The roar of the sea washed over Katie. She smiled and flicked her carrot coloured hair over her shoulder. Her green eyes seemed to be dancing as she watched the waves crash on the soft sand. Picking up her waxed board, she ran into the water, loving the soft coldness as it swirled at her feet. She sighed; this is what she lived for. This was what summer was all about. Suddenly a shout came from across the beach, “KATIE!” Katie turned to see a tall, tanned, blonde girl sprinting towards her. “LUCY!” She screamed. Lucy smashed into her so hard that Katie stumbled backwards. They both laughed. “This is summer is going to be amazing!” Lucy said, her eyes alight. Katie couldn’t wait. No school, a whole summer, just her and Lucy and of course, the beach. “Shall we surf?” Katie asked. But Lucy was already in the water paddling towards the surf. Katie smiled, yes this was going to be the best summer of her life, and with that, she plunged into the water.
They’d spent the whole day surfing. Every one of Katie’s bones ached. Her legs felt like jelly. Lucy mumbled something about getting food and Katie nodded. They walked up the sandy path and headed to Lucy’s house a few streets away. A few minutes later they arrived at a yellow coloured beach house with rickety stairs leading up to an old wooden door. “MUM!!!” Lucy screamed. “YEAH?” Karen, Lucy’s mum replied. “Can you make us pancakes?” Lucy asked in her nicest, I love you voice. “Fine!” Karen sighed.
Half an hour later, Katie was stuffed. She could barely move. Karen’s pancakes had been so good she had to eat 7 of them before convincing herself to stop. Lucy was still going and on her 10th pancake. Katie couldn’t believe it. “How about we hit Bondi beach early tomorrow morning?” Lucy said, her mouth full of food.” We might get to see the lifeguards…” Lucy smirked and elbowed Katie. “Now girls, don’t go annoying the lifeguards, they’re there to save people from drowning not be chased after by frantic 15 year old girls.” Karen said, her face creased with frown lines. Lucy rolled her eyes, “Please mum, we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves like that!” Katie smiled. An hour later, when Katie could finally walk again, she said goodbye to Lucy and Karen and walked back to her house, 2 streets away.
Early the next morning, Katie met Lucy on Bondi beach. It was a perfect morning for surfing. The sky was blue and the waves seemed to be welcoming Katie and Lucy personally. They surfed for more than an hour, the waves gently pushing them towards the shore. Eventually the wind picked up and the waves became rougher and rougher. It was becoming increasingly harder to catch any waves and the chances of being dumped were higher than actually catching a wave. Katie swam over to Lucy and asked her if she was ready to stop. “Nah.” Lucy said, “I wanna catch a few more first.” Katie was instantly worried. Lucy could sometimes be reckless when it came to surfing and didn’t think about her safety when it came to the dangerous waves. Last year, Lucy had broken her ankle when she got dumped by a big wave at Bondi. Katie didn’t want the same thing to happen again. “Lucy, I really think you should come back to the beach with me. These waves are getting dangerous and you might hurt something even more serious than your ankle.” Lucy’s smiled dropped, “What, you think I can’t handle this?” She gestured to the big waves rolling in towards them. “No, Lucy I just think..” But Lucy interrupted, “Ok, cool you go get us 2 hot chocolates from town and I’ll stay here and catch a few more.” Lucy paddled away towards the rocks where the bigger waves were. Katie turned her board back to the beach. She couldn’t believe how horrible Lucy had acted to her. She was only worried for her safety just like everybody else. She walked up to Bondi life guard tower and watched Lucy get dumped by yet another set of waves. She shook her head, if Lucy didn’t care about herself then Katie wouldn’t care about Lucy. So Katie picked up her board and walked home.
3 hours later, Katie was still at home, waiting for Lucy to turn up at her doorstep and apologize. Nothing had happened yet. They’d never gone this long without speaking during the day. Surely, Lucy knew she had acted badly. Katie thought about going to Lucy’s to apologize but decided against it. Lucy should apologize to her, Katie hadn’t done anything wrong. She decided to wait another hour before trying to contact Lucy.
An hour later and Katie had heard nothing from Lucy. She was starting to worry. Lucy could be stubborn but not this stubborn. She decided to call Lucy’s house to see where she was. The phone rang several times before Lucy’s mum picked up. “Hello?” Karen asked, sounding out of breathe. “Hey Karen, is Lucy home?” “Oh, Katie! She isn’t home at the moment; actually I thought she was this you? Didn’t you go surfing early this morning?” Katie explained what had happened at the beach earlier that morning. “I’m sure Lucy’s fine, Katie.” Karen said reassuringly, although she did sound a little shaken up, “I’ll give you a call when Lucy turns up.” Katie hung up and looked around. What was she going to do now?
After a while, Katie decided to head into town and get a milkshake, just to take her mind off Lucy. It didn’t work. Sitting there alone in Lucy’s favourite milkshake shop made Katie feel even lonelier. She decided to walk down to Bondi to try and find Lucy. When she got there, she walked up and down the beach looking for Lucy. There was no one on the beach. The sky had turned to a blue-gray colour and the waves were big and stroppy. Only the lifeguards patrolled the beach looking for any troubled swimmers, not that there were any. Katie was beyond worried now. A thousand things could have gone wrong. What if she’d be kidnapped? What if she’d been run over? What if she’d drowned?
Katie quickly decided to go to Lucy’s house to see if she was waiting there. She ran as fast as she could and knocked on the door, still out of breathe. Karen appeared and frowned. “Are you alright Katie? You look terrible!” Katie nodded. “Is Lucy back yet?” Karen shook her head. “I’m starting to get really worried, she’s been gone for hours now.” Quickly, Katie and Karen thought about the possible places Lucy could be. “I think we should go to the beach, and speak to the lifeguards.” Katie said. “Good idea” Karen said biting her lip. After calling Katie’s parents to let them know Katie was alright, they headed down to the beach.
It was beginning to drizzle and the wind had picked up. They arrived just as the lifeguards were packing up. Karen quickly explained why they were here and the lifeguards immediately began searching the beach. Katie sat on the steps of the lifeguard tower, praying Lucy was alright. Why hadn’t she told Lucy to come back in? Why hadn’t she made Lucy come back in? Why did she leave Lucy? It was all her fault. If Lucy was hurt or dead, Katie could never live with herself. It grew dark and Lucy still hadn’t been found. This was Katie’s worst nightmare.
A shout came from across the beach. “HELP!!” Katie looked up. A middle aged man stood 50 metres away holding a slim blonde girl, unconscious in his arms. Katie jumped up and shouted for the lifeguards. They sprinted towards the man who was still holding Lucy. “LUCY!” Katie screamed. She was terrified. Looking at Lucy unconscious her head bloody and her arm bent at a wrong angle made her feel sick to the stomach. “Get an ambulance!” One of the lifeguards shouted. A crowd had begun to gather at the top of the beach wondering what all the racket was. Sobbing, Karen got out her phone and quickly dialled the police.
An ambulance arrived a few minutes later. Lucy was loaded into the back, still unconscious, and Karen and Katie hoped in behind her. The siren sounded and they were driven to the emergency department at the hospital. Katie was asked to wait at the reception while Lucy was taken to be x rayed. It seemed to be hours before Karen finally emerged from the doctor’s office and by then Katie was freaking out. “Is she gonna be all right?” Karen smiled, “Yeah, I think she is..”
The End