A Jaws Retelling

Welcome to Amity

Brody stood there and for a moment he only stared at the girl, unsure whether or not she was a figment in his whirling mind. The tide lapped at the sand beneath her, swirling her brown hair around her head. He staggered over to the unconscious girl and bent down next to her.

"Hey!" Brody muttered, shaking the girl awake. "Hey, what are you doing out here?" Brody had already dealt with one passed-out drunk on the beach this morning, he was annoyed by the prospect of dealing with another. Her eyes began to open slowly, but then all at once—her eyes widened and filled with terror, and she sat up quickly, nearly knocking her head with Brody's. The Chief fell backwards, and watched her edge frantically away from the sea.

"S-shark!" she cried in a raspy voice. "It was a shark, there was a shark!" She fell back onto the beach, breathing hard. It was then that Brody noticed the wood that lay scattered around her, and realized that this was not another case of a drunk straggler on the beach—it was far from that. Brody turned and scanned the horizon, and several other pieces of wood bobbing in the sea confirmed his suspicions.

"Miss—Miss, hey, calm down." Brody pushed himself up to his knees and placed his hands slowly but firmly on her shoulders. "Do you know where you are? Miss?" She turned to look at him and her panicked eyes looked the chief up and down, as if she was just now noticing him for the first time.

"I...no." She looked lost, she looked desperate, and Brody was immediately intrigued. He also immediately felt sympathetic. "I don't know how I got here, but sir, last night I woke up and...and there was this shark and he t-tore this g-girl apart..." She began to shake, and Brody held her arm securely as he could while he helped the young woman to her feet. Yet he could hardly stand himself—the girl had just confirmed the presence of a shark.

"Hey, it's okay." Brody looked into her tearful eyes, and rubbed her arm in an attempt to calm her down. "My name's Chief Brody. I'm gonna take you down to the station, and we can get you settled down there, okay?" The girl nodded slowly, and Brody led her to the beach, still clutching her arm. The winds blew harsher than usual, and the dim gray skies cast over the beaches seemed to match the grim mood of the morning. Brody's feet dug into the sand unsteadily as he walked, and they kept a slow pace while advancing towards the station.

Once there, Brody sat the disoriented young woman down in one of the many plastic chairs outside his office. Although he felt bad about leaving her alone, he couldn't deal with the situation on his own, and he left to get his deputy, Jeff Hendricks. The deputy was sitting next to the secretary, Polly, looking as white as the painted wall behind him. He ran a hand through his dark hair, already slick with a cold sweat at 8:00 in the morning. Polly wore a slightly horrified expression, and Hendricks looked as though he was liable to be sick at any given moment. Neither noticed the frazzled chief of police as he entered.

"I'm tellin' you Polly, I've never seen anything like that," Hendricks breathed, a greenish tint appearing on his cheeks. "It's just...you look at that pile of gunk sittin' out on the beach, covered in blood and bein' eaten by crabs, and you have to remember that that same pile of gunk used to be a person...there's nothing like that, Polly. Nothing like that."

"Hendricks." Brody made his presence known with a stern statement that made both parties jump.

"Oh. Chief." Hendricks wiped his slick hands on his coveralls. The chief motioned for Hendricks to follow him, and Brody lead the deputy out into the hallway where the girl was waiting. Hendricks was startled by the young woman, and he jumped upon seeing her, which caused the girl to jump in turn. Brody rubbed his hand down his face in annoyance.

"Jesus Christ, Hendricks. She's a girl, not a jack-in-the-box." Hendricks looked wearily at Brody, glaring at him halfheartedly through squinted, tired eyes. The young woman just looked on in confusion.

"Well excuse me, Chief, if I'm a little jumpy," Hendricks bit. "Who is she, anyway?" He pointed rudely at the girl, who didn't seem to know that the gesture was derived from slightly ill-mannered indifference.

"That's just the trouble, Hendricks," Brody told him, trying his best to be understanding of his deputy's attitude. "She was on the shore this morning, out cold. Found her just after you and that drunk kid left. Surrounded by shards of wood, too—I'm certain she was in a boat crash."

"I'll go check it out." Hendricks offered. Brody nodded as Hendricks pulled on his cowboy-style deputy hat, looking reluctant to go back out onto the beaches. "How far down from where we found the girl's remains?" Hendricks asked, quietly.

"'Bout half a mile, maybe less." Brody shrugged. "I don't really know."

"Hell, I'll find it. Bye, Chief."

"Wait—Hendricks."

"Yeah, Brody?" Hendricks stopped with his hand on the doorknob, craning his neck to look back at the chief.

"Don't go spreading this around. Polly's damn near terrified, and she didn't even see the body—what was left of it." Brody rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation. "Just scope out the boat crash and get some other guys on it. Polly will pull up some records for you so we can try and figure out which boat crashed and who was on it." Both men threw a sideways glance at the girl, who was listening intently despite not really understanding who or what the two were talking about. "After that, make some signs. We're closing the beaches."

"You're not gonna consult the mayor on this?" Hendricks asked with wide eyes. "The beaches are our summer income!" Brody threw up his hands and Hendricks shrunk back against the door, sorry for asking.

"What the hell is there to consult him about?" Brody yelled. "You saw that poor girl, that was a man-eater that did that! Or do I have to refresh your memory on what those remains looked like?"

Hendricks turned on his heel and stepped out the door. He said quietly, "No, sir, you don't."

After a moment of standing idly, staring at the door, Brody turned to the girl, who was beginning to feel irritated. For the most part, the two men had acted as though she wasn't even in the room, but she was lost and confused and nobody would directly tell her where she was or how she got there.

"Sir?"

Brody knelt down in front of her, and she didn't pull away when he placed a comforting hand on her knee. She just looked at it, unsure of all that was happening.

"Do you know your name?" She shook her head. "Where you came from? Where you are?"

"No. I don't know where I am, or who I am, or how I got here. Could you tell me? Where am I?"

Brody looked up at the girl and sighed.

"Well, I hate to have you here under these circumstances," he said. "But, welcome to Amity Island."