A Jaws Retelling

Introduction

The moonlight created an eerie effect on the sea as it lapped at the sandy shores of Amity Island. All was seemingly still that night in the sleepy little town, yet the stretch of beach beside it was teeming with excitement. A beach-blanket party was raging amidst the peach-colored dunes. A fire was blazing in a makeshift pit of scattered bricks and stones, and dozens of teenagers surrounded it; talking, laughing, playing guitar, romping around, all high off their asses. The noise from the jubilee wafted through the air, traveling across the light summer winds and down to the beach, where they dissipated and faded into the crashing of the ocean waves. Nights like these were common in Amity, with one exception. Where the beach was normally made of smooth sand and blemished only by the occasional piece of driftwood, or some forgotten beach towel, tonight the shore was littered with wooden shards and boating equipment. The unmistakable remnants of an ocean vessel surrounded the small form of an unconscious girl. This was evidence of a boat wreck, uncommon to Amity, but not unheard of.

The girl that lay among the wreckage seemed to be the only survivor of the crash, which had occurred far out at sea near a cluster of jagged rocks. The debris had drifted to shore, taking with it the young survivor—the sole survivor—who had barely made it to shore before losing consciousness. The partygoers ambling around nearby failed to notice the occurrence of the crash, and were oblivious to the remains of the boat or the girl laying amid them.

Suddenly, two of the teenagers from the party came stumbling down the beach; one too drunk to walk in a straight line, the other so on-high that she was nearly flying down the sand dunes. One was male and the other female, both obviously affected by what seemed to be puppy love, combined with whatever other drugs they were on. The girl quickly began to remove her clothes, shouting at her companion and portraying to him her intentions of taking a midnight dip. The poor boy blacked out halfway through her undressing, as the alcohol coursed through his veins and blurred his thinking, and he fell into a deep sleep right there on the dunes.

Although the girl was in the company of her teenage male counterpart and the boat wreck victim, both were unconscious, and she was therefore alone in the less technical sense of the word. But this did not bother the girl in the slightest as she removed her hair tie and last piece of clothing before sauntering towards the water. She dipped one foot in, shivering as the cool waters swept around her ankles, tugging at her legs, pulling her with them back out to sea. She followed them as though she was in a trance, relaxed by the waters which, in the moonlight, without the thousands of splashing and swimming tourists, almost seemed like a different ocean entirely. She arched her back and let the water carry her, bobbing up and down with the waves and drifting with the current. Adding the effect of the "party favors" to the rhythmic movement of the waves, the girl had never felt so relaxed. Suddenly, she felt a surge of water press against her back, as though something was passing under her. She froze, her limbs tensing as she waited for any other signs that a sea creature was present. She felt nothing, and the momentarily irregular bouncing of the water was the only evidence that there had ever been anything at all. Cautiously, she began to swim again, heading towards shore slowly; her better judgement perhaps clouded still from the party. She tucked her knees up to her chest and rolled under the water, letting it engulf her. When she surfaced again, she felt a tug. The girl let out small squeal and became still again, with the exception of her shaking, which was induced by both the water temperature and the fear creeping up her spine. When moments more passed with no sign of movements, she came to relax again.

Then she made another wrong move.

Panic and paranoia setting in, she made a mad dash for the shore and began paddling as fast as she could go. She had barely managed a few strokes before she was pulled under again, this time with more finality and brutality, as if the creature was finally sure that there was something there to bite.