I had never been so scared in my life. Here I was in the middle of the ocean and stuck! The feeling was unreal and terrifying. I was going on a boat tour with my family, when all of a sudden, the engine blew out. On a shark tour no less! The captain was trying to radio in, but it didn’t seem to be working. The sharks didn’t seem so cool now, constantly circling the boat like swimming vultures. I could see their long sleek bodies gliding underneath the water. Like deadly pendulums swaying back and forth.   

     I tried not to look at the sharks, but kept finding my gaze being laid upon them. They were some of the most terrifying creatures I had ever seen. They had a cold dead look in their eyes. They were definitely top of the food chain predators. Aside from the sharks my gaze kept falling on my little sister, sitting across from me looking terrified. Every time I looked at her she seemed to feel my gaze, as she looked up and returned it every time. I couldn’t hold it for long though, it made me feel guilty at myself for being scared. 

     I decided to go over and try to comfort her. I scooted over to her side, the closer I got I could see tear tracks running down the sides of her face. I hadn’t realized she had been crying, that simple fact made me feel ten times worse. She watched me silently as I slowly scooted over, reaching out when I got to her. I grabbed her hand and held it knowing how much better it made her feel, also knowing how much better it made me feel. 

“Hey it’s gonna be alright.” I said softly.

I tried to put as much soothingness in my voice as I could but I couldn’t put in alot. I watched her face for her reaction. 

“Thanks John.” She finally said, raising her eyes. “Is it true that there’s a leak in the boat?”

“Yeah its true.” I had almost forgotten that on top of everything else we were slowly sinking.

She sucked in a quick, panicked breath. “I’m really scared.” She breathed.

“I know, I am too Cindy.” At that I saw something of a smile curve the side of her lips.

“Big bad John is actually scared?” A little giggle escaped her lips.

I couldn’t help laughing out loud, I laughed so hard it hurt. It felt good to laugh after everything that happened that day.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” I smiled and Cindy mirrored my actions.

I liked to see her smiling after a day like this, it was nice to know that I made her feel better. Just then the captain came out on deck and made an announcement. 

“I was able to contact Control Center and they’re sending an extra boat out to pick us up at this very moment.” 

Suddenly everyone seemed to have a smile on their face. I looked down at Cindy and said, “See? I told you everything was gonna be alright.” To which the answer was a big happy grin on Cindy’s part. Our dad came walking over and sat down next to us. 

“I don’t think we’ll be doing anything like this again for a loooooong time.” He said, laughing to himself as he did.

After he said that, we all leaned back and waited patiently to be taken away from this disaster of a good time.

      About half an hour later we’re all on a different boat, joking and laughing as we’re being taken back to the shark tour boat launch location. Everyone seemed to be getting more and more happy the farther we got from the broken down boat boobing silently on the waves. Dad was asking us what we wanted to do for the rest of the day when we heard a metallic screeching that fading into a kind a wet sputtering. Our eyes widened as we all looked at each other. A fearful looking crew member came rushing out on deck, this all seemed terrifyingly familiar.

“The engine has broken down, we’re gonna be stuck here for a while it seems.” He said.

“No, no, no, no, no…” Cindy sputtered.

I started feeling nauseated, I couldn’t believe that this was happening again. What were the odds! This was officially the worst day of my life, I never wanted to see another boat again. Here we were stuck again in the middle of the ocean. I was debating the question of if i could make it back by swimming when I heard a loud laugh. As I looked behind me I saw the crew member leaning over laughing, tears in his eyes. As he was laughing the boat started up again and slowly made its way forward. I was flabbergasted, I had no clue what was going on. My confusion was short lived however, for the crew member exclaimed, “It was a joke! I was just pulling your guy’s chains. The boat isn’t broken down at all, I just thought I’d try to lighten the mood.”

I wanted to punch him in the face and hug him at the same time. I decided to just sit down and be happy it wasn’t real. Everyone else seemed to share my standpoint. The crew member, seeing that his joke wasn’t received well, decided to go back to the front of the boat. 

      It took about 40 minutes to get back to the launch location, as soon as we were on land again I was euphoric. I couldn’t wait to get home and lay in my bed. I was daydreaming about spending the rest of the day in my room when my dad asked Cindy and I what we wanted to do to finish out the rest of the day. Cindy and I looked at each other, nodded, and said at the same time, “Go home.”