Orcinus
Half past midnight, she entered the park for the last time. She timed it perfectly. The guard finished his rounds and would sit his ass in the guard shack for an hour. First, she threw her backpack over the seven-foot wall, climbed the tree next to the wall until she could jump to the top, and then lowered herself down with ease. Her consistent trips to the rock climbing gym helped her confidence in getting in and out of this place. She squatted behind a concession booth and looked at her watch. She mouthed to herself, 5…4…3…2…1
The lights illuminating the walkways cut out, plunging the park into darkness. Some lights remained on, but they were spaced out enough that she could move among the shadows undetected.
Her name was Alice Pentwood. She was a sophomore studying Environmental Studies at Berklee and loved every minute of it. Originally she wanted to go into social work until she sat through a guest lecture by the lead professor in Environmental Studies, and she felt an awakening. A calling to protect the natural world from the brutal hands of those who sought to exploit nature and all its defenseless creatures. Over time she got with groups who protested oil pipelines, fossil fuels, and animal testing. She even got locked up overnight once for trespassing on the property of one of the big pharmaceutical companies and threw red paint on the employees as they left work.
Now the tactic was spreading the truth about animal parks. Often these places would steal young animals from the wild and would raise them in captivity. The idea maddened Alice. Last month was the San Diego Zoo, this month was the Los Angeles Marine Park. She moved to a dolphin enclosure set her bag down and retrieved an orange spray can from the bag. She shook it briefly then began to spray the wall. She stepped back and looked at the final product.
Dolphin’s locked up for Life.
Satisfied she went to a couple of other enclosures and continued to spread the truth. With her work completed, she started making her way to the place where she snuck in. Her hand ran along a stone wall about waist-high. She glanced out over the enclosure and recognized the stadium stands of the orca exhibit. The silence was broken by a sudden release of air and the slight tinkling of water drops. She took her flashlight and clicked it on. Ten feet from her, inside the pool, was the black and white canonical face of an orca. It was Keno, the big 35-foot male, who was main attraction of the LA Marine Park. She recognized it was him by the 6-foot dorsal fin that flagged out of the water. Alice watched him during her scouting missions; launching trainers into the air, splashing crowds with his tail, and posing for all the pictures.
Alice smiled. She thought back to the first time she watched Free Willy and what she would give to set this beautiful animal free. She thought about what it must be like to swim with such a large creature. The whale opened his mouth exposing his teeth, curled his tongue, and bobbed up and down. She found herself mimicking him and giggling. The whale moved closer to the wall, nearly touching distance from her. It stopped again and repeated the tongue act. She did something she always dreamed of. She reached out to touch the head.
The giant animal slipped beneath. She waited. She anticipated him to rush up and spray her with water like he had done in his act for the show. Twenty seconds had gone by. Then thirty seconds. She moved closer to the wall. Only a foot separated her from the icy water. She leaned out over the wall with her flashlight aimed down to see if she could see Keno. Nothing. She searched the surface of the pool with her light. Nothing. The night grew still as she anticipated the puff from the whale coming up for air.
A rush of white and black exploded from the water below her. Her eyes looked down in time to see the open jaws of Keno reaching for her. In her mind, she saw herself falling back out of reach and springing for the escape point. She was snapped out of her hope as the cold water enveloped her as she was dragged down into the tank. She felt the pressure along her collarbone to her shoulder then going down her stomach and her ribcage. Her left arm felt something warm, flat, and large that moved about. She realized her hand felt a large tongue. She was in Keno’s mouth and he was dragging her through the tank.
She screamed a bubbly cry and beat against the giant smooth head. She felt her head beginning to pound and her throat began to burn. She needed air. She felt the pressure on her chest release. She kicked and clawed upward. The surface looked a mile away. She gagged as the carbon dioxide began to poison her brain. She saw the surface was only 10 feet away…
The collision came from the right. The pressure returned, but this time it was around her torso. She looked on in despair as the surface grew further and further away. She felt warmth all around her as her lungs filled with water. And last thing she saw as her vision narrowed, was Keno’s eye staring back into hers.
The End
