Chapter 11
11
M aeve
The pressure on my chest is painful.
It’s rhythmic. Repeating a few times before stopping. Then again. There’s a second of nothing before I feel my lungs being forcefully expanded. It’s excruciating.
Another cycle starts.
Why can’t I breathe?
When the pressure on my chest returns, I feel the sting of water coming back up my throat before I gasp. It shoots from my mouth. Over and over. I gasp for air and cough, spitting water everywhere. My nemesis is sitting by my side on his knees. His breathing is labored. His eyes trained on my face with, well, I’m not sure what. Dare I say it looks like worry?
With a cough comes more water, and I keep retching, grasping at my throat as the never-ending supply of salty water burns it. I can feel his warm hand on my back as he helps me sit up.
Once I can breathe normally on my own without trying to vomit the ocean, I look around. We’re on a beach, and it’s dark. The moon is bright in the sky, but not bright enough to grasp reality fully.
My clothes are soaked through; I can feel granules of sand all over me, and I don’t have my sandals on. Squinting in the moonlight, I don’t seem to have my two-wheeled suitcase or half of my sanity either.
I glance around and don’t see anything else. I mean anything else at all.
“What happened?” I croak.
King appears to be scanning my body, only responding when he’s satisfied with his assessment. “We hit a storm.”
“And it hit us back?” I ask. My voice is still raspy from retching, but apparently my brain is still attached inside my skull if I can manage to crack a joke.
In the moonlight, I think I see a ghost of a smile play on his lips, but it’s gone as quickly as it appears. “Seems that way.”
My head whips around. “Where is the captain?”
The man stares at the direction of the ocean. “I couldn’t find him. I saw your hair in the water, and that’s how I was able to find you. The moon,” he points at the sky, “came out just for a second. You got lucky.”
“Oh.” My spirit instantly dies.
Taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I attempt to stand but quickly fail. The moment I’m up, my feet stumble, and I go down like a house of cards. He catches me right before my limbs get tangled underneath me, risking a broken bone. Something that would make this unknown situation way more complicated.
“You were out for a long time.” His voice is still husky, even though he’s been talking for some time. “Give your body a break.”
“Okay,” I agree easily. He’s obviously right. My shoulders slump in defeat, my legs folded in front of me.
“Do you know where we are?” I ask after looking around one more time.
He stands up, turning away from me and watching something in the distance. “Have no fucking idea. We didn’t make it even halfway when we got hit by a massive wave, so I’m sure we’re not at our final destination.”
“That’s weird,” I hum under my breath.
“What is?” He turns his face to me for a moment.
“Local waters are usually calm and not known for waves or storms.” My forehead wrinkles with confusion. This is the first time I’m hearing of anything of the sorts around here.
“One found us.” He sounds sarcastic. I think. I don’t know him well enough, but from what I’ve seen, he might not possess any sense of humor to actually deal with sarcasm. “Must be the rogue one they make shows about.”
The rogue waves that take big ships out. Ours didn’t stand a chance.
“True. Let’s wait then,” I say, pulling my knees to my chest.
“Wait for what?” He tilts his head, looking at me with open curiosity.
“Rescue,” I snap, stating the obvious.
He’s quiet for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know when they’re coming.”
“What?” I ask again because, surely, I’m mistaken, and he’s not saying what I think he’s saying.
“I don’t think he had a chance to send a distress signal.” The explanation seems logical, but I refuse to accept it.
“The captain?”
“Yes. ”
The mention of the nice captain willing to lend me a hand sends ice down my spine. I really hope he’s okay.
“Well,” I start, “they’ll notice we went missing and come find us.”
“Are you planning on sitting here the whole time you wait?” He folds his arms over his giant chest.
“You told me I need to give my body a rest.” I quirk a brow.
“You swallowed half the ocean and vomited even more. You’ll be dehydrated soon. You need water.”
“Rescue will have water,” I counter stubbornly, and stare at the ocean, expecting a rescue boat to arrive any minute.
But there are no helicopters or motorboats. The high waves, beating the sand in front of us, are the only sound. There are no whistles or cries of people looking for us. But I’ll wait. It’s the twenty-first century, and we don’t leave people stranded on islands. Besides that, someone might actually come from the depth of the island itself. The chances of us landing on an uninhabited island are slim.
“Suit yourself.” With that, he completely turns away, leaving me to myself and my misery.
“Where are you going?” I cry out, suddenly not liking the idea of being here alone.
“To check the island,” he replies without turning back.
I make a move to stand up but don’t follow through. “But what if someone comes for us?”
“Tell them I’m around.”
“Nope. You snooze, you lose.” That should bring him back, right?
Wrong.
“Works too. I’d rather be stuck on this fucking island.”
The wind picks up as he says those last words, and I’m not quite sure I hear them correctly. If I got it right, that’d be a really odd thing to say. No one wants to stay stranded. Right?
Looking at his figure disappearing in the dark, the idea of staying here alone in the storm with no one around doesn’t seem so good anymore, but what if someone comes looking for us, and no one is here? I chew on my lip, contemplating on what to do. But as I’m thinking, he keeps walking, indeed leaving me here alone.
I don’t have a choice. I put my big girl shorts on and walk to the nearest tree. It doesn’t provide much coverage from the elements should they decide to rain on me, but it gives good support for my aching back. I slide down, leaning on the palm, and wait for the rescue to come and save us.