Disclaimer: See chapter two, which will tell you to see chapter one.
A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews! Umm, I have nothing more to say. *gasp*
Chapter Three
The sign *San Francisco Beach-Next Exit* came into view. The family was discussing all of the many activities that they wanted to do during their time at the beach.
"I am so going to go body surfing," declared D.J.
"What's that?" asked Michelle.
"Well, it's when you wait for a wave and sort of float on it . . . you know, I can't really describe it."
Michelle nodded. "I see . . . sounds exciting," she said mockingly, to which D.J. responded with a sarcastic nod.
"Well, I'm going to just float on my inflatable tube all day and just . . . relax," said Stephanie, saying "relax" on a long, full breath, and closing her eyes, as though she was imagining it.
"Joey, what are you going to do?" asked Michelle.
Joey looked down at her and tapped his teeth together. "I don't know, Michelle. There's so much to choose from," he replied, feigning excitement. "I'll probably just lie down on a towel, underneath that big umbrella," he pointed at the light blue umbrella, which was showing from the trunk, "and try to go to sleep. I didn't really get to finish last night's sleep," he added, throwing a quick glance at Jesse, who was sitting in the passenger-side seat.
"Aww, Joey, do you mean that you aren't going to go into the water at all?" asked D.J.
Danny looked at Joey, who looked back at him, in his rear-view mirror and raised his eyebrows in an "I told you so" way.
Joey looked away from Danny's stare to look back at D.J., who was sitting in the back row of the van, next to Becky. "Well, I might, if I happen to wake up before it's time for us to leave," he replied. 'But I'll make sure that that doesn't happen,' he added in his mind.
D.J. nodded, as though she understood, but Joey's body language was telling her that he was hiding something. She quickly shook off that assumption, thinking, 'No, Joey would tell all of us if something was wrong,' and thought no more of Joey's uneasiness.
The exit for the beach came up, and Danny pulled off of the highway. It did not take long until the beach came into view. The first thing they all saw was the ocean; in the sunlight, which was unobstructed by clouds, the water appeared to be a perfect shade of aqua. Already, they could see people, children and adults, splashing about cheerfully in the water, diving underneath the water and appearing after a matter of seconds.
The beach itself then came into view, the nearly white sand shimmering and sparkling in the sun. On the beach were teens and adults tanning, children building castles, and sand fights.
The sight of all of the people enjoying themselves, and the beauty of the beach and the day itself, could not help but make the family smile. "Wow, what a wonderful day," breathed Becky, speaking for everyone in the car.
Everyone nodded, including Joey, although the splendor of the day only assisted in making him even more nervous. 'This is such a great day, and everyone else looks like they're having a great time, but I can't let that influence me,' he told himself, silently. 'I just know that if I get in that ocean, something will happen . . . I can sense it.' His heart began beating more rapidly, and he inhaled, deeply and slowly, to calm it down.
The car lurched as Danny parked, somewhat near the entrance to the San Francisco Beach. "Okay, family, let's unload the back." He opened his door and walked around to the back and opened the trunk.
Jesse opened the passenger side door and jumped out, opening the side door. Michelle hopped out, followed then by Joey. Stephanie followed, who was then followed by D.J., and finally Becky. Jesse closed the side door and went to the back of the van.
As they all were handed items by Danny, Joey frequently glanced at the ocean, wondering where the shark was at that very minute. He was handed the giant umbrella, and followed Jesse, who was dragging the cooler, to the beach.
They walked down the cement sidewalk, coming ever closer to the sand. Joey attempted to breathe regularly, but found that it was becoming harder and harder. 'Don't worry,' he scolded himself. 'Nothing will happen.' He breathed in . . . and out. 'Nothing will happen,' he thought again.
He stepped onto the off-white sand, hearing and feeling it crunch beneath his shoes. He looked around at the beach; he hadn't been even close to one since that day when he was young. 'Nothing will happen.' He followed closely behind Jesse as they searched for a spot large enough to hold their family.
Finally, Jesse came across a large enough area of sand and stopped, rather abruptly. Joey, not noticing him stop in time, crashed into Jesse's back, nearly causing them both to drop what they were carrying. "Whoa, watch it," snapped Jesse, placing the cooler on the sand. "You could put someone's eye out with that."
"Sorry," mumbled Joey, not taking his eyes away from the blue-green water. Ignoring Jesse's concerned look, Joey opened the giant, light blue umbrella and stabbed the end into the ground and slowly let go of the metal pole: the umbrella stayed in place, unmoving.
Becky stepped under the umbrella and sat a picnic basket on the ground. "Huh," she said, looking up at the umbrella, and then around at the spot they had chosen. "Nice spot, guys."
"Thanks," replied Jesse, sheepishly. "I guess I know how to choose 'em, huh?" he asked, draping his arm around his wife.
Joey rolled his eyes, unseen by either Jesse or Becky. "Yeah, you do," said Becky, giving Jesse a light kiss on the lips.
D.J., Stephanie, Michelle, and Danny finally approached the group, carrying towels, buckets, plastic shovels, skim boards, underwater masks, as well as many other toys. Danny carefully laid the towels out on the ground, and the girls dropped the rest of the items atop of the towels.
"Well, I'm going in the water," said D.J., after a matter of seconds. She pulled off her large t-shirt and baggy pants and tossed them onto the sand and ran down to the sea.
Danny groaned in frustration, picking D.J.'s clothes off from the ground and shaking the excess sand from them. He folded the shirt and pants neatly and laid them on top of one of the towels.
"I'm going to go lounge in the water now. Wish me luck!" declared Stephanie, stripping down to her bathing suit and laying the clothes on the towel. She then grabbed her inflatable tube and sprinted down to the water, about ten feet from where her older sister was.
"Let's go into the water, too, Jess," said Becky. She quickly pulled off her shirt and jean shorts and walked, rather quickly, down to the shoreline.
Michelle had gone down to the damp sand and was already beginning to dig a hole, so it was only the three men beneath the umbrella. Danny and Jesse could sense Joey's unease. Joey noticed the way his friends were looking at him, and held up his hands. "Hey, guys, please don't look at me that way, okay? I'm here, and I'm going to stay right on this towel and take a nap until you leave, alright? I'm fine."
Danny and Jesse nodded, walking down to their family members. Jesse jumped into the water with his wife and nieces, bringing with him a beach ball. They began tossing the ball between them, laughing and splashing at each other to cause one of them to miss the ball.
Danny joined Michelle in digging the hole. Joey could not help but snigger at Danny's attempt to dig without getting dirty. He sighed and sat down on the towel. 'Maybe I should go in with them. It doesn't look like anything is going to happen . . . NO! I can't go in. I just . . . can't.'
He sighed again, wishing and yearning to suddenly be unafraid to go in the water. He wanted desperately to be with his friends, laughing and enjoying himself, but his anxiety was nearly overwhelming; it made him feel almost nauseas. The churning in his stomach was becoming greater and greater.
He inhaled deeply, his head dropping. As he slowly lifted his head, he saw that Michelle and Danny had joined Jesse, Stephanie, and Becky in their game . . . but where was D.J.? Oh, there she was, talking to some boy. He envied his friends and the fact that they were not afraid and were having fun, even though he was sitting alone and was miserable.
He sighed once more. 'I'm not going to let my fear keep me away from my family,' he told himself. 'I'm going to go in the water.' He stood up and stripped off everything except his bathing suit. But what if something happens? There was that voice again. He shook his head and the voice went away . . . for then.
He splashed into the water, down to where his group was playing. Danny was the first to notice Joey's coming towards them. 'I guess Joey is ready to face his fear,' he thought, waving at his friend. "Hey, Joey!"
Joey waved back, slowly wading towards them. The water was already up to his thighs. 'Why are they so far out?' he asked himself, but didn't think too much of it. His heart was still racing, but he was beginning to feel better. "Hey, guys," he greeted, as he finally reached them. The water was up to his stomach.
"Hey, Joey," Jesse said, surprised to see him out with them. "You're . . . here."
"I thought you were going to sleep," said Michelle, who was on Jesse's shoulders.
"You know, I was going to, but I decided that I wasn't that tired," replied Joey, smiling at her.
"Well, I'm glad you decided to join us," stated Becky. "We're playing a game close to volleyball, except that there are no nets and every person is a team . . . except for Jesse, who has Michelle on his team."
"Okay," said Joey, feeling his anxiety begin to wash away. He felt at ease with his family, and was glad that he had decided to come out with them. You know something is going to happen. You can still feel it the voice said. Joey took a deep breath, trying his best to ignore it.
"Head's up, Joe!" called Jesse, hitting the ball towards his friend.
Joey responded in time, hitting the ball towards Stephanie. She hit the ball towards Becky, and so on. The game went like this for almost half-an-hour. Michelle ended up on Danny's shoulders after a period of time.
Joey realized, after a brief pause, when Jesse had attempted to set the ball, but it had slipped through his fingers and hit him on the head, flying away from him, that he had not thought about being worried or scared for nearly the entire time, and he was relieved. 'Maybe my fears have gone away, and all it took was to come out here and face them,' he thought.
Jesse returned with the ball. "Jess, honey, what exactly were you trying to do when that ball got away from you?" asked Becky, grinning.
"I was trying to set it, you know, so that you would be able to hit it better, but the ball was wet, so it slipped."
Becky giggled. "Yes, I could see that it slipped. And it went way over there," she added, pointing far behind Jesse.
Jesse laughed sarcastically, and then threw the beach ball at her, but it soared far above her head and landed in the water, about ten feet away. "Nice throw, Jess," chuckled Joey.
They all watched as the beach ball began to float further and further away from them. "Okay, can someone go and get the ball, please?" begged Danny, as a teenager on a tube unknowingly kicked the beach ball about twenty or thirty feet away from them.
"I'll get it," volunteered Joey. He began to walk towards the beach ball. The water suddenly rose up to his chest. "Whoa," he whispered. As the water slowly got deeper, Joey began to swim towards the ball. He got about three feet from it when the voice came back: Something's about to happen. Something's about to happen . . .
Joey felt the nausea return as his stomach began churning once again. But he did not immediately turn around. He reached and grabbed the beach ball, pulling it into his chest. "Got it," he whispered, as he turned around and began swimming towards his friends.
The water slowly got shallower and he could finally stand upright. He was about fifteen or twenty feet from his group, who were watching him and waiting.
Joey's gaze drifted down to the nearly crystal clear water. Suddenly, he froze as he felt something stroke his leg. His heart beat uncontrollably fast, and all the breath seemed to be sucked from him.
He looked around at the water. His eyes grew wide as he saw just the smallest tip of a fin graze the top of the water. He felt something stroke his leg again. He looked at his group, who was looking at him, confused. "Joey?" Danny called.
Joey faintly heard someone call his name. All he could think about was that day at the beach with his father . . . the shark, the bite, the pain . . .
Joey could feel something sharp sink into his leg. He sucked in his breath. It's happening again . . . It's happening again . . .
He began to sway, everything was getting dark. The beach ball floated away from his grip. "Joey?" he heard again.
Everything was getting darker. He could faintly see Danny begin to move towards him. "Joey?!" Danny called again.
Everything was pitch black. He could feel himself fall. He could feel the water surround him. He could feel himself hit the sandy bottom below and lay, unmoving. He could barely hear someone call his name. He could feel the water move as someone splashed towards him.
It was becoming harder and harder to breathe. He could feel his lungs beg for air, but he could not respond to their wishes. He felt the heat of the sun beating down on him through the water.
He laid on the sandy bottom for what seemed like an eternity. Why was no one there helping him? Before he slipped into unconsciousness, he could feel a hand grip his arm and pull him up . . .
Why did this happen . . . ?
To Be Continued . . .
A/N: Ooh! Cliffhanger, sort of. Well, please review! I await patiently! Okay, not "patiently," but whatever . . .