I cut my chin on the coral at the end of a run of undertow. The salt blitzed my blood and my eyes shifted focus back toward the beech. What horrible timing. Flags were raised on the shore, indicating the presence of predators. I waded towards her calmly. She had dropped her book in the wake. Thats how I knew it was serious, a work of such great measures would never be treated as such. 

      When a fin appeared a few feet before me and disappeared, it was as if I was lost in one of those shoe box dioramas I made when I was a kid. Hot glue held me to the ocean. The ocean was held to the world, and so forth. I couldn't contain my panic any longer, mainly because i could nearly see myself in her eyes. Although I was at least 200 feet away, I swear, I could see myself in her eyes. 

      I didnt feel my chin anymore. All i felt was panic. I went horizontal and thrashed at the water with limbs I didnt know I had. Then I was lurched backward, and the water around me turned red before I was pulled underneath.