Chapter 1: Ferocious Fishing

10 o’clock in the bright, sunny morning, two fishermen were drifting out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean inside of their 24 foot-long, dark blue and white fishing boat.

The weather was clear, pearl blue skies with soft tufts of white, powdery clouds scattered across the horizon. The older fisherman’s name was Gary, 32 years old, and he was best friends with the younger fisherman, Trevor, who was 29 years old. They had purchased the boat together a few years back, and they both loved to take their boat out into the open waters. They enjoyed driving around exploring the seas as the wind blew against their faces running off the sides of their cheeks. Feeling the sprinkling mist flying in the air, smelling the salted ocean and hearing the sound of the boat’s loud motor engine revving and roaring made them feel alive and in the moment. The sound of the engine’s propeller blades cut through the ocean water like a strong woodpecker to a sycamore tree, pushing the boat faster and farther away from the shoreline.

They finally slowed the boat down after fifteen minutes of high speed driving and the engine was still running and rumbling with a deep sound.

Trevor excitedly said, “Ok, this is the perfect spot. We should turn off the motor now and prepare for the big moment! We don’t want to scare them away right? They will slip right through your fingertips if you're not paying attention to detail. C’mon Gary, let’s grab our fishing gear.”

Gary nodded his head in agreement knowing all too well the moments of losing a prized fish caught and smiled. He turned off the engine.

The boat was now gently rocking and moving with the surface waves of the Atlantic Ocean’s current. Gary hopped up from the boat’s driver’s seat and reached over in the back of the boat for his fishing rod and fishing bait gearbox. Trevor followed Gary’s lead and grabbed his fishing gear as well. Trevor jumped up and down three times throwing his fists in the air and Gary laughed at Trevor’s happiness. Trevor looked over at Gary while adjusting his fishing rod, “I can’t help it man. It’s been too long since we took this beautiful boat out into this gorgeous, deep blue arena.”

Gary’s eyebrows raised and replied back, “Arena, huh? By the way you’re talking, someone would think that you believe we are both some kind of legendary gladiators. Ha ha ha.”

Trevor’s eyes opened wide, “But we are man! Don’t you see? Look at this fine weapon of mine. My fishing rod has hooked the meanest, biggest, and toughest Catfish, the craziest and most ferocious Barracudas, and you were my only witness to see that massive Atlantic Blue Marlin fish I reeled in two months ago. I wrote down all the stats on that bad boy. You remember running them numbers?”

Gary grabbed a red and yellow-colored fish bait from his toolbox and said, “Yeah, that was exciting. I’ll never forget that day. That monster was 14.9 feet long, and 1,504 pounds. It nearly pulled you out of the boat! Luckily, I was there to keep your balance.”

Trevor looked out into the skyline and around the boat, seeing nothing but the moving ocean surrounding them. “Yeah, it was so worth it though. You know, they reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. Luckily, I didn’t fall out. Otherwise, it could have attacked me or even speared me with its long, sharp nose. Kind of reminds me of them Narwhals. You know, the unicorn whales of the sea with their long, spiraled tusks?”

Gary stood up after finishing his fishing rod’s bait and wiring. “Yeah, that was a day to cherish man. We were out there for almost 9 hours straight, so let’s get today’s show on the road. Enough talking and more action.”

“Aye, aye captain! Here goes nothing!” Trevor whipped his fishing rod backwards and slung shot his bait and hook forward casting out his fishing line far out into the distance, about a good 34 feet from the boat.

Gary chuckled, “Nice cast. You still have that power slingshot throw. But check this out.”

Gary cast his bait and hook line out about 29 feet from the boat in the opposite direction. Trevor turned his head to Gary slyly and said, “Not bad my brother. Take a seat and let’s allow the ocean to introduce us to some new creatures of the deep, mysterious abyss.”

Gary and Trevor took their seats and waited patiently for a tug or a bite on their lines, enjoying the serene peacefulness and the calming aroma of the saltwater.

Each daydreamed about their next catch, but as they did, there was movement beneath the waters. Trevor would blink every so often and catch something in his peripheral vision, but was too zoned into the moment to focus on what was lurking around their boat. Gary caught a glance of a quick, flickering shadow and wrote it off as a trick of the eye from the sunlight bouncing off of the flowing shimmering surface. The ocean was wading left and right and the two friends drifted into autopilot mode as a creature beneath surveyed and prowled the depths nearby.

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Thank you for reading Chapter 1 in its entirety, I hope you enjoyed it so far. Just a quick background to this short story. I came up with the idea because I wanted to be more involved in my younger brother Jacob's education, who is 12, and help create a book with him that would hold his interest. This story is aimed at assisting him in his reading ability and his attainment and grasp of a larger vocabulary for his English class. Every Saturday we would skype and I would ask him a series of questions to gauge his interest and see where he wanted the storyline to go, I would then take some of his input and piece it all together after researching the marine life and specific animals I speak about. Now we have a connection built throughout this literary piece and this is something priceless that we can look back on as brothers and say we accomplished it together. I plan to illustrate the short story by hand drawings in the future so for now, the Gifs and photos will have to suffice.

Written By Verbal D & Co-Inspired By My Lil’ Bro Jacob

All Gifs Used From Giphy.com

Next Post coming tomorrow at
5-6pm San Francisco, California
8-9pm New York City, New York
1-2am London, United Kingdom
2-3am Hamburg, Germany

My very own wonderful gif logo provided to me by the generous and kindhearted @papa-pepper Thanks again very much!