Search for the Tail

He, Calem, and Emma swim out of the water to dry off and eat lunch.

Jill hands them sandwiches out of waterproof containers. “Make sure you’re extra careful going out again,” she says. Jill points out where Emma fell in. “And no going out there without someone watching you.”

“Okay,” Emma says. She wanted to stop talking about what happened before the lifeguard took her out of the water. Emma doesn’t have any proof, and she will not unless she goes back in and finds it. After relaxing a bit and putting on more sunscreen, she goes back into the ocean with her boogie board. Emma’s alone for the moment in her section, watching children splash around while others swim and surf nearby. She’s a little scared to be out alone this time after she almost drowned.

Soon, Tyler and Calem join her to catch some waves on their boogie boards. “Let’s see how many I can catch,” Tyler says. “I set goals every summer on how many waves I catch.”

“The waves are kind of high today, but using a boogie board, it’ll be easy since they’re smaller than surfboards,” Calem says. He and Tyler race to see who will make it to the next wave first.

Emma decides to try it herself. As she reaches the waves with the others, it feels like something has run into her board. Emma looks, but nothing is there. She paddles again to catch up with Tyler, but she sees something swim away to the other side. Emma paddles to catch up with it. It could have been a large fish or dolphin, which is the reason why it is swimming away.

“Hello?” she calls out, “Is there someone there?” There is no answer, but suddenly Emma watches as a golden shiny tail flops up to the surface before going back down. “Hey, where are you going?” She paddles again to catch up before it leaves.

“Emma,” a voice calls to her. She jumps and swirls herself around in circles.

“Who said that?” she asks. Her heart beats fast, thinking that someone or something knows her name.

“Emma! Emma!” A voice holler. Emma turns and sees Tyler on his boogie board.

“That was you,” she says, placing her hand on her chest.

“Mom said not to go out too far,” Tyler says. “Let’s get back to the beach.” He’s paddling with Emma back to the shore when he sees the same tail Emma just saw. The tail comes up to the surface and goes back under again. “What was that?”

“I told you something’s out here,” Emma says. Calem paddles next to Tyler. “Calem, did you see that?”

“I believe so,” Calem says. “What was that? A whale or a dolphin?” Tyler shakes his head.

“No, those kinds of animals don’t have those tails,” he says. “Emma was right, but what was it?”

Emma paddles to where the tail was, only a few feet away. “I say we go under,” she says. Tyler grabs onto her board to stop her.

“What? No,” Tyler says. “You can’t swim out there, and we can’t breathe under water. Or did you forget that?” He pulls Emma’s board back as they all head back to the beach.

“I want to see what that was,” Emma says. “It could be something no one around here has ever seen.”

“I agree and I’d love to find out,” Calem says. “It looked like it was trying to communicate with you.” Tyler is not sure about this idea. Especially with their parents and other people watching.

“And it looked like whatever it was, it was following me,” Emma says. “I think it ran into my board earlier before I saw the golden tail.”

“How about tonight, we sneak out after dinner, and come back to find it,” Tyler says.

While heading back to shore, they watch the fishermen looking at their surrounding area as if they’re hunting. They bring up one of their nets, noticing that it has been cut into pieces. Confused, they wouldn’t suspect that an animal would do that. It looks like something with sharp teeth destroyed the net. Emma watches as she reaches the sand, watching the annoyed fishermen. She turns to the shore, then back around again, realizing the fishermen are gone again. Not a trace of them near in the water or at the shore where other people could have seen them.

Later, after their parents are finally asleep, Tyler and Emma sneak out of the house and get their bikes out of the garage. They watch as Calem also sneaks out of his house to get his bike. He walks and pushes his bike towards them.

“What if we get in trouble?” Calem asks.

“We won’t if we don’t get caught,” Tyler says.

“I want to see this,” Calem says excitedly. “Whatever was in the ocean, I want to see it too.” He, Tyler, and Emma ride their bikes down the street to reach the pathway.

“Do you think mom will find out?” Emma asks.

“Not if we get back quickly enough, and they’re still sleeping,” Tyler says. “No lifeguards on duty, and the beach is closed.” Without anyone seeing it, they ride on the pathway and take their bikes to the section of the beach where Emma almost drowned.

“Okay, this is the spot where I first saw and felt it push me,” Emma says. “Maybe we should try going in the water.” Emma jumps off her bike to jump in.

Tyler does the same to stop her. “Emma, no,” he worries. “We don’t know what swims out there at night, and it’s dark so we can’t see anything.”

Calem walks close to the water. “It looks fine,” he says. “No harm yet. It might be a bunch of fish swimming. Unless it’s like one of those beach movies when a shark or whale sneaks up behind you.”

Emma gets behind Tyler, but Tyler’s not buying the story. “That’s ridiculous,” he says. “You only see that in movies with a bunch of misunderstood information. They only write those storylines to make it action-packed.”

“Look who’s talking, the person who keeps a Jaws poster hanging up in his bedroom,” Emma says.

“Tell it to the humans who have been attacked,” Calem says. He steps away from the ocean while watching the waves go in and out by the shore with nothing but the sounds of the ocean. “So, what exactly are we looking for? The tail we spotted?”

“Yes,” Emma says. “I want to show Tyler that I’m not seeing things. What kind of animal has a tail as golden as that?”

“Dolphins or small whales?” Tyler asks.

“Really? With tails like that?” Calem asks. He then hears splashing noises coming from his side. “What was that?”

“It might have been a fish or the water,” Tyler says. Suddenly, he and Calem see the same golden tail rising above the surface. Both of their jaws drop as Emma walks in front of Tyler.

“Wow,” Emma says, watching the tail go back in the water. “See?”

“She’s right,” Tyler says. “But what was it?” Emma shrugs her shoulders, “I can’t imagine what it is.”

“I never had a chance to get a good look at it,” she says. “But I’m pretty sure that I also saw a hand.” Tyler takes out his cell phone and turns on the flashlight. He moves the light over the water, left and right. No sign of the tail or anything else. Just then, the golden tail waves back and forth, closer to shore. The kids jump back as the light shines on the tail.

“Amazing,” Emma says. The golden tail comes closer and closer until reaching the sand. Tyler pushes Emma behind him.

“Stay back Emma, this thing could be dangerous,” Tyler says.

Emma runs around from behind Tyler. “I want to see this,” she says. Now Calem takes out his cellphone and turns on the flashlight so he can also see. He points it down at the sand and sees a hand.

He jumps back and runs next to Tyler. “Look,” Calem says pointing the flashlight at the hand. “There it is.” Calem and Tyler put both of their flashlights on the creature. They shine the lights near the head, blinding it. “Is that what I think it is?”

“No, that’s impossible,” Tyler says. “They’re not real. Only in fairy tales.”