Don't Feed The Animals
Author's Note- this is a serious story about a kind of ironic situation. Enjoy!
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
At Seaworld…
"Our next performers are…Morgan and Melissa!" the announcer introduced. Then two huge, Killer whales erupted from the water. They were identical, both in size and their bold black and white markings. They sparkled as water rolled off them, glistening in the sun. The audience applauded wildly as the two giant mammals dove back into the water.
Justin, J.C., Lance, Chris and Joey sat spellbound as the speaker informed the visitors about the whale's length, weight, habits, etc. The whales gracefully and powerfully swam around in the tank, awaiting their next command. The woman employee then held out a fish in each hand, and the two whales powerfully burst from the water, mouths open and exposing a line of snow white, pointed teeth. Their large jaws clamped down on the fish, pulling their food under the water as they sank back down, reflections of the sun bouncing off the water and hiding their forms.
"WOW," Joey gasped.
"They're good," Lance commented.
"Totally," Chris added.
Then the speaker began talking again as the Orcas circled in the tank. "Who wants to feed these big girls?" she asked, the sun playing in her blonde hair.
Nearly everyone's hand shot up, including all five members of Nsync.
She looked straight at the group and smiled. "You two, come here," she said, pointing.
~>~>~>~>~>~>
End Pt. 1
Pt. 2
"You with the hair and your blonde friend," she clarified, waving them down to her.
Chris and Justin looked at each other excitedly. They each jumped up and ran down the bleachers, joining the speaker. The name on her wet suit read Sarah, and she greeted as she them she handed each of them a fish.
"Who do have here?" she asked into the microphone that projected from her earpiece and hung in front of her mouth.
"I'm Justin."
"And I'm Chris." They had to stop themselves before they added, 'And we're Nsync.' Several girls in the audience screamed their recognition.
The rest of the group snickered at how young their friends looked. Justin truly was the youngest, and Chris was the youngest at heart. Together they made quite an energetic pair.
"I need you to stand about three feet away from each other, and when I say go, hold the fish at arms length away you, over the water," Sarah instructed, pointing to where the guys should stand.
As they took their places, Sarah stood back and placed a whistle in her mouth. The audience watched closely as Sarah motioned for Justin and Chris to hold out the fish as she blew the whistle. Everyone watched in silence as the two rulers of the sea burst from the water, directly under Chris and Justin. Each watched with fascination as the whales rose up to get their reward, taking in every detail.
The whale's skin was smooth, the water making it glisten. Their eyes were small and light brown on the side of their heads. Each tooth was two inches long, and razor sharp.
Chris watched as the whale's teeth clamped down on the fish, pulling it out of his hand.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other whale sinking back into the water also, only it was taking Justin with it.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End pt. 2
Pt. 3
Girls in the audience began screaming as Chris stopped breathing at the sight of his friend being pulled under water by a Killer whale. He was frozen for a minute, watching as Justin struggled and splashed in the water, trying to get out of the giant's grasp.
Justin felt the bones in his hand crush under the immense pressure of the whale's jaw. He couldn't breath, as the water was now three feet over his head. The cold water was staring to invade his lungs as he tied to scream.
Suddenly, he felt a hard push in his back, and felt himself being forced back to the surface. Only when he got there, he didn't stop.
The whale tossed him in the air, and Justin flew like a rag doll. In the brief seconds he was out of the water, he could hear people screaming, and his friends yelling his name. He saw Chris struggling against Sarah as he plummeted towards the water again. But before he knew it, he tossed in the opposite direction by a giant tail.
The whales were playing with him. Trying to beat him to death, right here in Seaworld.
Justin broke through the water, his lungs refilled with air. He began swimming for the side, when his foot was caught between two powerful, toothed jaws. He was dragged the opposite direction, and he could see the other whale swimming straight for him.
They looked a lot bigger under water.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End Pt. 3
Pt. 4
Suddenly there was a splash next to him, and Chris swam towards him. Justin looked up and could see the others yelling and motioning. Then the whale that had been dragging him down by his foot let go, and started to come between Justin and his rescuer. Justin's brain screamed for oxygen, when the other whale bulldozed him from the side,
Setting fire to Justin's side and knocking the little bit of air he had out.
Chris swam harder to get to Justin, already worn out from his struggle against Sarah, who was trying to hold him back. Stubbornly, he ignored her pleading warning and dove in after his friend.
He almost reached Justin, when one of the black and white, living semi's plowed into him from underneath, crushing some ribs as it threw Chris out of the water.
Chris re-entered the water, gasping for the air he lost. He immediately started for Justin again, this time reaching him.
His body was on fire as he grabbed Justin and pulled and tugged until they were almost to the side, where the paramedics were waiting.
Justin was in shock, but tried to swim using one arm and one leg. The whales had torn part of Justin's pant leg off, and were fighting over it as Chris and Justin swam to safety.
Chris kept up his energy-consuming tugging as Justin tried to swim with him. When they reached the side, Chris pushed Justin up to the paramedics.
They had just gotten Justin out of the water, when the whales lost interest in the piece of fabric and headed for Chris.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
End Pt. 4
Pt.5
Chris as the Orca swam for him, ignoring the other's for him to get out of water. Joey and Lance ran forward and grabbed Chris's shirt trying pull him up. As the whale opened it's mouth in anticipation, Chris's raised his leg and delivered a powerful kick to it's nose as he felt himself being pulled out of the water.
The whale turned suddenly as it grunted in pain. Chris found himself sitting on the concrete, soaking wet and his chest aching. He watched the whales circle the water, trying locate their missing prey. The medics began checking him as he looked for Justin, dazed. He watched them loading Justin into the ambulance, then turned his attention to his surroundings.
He then slammed back into reality, and his heart began racing as he turned white. "Calm down," the paramedic coaxed, trying to lay Chris down before he hyperventilated. "Where does it hurt?"
"Here," Chris coughed, placing a hand his chest. He felt Joey's hand on his shoulder and looked up into Joey's soft brown eyes.
"How you doing?" Joey asked, trying to take Chris's mind off the pain.
Chris winced as the prodded the spot Chris had shown him. "Four ribs are broken. He'll have to be taken to the hospital," the medic announced.
"We'll be there as soon as we can," J.C. said, to both the guys and medic.
Chris nodded, and before he knew it, he was in the ambulance.
The others looked around, seeing the mess the whole ordeal had left. Everyone had gathered around, watching as the whales tossed the bodies like pieces of meat. Lance, Joey, and J.C. felt disgust for the rest of the audience, who saw this only as 'The cool thing that happened at Seaworld today.' They didn’t realize how much pain and fear it had instilled in the two victims. The guys felt like yelling at all the onlookers, to show them how much it hurt. Even they had felt helpless against the two huge sea creatures. They were just lucky that Justin and Chris had gotten out when they did, or they easily could have been killed.
The guys headed to the car, leaving the gawking audience behind. They rode to the hospital in silence, then stopped in the gift shop and bought some things for Justin and Chris. Then they rode the elevator to the floor their friends were on. Joey approached a nurse and asked her what room Justin and Chris were in, and she pointed them in the right direction. Before the three reached the room, they caught up with a doctor.
"Are you three here for Mr. Timberlake?" the doctor asked.
"Yeah, and Chris Kirkpatrick," J.C. replied.
"We have both of them," the doctor smiled. "Nice young men. A whale attack they said?"
"Yeah, it's a long story," J.C. said, rolling his eyes. "So how are they?"
"They're both pretty good, considering. Mr. Timberlake has a broken hand and foot, and a cracked rib. Mr. Kirkpatrick has four broken ribs, none of which punctured anything internally. They could be a lot worse," the doctor finished.
"Still, that's bad enough," Joey said.
"Can we see them?" Lance asked.
"Sure. They're awake, but the excitement is catching up to them. That, and the pain medicine, which I will be giving them each a prescription of," the doctor continued as they walked. "We also put them in the same room." Then he laughed to himself, "Well, we had to. They told us the whole time they wanted to talk each other. Well, here's the room. I'll be down the hall if you need anything."
"Okay. Thank you," J.C. called after him as they went in.
Justin and Chris were just about to doze off when Joey, Lance, J.C. entered the room. "Wake up!" Joey yelled, announcing their arrival.
"Wow, this place is so peaceful," Chris teased, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah. I wonder why they let this thing in," Justin added, smiling.
"Haha, you guys crack me up," Joey said, sitting on the foot of Justin's bed. Justin had his hand and foot in a cast, and both his and Chris' chests were wrapped to help heal the bone.
"Well, we got a surprise for you," J.C. said, holding out the bag from the gift shop.
"What is it?" Justin asked as Joey handed him a smaller bag and giving the bigger one to Chris.
Chris and Justin looked in the bags and began laughing. Justin pulled out a long, brown leather necklace with a jagged shark tooth at the end of it. Chris pulled out a small, rectangular, clear plastic box, filled with water. Inside, a small goldfish lazily swan around.
"Those are harmless reminders to never feed the animals," Lance laughed, bringing a painful day to a happy end.
Finnis
You are listening to THE ANIMAL SONG by SAVAGE GARDEN.
Back
Home
Email: jaysmyrascal@cs.com