I stare blankly at the blue sky 

to see birds circling above me. 

The smell of fresh air 

and salty water. 

My journey starts here. 

I begin pushing and pushing. 

My little flippers drive 

effortlessly against the scratchy and prickly sand 

as I race to get to the ocean. 

The high, crystal clear waves as they crash against my face. 

I look back for my family 

but not everyone was there. 

Not everyone made it. 

I pass enormous schools of fish. 

Swimming gracefully in a circle almost as if they were a whirlpool. 

I catch a short glance of a long bodied, dark gray, massive creature. I cannot move. 

I am a single leaf in the winter, frozen in one place. 

The flattened blade-like extensions on both sides of 

His face brings horror to my eyes. 

I start slowly swimming away 

as he seems to inch 

closer and closer to me by the minute. 

In a blink of an eye he's four feet away from me 

and I'm swimming for my life. 

I see a coral patch and I duck for cover 

as the humongous creature can't fit and circles around me, wondering what I'm going to do next.