This wasn't how this day was supposed to go.
And yet, here she was.
Stranded out in the bay, atop a tiny island. If it could even be called an island. It was more like a big rock jutting above the water, large enough to fit maybe a small hut on, with each wall hugging the edge. Tiny, but a lifesaver, because while Koi had been out surfing before sunrise she'd had an encounter with a tiger shark that had become way more friendly than she ever wanted from a shark.
She sighed, looking down at the ruined board at her feet. Thankfully, the shark had taken a chunk of that instead of her, but it had been too close for comfort!
Koi crept closer to the edge, which was only a couple feet above the water. A dark shape moved beneath the surface, nearly twenty feet long at least, and she knew her friend was still there and took a step back. Sharks didn't usually worry her; most didn't seem to care much about people, and even the people that had been bitten remarked that they seemed almost disinterested after that first bite. The biggest danger was the wound, not the shark going back for seconds, and if the shark was truly hunting then there wouldn't be survivors. But tiger sharks? Those were the ones that worried her.
No way was she going back in the water until she was sure it was gone!
But it had been a couple hours now...shit.
Well. Guess it's gonna be a bit, she thought as she stared down into the water, frowning. The sun would be rising soon, and she had really been hoping she could be out and back in time to take care of her chores before anyone noticed she was gone and accused her of ditching! This time she wasn't intending to ditch!
Really!
She supposed if anyone accused her of it, though, she could just show them her board--shit!
Of course, as luck (or whatever) would have it, it was at that moment that she shifted her feet and bumped her board harder than she intended--and it tipped toward the water. With a yelp, she grabbed for it, but too late; it splashed into the water out of reach, and that dark, familiar shape twisted toward it and soon bumped against the board, investigating it. Through the water, Koi could just make out the shape of its head, and see one black eye staring up.
With a start, as though it could leap up and bite her, Koi jerked back, hands pressed to her chest.
...Well.
This sucks.