The Longboard
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I opened my car door and grabbed my longboard from the backseat. It was a real beauty. The back adorned a large pineapple with uneven cut marks on top of a blue and black checkered background. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the board and shut my car door. We were about to go on our very first longboard ride together. I started whistling and jingling my keys back and forth. My friend Kendall met up with me right in front of my car on the sidewalk. She looked so beautiful with her short brown curls radiating a red tint in the sun, with her board in hand and crocs in sport mode ready for the ride. She stood about two feet in front of me while she mounted on her board. I got on my board and looked ahead at the vibrant roadway in front of me with the beach about a half mile down the road. When I put my foot down on the sidewalk to push off, it felt as though the board and I became one, as though I traded in my feet for wheels. We started riding and everything just looked like a movie. It was a perfect view with a line of manicured palm trees on each side of the road and two kids skating down the sidewalk of an art town with a crystal shop on one side and an Italian restaurant with a veranda on the other. The sun kissed my skin while the slight breeze made me look as if I was posing for a skating magazine and a fan was in front of me to get the right pose. We were approaching the beach. Kendall looked back behind me to ask if I wanted to turn right or left and I made the gesture to go right. As I turned right, I could hear the grind of the sand on the sidewalk hit the wheels of my board. I wasn’t turning too well. In response I shifted my body more to try and avoid the sand. That’s when the wheels locked. It felt as though a giant vine grew out from the Earth and snatched onto the wheels. I felt myself go airborne and landed on the ground with my ankle taking the brunt of the hit. At that point I heard a loud pop. What the fuck was that? All of a sudden I felt steak knives stabbing my ankle. I looked down at it and noticed the large wound the size of Alaska on the inside area of my ankle. I started to closely examine the wound until I caught wind of the white shiny piece sticking out of me. All of the blood immediately rushed out of my head and just felt every organ drop down into my stomach. I closed my eyes and could see all of the stars of the universe.
I open my eyes and see the site of two masked EMTs looking at me with worried eyes. My ears were assaulted by the rescue siren while the two of them muttered among themselves. I could not understand a word they said. The steak knife stabbing sensation maintained its intensity which made my brain start pulsing from the amount of pain I was in. The blonde EMT on my left side yelled to ask for my pain level on a scale of 1-10. God I hate this question. It's so subjective and I don’t wanna seem like one of those people that say their papercut is a 10, but goddamn this is the worst pain of my life. Since I am such an awkward anxious mess I say “8”, but I think my squinting face and bone sticking out might say otherwise. The blonde EMT had a name tag on his tactical jacket that read ‘Brian’ and turned to his coworker who had a similar one that read “Steve”. They exchanged a couple inaudible words as I saw Brian reach over and grab an IV needle. I watched as he cleaned an area of my forearm and stuck the needle right in there. Liquid ran into my body that gave me an instant feeling of exhaustion. My body started turning cold and the pain in my ankle immediately turned into a 3. The same stars greeted me as I closed my eyes again. |
Caitlin Venancio
is currently a junior at Eckerd College studying Environmental Studies, Animal Studies, and minor in Political Science. She first became interested in creative writing when she was a younger child and would write stories about animals living in fictional lands (her favorite being the Amen the Rabbit story she made when I was 9). The passion for wiring intensified when she had the opportunity to take a horror writing class over my school’s short term in January of 2022. Currently, she is taking an Intro to Creative Writing class to explore more of the craft and obtain more experience. She is hoping to take more classes in the summer and continue this passion throughout the rest of her life. |
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It was a hot damp morning. Central Avenue slowly woke up after a previous night of partying. The waves from the surrounding bay crashed onto the seawall that spanned from the 5th Avenue intersection down to the park. The streetlights illuminated bright yellow light as the sky remained dark and cloudy from the nighttime. At the corner of Central and Riverside Road stood a small rickety shop called “Theodore’s Skate and Surf”. Theodore arrived nearly 3 hours ago. He worked tirelessly finishing up his new longboard creation. His fiery red hair was already sweaty before the workday even started. He grabbed a rag and ran it across his pale face then took off his dark framed glasses and wiped them on the bottom of his shirt to get rid of any sweat. He wouldn’t dare get any sweat on his brand-new longboard. All that was left was to finish sanding. While this only would take him about an hour, he wanted it to be perfect. The goal was to have it finished in time for his 9am shop opening and to put the new sliced pineapple painted beauty in the front and center of the store. This board was the first one he designed. Months of sleepless nights practicing painting techniques finally paid off. In all of the time taken to perfect the longboard, he was completely behind on his opening routine but knew he couldn’t get anything done without a big cup of joe first. He leaned the longboard on the side of the wooden register counter and drew an “x” on the previous date of July 12th, 1962 on his big blue calendar. He walked over to the wall straight across his desk that housed a large record player on a blue wicker table in the back corner. A collection of records laid on the side of it. He took one out of the sleeve and flipped it to the side to play his favorite Beach Boy song. Then, he turned around to a small table behind him and pressed brew on the coffeemaker.
As he squatted to look for a mug behind the counter he heard the jingle of the front door opening. He looked at his watch and it read 8:39 a.m. He was still not ready to be open yet. The sign needed to be placed outside and sweeping needed to be down. He rose from his squatting position and was greeted by the barrel of a gun staring back at him. The man holding the gun was about a foot taller than him. A thick black mustache rested above his white chalky crusted lips and a black hooded sweatshirt hid the top of his head.
“Give me everything in there,” he said while pointing at the register.
Theodore stood very still and locked eyes with him as his breathing got extremely heavy. He could feel his chest start to tighten as if an elastic was cutting off his circulation. The man thought he held this stance for a second too long.
“Do it or I’ll kill you,” as he unlocked the safety on the gun.
Theodore grabbed the contents of the register and handed it to him. The entire $494 that was in there. The man took the money with such force Theodore thought he was going to break his fingers. Without looking back, the robber bolted for the door and made a hard left down the street.
As he squatted to look for a mug behind the counter he heard the jingle of the front door opening. He looked at his watch and it read 8:39 a.m. He was still not ready to be open yet. The sign needed to be placed outside and sweeping needed to be down. He rose from his squatting position and was greeted by the barrel of a gun staring back at him. The man holding the gun was about a foot taller than him. A thick black mustache rested above his white chalky crusted lips and a black hooded sweatshirt hid the top of his head.
“Give me everything in there,” he said while pointing at the register.
Theodore stood very still and locked eyes with him as his breathing got extremely heavy. He could feel his chest start to tighten as if an elastic was cutting off his circulation. The man thought he held this stance for a second too long.
“Do it or I’ll kill you,” as he unlocked the safety on the gun.
Theodore grabbed the contents of the register and handed it to him. The entire $494 that was in there. The man took the money with such force Theodore thought he was going to break his fingers. Without looking back, the robber bolted for the door and made a hard left down the street.
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