Ironic Story: The Book

The ocean breeze blew through the young girl’s hair, and she sat on the towel soaking up the sun’s rays. She had her headphones in, and she was reading a book about teenage relationships, dreaming she could take the spot of the girlfriend.

Her mom yelled loud enough to be heard through the headphones, “I can’t believe I drove you two hours to a beach to watch you sit there doing nothing. You could do this at home! At least go in the ocean for a couple minutes.”

“Just let me finish this chapter.”

Up on the towering chair, an attractive and muscular man sat observing everyone in the water. He blew his whistle, alerting the boys in the water to stop wrestling. His strong arms and toned back made everyone in the deep blue water feel safe.

“Are you almost done? Just go swim for two seconds to cool off.”

“Fine but when I get back, just leave me alone for the rest of the day”

She approached the cool water and stuck her toes in. A string of seaweed wrapped around her leg, and she retreated towards the dry sand.

“Gross. I hate the ocean”

The water felt nice, however, on her burning legs, and she moved back towards the water. Soon, she was knee deep. The dipped her head underwater like a swan searching for fish. When she got back to the surface, she was tossed by a retracting wave that sent her body flying uncontrollably through the water. She could feel herself being pulled out deeper and deeper into the endless water.

On the shore, the man in the white chair noticed an arm waving above the water. He took his binoculars to get a closer look. This time, two legs were flailing and approaching the deeper and darker waters. He sounded his whistle, grabbed his red life preserver, and sprinted into the ocean.

Back on shore, the girl’s mom heard the loud whistle, and she saw everyone in the water retracting to the land. She began to search the crowd with her eyes for her daughter.

“Sarah? Where are you?”

After 30 seconds with no response, she ran towards the water to see the girl stranded, struggling for breath.

The lifeguard grabbed the girls hand and forced it to the float and began sending her back to shore to receive CPR. A huge wave swallowed them, and the man’s hand was ripped off the float. The girl remained strapped to the floating device, and her life was spared. The man, however, was nowhere to be seen.

The girl’s life was spared, and she continued her life as though nothing happened. She continued to read the book in every minute of spare time she had. One day, her mom walked in on her crying late at night in her room.

“What’s wrong, sweety”

“I was supposed to be in love with the man who saved my life! In the book, Johnny was killed in the ocean trying to save Kate’s life. That was supposed to be me! Why did he have to die? This book was written about my life, but I never got a chance to fall in love with him!”

Three days later, the man’s body was found floating to the land, holding the girl’s new favorite book.