South Beach : Miami, Florida
Saturday April 16, 2005
7:00 AM
The day started out like every other Saturday. Carloads of people, families, and groups of friends, began finding there way to the sand. Prepared to spend a beautiful day at the beach, and enjoy the wonderful weather of South Florida. Children played in the surf, as the waves broke lazily over the shore. People lounged in chairs and on blankets, sunbathing and listening to the radio. Others read magazines or books. Boats were visible, farther from the shore, and jet skis spead back and forth, chasing each oth across the horizon. A beautiful day, in a place gifted with similar days, almost year round. Everyone was caught up in there own plessures, and the day could not possibly be more perfect.
Until the first scream. It came from a woman on a small power boat off in the distance. " Shark!!!!!!!!!!!!" she called out, terror making her voice shrill. It succeded in getting the attention of the Life Guard stationed closest to her, and he sprang to action, searching the water with his Binoculars. What he saw caused him to immedeatly blow his wistle and wave his arms, signaling everyone out of the water. As one, the beachgoers began an all out evacuation of the water. A mob of people made there way to the shore, thrashing and splashing, moving in a panic. amongst the mahem, a teenage boy screamed out in pain. He reached down into the water and grasped his thigh, which was now causing him great pain. Soon similar signals were coming from every tower on the beach. The Life Guards looked on in astonishment, as a horde of sharks, baracuda, sea snakes, jelly fish, and assorterted other less than harmless sea life converged on the shallow surf. The area most commonly inhabited by small fish and swimmers. The Life guards notified the crowd that the beaches would be closed until further notice.
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As the day wore on, reports of similar occurances were being recorded, throughout our nations beaches. The airwaves were flooded with the reports. A media sensation soon occured.All beaches in the USA had been closed. People were further alarmed, when around noon, other word filtered in that the events were also taking place in different countries. By 2:00 pm eastern time, it was reported that all beaches worldwide, had been closed. A worldwide occurance. This unleashed a ****l wind of media coverage. It ranged from groups proclaiming the end of the world, to scientific "experts" sharing there hypothesies on the cause of the event. By 5:00 the U.S government, was fully involved in studying this threat to it's citizen's. By 11:00, a world wide estimation of injuries had been calculated. it incuded people who had been bitten, cut, or stung by the sea life, as well as those injured by other people in the stampede to leave the water. It was a staggering total. The wounded numbered in the thousands. To some, the strangest number, was the death toll. world wide, less than 50 people had been killed. In a truly bizarre statistic, not one of the casualties listed animal attack as cause of death. The deaths were all the result of death or drowning.
As of 8:00 eastern time, on sunday morning, an eery calm had descended on the beaches of the world. It was an anxious vibe. The people of the world waited. They waited with one universal question on there minds...........why?!!
