The dark ocean
So mysterious
And beautifully terrifying.
When I was six-and-a-half my parents took me to see JAWS on the big screen. Needless to say, I think I was permanently damaged. The most gruesome part of the film that stuck in my memory is the floating leg after it’s been bitten off.
I know the statistics about shark attacks… and that you’re more likely to die from a falling coconut, but that doesn’t change anything in my head. I’m skittish about swimming in the sea, but I still go in every summer, always keeping watch beneath the waves. Looking for wayward shadows, and ready to launch back to shore if a piece of seaweed touches my leg.
This picture kind of shows how I feel when I’m in the ocean.
A composite of images from the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida; the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History; and Mystic Aquarium, CT
Model: Rachel Connolly from Guilford, CT