Ocean Decoy

            One summer day, my friend, Kenny and I took a trip to Hawaii to go scuba diving in the ocean on Panama Beach. We rented a boat and had scuba diving equipment with us. But instead of mouthpieces, we had full masks to cover our faces, enabling us to breathe and speak.

            Kenny and I put the equipment on and went under the water. Because we were in Hawaii, the water was clear blue and not dark like in the United States. We were in an area where there was coral and lots of seaweed. We also saw schools of tropical fish that were multiple colors like blue, green, yellow, and so on. I took pictures of everything with my underwater camera as we went along.

            Kenny and I were swimming when Kenny was suddenly frozen with infatuation. “Eric, I just saw a mermaid!” he exclaimed.

            “Where?” I asked.

            But I turned around and didn’t see anything. “Your tank must be running out of oxygen because you’re seeing things.”

            “No, really! I saw her! She was right over there!”

Kenny pointed to the spot where he saw the mermaid. “She had long, flowing blonde hair, flawless skin, and a shimmering, blue tail! She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Whatever you say, man,” I replied.

No sooner had I turned my head than Kenny disappeared. When I realized that Kenny wasn’t with me, I looked around and saw that he had been following the mermaid. “So that’s the mermaid Kenny was talking about.”

As Kenny followed the mermaid, she used her finger to lead him. I wanted to ensure my friend’s safety, so I followed him to see where he was going. I also took pictures of the mermaid. She led Kenny to a sea cave that was covered with masses of seaweed at the entrance. He went inside and I saw that the mermaid had disappeared. I took pictures of the cave, and then I swam inside. I took out my underwater flashlight in order to provide more light.

“Eric, where’s the mermaid?” Kenny asked. “Did you see her?”

“I sure did,” I replied. “I hate to tell you this, but she’s gone.”

“I wonder why the mermaid would lead me here and disappear like that.”

Suddenly, Kenny and I heard the sound of evil laughter. We gasped. Then two sea people appeared. They looked human, except they had gills on the sides of their necks to help them breathe.

“Who are you two?” I asked.

“I’m Magmus,” one sea person said in a sinister voice.

“And I’m Darkwater,” added the other sea person in the same tone of voice.

Both of them were males. Magmus had orange hair, and Darkwater had blue hair.

“What did you do with the mermaid?” Kenny demanded.

“What mermaid?” Magmus sneered.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!”

“Oh, you mean the image mermaid.”

“Ha!” Darkwater laughed. “Humans. They fall for it every time.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded.

“We have an underwater projector. When we turn it on, it casts a video image in the ocean. This is the video disk of the mermaid swimming, as if she’s leading a person somewhere.”

“So therefore, she wasn’t really there,” Magmus added. “And you two fell right for our trap.” He laughed an evil laugh.

At that moment, Kenny and I tried to get out of the cave, but Magmus and Darkwater sealed the exit shut.

“Where do you think you’re going?” said Darkwater. “You’re gonna be here for a long time, so you might as well just relax.”

“Our sea snakes are waiting for you,” Magmus chimed in. “And by the way, they’re poisonous.”

There were three sea snakes in a glass cage. They had black and white stripes on them. Magmus opened the cage and let them out. The snakes headed for me and Kenny. We tried to find another way out of the cave, and the snakes swam at a fierce speed. We swam and swam, until I saw that one of the snakes had caught up to Kenny and wrapped itself around his leg. When it bit him, its fangs broke through his scuba diving suit and penetrated his flesh. He passed out within a few seconds of being bitten.

“Kenny!” I shouted.

By that time, we were far away from the sea people, but the sea snakes were still trying to attack me. I used my flashlight to ward them off. After the snakes swam away, I realized that I had to get Kenny to the hospital before the poison from the snake bite killed him. I also knew I had to surface before my tank ran out of oxygen.

Carrying Kenny’s motionless body, I found another exit and swam out of the cave.           Then I swam up as quickly as possible, until I reached the surface. By the time our scuba diving adventure was over, I had pictures of the sea people and the sea snakes in addition to everything else. I shone my flashlight as an SOS signal in order to get a helicopter. While I waited, I tried to revive Kenny but to no avail.

In less than five minutes, a helicopter spotted us. When it came down, the pilot threw down a ladder for me. I climbed up, holding Kenny in my arms. Then we were hoisted up into the helicopter. I told the pilot what had happened to Kenny and that he needed to get to the hospital right away. The pilot landed at the nearest hospital, and the paramedics took Kenny in for treatment.

Kenny was in the hospital, until he had recovered from the snake bite. After that, he was discharged. Then we checked into a hotel. Some time after Kenny’s ordeal, we decided to make a police report.

“Kenny,” I said, “I took some pictures while we went scuba diving.”

“Really?” Kenny replied. “What did you get?”

“I got pictures of everything we saw. Let’s take the important ones down to the police station. We’ll show the police the ones of the sea people, the image mermaid, the sea snakes, and the cave.”

Kenny and I took the pictures down to the police station. Two policemen introduced themselves as Officers Samala and Kamehameha.

“I’m Eric Hampton,” I said.

“And I’m Kenny Black,” Kenny added.

“How may we help you?” Officer Samala asked.

“We went scuba diving in the Panama Ocean a couple of weeks ago,” I replied. “Look at the pictures I took.” I showed the officers the pictures and told them about our adventure and everything that had happened.

“I got bit by one of those sea snakes and had to go to the hospital,” Kenny interjected.

Officer Samala replied, “You’re lucky to be alive, being that you were in the ocean.”

“Well, there’s only one thing to do,” Officer Kamehameha declared. “With those sea people on the loose, Panama Beach is not safe. We must close it down until they’re caught. Thank you for coming down here and alerting us of the danger. You two are heroes. You know that?”

We nodded in agreement.

The police warned the city about the beach and that no one should go swimming. A sign was put up to prohibit swimming. A few weeks later, Kenny and I went to see the mayor to show him the pictures.

“I thought about having these pictures put in the Tiki Museum,” I told him.

Kenny and I also told him about our scuba diving adventure.

The mayor replied, “I think adding the pictures to the museum is a great idea, Eric. Since the beach will be closed for quite some time, it can be known as a historical site.”

“Yeah,” Kenny agreed. “You see the picture of the cave? There’s an unusual amount of seaweed covering the entrance. I studied sea caves in a marine biology course I took in college, and I’ve never seen so much seaweed gathered in one area like that.”

After everything was discussed, the mayor had the pictures put in the museum for everyone to see. Sometimes, Kenny and I went there to tell stories about our adventure to people who were visiting. During that time, boats were sent out to capture the sea people.

Author's Note

This story was written for a creative writing class in 2008. (3/3/08)

Reviews

[alanwgraham]

You have certainly got a great imagination. I think it is good you've kept it fairly light. I was really expecting that when they took the photos to show the police there would be nothing.
Well done!
Alan