In Florida's Sea World, many visitors came and went. I was assigned to the Orca tank. I admired the creatures a lot, although I was a little terrified of them. Namely the fact that could suddenly appear from the water, then disappear into the mist again. If you were right against the glass, as I had been many times, and one decides to prank you by charging at the glass, then turns away, and believe me, their smart enough to do that, it's petrifying. Couple kids have run out or the room screaming their brains out, the embarrassed parent trailing behind. It was my job to go after them and comfort them, along with answering any questions that weren't addressed in the information pad.
The room was dark, the room was supposed to look like a cave I think, with jagged, plastic rocks jutting out of corners. The glass covered an entire wall, your eyes were directed towards the animals, the sunlight being almost the only lightsource. I expected the children to be afraid, the animals were massive, but they seemed fascinated. I still can't remember the names of the animals, but they must have been near thirty feet. Put a kid in front of a shark of the same size, and they'd have a heart attack.
This happened somewhere in April 1997, I was a much younger man, I remember it like yesterday though. Most of the others are blurry, like a dream, this ones Crystal clear. Saturday, around twelve thirty, whales, or dolphins, whatever they were, were being fed in half an hour. It was packed, children running around laughing and banging on the glass. There were signs everywhere warning about this. I stood at the side, ready to stop anybody that did anything funny, watching like a hawk. I called to a little kid, looked about four, to stop knocking on the glass. He ignored me, he had definitely heard me.
I stepped towards him to intervene, ready to grab his wrist and take him to a parent. Before I could a shape appeared in the water. Instinctively, I stepped away from the glass, the Orca didn't change direction. Time went into slow motion as this twenty thousand pound animal smashed against the glass, directly at the four year old. Everybody froze, except the kid, who went screaming out of the room. I hadn't been trained for this, this had never happened before. Soon, everybody followed the kid, screaming towards the doors. I spoke swiftly into my radio.
"the orca's cracked the glass, send help immediately!"
traces of blood floated around the crack, along with a cut in the orca's head. I hoped more than I ever had before that the orca wouldn't charge a second time. Out of the water came a series of chirps and squeaks, except there was an angry edge to it, I could tell. There was a flash of black and white as the orca butted the glass. The crack suddenly spread the entire pane of glass, then it broke, all at once. The remaining people in the room watched, their eyes wide. This animal had gone wild, the same thing had happened during a live show. The trainer hadn't been removed from the red water in one piece.
The water flooded the room as everyone went underwater. The orca swam out, after something to eat, something human. The other couple of orcas rushed out behind it, not quite sure what was going on. By this time I had swam my way to the back of the room, I hoped the orca would go for the group of people flapping in the water, making the water white and foamy. It all happened in a moment, there was blood in the water, an arm lay in the orca's mouth. The water flooded into other rooms, making it all level out again. Water was up to my knees, an orca flopped around the room, surely cursing it's friend. There was two casualties, a few wounded. As I walked out the double doors a few hours later, I had a brand new fear: water.