“They also said sharks don’t harm humans unless provoked,” He pulled me toward him so he could look into my face. I grabbed onto his arm the best I could with my tied wrists. “Let’s test that theory, shall we?” He pushed me back hard.
My life flashed before my eyes as the sound of my screaming, and their laughter echoed in my head. It seemed like the fall took forever, but I was still on the same breath when my body hit the frigid water.
My entire body was submerged for a few seconds before my legs started to kick and push me to the surface. I gasped for air and spat out the water that had made its way into my mouth.
I couldn’t swim because I was still tied up, but my legs could keep me afloat. “What the fuck? What the fuck!” I kicked toward the ship, my heart beating hard in my chest, the sound of it drowning out the splashing of water against the hull of the ship. I looked up, but could no longer see Lou and his boys because of the lip of the ship. I could still hear them, though.
“Aw man, where did he go? Did he die already?” One of them said.
“No way, it wasn’t even that far of a drop.”
“ Marcel, pull the lead,” Lou said.
Suddenly I felt my arms being raised over my head, and whatever had been attached to my binds was pulling me up.
“Oh, look! There he is!” Marcel said as my body slowly lifted out of the water and into their view.
“Pull me out of here, you fucking bastard!” I yelled.
“No way! We still have to check our experiment!” Lou screamed back, “Let him go.” The taut line on my arms went slack, and I fell back down to the deep abyss.
I kept my legs moving and did everything I could to make sure my head stayed above water. I looked over the hull of the ship to see if there was something I could use to pull myself up, but it was nothing but smooth metal. The more I pulled on the metal rope tied to my wrists; the more line fell in the water. I didn’t want to risk pulling all of it down. I could feel my breath coming fast and the tears mixing with the burning saltwater streaming down my face. Everything stopped, though when something large and smooth bumped against my leg.
I looked down but couldn’t really see anything besides the dark water. I wiped my eyes the best I could and looked again. Maybe it was the rope? This time when I squinted and focused on the water below me, I clearly saw a large-bodied fish with a huge telltale dorsal fin.
Sharks!
Fuck! I moved away from the monster beneath me and screamed for them to lift me back up. “Please, there are fucking sharks. Lift me back up! Please!” I pulled on the rope again, hoping it would go taut, and I’d be able to lift myself out of danger. “Oh, god, please! I don’t want to die like this!” I yelled and could hear nothing but them cackling above me. I looked back down and could no longer see the shark circling me. I was now further out from the ship and could see Lou and his boys at the edge of the deck watching me with murderous joy on their faces.
“Oh shit, look there it is!” One of them jumped up and pointed. I turned in that direction and could see the large fin about five meters in front of me. I had nothing to protect myself with, all I could do was hope I’d be able to dodge the beast or that it would realize I wasn’t a part of its recommended diet.
I kept my eyes on that fin until suddenly it disappeared. I frantically searched below me. “Shit! Shit!” I mumbled to myself as I spun in a tight circle, trying to find the shark. It was the teeth that first caught my attention. I screamed and kicked with everything I had to get out of its way.
“Now!” The men screamed from above me, and abruptly the line on my arms went taut, and I was yanked out of the water just as the shark lept and tried to take a chunk out of my legs. I had to raise my knees to my chest, or I’d be half a man.
The shark fell back into the water and began to swim away, just as it did the rope on my arms went slack again, and I fell back into the water.
“Punch it in the nose!” Lou screamed as he fell to his knees in a fit of laughter.
“You heartless bastards! Bring me up!” I screamed, my throat raw from the crying and saltwater.
My body sank in the water for a brief second, and what I saw below was truly a scene from one of my worst fucking nightmares. Now there wasn’t just one shark; there were what seemed like a whole fucking school of sharks. I counted at least three before I bounced back to the surface. I held onto the rope and just cried, the screams from mere seconds ago turned into bitch like whimpers and pleas.
“Bring me back up,” I whispered, sure they couldn’t hear me.
I could feel the rush of the water to the side of me, but there was nowhere for me to go. I just held on, closed my eyes, and waited to be ripped apart by these apex predators.
The line on my arms went taut again, just as two of the three sharks swam to where I was only seconds ago. I waited for them to drop me down again, but instead, they lifted me back to the ship. They were laughing as if
