The Missing Surfer
It was the evening time when Marlon left his house. The sun was setting and the sky was a dark orange. The waves were still breaking nicely; about 8 ft. with a slight offshore wind, and the air was cool. The bay seemed quieter then usual but he though nothing of it as he slipped on his Ugg’s which he kept on the porch door. He shuffled across the lawn and made his way between torn wetsuits, and chipped fins. It was his personal bone yard. He opened the gate and made his way towards the beach, the clouds were moving in and he supposed that Dev had gotten back from surfing already and was probably in his house, watching football or making dinner.
Dev’s house was at the end of a long road, and Marlon was hopping that he could get back the surfboard he had lent hem. On the road there where there were about five abandoned bunkers. Dev had turned one into a surf shack and shared it with stray cats, which he had named after famous surf spots. Marlon got to the door and knocked, he waited in the fading light and knocked again and opened the solid door. “Dev” he called, but there was no response, Malibu the grey cat rubbed against Marlon’s leg and meowed, and the old fat tabby, Cyclops, lay over the armchair in the corner, the room was dim and cozy books and bottles were stacked everywhere.
Marlon stepped back and shut the door figuring that Dev must be on the back side of the barrack, making his way around the building he could hear the trucks on the highway nearby. There was no sign of Dev behind the barracks.
Marlon decided that Dev must have decided to stay out longer because of the conditions, but that was not like him he was an early morning person.
The beach was deserted and Dev’s usual spots were free of people, the emptiness seemed unusual, but Marlon continued up the small sand dune, brushing through the tall grass on his way towards the hillcrest where he could see the jetty that wrapped around on the other side of the hill.
It was then that he first saw it, just a white speck in the twilight, but it caught his eye. He moved closer to the speck and he could make out its form. It was the front end of a surf board, bits of fiber glass chipped and broken. It was his; the one Dev had borrowed the day before.
Marlon’s heard began to beat faster and he hurried to the edge of the jetty. After wadding through the rocks he picked up the nose of the board, and brought it back to the beach.
He flipped open his cell phone and dialed Dev’s number, he got the house answering machine. He tried again but in more haste. Nobody answered; Marlon was scared he pocketed the phone and ran back up to the top of the bluff. And tried to force his eyes to see into the dim light. But he could see nothing it was as if it was blind.
He could only imagine where dev might be, was he wounded, was he alright or could he be dead?
It was early dawn when they found the rest of the board, the search team and several neighbors had started a search after Marlon had called the police. The rest of the board was down past the harbor mouth, wedge between two rocks. It had a broken leash and there was no body found near it. The team was tired and had given up hope.
The next morning Marlon got up at 5 and began to search more, tears blurred his vision because he knew that Dev was gone, there was no hope of finding him alive. The sunrise was pale and seemed to give no warmth. There was still some mystery surrounding his disappearance, had he fallen from a wave, or did he lose his board in the white water, and die from the rocks. Or was he still alive drifting far away, or maybe on some lonely beach…Marlon would never know
As the day continued, Marlon returned to his shack and sat in the yard, he stared at the sun and how it reflected on the bay, He knew that even though he would never see Dev again, he was in a better place, he wanted to see assign to know that his friend was ok, but he knew that was as hopeless as finding the body. Marlon picked up the broken shards of the board that had been found the night before, and placed them in front of him, trying to fit the pieces together, as he did this he noticed a deep scratch that ran along the tale end of the board, it may have been the light but it looked like a D.
Thank you so much It means alot, it is due for class study