Undercurrent

Chapter 13

"Are you sure? You didn't see anyone?"

"I'm sure. There was nobody here. Nobody but you."

I didn't get it. I was sure I'd seen Zach come in here before me. That was the only reason I was down here – because I was trying to make sure he was safe.

My face must have betrayed my confusion because Ollie's annoyance had now been completely replaced with concern. "Are you alright, Nina?"

"Hmm?" I snapped out of my stupor. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just a bit disoriented."

"Do you need a hand up?" he asked, offering his arm for me to lean on.

I thought about arguing but figured I needed him more than he needed me at the moment, so I nodded and reached out to take it. He pulled me up and steadied me on my feet but as soon as I stopped leaning on him, my ankle gave way and I was on the floor again.

I cried out in pain as Ollie looked panicked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's my ankle," I said, wincing as I gently pressed around the joint. "I think it's twisted or sprained, I'm not sure."

"Do you think you can walk on it?" he asked, in a voice that told me he knew the answer. If it hurt to touch, there was no way I was going to be able to stand on it, let alone walk. I shook my head, confirming his suspicions.

"Right," he said, thinking. "Ok, that's fine."

I raised an eyebrow. Clearly this was anything but fine.

"Right," he started again. "Ok, so I'm going to need you to lean on me and I'll hold you up. You'll have to hop a bit on your good leg but I think this is the only way we're getting out of here today."

I nodded. It wasn't ideal but I didn't really have much choice. Although it seemed like the storm was starting to calm, I knew from experience that it wouldn't be long until the tide came in, trapping us in the cave.

Ollie held out his hand, pulling me up to a standing position. He bent down, wedging his shoulder under my arm to try and keep me upright.

"Ok, let's do this," he said, more to himself than to me.

We edged carefully towards the opening. The rain was definitely starting to ease now and I hadn't heard any thunder since I'd woken to find Ollie shaking me.

He guided me over the threshold, pointing out the best places to put my good foot down and steady myself. Eventually, we made it to the bottom of the cliff path, where he led me towards one of the larger rocks so that we could sit and take a breather before tackling the path up to the top. I thought about telling him that this wasn't my rock and asking him to support me over to the one I preferred but I figured that it probably wouldn't go down too well.

A couple of minutes passed in near silence until Ollie let out a deep sigh and stood. He helped me up again and we made our way towards the path, like we were in some kind of obscure three-legged race. We were about half-way up when the rain stopped completely which made the rest of the walk a little more bearable.

Ollie didn't talk to me as we climbed. I wasn't sure whether it was because he didn't want to talk to me or he couldn't. His breath was ragged; this path was hard-going enough if you were on your own, let alone if you needed to drag someone else up too.

It was a bit easier on the flat and I felt both relief and panic as I saw the Seashell Café come into view after a few moments. In my head, I knew it wasn't far but it seemed an eternity since we'd left the cave on the beach. I was desperate to get back in there, to sit down and have a hot drink and a cake to bring some warmth back into me but I knew that Mum would be devastated if she knew I'd been on the beach in the storm.

"Wait," I said, as we got to the corner of the café. "Sorry, just, can we wait a second?"

"Erm, sure?" Ollie looked confused again. I couldn't blame him. I was starting to feel a bit guilty for dragging him out here and relying on him rescuing me. In my defence, it wasn't like I asked him to do it but I had to admit, I'd have been pretty lost without him. I tried not to think about it too deeply but I'd have probably been pretty dead without him.

"Listen, when we get to the café, do you mind not telling my mum where you found me? Please?"

"What? Why?"

"It's just that she'd be really cross if she knew I'd been down on the beach in weather like that," I said, deciding it was probably easiest to bend the truth a bit. "Someone we knew once got really hurt down there in a storm so I promised I'd never go down there when bad weather hit."

Ollie nodded and we kept going towards the door. I wasn't convinced he was happy about it but I didn't think he was going to drop me in it either. He pushed open the door and guided me inside, towards the nearest table where I could finally sit down.

"Nina! Where have you been? Your note only said 15 minutes!" I could hear the tone of Mum's voice change from cross to concerned as she saw me wincing as I moved my foot. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Mum. I just nipped along the coast to try and get a better view for my sketch but I tripped and hurt my ankle," I lifted my leg to show her. It was starting to swell now; the difficult walk from the cave had clearly done it no good. "I tried to call you but my phone had no signal."

"Oh, Nini," Mum sighed, looking at my foot.

Ollie cleared his throat next to me, obviously feeling uncomfortable. Mum looked up, like she'd only just realised he was there, then she looked at me and asked, "Who's this?"

"This is Ollie," I said. "From my art class. I was pretty lucky that he was passing when he did, otherwise I think I'd have been stuck on the coast path for a lot longer."

Mum's expression softened. "Ollie, of course. Thank you so much for looking after my Nini, I really appreciate you bringing her back here."

Ollie nodded and I got the impression that he didn't quite know what to say to that. After a moment or so, he cleared his throat again and said, "Right, well, I'd better be going or my mum is going to be wondering where I've got to as well."

"Oh." I looked up at him, grateful that he hadn't told Mum where he'd found me. I hadn't noticed before but his breathing still hadn't quite gone back to normal and he looked exhausted. "Yeah, of course, sorry. I'm sorry I've kept you so long."

"No problem," Ollie half-smiled. "I guess I'll see you next week maybe?"

"Sure," I said.

Mum thanked Ollie again as she walked him to the café door and locked it behind him.

"Right then, Nini," she said. "I think you and your ankle need a trip to the hospital."