Breaking Point

Breaking Point(Heather Bailey) “Stop it! Stop it!” “You’re not real!”
“Teresa, Teresa you killed her.“ “How could you Teresa?”
“No, no I didn’t, I would never!”
“Teresa you could have saved her.”
“She was my best friend…I ….I should have saved her.”
“Teresa you killed her.”
“No! You’re not real!”
“Teresa you know what you have to do.”
She didn’t know what the pills were called or even what they did. She didn’t even care. All she knew was if she took enough of them she would never hurt again. Grabbing a handful she stuffed them in her mouth. Ignoring the awful bitter taste of the pills she reached for the bottle of vodka and swallowed hard. There was nothing left to do now but wait. She relaxed into her favorite chair and flipped on the tube, searching for her favorite show. As the pills took effect she had only one thought. “Come and get me.” The bottle rolled to the floor as her hand went limp.

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They were best friends. Always had been and always would be. They grew up together in the same small community, went to the same small schools, and had been interested in the same things. If there was one person Teresa could go to for answers, it was Nicole. If there was one person who could make Teresa feel safe among a sea of unfriendly people, it was Nicole. And if there was one person that Teresa could go out with on a day long surf mish, it was Nicole. Nicole even made Teresa feel like she had an actual family. An unstable mother who needed to be watched like a child, and a father who could care less whether his children had food or starved, were all Teresa had really known.

Nicole had deep raven colored hair that would contrast dramatically with Teresa’s sun dyed blonde hair when they would stand close together. Nicole’s eyes were the perfect almond shape with deep dark brown irises. While Teresa’s were round and green; the color of broken Heineken bottles. In Teresa’s mind Nicole was a Polynesian goddess while Teresa thought that she looked like any other girl from the mainland, and how she hated that. Nicole use to say that Teresa was a haole by birth, but not by choice in an attempt to make Teresa feel better. The only physical attribute that they shared was their incredibly sun tanned bodies. This of course came from years of ditching school to go to the beach, and ultimately neglecting to apply sunscreen. Besides all their physical differences, they were still sisters, hanai family as some said. So when Nicole had passed, anyone who knew them could almost understand why Teresa had taken her own life.

It had started out like any other day. Except on this day Nicole had some hesitation about going out, but Teresa was not about to go surfing alone, so she pushed her.
“Come on let’s go!”
“I really don’t feel like going!”
“Come on, we going!” And they did because Teresa always got her way.

They had woken up as early as they could manage, which was usually 5:30 in the morning. It was still early enough in the morning that any night dwellers were themselves on their way home from a night of fun. Teresa came flying around the corner like a bat out of hell. She knew no one would be on the road at this time. At the exact second their jeep made the corner a barn owl flew from the trees and within inches of the windshield. It let out a ghastly screech and released its talons. Thump! The bloody corpse of a mouse hit their windshield and stuck there glued to the glass by its own blood, staring at them with its dead eyes.

“Oh my god that’s disgusting!” Teresa’s quickly switched on the windshield wipers pushing the mouse off, leaving behind a rainbow of blood. Windshield wiper fluid was at once added and the blood vanished.

They headed out to their favorite surf spot and could only pray for big surf and a small crowd. The air was still cool and tingled the skin when they reached the beach. Sweet salt air filled their nostrils as they took in deep long breaths of the beach they loved. They could see the sun just peeking over the horizon, itself just waking up. Teresa and Nicole at first just sat in the lifted jeep with all the windows rolled down, letting the essence of the beach and ocean mix with the smells of surf wax, and McDonalds McMuffins along with scorching, yet aromatic, coffee. They watched as every tantalizing wave came and went. They watched the sun shine off the back of each one, and made sure to count the number of waves that were in each set.

Finally having finished their breakfast they jumped out of the jeep and grabbed their boards, and headed straight for the water. Nicole didn’t even hesitate before jumping in the icy sea. Braving the cold she drove straight in and began to paddle out. “Chee!” She screamed out loud to not only encourage her friend, but to also help her get over the cold of the ocean. Nicole was the type of person who would make the best out of any situation, even the ones she didn’t want to be in. Teresa stayed on shore, she always had done warm up stretches before jumping straight in. “Crazy ass girl.” Teresa would mutter under her breath. She had only been stretching for a few minutes when she heard it. The most animalistic scream she had ever heard. Teresa jumped up from doing her stretches and faced the waves.

“Nicole!” She screamed.
There was nothing. Just the waves pushing what appeared to be Nicole’s board back and forth.
“NICOLE!” She screamed again. This time with more urgency. When there had been no answer the second time Teresa knew something was wrong. Teresa grabbed her own board and jumped in the water to find Nicole. When she finally reached Nicole’s board there was something odd about it. Half of it was missing. What was left of the missing half was serrated and dangerous looking. No more than a few yards away the water was also odd. It was a darker color. Paddling to the dark patch of ocean she discovered to her horror that the dark water was blood.

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That day would haunt Teresa in many ways. For months her surf board would be put away, dry, never to touch ocean again. She wouldn’t even step foot on the sand. This is when some of Nicole’s own family began to worry about Teresa. Some believed that the betrayal of a second home, the ocean, was too great for Teresa to accept. Eventually, Teresa went to therapy were she was told to keep a journal. Many entries were of that day, and the horrible dreams that had come from it.

One entry read:
December 14, 2000
It’s the same dream. It’s always the same dream. I have just paddled to Nicole’s board to find it bitten in half. I am surrounded by her blood, and as I look down into the depths in some last effort to save her, a dark figure swims right underneath me. It hits my board and I rock a little. Gasping I grip either side of the board. I continue to stare down into the depths even though every inch of my body screams for me to look away and leave the water. Again the figure hits my board, but this time I am able to see some detail. Strips as long as my arms run down the sides of the creature, and I swear I can see it smiling up at me as it swims by. A million dangerous looking teeth shine up at me as it swims by again. It knocks into my board for a third time, but this time it knocks me off my board and into the water. I don’t sink to the bottom or float to the top. Instead I am suspended just a few tantalizing feet from the surface. While under the water I hear the same voice over, and over again in my head. “Watch for the mano.” “You killed her Teresa.” “Watch for the mano.” I can’t tell if the voice is male or female. When I try to speak back I only inhale mouthfuls of sea water. Then I try to swim up, down, or to the sides, but I am always unable to move, thrashing around with my arms and legs little lines of bubbles are all I make. Out of the corner of my eye I see a dark figure lurking. It gets bigger and bigger, while coming at me faster and faster. Than it hits me. I feel the pain of razor sharp teeth in my flesh as it bites my arm. I try to scream and get another mouth full of water. Then everything goes’ red, then black, and I wake up.


The dreams that became constant would eventually push her to the breaking point. She would experience voices in her head even when she wasn’t dreaming, and she believed that shadows would manifest into devilish monsters that would attack her. This became too much for her to handle despite the best efforts of the therapist and caring members of Nicole’s family. It was said that on the day that Teresa took her life an odd dark patch of ocean could be seen at 5:30 exactly, and it is said that if you look long enough a fin can be seen swimming in this dark patch of ocean.