I was sixteen years old when we took our first trip to the ocean. Myrtle beach to be exact. My parents took me and my cousin for my birthday. I was so excited to go, I wanted nothing more than to get out into the ocean and swim.
About a month before we left I watched a show that educated me about what lived in the ocean. Needless to say after that I didn’t feel like I wanted to go into the ocean anymore. There were pokey fish that poisoned you, the eel things that popped out of the sand, and giant fish that could swallow you. Not to mention sharks. (I’ll go ahead and say, I’m not sure if any of those fish are native to that beach area but with my luck they’d probably move in that same weekend.)
But above all those things, the one thing that worried me most was the jelly fish. I was told they latch onto you and sting you; you can’t get them off and someone said they left barbs in you. It hurts for a long time and you always remember it. Well, as most of you know, I don’t do pain well. So I resigned myself to sit on the beach my entire trip and watch the waves roll in.
Don’t worry, my cousin talked me into trying it out. We decided that we could stand in the waves just far enough out that the water hit us just below the knees. The water was murky so there was no telling what was swimming around us, what horrors lie just beyond my toes. I didn’t like it. My cousin and I talked while we stood there, watching people swim or float. They were so far away from shore it gave me anxiety. They splashed around happily with absolutely no fear of what could be around them.
I stood there waiting for these people to be picked off my some prehistoric giant all while holding a conversation. In the back of my mind I couldn’t shake the thought of what was near me. I was barely in the water but something could be there, especially a jelly fish! I kept pushing the thought to the back of my mind over and over again but it always resurfaced. We had only been standing there five minutes but I could feel my time running out. Something was about to get me.
And something did. Without warning something latched itself around my ankle tightly, sealing itself to me. I automatically began screaming, cutting my cousin off mid sentence. I flailed my arms, kicking my leg to release whatever it was that had me but it wouldn’t let go. With the force of the waves, I couldn’t pull my leg up high enough to see what had me so (while screaming and making a spectacle of myself) I stumbled backwards towards the beach. I’m proud to say, I didn’t fall. I would take a step back and then kick, in hopes it would release me from whatever had me. This creature however had me and it wasn’t letting go. I could only assume it was a jelly fish, I waited for the piercing pain I had heard about as I stumbled onto the beach. I’m still screaming.
At one point I screamed, “It’s got me!”
My cousin ran out of the water with me, away from the swarm of unknown creatures that were left behind. They watched from a distance as one of their own took out a human (me). My heart was in my throat and I was about three seconds away from being sick. Stumbling onto the beach I forced myself to look down at what had me. There, wrapped tightly around my ankle, was a grocery bag.
A grocery bag.
I looked up to see a few people snicker. I kicked the thing off of my ankle with as much hatred as I could muster, which wasn’t much because all the fight had been drained out of me during my race for the shore.
After I threw the bag away, we went back to the hotel; quite frankly I needed a nap. I never went back.
About a month before we left I watched a show that educated me about what lived in the ocean. Needless to say after that I didn’t feel like I wanted to go into the ocean anymore. There were pokey fish that poisoned you, the eel things that popped out of the sand, and giant fish that could swallow you. Not to mention sharks. (I’ll go ahead and say, I’m not sure if any of those fish are native to that beach area but with my luck they’d probably move in that same weekend.)
But above all those things, the one thing that worried me most was the jelly fish. I was told they latch onto you and sting you; you can’t get them off and someone said they left barbs in you. It hurts for a long time and you always remember it. Well, as most of you know, I don’t do pain well. So I resigned myself to sit on the beach my entire trip and watch the waves roll in.
Don’t worry, my cousin talked me into trying it out. We decided that we could stand in the waves just far enough out that the water hit us just below the knees. The water was murky so there was no telling what was swimming around us, what horrors lie just beyond my toes. I didn’t like it. My cousin and I talked while we stood there, watching people swim or float. They were so far away from shore it gave me anxiety. They splashed around happily with absolutely no fear of what could be around them.
I stood there waiting for these people to be picked off my some prehistoric giant all while holding a conversation. In the back of my mind I couldn’t shake the thought of what was near me. I was barely in the water but something could be there, especially a jelly fish! I kept pushing the thought to the back of my mind over and over again but it always resurfaced. We had only been standing there five minutes but I could feel my time running out. Something was about to get me.
And something did. Without warning something latched itself around my ankle tightly, sealing itself to me. I automatically began screaming, cutting my cousin off mid sentence. I flailed my arms, kicking my leg to release whatever it was that had me but it wouldn’t let go. With the force of the waves, I couldn’t pull my leg up high enough to see what had me so (while screaming and making a spectacle of myself) I stumbled backwards towards the beach. I’m proud to say, I didn’t fall. I would take a step back and then kick, in hopes it would release me from whatever had me. This creature however had me and it wasn’t letting go. I could only assume it was a jelly fish, I waited for the piercing pain I had heard about as I stumbled onto the beach. I’m still screaming.
At one point I screamed, “It’s got me!”
My cousin ran out of the water with me, away from the swarm of unknown creatures that were left behind. They watched from a distance as one of their own took out a human (me). My heart was in my throat and I was about three seconds away from being sick. Stumbling onto the beach I forced myself to look down at what had me. There, wrapped tightly around my ankle, was a grocery bag.
A grocery bag.
I looked up to see a few people snicker. I kicked the thing off of my ankle with as much hatred as I could muster, which wasn’t much because all the fight had been drained out of me during my race for the shore.
After I threw the bag away, we went back to the hotel; quite frankly I needed a nap. I never went back.
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