Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
We’re alive.
I don’t know what that means yet.
For a long time after, there is only the sound of water, the slapping and sucking of waves around our lifeboat. The wind changed, just as the storm got close. That saved our lives. It didn’t stop one boat capsizing and forcing us all onto the other, only to have it capsize too, and yet somehow, those guys got us back on. With nothing but a few LED torches, and the three of them. If that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.
Nobody speaks.
Aggie, Tati and I lie across each other in a tangle, pressed down by cold, exhaustion, and something heavier than both, fear. Tatiana coughs, a thin, wet sound, and tries to sit up. Her hair is pasted to her face and blood seeps down from a cut on her scalp, trailing dark through the paleness of her cheek. Rachel is sitting in the front of the boat, her knees jammed up to her chest, hands laced in front of her.
Iris is lying down, and the guys are all just sitting, silent.
Adrian is clutching his lifejacket, staring at the ground.
I think that shook even him up.
“Is it over?” I croak, scared to even ask.
“It’s over,” Zeke murmurs. “But the waves will stay like that for a few hours more.”
They’re not tipping us, but they’re certainly throwing the boat around enough to have Tatiana gagging and leaning over the side as she vomits, yet again. If she keeps getting sick, she is going to get dehydrated and we don’t want that. It’s already getting bad, vomiting will only make it worse.
Ace shifts, so Kellen can stretch out, and in doing that, his hard thigh presses against mine. He’s warm, and it takes everything inside me not to wiggle closer and curl up against him. My skin prickles though, as our elbows touch, and I glance at him in the flashlight’s remarkably bright glow. He looks back, his eyes unreadable.
“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice just loud enough for him to hear. “This is my fault.”
He leans in closer, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear so he can speak. Shivers run through my body as his lips get so close to my ear, his breath tickles my skin. “We’re alive, that’s gotta count for somethin’.”
He’s right, we are.
A gust of wind blows through and I shudder, cold. Ace notices and moves closer, pressing himself into me and putting an arm around my shoulder so I can lean against him. I do, and my body ignites. Being so close to him is sparking an odd response, because it’s one I haven’t had before. Boys have never been a priority for me, so feeling this kind of way about a man who is basically a stranger is throwing me off guard.
Still, being held against him is nice, and it eases some of the anxiety flooding my body.
The sea is quieter now, and every so often the boat lurches as another wave passes. I struggle to keep my eyes open, and fall into Ace as my body finally lets go.
We drift for hours. I have no way of knowing how long. If the world ended, I wouldn’t notice. The only comfort I have right now is knowing we are all here still, and we didn’t die in that storm. I keep expecting someone to show up. A Coast Guard chopper, a cargo ship, even the hard faces of my father’s men. But there is nothing. It has been a couple of days, and not one sign of life has been seen.
I try not to think about that.
I just close my eyes and let sleep take me.
We all do.
We stay like that until the morning light burns our eyes, but that isn’t what wakes us. No, it’s the boat suddenly slamming into something, jerking everyone awake. My body has grown so used to the rhythm of floating that it feels odd when it stops, just stops. The boat is no longer moving, it is no longer floating in an endless sea. It has completely come to a stop. Everyone sits up, rubbing their eyes, trying to force them to adjust.
“Look,” Tatiana gasps. “Oh my god!”
My eyes slowly adjust as I stare out. Gone is the endless dark ocean, and now, the world around us is green and brown, and trees clutch the sky high overhead, while cliffs tower over the crystal blue ocean. The wind is soft and the sun is bright, and the boat, oh the boat, is wedged in beautiful golden sand. Rachel begins to cry. At first, I think it’s the delirium, but then I realize she is laughing, an ugly, broken sound, the kind only the truly fucked over can manage.
We are on land.
Aggie is the first to leap out, splashing into the water, and I watch her scuffle and slip, then finally stand, hunched and grinning at the rest of us. We all move quickly, a flurry of voices. I throw myself over the side, and rush to the land, tripping and getting back up again as if my legs have forgotten how to work. I fall to my knees and press my hands into the sand. I didn’t know if I would ever see land again. I have no idea where we are. I have no idea what to do next.