Skip to main content

Write a story that's set on a yacht. Your point-of-view character is tremendously uncomfortable.

Sarah didn't like the look of the distant fins in the water.

Sure, she was on a boat--and a very nice boat--but there was something ominous about sharks circling her. And there wasn't just her on the boat. There was her...boyfriend? Sugar daddy? Gentleman caller? Whatever his title should be, his name was Franklin and he had paid for this romantic vacation.

What Franklin hadn't told her was that there would be a bunch of his other rich friends and their...girlfriends? Sugar babies? Lady callers? Was lady caller even a phrase? Sarah didn't like to think about what title Franklin described her as to his friends, so she quickly ditched this line of thinking.

The champagne was real champagne--from the region of Champagne in France (Franklin's friend Pierre had reassured anyone whom he could trap into a conversation that it was, indeed, not just sparkling wine)--and it was cold. Sarah took another sip and hoped that soon she'd get enough of a buzz to carry her thoughts away from the encroaching fins.

She knew not to get hammered though, especially on a boat filled with rich men (most of whom kept calling her Rebecca of all things). Even if she had been with her friends back in the States, she would want to keep her head around so much deep water.

The ocean was a mistake, she used to joke with people. And while the ocean contained beautiful multitudes, there was so much unknown abyss to it that Sarah never felt truly comfortable around it. Even at oceanside beaches as a child she worried that something would come crawling up from the sea.

It never had, but those fins sure did look like they were getting closer.

Sarah looked around the deck filled with scantily clad 20-somethings dancing to the music and being gawked at by the sweaty, older men in shirts clearly another woman had picked out for them. She spotted Franklin who was, blessedly, just admiring her and smiling. She waved him over and he took only one sip of his drink before making his way to her.

Franklin greeted her with a chaste kiss before putting his arm around her waist. "Beautiful day," he remarked placidly.

"The ocean is a beautiful blue," Sarah said nonchalantly, but her eyes were drawn back to the fins.

Franklin followed her gaze and spotted them as well. "Oh, don't worry about sharks, my dear."

"They aren't even like a bad omen?" asked Sarah, trying to sound coy and not unnerved.

"You expect me to know old sailor lore?" chuckled Franklin, the rasp in his voice reminding Sarah about the expensive, but nonetheless pungent cigars he liked to smoke.

"Well, I know the one about the albatross..." Sarah trailed off before taking another sip of her definitely real champagne.

"No albatrosses her, love," Franklin reassured her before giving her waist a comforting squeeze. "Do you like your party?"

"It's lively," smiled Sarah, trying to a pick a pleasant word that wasn't a lie.

Franklin did read her well though, "We'll have some solo time on this trip too."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Franklin kissed her again before moving back to his friends.

As Franklin left, one of the inebriated women came over to Sarah--Kelly, Sarah thought her name was.

"Whatchalookin'at?" slurred Kelly.

Sarah idly gestured to the fins, which were definitely getting closer and seemed to be coming in faster every passing moment.

"Ohmandoyouthinkit'sharks?!" Kelly attempted to exclaim despite her drunkenness.

Sarah nodded, but paused part way through.

The approaching fins looked more black than gray.

Were there black sharks?

Surely, there were stranger ocean creatures than black sharks?

"We should be safe on the boat," murmured Sarah, trying to reassure herself more than this Kelly woman.

The fins had reached the yacht.

RAM.

The boat took on the full impact and most of the guests lost their footing, having never found their sea legs before imbibing.

RAM.

Sarah realized with cold horror that the fins weren't sharks. They were orcas.

RAM.

There had been stories of orcas attacking yachts, but Sarah had honestly thought they were nonsense--propaganda about nature taking herself back from the billionaires that plagued her.

RAM.

Guests began to fall into the water and the deck began to crack.

RAM.

Sarah remembered something else.

RAM.

Orcas liked to play with their food.

(Prompt from "731 Weirdly Specific Writing Prompts, Batch 2" and done with friends)

Photo by Mohamed Masaau on Unsplash


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15 facts I learned from a random Wikipedia article

Original prompt: click on "Random Wikipedia Article" and write about whatever comes up (you can try 3 times and pick your favorite). For the record, I got Alejandro Estivill , Fencing at the 2011 Pan American Games – Women's épée , and Benjamin F. Jonas . I chose Benjamin F. Jonas because it was the longest of the three entries and it had a photo. He was born in Kentucky, moved to Illinois as a kid, and went to college and spent the rest of his life in Louisiana Jonas's father was a merchant and lawyer His father knew Lincoln (like they were real buds) Despite this, Jonas sided with the confederacy Not only did he side with the confederacy, but he joined the Confederate army and rose to the rank of major He went to University of Louisiana (now Tulane) Jonas was Jewish (I didn't know there were Jewish senators who served the Confederacy) He was the second Jewish U.S. Senator from Louisiana and the third Jewish Senator overall Jonas was the first Ashkenazi Jewish US...
Post a Comment
Read more

Origin story or first issue of a superhero whose super power is geometry

Arya sat in history class and was bored. She longed to get to geometry, where things made more sense. She liked geometry so much that she had joined the math team to be able to do it more. Okay, there was also the extra time with her friends who loved math as much as she did, but some of the appeal was just the math itself. Finally the bell rang and Arya had four minutes to get to her geometry class. She passed right by the chemistry class next door where her least favorite teacher was conducting experiments. He needed to be more careful, thought Arya. The teacher had once exploded a glass beaker and not on purpose. Arya took her seat and excitedly pulled out her notebook. It was her favorite color: hot pink. She assigned her notebook and folder colors in ways that felt right to her. And since geometry was her favorite subject, she made her notebook and folder for it her favorite color. As the teacher started to go over the most common mistakes from the last quiz, Arya could've swo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Color palette

Original prompt: "Google "color palette," pick one, and write something inspired by it." I actually Googled "color palette public domain" to be sure I could use it and found the image on this post. I used the "floral" section for my inspiraiton. The soft sunlight somehow didn't dim the shine of the fireflies. Such it was in the fae realm. Fern loved this time of day in the faewild where it wasn't quite day, but it was far from night. Fern frolicked alone in the glade as she was want to do. It didn't matter to her that her laughter carried itself alone on the breeze; she was content. She wasn't sure how long she'd been alone as she watched the suns begin to set, but it was pleasant in its own way. But then, she heard a noise. It wasn't the noise of leaves on the wind or twigs snapping from some comforting creature. It was the noise of someone approaching with grim determination. Fern wasn't sure how to ready herself to ...
Post a Comment
Read more