Shark Bait

It was a stereotypical day at the beach. Umbrellas dotted the sand, towels blew away in the breeze, adults were chatting, and kids were swimming in the surf. Surfers caught some of the best waves of the year. However, something was wrong. The water was murky, and unusually warm. Fish brushed against the legs of the children feet from shore. The lifeguards were on edge, hoping that the training they had gotten in shark attacks would not be needed, but no sharks were in the area, so they felt their fears were unnecessary. Then, the world shattered. A surfer out in the middle of the ocean yelled something. Then, a girl at the edge of the shallows disappeared. A sea of red began to fan out from the water. Another child screamed when the red water came into their view. Chaos ensued as children and surfers raced back to the beach, and lifeguards jumped into the water. They made it to the area where the girl had last been seen. One boy still played in the water as his parents yelled to him.

"Shark! Shark!"

"Hee hee! Sharky! Daa-dun daa-dun!"

The boy disappeared at the same time a leg with a water shoe and a piece of a butterfly swimsuit floated to the surface.

Lifeguards raced to both the shoe and the boy. They saw a huge fin and a huge shadow. The shark was at least 8 feet. The size of a juvenile great white. The ones who were trying to find the girl frantically searched.

"Ah!"

Just then, one stepped on something that felt like hair. He pulled at it cautiously, and revealed a very pale face, eyes closed, face frozen in horror. Drips of blood oozing from the mouth. A ponytail full of blond hair, that was now matted in blood. He screamed, but continued pulling the head out of the water, revealing a complete body, minus a leg. She was wearing a butterfly swim suit, but her side was missing a large chunk too. It was no longer bleeding, just oozing a bit of blood. She had bled out.

After the girl's body was discovered, she was carried back to shore. The boy was pulled from the jaws of a hungry great white who thought they were dinner. He made it back to shore, where he died in the arms of his mother. The girl's body was taken to her waiting father in an ambulance, where she was wrapped in a sheet, and photos were taken for observation. The shark was identified as a juvenile great white, and both families of the killed children wished for it not to be killed.