Sydney, Australia
"Hey, wake up man!" Tyler felt someone shake his shoulder violently. He first tried to bat away the person's hand, wanting to go back to sleep, but they kept a hold on his shoulder, still shaking him violently.
"Come on Tyler, get up! The guys have already gone down to the beach! Get your ass up!"
"N'all right, all right" Tyler said, "I'm up, quit shaking me already".
Tyler Morgan was a tall; lean twenty two year old with a shag of wild dirty blond hair, crystal blue eyes, and a handsome face. If you looked at Tyler's profile, you'd automatically assume he was a dead beat. He had dropped out of high school in his junior year, floated around finding any job he could, didn't own a car, and lived in a run down single floor house with seven other people. Tyler just never saw the point in school, he had always gotten E's in school, so what was the point of going on? Besides, to be a professional surfer you don't need a high school diploma. He had already decided that's what he wanted to be at a young age, surfing was really the only thing he was good at and was a heck of a lot more fun then shluping it in school. Though he hadn't gotten a sponsor yet, he always believed there would come the day when someone will pick him up and then he will be living the life he wanted.
"What time is it?" Tyler asked, as he climbed out of his beat up bed.
"Little over one o'clock" Lance said, digging out his surfboard "now hurry up, there's this huge swell coming in and I don't wanna miss it". Lance was a year older then Tyler and a bit shorter with spiky brown hair and hazel eyes. He and Tyler had been friends for a while now and like their fellow roommates, were excellent surfers.
Tyler quickly slipped on his bathing suit and dug his surfboard out from a pile of clothes and followed Lance, to the door. Just when they were about to open the door, someone else did for them.
Technically, the house wasn't exactly theirs. They had rented the house from this old man Lance knew and they hadn't exactly paid him his rent in almost a month.
"There you are!" he exclaimed "you better have a good explanation for rent being almost a month late!".
"Relax man" Tyler said "we were gonna give you the rent but our other roommate Alex has it and right now she is at the beach".
"Oh yeah" Lance said, "yeah, in fact we were just heading down to go and get her". They pushed passed the old man and began to run down the walkway, luaghing hysterically.
"You lazy free loaders!" he yelled after them "you better get that rent before Wednesday or I'm throwing all your asses out into the street! You hear me!"
"Loud and clear old man!" Tyler yelled back, both he and Lance laughing as they made their way down to the beach.
"Does Alex even have the rent money?" Lance asked.
"Fuck do I know" Tyler replied. They laughed a bit more and soon the beach came into view. Lucky for them, the house they had was close to the beach, and another reason why rent was so high. They made a dash across the street and soon Tyler felt the welcoming sensation of sand in between his toes.
They only needed to look a little bit before finding their group. Running over, they saw them get up and greet them.
"There you two lazy ass are" said Heath, a stocky twenty four year old with long black hair and coffee colored eyes on a shallow face "your just in time, just look at the waves out there". Tyler saw them and realized Lance wasn't kidding when he said there was gonna be a huge swell. Already, the waves were beginning to churn, going higher and higher with each crash of the wave.
"Holy shit!" Tyler exclaimed.
"I told yeah" Lance said "and to think you might have missed it!"
"Well come on" said Lana, a short twenty year old with long sandy hair, pale amber eyes and cherub like cheeks "we don't wanna miss anything".
"Hey, where's Alex?" Tyler asked as they headed for the ocean.
"Uh, I think she went a bit further up the beach" Heath said "but she said she'd be back soon". They reached the water and began to paddle out. It was getting pretty rough, salty waves splashing into Tyler's face, but he fared against much worse conditions then this. He rode over a large wave and then got himself straightened out on the board.
"Okay, which one should we do first?" Lance asked, paddling next to him. Tyler scanned the waters before spotting a pretty large wave starting to form.
"That one!" he said pointing "you ready?" he turned his board around and began to paddle.
"Like I'll ever be" Lance said "I've taken waves three times the size of these!"
"Whatever man" Tyler replied. He felt the wave come up behind him, beginning to lift him up. He quickly got onto his feet, steadied himself, and angled out until he was surfing along. Keeping his body low, he dipped slightly, and brought up his board quickly to the crest, sending a small spray of water into the air. He quickly did a sharp dive, angling himself as he began to outrun the crashing wave.
He spotted Lance go down behind him as the wave got to him. Tyler thinking fast, he swerved on the wave a bit and did a short aerial, landing smoothly back onto the water. He rode his way down as the wave dissipated.
"Nice run there" Lance said, paddling up to him.
"Hate to say for you" Tyler replied.
"Hey losers" Heath said, paddling up to them "see Lance here has already eaten water".
"Shut up man" Lance said, "I'm still a bit tired, that's all".
"Whatever" Heath said "oh look, Lana's going for it". Tyler looked to see Lana's riding a pretty big wave. She began to pump at the wave, generating speed, then she went for the top of the wave and did an off the top. However, she landed awkwardly and did a complete nosedive into the water.
"Ohh!" Heath exclaimed "that's gotta sting. She hit harder then you did Lance".
"I said shut the fuck up!" Lance said, splashing at him.
"Oh what? Now we're five years old again?" Heath teased, splashing at Lance. Soon, a big splashing fight broke out that was only stopped when Lana came paddling over.
"Oh stop you two" she said "quit acting like a bunch of dunces. What are we five years old again?"
"That's what I said!" Heath exclaimed.
"Oh shit guys!" Tyler said, "look at that!" he was pointing ahead of them, where a monster of a wave was beginning to form.
"Holy mother of fuck!" Heath shouted.
"Look at that beast!" Lance said.
"This is it guys" Tyler said, "the one we came out here to ride".
"Fuck yeah we're gonna!" Heath said, already beginning to paddle "last one there pays for dinner!".
"Well, you guys go on ahead" Lana said, "I'll stay here".
"What, chicken?" Tyler teased.
"No, I ain't chicken" Lana said hotly "I just know when I've reached my limit".
"Oh well, your loss" Lance said "come on Tyler, before Heath hogs the entire wave". Without another word, Tyler began to paddle after him. As they approached the wave, it rapidly began to grow in size until it seemingly towered over him.
Quickly turning around, he began to paddle out and instantly felt the surge as his board began to lift. He quickly got to his feet and began to ride. He was almost two stories up, Lance just below him while Heath was just ahead of him.
Tyler began to pump for speed while Heath began to zig zag up and down the waves wall. Lance came shooting out of nowhere, making a direct run for the crest. He broke over the wave, did a flip in the air, before disappearing over the side.
Heath then made a run for the crest as well, ridding along the breaking point of the wave before doing a sharp turn and taking a straight dive back down. Looking over his shoulder, Tyler saw he was just in front of the forming tube. It was a golden opportunity for a tube ride and for Tyler; it was just too good to let it go. So he decided to take the risk.
Ridding the tube or tube riding, is a particularly dangerous surfing move where a surfer moves into position where the wave curls over the top of him, forming a tube, with the rider inside the hollow cylinder portion of the wave. It is a pretty difficult and dangerous move to attempt, the possibility of drowning very high. But it is one of the most sought after move for a surfer to achieve, the kind that can easily land you a sponsorship.
He moved himself in position and began to drop back a little. He heard the sound of the wave beginning to drop and looking over him, he saw the wave beginning to curl over and before he knew it, he was wrapped inside the tunnel. He could hear the roar of the wave as it crashed down behind him and the water rushing over him like a fountain, feeling like he was on top of the world.
However, Tyler must have dropped to far back because almost before he knew it, he felt himself get pulled under as the wave crashed down on him.
He felt the stinging rush of salt water run down his throat and he began to thrash wildly to reach the surface. But the undercurrent had him, rolling him around in circles like a shirt in a washing machine.
He felt himself collide with something hard and everything went black.
When he came to, bright light filled his eyes and he began to cough up salt water. His body was sore and his head was throbbing, a slow rhythmic thud inside his head.
"Are you okay Ty?" asked a vaguely familiar voice.
"I'm all right," he said woozily, coughing up another spit full of salt water.
He rubbed his eyes and soon his eyes sight came back. Hovering over him was Alex. She was a pretty girl with short red hair, tanned face dotted with freckles, and a pair of deep green eyes.
"Whoa man" Heath said, appearing over him "you don't look so hot".
"What happened?" Tyler asked.
"Dude, it was awesome!" Lance said, excited face appearing "I can't believe you actually tube ride! It was amazing…until the wave crashed on to you that is".
"What?" he said uncertainly.
"You were dragged under man" Heath said, "hit your head pretty good on the rocks. But don't worry, Alex was here to save ya".
"Okay come on guys" she said "give him some room now".
"All right all right" Heath said "come on Lance, I think I see another sweet one coming up". With that, the two went running off back into the water.
"You sure your all right?" Alex asked.
"Ya, I think so," he said "my head hurts though" he tried to get up but instantly felt nauseous.
"Easy there tough guy" she said "don't over exert yourself now".
He laughed a little "so, did you see it?"
"Ya" she said "I was just paddling down to meet you guys and saw you do it. I have to say, I was pretty impressed".
"Thanks" he said.
"But then, once you got pulled under, I became more worried then impressed".
"Sorry" he said "but you can't except to be perfect the first time. So, how bad's the bump?"
"Well, lets just say you'll have a second head for awhile" she said. Tyler laughed a bit. "But right now, you are done for the day mister" she said in a motherly sort of tone.
"Whatever you say there mom" Tyler replied.
"Hey now, is that any way to treat the person who saved your life?" she said, lightly pushing him, both of them laughing.
Even though Tyler was happy to have avoided his brush with death, there was still a small part of him that wished the wave had gotten him, that Alex hadn't been there to save him, that he would have been washed away forever beneath the tide. At least then, it would prevent…well, it from coming out again.
Authors note: keep reviewing people!