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"Valerie, come on. What are you doing?"
The wind licks her skin. Valerie digs her toes around and buries her feet a bit deeper into the bed of sand. It feels nice and warm, like she's wearing a cosy pair of socks on a chilly October evening.
"Val!"
Valerie peeks from under her straw sunhat. Dad crouches over with his hands on his knees to look her in the eyes. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" Valerie keeps mum. She roots herself a little bit deeper into the sand.
"M'scared, daddy." Dad straightens his back and starts towards the shoreline with his hands on his hips. His shorts hug his thighs as water drips down his leg to be reunited with the ocean.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Val. Are you afraid that you might drown? That's what you've got your floats for!" Valerie hugs her doughnut shaped float as much as she can. The fluorescent ones around her arms restrain her attempts. She shakes her head. "No, daddy. They'll still get me."
He stays where the water caresses his calves. A crease forms between Dad's eyebrows. "Who'll get you?
"The sea nymph! The sea nymph will get me and pull me down!" she wails. "I didn't tell Mel I'm going to be at the beach. Who'll play with her if I'm gone?"
"The sea nymph? Who said anything about a sea nymph?" Dad questions.
"You did, daddy." Val deadpans. "You said the sea nymphs will know if I don't brush my teeth before bed and pull me down to pull out all my teeth." Valerie looks at her tiny fingers pinching at the plastic of her pink doughnut. She wiggles her toes beneath the sand. "I-I just remembered that I forgot to brush my teeth last night," she mummers. Dad barely catches it.
He puffs out a sigh. "I was just kidding, Val. There are no sea nymphs." Slowly, Dad lowers his body into the water. "See, I'm okay," he reassures as he makes little waves around him with his arms.
"That's different, daddy. You brushed your teeth last night; I didn't. They're going to get me!"
Dad lets out a deeper sigh. Suddenly he looks a little older with his greying goatee and eyeballs sunken into his skull. He's had a rough week, and the last thing he wants right now is to try convincing a 5-year-old that sea monsters don't exist.
Dad straightens his back. "That's alright, Valerie. You can sit this one out, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he turns towards the sea.
The waves catch the sunlight just right and the glistening reminds Valerie of glitter. She thinks maybe that's a good enough reason to take a chance.
"Wait for me!" she calls out. Dad holds out a hand for her and she waddles carefully towards him.
The wind picks up slightly and the waves roll in stronger, a little more frequent. Dad is right there to hold her as she gets used to the gap between her toes and the seafloor.
Another wave rolls in. It's bigger this time and Dad almost loses his grip on her.
He tries to manoeuvre them back towards shore but the ocean keeps pulling him in.
Dad doesn't see the next wave that approaches. Everything is in slow motion. It reminds her of the painting that's hung in the principal's office. As if hypnotised, Valerie can't seem to form any coherent thoughts even though she swears she can hear a voice yelling out, "Valerie, move!"
The force shoves her underwater.
Her eyes are stinging and she has to blink a few times to get a clear vision. She sees a school of fish swim pass and a blue whale tailing it. Without pushing herself off her back, she looks around and takes in the strange surrounding. It's bright but she can't tell where the Sun is. Teal and purple coloured sea grass tower over her and sway together like Mama and Daddy do sometimes in the living room. They paint the seafloor in translucence stripes. Everything smells salty and it's starting to burn her nostrils.
"Daddy?" she calls out. Her voice bounces off high rocks. Something twinkles in the peripheral of her vision. Valerie tilts her head slightly to the right and picks up a little pink seashell. How pretty, she thinks. It's iridescent like a pearl but still sharp and prickly. Valerie rubs the smooth underside of the shell with her thumb. The iridescence runs off and stains her skin. Something else glimmers behind her.
She senses a movement.
The silence is suddenly deafening.
Another movement, but it's gone by the time she tries to catch it. There's a twinkle hidden in the darkness between two high rocks. She scrambles to her feet but slowly trudges towards it. She's inside the gap now but the twinkly object isn't.
She's not alone, she's sure.
A low rumble rolls in and her heartbeat picks up. It pounds in her ears and she's sure the creature can hear it too. The rumbling gets louder and she presses her back against the wall. She has her eyes squeezed shut with her hands over her mouth, stopping her from accidentally letting a sob escape. Her eyes brim with tears, her cheeks now wet under her fingertips.
Something cold and wet slips around her ankle. Pulled back with such force, her knees hit the ground and the sand scratch her tender palms. The inertia is too much; it knocks the wind out of her. The drastic change of light leaves stars in her vision - the creature has dragged her back out to where she woke up. Valerie barely has time to register what the creature looks like but she manages to catch the shine that forms in its eyes - completely black like that of a demon, that reflects the light. She feels something heavy sitting on her chest and then she sees darkness.
Her eyes are open.
She's knows they are. Valerie can feel herself blinking but she can't make out what's in front of her. She tries a few more times before her vision slowly blurs in and she's able to make out strands of black.
Hair.
It's Mama's hair; and it's gotten into her mouth.
"Pffttt," Valerie spits out.
"Oh, baby! Are you alright?" Mama fusses. Valerie's pressed tight against her chest.
She sees stars when she blinks but figures that it'll go away soon. "I'm alright, Mama."
"Okay then, sweetie. You just take it easy for now," Dad voices out from her left. It sounds course, like he's been talking for too long, and his eyes and nose are red. "That was a big wave you took on there." He leaves a kiss into her hair and runs off towards the direction of the ice-cream vendor.
Something pinches her palms. She stretched out her fingers and sees the soft indents the seashell has made into the skin of her palm.
She runs her thumb on the underside of the shell. This time, it doesn't stain.