CHAPTER FIVE

The moment Sophia's dark SUV hit the road, Jane rolled down the windows. The air-conditioning in the car was functioning, but her preference at the moment was some northeastern Australia light breeze fanning her face and rustling her loose hair. Sophia tried to coax her into pulling the windows back up in fear of paparazzi or possible enemy spies spotting them but she paid no head, but only leaned back on her seat, taking in the early morning Queensland scene.

Men, women and kids, piled the streets. While some were lined up on the sidewalks, hurtling to get to their various places of work or school, others when taken impatient and constant glances at their watches, anticipating when the next bus was about to drop by or sitting in their cars honking incessantly at their fellow drivers while they rushed through the road at breakneck speed. Idleness at such a bright hour of the morning seemed to be a grave offence, and no one looked ready to be charged with guilt.

The bright yellow sun was firmly rooted in its usual throne, sending scorching gazes which threatened to bake the earth with its heat. Yet despite its harshness, the people seemed unperturbed and went about their businesses, dapping their sweaty foreheads with handkerchiefs. Perhaps, the threatening dark clouds which had filled the sky the previous night had given them some sort of hope that a great outpouring was imminent which would supply the earth with its needed coolness.

"Oh my gosh! It's seemed like magna is raining out there," Sophia commented before turning to her driver. "How far away from the beach are we Stephen?"

"About ten minutes or so," the full-beaded man replied, and then silence returned as Sophia returned to her phone.

The silence began to grow heavy on Jane's ears so she reached out and began tuning the radio. The first station was a familiar-voiced reporter going on about political reformation and how the population was not benefiting enough from the resources…blah blah blah… but she wasn't interested in politics, so unto the next, and the next, and three more. If it wasn't a guest speaker hitting the nail of feminism, it was the gloomy reports of attacks in the country, a recent chain of events that were slowly starting to become a trend. Then finally she hit the right dial, a station gracious enough to spice their morning drive with cool songs. Satisfied, she leaned back on the seat and began humming along.

When the car finally rolled into the grassy parking lot of Noosa Main Beach, Queensland, Jane's jaw hung low. It wasn't her, not even her second and third time here, but the view remained refreshingly spectacular, and also a few adjustments seemed to have been installed since the last time she was here. Even Sophia mouthed a "wow" when she stepped out of the vehicle.

Everything about the beach was striking and alluring to the eye; a work of art screaming the aesthetic prowess of nature. The flourishing vegetation that stood opposite the elegant body of water was a competitive growth of Screw pines, lots of palm trees, and casuarina pines. Nestled between trees were little pathways and being that they had arrived at the eastern end of the shoreline, the National Park lay not too far up ahead.

As they strolled to find a cool spot to lay down their little mats and shades, Jane could feel the clean golden-eyed sand that filled the shore and stretched as long as the beach went, enveloping her sandals with each step. The sand itself was scantily filled with kids and adults alike, the little ones, building sand castles and running around with their peers while their guardians lay on mats or folded beach chairs watching them while immersed in conversation with their spouses, engaging in some fun activities as well or just sipping some margaritas and letting the cold wind from the sea take its toll on them. They were also the unaccompanied beachgoers who just lazied around listening in on the loud conversations with their eyes flying about endlessly.

Being that many of the usual visitors were busy at work and school, this gave Jane and her convoy space to lay down their mats, even though they still had to step over a few belongings to get to a cool spot. She had even suggested that they stay in the various empty beach stairs that flooded the park and her best friend had agreed with her, saying that the sand was way too hot.

Sophia's guard left them to their privacy once he dropped the cooler Sophia had brought along which contained some iced beer, a few wraps of waffles, some iced martini, and some Suntan cream to prevent them from getting sunburn. Much to its owner's delight, Nothing in that cooler promised anything short of a, well, intoxicating time, but all Jane wished for was a nice bottle of water to lubricate her dry throat and cool her off.

When Jane saw nothing other than booze seemed to be coming anytime soon, she signed resignedly and began stripping down to her bikini. Being that she didn't have much experience, at least the ones associated with walking around public places half clothed, she hesitated a little and at some point, refused to strip off her shorts, much to Sophia's confusion.

"There's nothing wrong with showing skin, Jane! It's not a big deal," Sophia advised, dusting off whatever dirt and dust that must have settled on the chairs. She had stripped off and now had on a radiant blue swimsuit.

"No, Sophia. It is indeed a big deal. I could be seen by somebody from work or somebody who is probably after me. One nude photo of me goes on the internet and goes viral and then you can kiss my sweet ass and that of my father's company and image a heartfelt goodbye."

"I get that you're not used to this, but trust me, there's no reason to be freaking out right now," Sophia assured, coming closer. "There's no one watching, but if you feel unsafe, here are some shades, put them on and no one will recognise you. "

Jane was uncertain for a while but she eventually obliged. The beach was mostly empty, so why not? They both applied the suntan, helping each other rub it down their backs, before lying on the beach chairs face up and shielded from the sun by a makeshift umbrella overhead.

As if the blazing sun's glare wasn't enough, there were some ogling gazes from some of the group of five men who sat a couple of yards away. They were all shirtless, hot in the aesthetic sense, and laughing amongst themselves over something Jane couldn't hear from where she was. Soon one of the men caught her gaze and waved, but she withdrew her eyes immediately.

"Aren't they all so cute?" Jane asked as if reading her thoughts. "I think we should go over there and see what's making them so happy."

"I think that's a bad idea. They are probably making some lame jokes about us," Jane retorted.

"C'mon don't be such a vibe killer! One of those men would probably end up beside you tonight if you at least give him a chance."

"The last time I gave a man a chance, I don't remember it going so well."

Cmon, Jane. Not every man you see out there is like Cletus. Some of them actually want the best for you, or like Mr. Handsome over there, some want to give you deep, long, raw and hard…"

"Ew! Stop it already!"

"Now, give me that," Sophia said, snatching the phone Jane had brought out to check through her messages.

"This is no time for play, Jane. Hand over the phone. I have some urgent messages I need to attend to.

But even Jane's threatening gaze didn't change things, as Sophia tucked her phone away in her purse.

"This is the time for play, Sophia. Now it is about having fun. For once, forget about work and loosen up all that tension inside you."

"How the heck am I supposed to do that?"

Sophia took a glance around the beach. "Well I see a couple of things you could try out, including talking to those boys, but first I think you need a dip."

"A dip?" Jane asked, confused at first but then the realization of what Sophia meant hit her. "Oh no, Sophia. There's no way I'm getting into that water."

"Oh yes, Jane. We are going to take a dip," said Sophia in a singsong voice as she stood up. "Stephen is over there and will look after our luggage."

Jane wanted to argue but her attempt at resistance failed as Sophia grabbed both hands and dragged her towards the shoreline. Running barefoot on the hot sand was so weird but also felt so amazing. On getting to the huge and crashing waves, Sophia jumped in at once, but Jane paused at the water's edge to see how magnificent the sea was.

The stretch of water looked sparkling clean, and glistened beautifully as the sun's rays hit the surface. A couple of heads could be seen Popping out from time to time and most of the swimmers stuck to the more shallow part of the water, probably too afraid to go deeper so as not to be swallowed up in the huge pockets of water and tides that rose at fell.

The only individuals brave to take the risk were the few surfers. They were usually described as one of the attractions of the beach, by the way, flooding the water surface on the weekends, sailing and pulling stunts on the various boards while riding the huge waves. In fact, they were so much that a festival; The Noosa Festival of Surfing, was created in their name.

Also, among the rocks that lined a part of the shoreline were pools of water which were usually flooded with children and adults alike who loved to ferret for seashells among other things. Jane considered walking over to those pools as the huge water waves were beginning to scare her but before she knew something grabbed her legs and pulled them, making her fall face down into the water.

Saying Jane was scared would be an understatement, perhaps terrified would be a better word. She had read through the entire beach brochure on their way here and she didn't remember seeing any article stating the presence of any sharks, or other deadly sea creatures that swarm so close to the water's edge. Could it have been an electric eel? No, her hair would have stood tall by now, her body turned to crisp and left numb with smoke escaping her nostrils and ears. The mere thought of that was sickening. Was it a jellyfish? No, it would have stung her by now, draining her by now. The only left option on her mind was that her leg was being eaten by a shark just waiting for the right moment to dig its sharp, hungry teeth into her and drain all her blood.

Her first instinct was to freak out and scream at the top of her lungs for help, but she immediately dispersed the thought. That would only make her seem very vulnerable to her attacker and probably anger the shark. Rather she took the second option which was staying still and staying afloat. She didn't remember exactly where, but she sure remembered reading somewhere that if under attack from a shark, the best escape strategy was remaining still and making sure there is no blood on you or around you. But what if there was blood inside you? She hoped that wasn't going to be a problem. In fact, she barely trusted the authenticity of that information but in this case, where she had no other choice, she tried as much as possible to keep still as she felt something disturbing the water under her.

She could barely steady her breath and she could feel her heart beating right out of her chest. After a while of floating on the water's surface, she took a deep breath in and let her body sink into the water, facing up and with her eyes tightly shut. Bubbles of air popped beside her ears as her body drowned slowly and she listened to their sound as it would seem to be the last sound before she was garbled as a shark's brunch.

Something that she felt to be a giant nose poked, and then she thought that was it, the moment her perfect life would be cut off abruptly. She waited to feel her bones, but instead, she felt her body being booted to the water's surface. She then realized that what was poking her wasn't a nose but a hand pushing her and it was when she reached the surface did she realize the pair of hands belonged to no one other than Sophia.

"What the hell, Sophia?!" Jane blurted out, water spluttering violently from her mouth. She was so scared that she had to dip her head back into the water. "Where is it? Has it swum by? We need to get out of here quickly before it comes back."

Sophia had this confused look on her face.  "What do you mean by "it," Jane?"

"I'm telling you, Jane, let's get out of the water.  A shark just pulled me into this sea about a minute ago," ranted Jane who looked around restlessly.

"Do you seriously think a shark pulled you down? It was me who grabbed your legs. Also, when did sharks begin to grow hands?"

Jane cursed silently at Sophia who was laughing uncontrollably and pushed her back. True, Sophia did have a point with the shark growing hands thing but Why would she come up with such a scary prank?

"Not funny, Sophia."

"Yeah right. Where did you remain static though? Did you think a real shark would take pity on you simply because you offered yourself up as a human sacrifice?"

"I guess."

"Well, news flash! Playing dead doesn't work on sharks. You would have just kept falling deeper and deeper until you would have drowned if I wasn't there to help you. Besides, we both read that beach brochure and I don't remember any mention of sharks."

"Well thank you for the education, Sophia," Jane murmured sarcastically. "But if only you didn't pull my legs in the first place, we would have never gotten to this situation."

Jane's racing heart had stabilized and she swam to shore, leaving Sophia trying to catch up.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, okay? Anyways, I think we should go grab some food, I'm beginning to hear my stomach grumble," said Sophia apologetically.

Jane couldn't agree more. She had barely had anything more than a pancake in the morning. Her initial plan to ignore Sophia for what she did was put aside and together, they dressed up and headed towards Hastings Street to grab a bite.

Hastings Street is another of the wonders of the beach with its assortment of cafés, galleries, shops and high-class restaurants. It was just a brief stroll away from the sand. Seated in one of those exquisite diners were Jane and Sophia stuffing some delicious seafood delicacy which both ladies didn't even remember the name when they were done and after lazing around, they returned to the beach.

"Hey, before the sun goes down, we should go over to the national park and look at some lovely creatures," Sophia suggested after a while.

The guys that had come over to spend some time with them had just left. Jane could still see all five of them taking a relaxing stroll shirtless down the broadwalk. She must have had way too much martini which was poured into her cup by one of the guys as she could feel she was tipsy.

"Hey, Sophia. What time is it?" She asked, softly.

"It takes a couple of minutes to 6 pm. Why?"

As if a bucket of cold water had been emptied on Jane's back, she jumped and searched for her phone which happened to be under her seat and on the ground. She hastily picked up the phone, wiped off the sand and flicked it on. Thirteen missed calls? She was surely in for it.