In the Ocean

Early in the morning as the sun comes up, Tyler wakes up to stare at the sunrise from the window near his staircase. He looks at it for a few minutes, then goes back to sleep. Later that morning, Chris and Jill get the table ready for breakfast.

Tyler comes out of the bathroom rubbing his forehead and yawning, at the same time Emma comes in, carrying a stuffed animal. “How did you sleep last night?” she asks Tyler.

“I slept good,” Tyler says. “You didn’t tell mom and dad about going to the beach, did you?”

“No, I just woke up,” Emma says.

“Good,” Tyler says. “Remember to keep this a secret.” Emma nods. She walks into the bathroom and closes the door. Tyler walks into the kitchen to find his parents who just finished setting up breakfast.

“Good morning, honey,” Jill says to Tyler. “You look a little tired. Did you get any sleep?”

“I did, but I woke up a little early,” Tyler says. He sits down and pours a bowl of cereal with milk. Emma walks in with her stuffed animal and sits at the table. She also pours herself cereal and milk in a bowl. They both eat slower than they normally do.

“Are you two okay?” Chris asks.

“Fine,” Tyler says. “We’re good.”

“How do you like hanging out with Calem?” Jill asks.

Tyler is almost finished with his breakfast. “He’s a cool guy,” he says. “We plan on going to the beach again today.”

“Let’s finish eating first,” Chris says. “I need to run errands this morning. We’ll wait until the afternoon.”

Tyler and Emma go outside while their father leaves to go to the store to pick up groceries. Jill stays home to clean the house for a while.

Tyler sees Calem come out of his house with a basketball. “Hey,” he says to Calem. Calem sees him and Emma and tosses his basketball to them. Tyler and Emma walk over to the Blazer’s lawn. “Do your parents know anything about last night?”

“No, I stayed quiet and went to bed,” Calem says. “Are we going back tonight?” Tyler bounces the ball back to him.

“Not all of them,” Calem says, bouncing the ball back to Tyler. “They’re scared of the fishermen.”

Tyler throws the ball back to Calem. “When my dad gets back, we’re going back to the beach,” he says. “Even though we planned to go back at night, maybe we can find her there again during the day. She did come up to shore the other day.”

“I’ll go with you,” Calem says.

Later in the afternoon, Chris and Jill take their kids and Calem to the beach. The beach is more crowded than it was yesterday with many locals and tourists enjoying the last weeks of summer break. Tyler, Emma, and Calem bring their boogie boards to the water. The waves are packed with surfers and swimmers and multiple lifeguards are on duty in each spot.

“This place is jam-packed,” Tyler says. “How are we going to find Acrilla in this mess?”

“Maybe she won’t come today,” Calem says. “And no fishermen around since there are too many people.” Calem goes in first, then Tyler, to paddle towards the waves. Emma follows them on her boogie board while Jill and Chris lay on the beach.

“Don’t go out too far,” Jill yells out.

Tyler looks back at his mother. “We know, we won’t,” he says. Emma catches up with him and Calem.

The surfers are experts at catching their waves. Other children splash in the water, having fun. Tyler, Emma, and Calem have other things on their minds, like looking for more mermaids, or other interesting animals that could be in the ocean. So far, no sight of the fishermen. Tyler catches his first waves as the water pushes his boogie board up and down. Emma and Calem follow him. Emma struggles to stay on hers as Calem and Tyler have theirs controlled. She gets far from her brother and Calem.

Tyler looks behind and sees Emma a distance away. “Stay near the shore,” he says to her. He paddles back to Emma and moves her boogie board towards the direction of the beach.

Calem stops paddling to watch the other boarders up on really big waves. “Look at them,” he says to himself. “I want to ride like that someday.” Not knowing whether he’s alone in this spot, he feels like something might be near him. Calem looks around but sees nothing.

Tyler looks over and sees his head moving from side to side. “You okay?” he hollers at Calem.

“I’m fine,” Calem says. He’s looking at the water when suddenly a dull silver fin passes him by. Calem jumps after seeing it, his body full of adrenaline. “Tyler! Tyler!” He sees the fin moving straight towards Tyler and Emma. Hearing his name shouted, Tyler turns and sees the fin, and pushes Emma to get to shore. As she starts moving, she hears clicking noises from the mammal.

Emma turns back to hear. “I know that kind of noise,” she says until hearing the sounds of whistles from the lifeguards. “It’s a dolphin, not a…”

“Get those kids out of the water!” a lifeguard shouts. Some of the older surfers pull Emma and Tyler who are still on their boogie boards back to shore. Another surfer does the same with Calem. The whistles continue to blow as Chris and Jill, along with other parents, panic to get their children out. Lifeguards jump in to get the farther swimmers. Frantic parents hug their children. Lifeguards tell the beachgoers to back up away from the water.

“Reminds me of the scene in Jaws,” Tyler says.

“Are you all okay?” Chris asks.

“Yeah,” Emma says. “But we were not in danger. Look.” Emma points out to the area where they were. A dolphin leaps out of the water, and back in. The beachgoers and lifeguards are relieved.

“Sorry everyone, false alarm,” the lifeguard says. “You can all go back in.”

Everyone understands that it was for the best because it could have been something dangerous. All of the kids go back to the ocean to enjoy the water again. As for the others, Tyler, Emma, and Calem look, knowing that one dolphin near the shore must mean something.

“That couldn’t have been just a random dolphin,” Calem says. “It came right up to me and then you.”

“That’s Noah,” Emma says. “He knew we were here.” But Noah has now left the beach area. As everyone goes back to swimming and relaxing on the beach, Tyler, Calem, and Emma go to the same spot where they found Acrilla.

“He has to be here,” Calem says.

“Noah? Noah?” Tyler whispers.

“He’s a dolphin,” Calem says. “I highly doubt he understands you.”

Just then, Acrilla’s head pops out of the water with Noah, making them jump. “You all came back,” she says. “Sorry for Noah scaring everyone. But he’s harmless, and you know how dolphins can be.”

“Usually people mistake all fins for sharks even though dolphins have different fins than sharks,” Tyler says. “We also could tell by the noises he made.” Emma sticks out her hand to pet Noah.

“You haven’t seen any of the fishermen out here, have you?” Acrilla asks.

“No,” Calem says. “If they are doing something illegal, they wouldn’t do it with all of these people here.”

“That’s good,” Acrilla says. “But while I was up here, I smelled something funny in the water. It was near my home and caused many animals to swim away, far out.”

“Have you tried to stop them from leaving you?” Tyler asks. Noah makes the same click noises and splashes while slapping his fins left to right.

Acrilla tries to calm him down. “It’s okay, Noah,” she says. “It could be the smell. The other mermaids have been trying to keep the mammals together, but the smell is part of the fisherman's plan to get them out to sea.”

“It’s so they can easily capture them without getting caught,” Emma says. She stands up and looks out into the ocean.

“This is illegal,” Tyler says.

“We have to report this,” Calem says.

“How are we going to tell them?” Tyler asks. “A mermaid told us.”

“Not if I tell them,” Emma says. Acrilla finally calms Noah down.

“How about heading back home, and you wait for me there?” Noah agrees and dives back into the water to head back to the castle. “If only there was a way to defeat Captain Samuel.