Bite Me Harder (Guardians of the Deep 2)

Here she was, holding the hand of a shark, when it was sharks she was most afraid of.

She could see the girl with the braids. She remembered her because she had one of those electronic vape cigarette things and Sylvia kept thinking how beautiful she was and how she wished she could convince her that the cloud of smoke she kept exhaling was tainting her angelic image. When the sharks hit the barge, and the area where they were standing began to tilt, the girl had slid, grasping frantically for something to hold onto. Then, out of the water came the lifeless eyes of the beast. The shark had leapt and caught her free arm. For a second, Sylvia had stared into its face, and the beady black eyes had seemed so distant, as if they weren’t even looking at anything. It was driven by its teeth, which kept gnashing and mashing up anything in its way, including the girl’s hand. When she reached out for Sylvia, the hand she held out to her had been torn from her body, and blood had squirted from the wrist. There was nothing for Sylvia to grab onto.

Penny squeezed her hand, reassuring her that everything was okay, but Sylvia’s mind was elsewhere, and when she finally came to, she started crying and shaking her head.

“I can’t,” Sylvia said.

“Oh, baby,” Penny said as she wrapped her arms around her.

“It was so bad, Penny,” she cried. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it, but it was so bad. So much blood. The faces of those kids haunt me. Every single one of them. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t even have sex without seeing them. Arms, legs, eyeballs…I saw so many body parts severed, and the sharks kept on coming. You know how they say piranhas eat and eat…the sharks were worse than any piranha I could ever imagine. They kept biting and eating. I thought I was going to die. I don’t know how I lived, but sometimes I wish I could trade places with one of those kids. With any one of them. They were only trying to have a good time. Stupid, innocent kids. And they’re gone now.”

“But you’re not,” Penny said. “And can I tell you something? Those sharks that attacked you? They’re gone. We killed some of them and the rest left. They ran away. Thane and the others have made it their mission to hunt down any shark responsible for any attack on a human. Once I have this baby, I’ll be right there in the water next to him. That shit that happened on the barge will never happen again. Now, you can go back to your hotel and head home. I won’t respect you any less. I’ll completely understand. But I know you won’t be happy about your decision. You wouldn’t have come here at all if you were content with life back home. You’re here for a reason. Man up and get on that boat. We’ll go to the island, you’ll decide if you like it there, and who knows…maybe you can become a fucking shark and help hunt down those bastards who’ve fucked your life up.”

Sylvia smiled and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“Your nose is running like a crybaby little kid,” Penny told her. “We need to find you a tissue.”

“Fuck you,” Sylvia said.

“There’s the Syl…Syl…Sylvia Fa Foxx I know!”

Sylvia was grateful that Penny pulled her by the hand and dragged her to the boat. She did her best not to look too long at the water and instead focus on getting to her destination. Once she was below deck, she knew she’d be able to pretend she wasn’t in the ocean. If she couldn’t see it, it wouldn’t exist.

When they were a couple of feet from the boat, Juan Diego stepped out to greet them. He reached for Sylvia’s suitcase.

“Sylvia, I believe you’ve met Juan Diego,” she said. “He’s the greatest. He’ll get us safely back to the island. I’d swim and drag you along by my fin, but again, the baby.”

“Thank you,

Juan Diego,” Sylvia said, sniffling and hating Penny for pointing out that her nose was running.

“Tissue?” Juan Diego asked.

“If you have one, that’d be great,” she replied.

With her tissue in hand, Sylvia sat down on the bed below deck and did her best to relax while Penny sat next to her and stroked her hair the way she had so many times in the past. As teenagers, they’d had many sleepovers where they sat in this position and watched scary movies. Only now, the horror movie was real. Penny put on some music, an old record on vinyl, Madonna’s Immaculate Collection, and Sylvia closed her eyes, trying to let herself sink into the lyrics of ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ while she ignored the swaying of the vessel rolling gently over the waves.

Penny sang along to the tune and continued to stroke her hair.

“Do you remember that guy you were seeing? The one we met at the music store?” Penny asked.

“Oh my God, what was his name?” Sylvia said. “Benny, I think, right? What a loser.”

“But you had to have him,” Penny reminded her.

“I called dibs,” Sylvia said and they both laughed.

“Do you remember how he used to speak in musical terms? When he was hungry he’d belt out a part of Jimmy Buffet’s ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise.’ Or if you said something mean he’d sing Def Leppard’s ‘Love Hurts.’”

They both laughed again.

“It used to get on my fucking nerves,” Sylvia said. “I remember going to his apartment after work and I was so frustrated and tired and just wanted to bitch and complain about my day and he started in with The Beatles ‘Hard Day’s Night.’ He thought it was cute, but I wanted to punch him in his fucking face. Man…he was good in bed though. Not selfish at all. What made you think of him?”

“Madonna,” Penny said. “I don’t know why Thane has this album on the boat. I think Juan Diego is a fan.”

Sylvia lost it, laughing into the blanket while imagining this older guy, alone on his boat, dancing to ‘La Isla Bonita.’ Her friend was definitely doing a good job of cheering her up.

“I remember I went to visit you once when you were staying with Benny and I think I had on a new necklace,” Penny said. “Yeah, it was fashion jewelry, something cheap I picked up at Macys. Anyway, Benny opened the door and as soon as he saw the necklace he started singing ‘Material Girl’ in a high-pitched tone. So…yeah. Madonna made me think of Benny.”