Be My Anchor

Chapter Six

My family wasn't hard to spot in a crowd. Dad was tall, Mom always wore bright colors, and Luke always seemed to be doing something stupid. So, naturally, I found them immediately.

They were by the water slide. Mom and Luke were sitting beside each other on lounge chairs while Dad stood in front of them, conversing. Luke had his feet up on the chair with his knees to his chest. He was looking up at the sky, clearly not listening to the conversation.

Dad spotted me first. "Mar, there you are."

Mom and Luke simultaneously turned their heads in my direction. Luke narrowed his eyes, both confusion and amusement dancing on his face. "Why are you all wet? Did you fall overboard?"

"Very funny," I scoffed, reaching them. I sat down at the foot of Luke's lounge chair. "I was swimming in the pool."

"Really?" Luke drawled, convinced he caught me in a lie. "We walked over there and it was closed."

I cursed in my head. Of course they did. I merely shrugged. "That's weird. They must have just opened it back up then."

Mom furrowed her brow. "You swam alone? Why didn't you come find us first?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? We were getting worried, Marjo. You stayed in the room so long—well, I guess you weren't in the room, were you?"

I threw up my hands with frustration. "It doesn't matter," I spat. "I'm here now."

Mom didn't respond to me but gave an annoyed sigh and looked down. Why should she be angry? She was the one who bombarded me with questions!

I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, Dad gave me a pleading look. I knew he hated when we fought, so, for his sake, I dropped it.

Dad changed the subject quickly. He spoke animatedly, "Are you guys excited to make our first stop in Nassau tomorrow?"

I watched a little girl go down the water slide headfirst. "I'm definitely excited to get off this boat," I grumbled.

Dad was the only one who laughed at my comment. He looked around at his family. None of us were amused. He frowned. "Come on, doesn't anyone ever laugh anymore?"

"Only at funny things," Luke said nonchalantly. Luke leaned back in his chair, obviously proud of himself. I merely rolled my eyes. "I'm excited though, dad," he continued. "We'll finally get to see the Bahamas."

Dad smiled. "Yes. We can spend the day relaxing at the beach."

The beach?

"And playing in the water," Luke added.

The water?

Mom chimed in, "I was thinking we could go snorkeling or even scuba diving. I'd love to see the life that goes on under the surface."

Under the surface?

The words echoed in my head. The beach. The water. The surface. My heart began to race, faster, faster, being chased by the fear that was slowly engulfing me. The beach. The water. The surface. The beach. The water. The surf-

I stood up abruptly and all three of them stared at me waiting for some sort of an explanation. I took a shaky breath. "I won't be joining you tomorrow," I said without making eye contact. My family continued to stare at me with confusion. All I wanted was to get out of this conversation. I cleared my throat. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go take a nap."

"You just got here," Mom objected.

"I'll meet up with you in an hour." I turned my back on them and began to walk away.