Orion and the Octopus

 

“Orion? Isn't that some kind of Roman God?”

“Greek, actually.”

“Isn't Orion a boy's name?”

“Yes.”

Her mom interjected, “Excuse me, will there be any sharks out there.”
“There could be.” The leader of the tour ran his fingers through his long blond hair. He looked like the reincarnation of Adonis. He pulled his long locks into a pony tail. “Haven't seen one in a while, but that would be totally gnarly.”
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“No, I meant should we be worried about shark attacks?”

“Nah, but if a shark happens to get too friendly, just punch it in the nose, like you would a dog.” He models the motion by pushing his fist through the air. His comment did little to quell her mother's fear of the open ocean.

They rode out in a large boat to a half-moon crater island. This island supposedly has the best snorkeling in the western hemisphere. Orion was proud of her mom for doing this with her.

“Stay with your partner. We came with twelve, and I want to leave with twelve, not like that one time.” It was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

He swung open the back gate of the boat. The scuba divers all jumped off first. Orion and her mom were the only snorkelers.

Orion was a terrible swimmer, but when she jumped into the ocean she floated like a marshmallow in a mug of hot chocolate. A soft doggy paddle was all she needed, and doggy paddling was something she was an expert at. The water was warm and soothing, like a salt bath. In this case, her tub was the size of the Pacific ocean.

She put on her mask and dunked her head. It was like moving through a portal into another universe. Under the water every shade of color imaginable lay before her. The fish and coral were vibrantly popping. The water so clear, she felt like she was just hanging over the floor of island, floating in space. Of all the things she'd done on Maui, this was easily her favorite.

Her mother still looked uncomfortable. She lay on some awkward flotation device. Orion doubted she was on it correctly.

Then, a color changing blob caught her eye. It was an octopus, only a few feet away. She swears it was begging her to play. It said follow me, as it hid behind a piece of coral. Orion circled around and found it. Then it did it again, the beginning of a hide and seek game.

As the chase continued, she lost track of her mother. Orion picked her head out of the water to locate her. She was still in the same place, flailing her arms and legs. She was fine.

When she returned to her game, it took her a second to locate the octopus. It had propelled itself to the edge of the half-moon crater island. Orion saw it slide behind a rock. She circled around to find it. Then, she felt her foot sucked into a fast moving ocean current. And where her foot went, the rest of her body went.

The current would carry her clear to Tahiti, so said Adonis during his safety talk on the boat. She thought he was joking—it's hard to tell with him. But with her head above water, she could see that the space between her and the boat was increasing, and doing so rapidly.

She frantically tried to swim back to the island, but even an Olympic caliber doggy paddler was unable to fight the current. It pushed her out into empty waters.
She waved at the ship, but no one was on it. She could only hope that her mom had seen her zip around the corner. A very heavy feeling in her chest set in, and panic struck.

Do people die this way? she thought. Now she couldn't make out the boat anymore, it was shielded by the tiny island.

How many people had that octopus tricked? She heard once that they were actually super intelligent beings. She would not be surprised if this was all part of a sadistic octopus's sick plan.

She started to cry, it would only be a day or two before she died of dehydration. That is, if she wasn't eaten by a shark before that. She could not decide which fate would be worse.

She flipped around frantically when she heard a splash behind her, nothing there. She poked her head through the surface, nothing. Another splash, she twisted more. Every movement and noise in the water was a monster of the ocean coming to rip her apart.

She closed her eyes and dunked her head, breathing through her snorkel. Her ears through the portal, she did not want to hear the noises outside. Every one of which reminded her of imminent death. She made sure all she could hear was the sound of her breathing as it reverberated in her head.

She floated perfectly still for the next five minutes, focused on breathing to drown out all other sounds. This is how she would die, face down in the ocean, breathing through a tube, eaten alive by sharks.

She felt something pull her in. It was time. She screamed through the tube. Soon she would find out what dismemberment feels like. She hoped it would be quick.

Her head was pulled above water.

“Oh, thank Pele!” she heard.

She turned to see Adonis pulling her with a metal hook back towards a tiny motorboat.

“I found her,” he yelled into a walkie-talkie. “Jesus H. Christ, you scared the hell out us. I thought you were dead, you idiot!”

You idiot, she thought. How sweet certain words sound in the right context.

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