Marine Crisis

# Chapter 1

Hi! I’m Mya a marine biologist and inventor. I’m 13 years old and I work at the Florida Keys, occasionally going to other places all over the world. Here in the Florida Keys I give tours and information to visiting schools. There was one school whose 9th grade was visiting that look vaguely familiar.

                I was giving tours of the reef that day like every day. My invention helped me do this. My invention was a mask that allowed me to breath under water. It was actually fairly simple. All I had to do was get the H2 away from the O allowing me to breathe quite normally, except for the fact that the air tastes like salt. Still have to work out that kink in it. Anyway, one day a few familiar faces showed up.

                “Alright Mya we’re going to have a school from Kansas come and we are going to give them a tour of the reef.” My co-worker Evan said, “You’re going to have the sea-life station this time.”

                “YES!!” I cried, I love that station.

                “As usual the student is going to be in the mini tour-sub and you’re going to use your….”

                “Sea-Mask” Evan can never remember the name of it.

                “Right, that… so anyway, you know what to do. They’ll be here later today.” As if as an afterthought, he added, “Oh, by the way they’re going to be spending the night here as well.”

                I shrugged, they usually did.

                “You know…” Evan said as we went back to our task, fixing a leakage, we were always paired together. “They’re in your grade and the letter said that they’re from Minneapolis, Kansas, and you said you’re from there so I was wondering if you knew them… Hey, you okay?”

                He gripped the ladder I was on to make sure I didn’t fall. I had gone pale. He didn’t mean my previous classmates were going to be here… at my job. He probably read it wrong. I mean what are the chances right? Also *she* might not even be still in that school. I mean really, there’s nothing to panic about. Evan was thinking the exact opposite.

                “Hey, Mya, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is everything okay?”

                I wish I *had* seen a ghost, it would’ve been less shocking. I really hope *she* got sick, moved, or broke a leg or *something*! She can’t be here, she just *can’t!*

                In a weak voice, I asked, “Are you *positive* that it was Minneapolis, *Kansas*? Not Minneapolis, *Minnesota*?”

                “Positive”

                “Absolutely positive?”

                “Absolutely positive”

                “I think I’m going to *die*!”

                “Please don’t! I still need you! I can’t give a tour alone!”

                “Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, *no*!”

“What?”

Evan looked ready to explode with concern.

                “*He*’s going to be here too!”

                It was Evan’s turn to look pale.

                “He who?”

                “Oh, no one just an old crush….”

                Evan was quiet. Evan was always a sweetheart and a huge support. He grew up in the Florida Keys and helped me get my start here. He looked toward the sea, as he always did when he was thinking.

                “You know what, we need to get our job done. Hand me that wrench please, this leak won’t fix itself.”

                Evan looked back to me on the ladder, soaking wet as usual, and nodded.

                “Wish they did though.”

                “I know right”

                I fixed the leak and handed the wrench back to Evan.

                “I got to go check for other leaks… see ya.”

                “Don’t forget, tour at 1!”

                “I won’t!”

                As I made my rounds, I thought about everything. I thought about Evan, who had shaggy, wind-blown, blonde hair, grass green eyes that would suck me in if I wasn’t careful. He was tall, muscular and had a small, half smile that made my heart to a happy dance every time I saw it. Then there was *him*. By *him* I mean Terrance Jaus, a dark
haired, tall, athletic teen that had sky blue eyes that girls would melt in. He’s usually ‘dating’ five at once. I used to be one of the five until my family moved and gotten wiped out by a hurricane. Then there was *her*. Take the meanest, snobbiest, prettiest drama queen you can picture and multiply that by ten and you’ve got her. Queen Snob herself. Her real name is Sarah Abasky. She has every boy in the school kissing her shoes. Even Terrance. These were the people who made my life miserable back in Kansas. Thank *goodness* when Mom decided to start online schooling.

When we moved to Florida I was so happy I did a happy dance, where no one saw me, of course. I bet Miss Mean misses her old punching bag, which, by the way, was me. I am in the middle of it all. I’m tall, fairly strong, and slim. I have short, curly, dirty blonde hair that goes to a dark
brown and straight when wet, which is usually. I have eyes that are brown in the morning and evening, but look purple the rest of the time and a long, thin but very white scar on my cheek bone. That was left from the hurricane that left me alone without a family. I’ve been living at the marine facility ever since. I’ve changed from the dramatic, love-drunk girl, to a girl that knows who she is and who has been hardened by grief.

It was almost 1:00 and my hand start to sweat. I turn my attention to the sea turtle we rescued, a *chelonia mydas* to be exact. Its fins have been mangled in a fishing net and had almost drowned. Thankfully, Evan was there to bring it here. May, the turtle, was now healthy and was almost ready to go back to the ocean. The plan was to get her to the ocean this month. It was 1:05. I ran to the entrance to greet the teens. Evan was already there. He gave a half-smile and my heart did a tap dance on my rib cage.

I smiled back and he said, “Made it just in time. You might want to change into your wet suit.”

“Right, I’ll go do that.”

As I was going round to my room, I decided what to do. I’d act as if I don’t remember them. I got changed and the wet suit hugged my skin, outlining my figure, but not too much to be immodest. I grabbed my sea-mask on my way out. Yea! That’s what I’ll do, I’ll act like I’d forgotten them. I’ll do that and hope that they’d forgotten me. I immediately became calmer. I had a plan and that’s better that not. I got back to the entrance with a phony smile to greet my old classmates.

Evan had already introduced himself and was waiting for me.

“Everyone, this is Mya Cadger. She will be your guide in the reef.”

I just smiled and said, “Glad you all made it and I’m so excited to give you a tour of the Florida Keys!” It was all baloney but I hope they didn’t know that. There she was. Miss Perfect putting on perfect lipstick perfectly. Oh how I hate her. Right beside her was Terrence. He was holding Princess Drama’s mirror like the cowardly admirer he was. Evan was passing me concerned glances with those gorgeous green eyes of his. He must’ve noticed that my grand speech was a bit strained. After I finished my amazing speech, he took it from there and started to give his share of the tour. I was there for the whole thing, going into the occasional tank to give demonstrations with the animals. I didn’t mind having everyone’s eyes on me, as long as I was with an animal I was perfectly fine.

Then it came to my turn to give a tour. Thankfully, the mini tour-sub had only enough room for one so I would go one on one with people that I knew. Sadly, that meant one on one with the ‘Big Two’ (aka Terrance and Sarah). First was Sarah Abasky. She carefully maneuvered herself so that she wouldn’t break any nails. I slipped on my mask and I slid into the water. First, all I could see were white bubbles. I sighed, I was back where I belonged, in the water. Being the tour guide I had to start the conversation. I would’ve loved to let her be the awkward one and have to start the conversation, but I was pretending that I didn’t know her, so I started the conversation.

“Hi, my name is…”

“I know what your name is, Mya Cadger.” She said rolling her eyes.

I had all I could from not exploding.

“What’s your na…?”

“I think you know what *my* name is, Mya. We *did* go to the same school.”

                I tried again, “What is…!”

                “Ugh! Just get to your tour thingy.”

“Very well. Do you know how to control the submarine?”

“Duh, my daddy owns one silly, you should know that.” She said rolling her eyes once more.

“Alright then, follow me.” I swam towards the first section, not even looking back.

When I turned around, she was right behind me. I laid out my hand, palm up in the water, and a bright fish swam straight for it.

“Do you know what kind of fish this is?”

“Duh, it’s a stupid clownfish. Everyone knows that!”

“Do you know what its scientific name is?”

“No, do you?”

“This clownfish is called an *amphiprioninea*. Part of the class a*ctinopterygii*.”

She just stared at me, her law slack. This was the first time she paid me this much attention. While I still held her gaze, I closed my hand and the *amphiprioninea* swam back to its anemone. Then I reached for an orange starfish.

“The scientific name for a starfish is *asteroidea*. Did you know that the mouth is in the center of the legs? It uses its mouth to blow out water, causing its suction grip. When it sucks in water, its suction is released.”

She just stared. I just kept talking.

Putting the star fish down, I said, “This is a *carcharhinus amblyrhynchos*, or reef shark. This reef shark is named Scar due to a scar that stretches the entire length of his body. This scar was created by a piece of debris that had struck him as an infant.”

Suddenly, Scar jerked to the right, straight towards me. Sarah screamed, but I just calmly back away slowly, letting Scar pass me. As he slid in-between Sarah and me, I stroked Scar’s side, much to Sarah horror. As Scar swam, looked at where he was heading, straight
for the open ocean, to a wounded dolphin.

I said to Sarah, “Quick, go back to the dock and tell Evan to get the dolphin stretcher, *now* and tell him to wait for my signal, *go!*”

I swam as fast as I could, which is pretty fast, straight towards the flailing dolphin. When I got to it, its fins were badly wounded and the sharks were getting braver, bolder. I reached my arm around it and took out another invention of mine. A shark zapper. Since sharks have electrodes at the end of their nose that senses electrons in the water, I created a gun-looking device that emits enough electricity to hold back a shark but not damage it in any way.

I pointed it at a shark and fired. The shark backed away immediately. Yes, it worked, but for how long? I needed to get this dolphin to the surface *immediately*. I wrapped my arms around the fighting dolphin and dragged it up to the surface. When I got there I grabbed my diving knife and started flashing it towards the dock. *One, two, three.* Oh, please Evan, remember the code. *One, two, three.* What’s taking so long? Did he get the stretcher? Was there a problem? Did Sarah even arrive at the dock? For once I hoped Sarah was safe. *One, two, three.* The effects of my zapper was wearing off. The sharks were coming closer. The ocean around me was red with the dolphin’s blood. I hoped mine wouldn’t be added to the mix. *One, two three.* What was going on?! I’m not one to panic, especially in the ocean, but I was in a blood bath with a school of sharks. I felt one pass close underneath me. It brushed my fin as it passed. When it found out that I didn’t have my zapper on, it went for the bite. I tried my zapper, but with the shark’s nose in the air, it didn’t feel it.

As I looked down the mouth of the incoming shark I realized something. I wasn’t concerned of myself, I was concerned only for the dolphin underneath my arm. I was its last chance. If I died, then the dolphin would die and I couldn’t let that happen. With a surge of strength, I hit the shark’s upturned nose with my zapper’s handle. It fled underneath the blow. Sadly, the other sharks also had their recovery time too. One came at me from behind, and I was too slow, but the dolphin, who was resting this whole time, moved with surprising speed out of the way of the shark, saving both of us. The third got a lucky strike and latched onto my leg. For the first time since the hurricane, I screamed. The dolphin tried to move, but the shark was holding onto me, and I was holding onto the dolphin. It didn’t go very far.

Then with blurred vision, I saw a rope ladder drop into the bloody water and a figure landed in the water near me. I tried to warn him of the sharks but my tongue was as thick as sea slug and I couldn’t speak. Another reason was that the shark had started to shake its head. The diver took the dolphin from me and put it on a stretcher. With both hands free I gripped my zapper and pointed it straight down. Shooting at my leg was dangerous, but I had no choice, it was my leg or my life. I chose leg and fired. A tingling seeped through my suit and into my leg. I felt the shark stop shaking its head and let go.

Now free, I lunged for the ladder and clung to it for my life. The diver took my hand and dragged me up the ladder. Once in the Rescue Helicopter, I felt safe. The diver, still held my hand, started talking to me, but I didn’t understand a word. I was safe, finally safe. Then I knew nothing but darkness.

# Chapter 2

                I regained consciousness in a hospital bed with IVs hooked up to my arms. I couldn’t feel my legs and, when I tried to move my fingers, they wouldn’t budge. I fought down panic as I realized that I had no memory of how I got here. I heard a soft snore on my left and I turned my head, painfully, to see what made the noise and saw Evan asleep on a chair. I was still trying to figure out how I got here when I heard a small sigh of someone stretching and I looked at Evan again and saw that he was awake. He looked at me and jumped out of his chair and rushed over to my side.

                “Mya! Thank goodness you’re awake! When the helicopter got here, you wer

                e so pale! I thought…” He trailed off, then tried again, “I thought that….”

I gave him a small smile and said, “But I didn’t”

I was surprised at how hoarse my voice was and Evan reached for the glass of water on a small table close to where I lay. Evan carefully lifted my head enough to drink. The water was cool and it tasted like honey. I was about to start gulping down the sweet water, but I remembered something from a book I read and drank slowly.

After I drained the glass, Evan gently laid my head back onto the pillow, his gorgeous green eyes filled with concern.

“I’m fine, Evan. You look like you wet your pants in public!”

Evan sighed a sigh of relief, “Well that’s a relief!”

I frowned, confused, “You’re relieved that you wet your pants in public?”

He laughed, and my heart fluttered, “No! It’s a relief that you’re back to the normal teasing routine!”

“Oh! Ok I get it know. Ok, so since when was my teasing you a routine?”

He grinned, “Since always!”

His grin faded as I asked, “So now with the routine over, how did I even get here?” I tried to gesture around the room, but I couldn’t move my arm.

“Do… do you remember that we were giving a tour? With the high school students from Minneapolis, Kansas? You had the reef tour. Remember?”

Now that he mentioned it I did remember that.

“I remember that Miss Per… Sarah Abasky was in the sub and I was giving the tour, and Scar started to head for the open ocean. I remember seeing the dolphin… The dolphin! How is she? Is she hurt? Where is she? Did you get the stretcher? What took you so long getting there? Who…?”

Evan interrupted my stream of questions, “Mya! The dolphin is fine, she was hurt, she’s at the clinic getting help, yes I got the stretcher, and Sarah took forever getting to the dock and by the time she was back on the dock, you were already flashing the signal for S.O.S. so I had to get the stretcher fast. I found out that the dolphin stretcher was in repair, so I had to get a different one. By the time we got to you, you were only half conscious and I had to hold you on the ladder or you’d fall, and… and….”

He slumped in a nearby chair and said in a defeated voice, “and it’s my fault that you were that close to death; that all this” he waved feebly to the equipment that was hooked up to me and continued in a small voice, “happened to you… I’m so sorry.”

I looked at him, his head down, his eyes unable to meet mine, and I said, “It’s not your fault Evan! It’s not your fault! If we switched spots, I wouldn’t have done anything different than what you did for me! You saved my life, Evan!” I tried to reach out to touch him, but the strength failed me, “Evan, you are the most courageous and brave person I know! If you hadn’t come when you did, I would be in much worse shape than I am in now! If you had come earlier, we would be having a very different conversation than what we’re having right now, but that doesn’t matter! All that matters is that I’m fine, the dolphin is fine and you’re fine.”

That small speech was exhausting and I started to fall asleep. Evan, who looked up during my speech, saw that I was slipping and said, “Thank you” and I fell into a dreamless sleep.