Saviour

{2} Familiar faces

I gasp, my body throwing itself forward. My eyes snap open to see a face inches away from mine and I flinch from the close proximity. The deep blue eyes relax when they meet mine.

Bending over, I cough and splutter, feeling sick when salt water splatters out my throat and onto the floor of the boat.

"Oh, thank god." He mutters and I look up to see it's Tobias -Marcus' son and the man who helped me onto the boat. The only difference now is that his face is dripping, his hair shining with water droplets, and his shirt was missing. Did he save me?

I am hyperventilating, taking in as much oxygen as I could, while my body quakes with shivers. I let out a sob, why couldn't he leave me be? Now I'll have to go back to that place.  My hand rushes to cover my mouth, desperate for Tobias not see me suffering. I don't want to seem ungrateful.

"Hey hey. It's okay." Tobias says noticing, his voice is deep and full of concern. Seeing me shake, he grabs a red blanket from beside him and wraps it around me. "You're safe now."

Still breathing heavily, I clutch the warm fabric close to my chest as Tobias goes to the engine so we can get to the boardwalk. I can't wait to see land again.

We sit in silence as the boat moves across the water and I start to see the Harbour Shop in the distance and my shoulders sag in relief.

"What were you thinking?" Tobias snaps and I flinch at his harsh tone as he sits back beside me and grabs the lever that steers the speedboat. "Trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Huh?" I squeak. I am utterly confused as to why he's angry right now.

"I mean, it's not that hard to stay inside a freaking canoe." He spits and I start to see the boardwalk in the distance.

"Y-y-you think I wanted to-to-to-" I try to say but my teeth chattering so hard it's hard to speak and the terror of saying that word makes me bite my lip and freeze.

He pauses and looks at me. His eyes narrow and I curl up, slightly scared as to what he's going to do. He tilts his head it confusion soon they widen with guilt.

"They pushed you off, didn't they?." He mumbles, more to himself than to me, coming to the conclusion himself. A rogue tear drips down my face and he takes that and my silence as his answer.  "Look, I'm sorry, I just assumed-"

"Well, you assumed wrong." I snap back at him, sniffing. I wipe my face and nose with the back of my hand and look down at my sodden shoes. I can't look at his pitful face and I can't look at the water, scared I'll freak out or something.

He sighs loudly and I feel his eyes burning into the side of my face. "What happened?"

I gulp, cringing when I think about it. I really don't want to talk about it. "They pushed me off. You know that already."

"Yeah but why?" He asks bluntly, and I look up to see him looking at me in concern and care. Why is he looking at me like that?

I shrug. I have no idea what I did to make them hate me so much. Maybe everyone hates me because Lauren and Peter says so.

He keeps quiet after that, understanding how uncomfortable I am.

In the distance I can see the mini-bus we came in but now it's full of the kids from the orphanage. I cringe and look down when I see Miss Claudia looking worried.

I doubt she's worried, she's probably just worried about the business. A teenage girl drowning because of poor supervision. She'd probably lose her job.

"I need to take you back, to keep an eye on your health." Tobias says quietly. "I have some clothes you can change into if you'd like."

"Y-yes please." I shiver, tugging the blanket closer to my chest, in attempt to keep warm. The boat leans to the left as he goes towards the lighthouse instead of towards the boardwalk.