One of us

Danger

PG-13: Mentions of suicide/self harm

I arrived at work, and was greeted by a completely empty beach. I was befuddled as to why it was so quiet, until I looked up at the sky. There was a massive grey cloud hovering above me, threatening to rain. I ran into the lifeguard tower and was greeted with a whack on the head. Beardy was walking out of the door. 'Shit sorry!' I exclaimed. He laughed and said 'No problem!' I walked to the windows and smiled at everybody. Only 4 lifeguards were there; Beardy, Azza, Bacon and Deano. I sat down in a chair, rather noisily.

'It's gonna be pretty quiet today, which normally means something big will happen.' Said Azza. I laughed and said 'I'm so unlucky, it's bound to happen to me!' Bacon and Azza both nodded. After about 5 minutes Hoppo, Terry, Glick and Kerrbox turned up. Beardy and Deano took the rhino down to the north end, and I watched the water with some binoculars.

It wasn't long before Azza's prediction came true. We were sitting in the tower chatting about surfing, when the phone started ringing. Glick picked it up and his face immediately turned from happy to deadly serious. I could only hear one end of the conversation, but from what I could hear, it was something major. 'Ok thanks very much, we'll send the ski out now.' As soon as he put the phone down, he leaped up and said 'Young girl, about 15 years old round the cliffs at south end! I'll take the ski, but I need someone else with me!'

I volunteered and soon, we were driving another rhino down to the waters edge. We dragged the jetski off the back and clipped on life jackets. I helped Glick push the ski into the water and then we both mounted it, with Anthony driving. We powered through the waves, and swerved around the few swimmers at the beach. We reach the rocks by south end, and slowed down a bit so we could scan the water.

I noticed a couple of people at the cliff edge, pointing at a spot about 20 metres away from us, by some particularly pointy rocks. I watched the water for a few seconds before I noticed something was extremely wrong. There was a black rock protruding a few centimetres out of the water. I yelped as soon as I realised what it was. A body. Surrounded by blood.

I shouted at Glick; 'Over there!' We sped over to the body and I turned it over gently. The reports were right. It was a 15 year old girl, barely younger than me. Her face was so bashed up that I knew it was a suicide straight away. I didn't know what to do. I heard Glick radio the tower 'Boys, it's a body retrieval.' The radio crackled and Hoppo said 'Um ok. We got told earlier that the police boat is broken. I'm sorry, but your gonna have to bring her back somehow.' I sighed. That's when Anthony screamed.

'SHIT SHIT SHIT! SHARKKKKK!' Was all I heard. My instincts kicked in immediately and whilst Glick was shaking from fear, I grabbed the piece of ribbon around my ponytail and sat with my back to Anthony's, so I was facing the water. I wrapped the ribbon around our waists and tied it in the strongest knot I knew. I grabbed the girls wrists quite violently and accidentally looked at the water. There was a dark shadow about 30 metres away, and it was advancing quickly. I shouted at Glick 'GO GO GO!!!' I felt the ski speed forward and watched the shark chase after us.

It was so close it was unbearable. Many times the girls feet almost got bitten off, and at one point I thought it would launch itself at me. We reached the shoreline and I collapsed onto Glick's back. I let go of the girls hands and untied the ribbon around our waists. We both jumped off and I saw the paramedics put the girl on a stretcher and cover her with a piece of plastic.

I walked numbly up the beach, my mind not working properly. I hadn't even thought of Lexi whilst we were in the water, but now I couldn't stop thinking about her. When I got the the tower I lent against the steps and collapsed onto the sand. I buried my head in my knees and started shaking uncontrollably. It wouldn't stop no matter how hard I tried. I had images in my head. Us playing when we were little, our first day of secondary school, the Ten Tors walk we did in the pouring rain.

I felt someone sit next to me, but I didn't look up. An arm slipped around my back and another under my knees. I felt myself being lifted and carried up the steps to the tower, but I couldn't concentrate on anything apart from Lexi.  I got put on to the medical bed and someone put a blanket on top of me. I looked up and saw Deano staring down at me with a very worried face. 'Zoe darling, please tell me what's wrong.'