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punksarahreese · 3 years

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Nature | Undertow

Nosdecember day 16 | @neworleansspecial

Marine biologist!Sarah, Selkie!Ava; Sarah goes down to the beach one sunny morning and runs into an unexpected issue

***

“Crockett?”

Sarah emerged from her room, rashguard half pulled down over her swim top, looking for her roommate. The man in question just laughed at her struggle, setting down his coffee cup to help her before she even had a chance to ask. The back of the spandex top had gotten twisted, which was almost impossible to fix by herself; especially when the heat of the summer day already had Sarah sweating.

“What would you do without me?” Crockett teased as he gave the blue material one last tug to make sure it covered Sarah’s back completely. She just rolled her eyes, still thanking him for his help, and gave him a nudge with her shoulder.

“Coming down to the water with me?”

“Can’t,” he replied and passed her a bottle of sunscreen off the top of the cupboard, “Doctor Nkosi wants me to go monitor the African penguins today since their main keeper is out.”

“Have fun with that,” Sarah laughed, knowing the research facility’s resident penguins could be a hassle. Most were there for rehabilitation, save for a one footed female and her mate who couldn’t be released due to safety concerns. They had a habit of chasing the staff around their area or trying to woo them rocks and nests. There was one penguin in particular who loved Crockett, always trying to drag him to a new nesting area she made. They were funny birds to say the least, but neither of their areas of interest when it came to sea life.

“Make sure you don’t stay out all day,” Crockett had slipped into his room to change and spoke a bit louder to be heard through the door, “and take some water, the last thing I need is you passing out from dehydration in the ocean.”

“I’ll be fine, Crockett,” Sarah still did grab a couple bottles of water out of the fridge, shoving them haphazardly into her backpack. The thing was waterproof, for obvious reasons, but Sarah still grabbed a plastic bag to put her phone in. Better safe than sorry, after all. She also added a tupperware in case she found any shells or specimens while out on the water. She was just going mostly for fun but work often found its way into her daily life anyway.

“It’s your turn to cook dinner tonight!” Crockett called, his only reply being a laugh from Sarah and the click of the screen door shutting.

Sarah first made a stop at her turtle nests, keeping her distance at first to ensure she didn’t upset any mamas who may be around. She peeked in the one dune, smiling when she saw there must be over a hundred eggs. Though she knew some wouldn’t hatch, she was excited to see the ones that did later in the summer. Leatherback sea turtles were such an interesting species so Sarah was grateful she would be able to witness their hatching.

She had her surfboard under one arm, not intending to surf but bringing it just in case. The waves were a bit too small that day and Sarah still wasn’t very confident on waves anyway. She liked to sit on the board though, as it gave her a chance to be in the deeper water without having to use as much strength to stay afloat.

She left her bag and towel on the rocks, where she knew she could see it from the water. There weren't many people around anyway and she wasn’t too worried about her stuff being stolen this close to the house. The water was cold, biting at her small amount of exposed skin and making Sarah glad she put on her rashguard that morning. With the leash of her board attached to her right ankle, Sarah waded out into the water until she reached the point where she could no longer touch the ocean floor. She was up to her neck in the salty water by the time she got the courage to dunk her head under, knowing she wouldn’t adjust to the temperature until she acclimated her whole body.

Resurfacing, Sarah pushed back the damp strands of hair that had begun to escape from her braid. The cool water was a welcomed escape from the harsh heat of the late morning sun, which had been the main cause of the week’s ridiculous humidity. South Africa was certainly a different climate than Chicago, especially considering it would be snowing and below thirty degrees back home. One thing Sarah had yet to adjust to was the different hemispheres, since the opposite seasons certainly made summer in December a confusing feat.

After hoisting herself up, Sarah took a moment to catch her balance. Once comfortably straddling the polystyrene board, she watched nature passing her by. There wasn’t anything nearby, obviously, since her venturing out into the deep water had scared away even the most adventurous fish. Still, there were birds roosting on the edge of the cliffs and she could see a blue crane preening on a rock up ahead, its long neck bending with ease. The water reflected the blue sky in a beautiful way, clear enough that Sarah had a pretty good visual of the brightly coloured fish swimming amongst the coral. This was her safe place, which felt more like home than any house or apartment ever had. The warmth of the sun drying her hair, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks; this was peace.

Sarah spotted a pod of seals, ones she often saw basking on the shorter rock formations along the cliffs. She assumed they were in the middle of pupping season, as she saw a couple tinier seals hopping around after the biggest females. Though they weren’t her creature of major interest, Sarah had become rather fond of this pod. They were amusing to watch and she adored the inquisitive dark eyes that would sometimes lock on her from across the beach. She never got too close, though there were a few seals who didn’t seem very afraid of her.

She was watching them from afar, smiling when a pup stumbled clumsily into the water. Seals were definitely not the most graceful creatures but they sure were cute. Sarah probably should have paid more attention to whatever brushed against her ankle but in her mind she just thought it was her surfboard leash moving with the current. A harsher nudge to her knee, tough whiskers poking at her skin, was what got her attention. However, before she could even think of looking down, her board was being tipped over completely.

Sarah was quick to hold her breath, though too startled to close her eyes underwater. Through the blurriness caused by the salty water, she caught a glimpse of a silvery tail flicking past. Heart beating like crazy, she scrambled to grab her board, using it to pull herself back up. By the time she had resurfaced, she couldn’t see whatever had knocked her over but she had a feeling it had been on purpose. It didn’t feel malicious, obviously because she hadn’t been attacked, but the whole situation was odd. She glanced back over at the rocks, catching sight of a familiar grey flipper popping up from the water to tug its body onto a shallow rock.

Sarah watched idly, trying to process what had just happened. It was almost undoubtedly the seal that was very unafraid of her, one that was more grey than the usual warm brown pelts of the cape seals in the pod. She was the only creature in sight with a grey tail, after all, so Sarah had to assume that was the culprit. She didn’t understand, though. Seals weren’t usually so daring around humans. That, paired with her appearance and lack of fear, confused Sarah greatly.

She would have to talk to Crockett about this. Since his research was on the intelligence of marine animals, maybe her roommate would have some logical explanation for this behaviour.

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