04/09/2025
THE RAIN had let up just a bit when they finally left the Aquarium. The sun was going down, and it was only a matter of time before the cloudburst resumed. This time with a vengeance.
Avery had ditched her mother completely for most of the afternoon. Especially since it was far easier to avoid her there than back at her grandmother’s house. Which forced Erica to eventually just wait by the door until closing.
Avery waited patiently under the front door overhang as Erica fished in her purse for her keys. A mundane task made more challenging by managing her cane at the same time.
“Okay,” Erica announced once she’d produced them. Then led their dash across the nearly empty parking lot.
Where they ran headlong into an all-too-familiar face.
With his long, stringy, greying hair tied in a ponytail, bushy mustache, and leathered skin, there was no mistaking him.
“Mr. Gregory!” Erica gasped, almost dropping her cane. Not knowing what to make of this unexpected encounter. “You startled me.”
“Mrs. Yakamoto!” Gregory slurred. He was drunk, angry, and clutching a beer bottle. “Nice car you got here. Buy that with my money, too?”
Erica looked straight at her daughter. “Ave. Get in the car.”
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Danger lurks in the shallows. And it’s ready to feed.
Erica always loved the ocean. Having grown up just off the coast of NC, it was always a part of her life. And something she’d never once feared. But when her husband, Nick, suggested a shark-feeding dive for his 40th birthday, instinct told her otherwise. She should have listened. Five y...
