop crying every time he said hi to her. She would just run away, sobbing.
Of course, he mourned the death of his friends. However, because he didn't see them being eaten, he couldn't imagine what happened. Although he had a clear picture of what happened. After all, he experienced similar encounter with a shark few years back. He saw a man fell off from his rowboat in the pond, and the shark attacked him. What worse, he was also in the pond, and the shark was swimming next to him. It was a traumatic experience for him; he couldn't believe that he experienced the same thing again.
He thought his family was cursed.
Nobody should experience death so many times. He couldn't imagine what his father feels like. When his father grabbed him in anger because he found out that Sean was with them during the sailing trip, Mike thought that his father hated him. He was so sorry that he neglected Sean. Nevertheless, his father made sure that he already forgiven Mike: he was just glad that his sons were alive.
In few weeks, he would be back to school. He knew not everything would be the same. His life and his friends' lives already changed dramatically. Tina wouldn't even go out from her room, Larry was getting angrier, Andy was moody all the time because he used to date Marge, and even Brooke was avoiding him, although he knew what the reason was: Brooke was feeling guilty about it Jackie.
It didn't matter. He lived. He survived. There were matters that important right now: his family and friends. But for now, he might avoid water altogether.
Tina was walking along the beach. It was a quiet night and full of stars. She was walking very slowly. The dark ocean seemed calling out to her. "Eddie…" She whispered. How many times in her sleep and in her mind she repeated the horrifying experience of her boyfriend's death. She remembered the sound of thud when Eddie hit the sailboat because the shark was dragging him, and then silent made her ears ringing.
Tina couldn't accept the fact that Eddie was killed. In her mind, she tried to imagine that Eddie went away for a summer and would be back right when the school starts in few weeks. However, she knew better… Eddie wouldn't come back, and there was a pang of guilt inside her chest, like maybe this was her fault.
She cried again silently, while watching a full moon. She watched the waves and the sound of ocean; it was supposed to make her feel good because she had been living in this island for all her lives. However, after what happened to her and Eddie, she didn't know whether she wanted to stay anymore. She recalled Brooke's cousin, Jackie, left in a hurry aboard a ferry to take her to the mainland, not a moment too soon after Marge and Eddie's funerals. Maybe she should follow suit.
What hurt the most; the caskets were empty because there were no bodies found. She could feel the pain from Eddie and Marge's families because they couldn't pay their last respect. Her friends were there too, including Chief Brody's family. She heard that Chief Brody saved everyone when he found them drifted to the cable junction. Chief Brody and his wife also saved her, and she was grateful.
Right now, she didn't know whether she wanted to live or not. She felt hopeless, and wanted to die and be with Eddie instead. She missed him so much; every night she looked at his pictures and she didn't feel anything. She wanted to feel something. Maybe death would make her feel something. And maybe she would see Eddie again…