She of the Sea

2 of 53 - A Desperate Escape

Beneath the hatch everything lay in total darkness. Cassie descended until reaching the last rung of the ladder and stopped. From the sound of the waves sloshing into and then back out of the tunnel, she judged the drop into the water to be about the length of a yardstick. The dank air held an unpleasant fishy odor.

She never felt more alone, empty, hollowed-out like the pumpkin she carved last Hallowe'en. Although Cassie didn't want to think about it, she knew her momma had been hurt bad and she'd probably never see her again.

Tears blurred her vision. What would she do without Momma? It would be so easy to just give up and wait for the hunters to come for her, but she remembered her momma warning that if caught, they would do unspeakable things to her. She was old enough to know about rape and how some men were creeper pervs who would snatch a young girl like her off the street.

Ew. She would kill herself before allowing that to happen. But what if they were too strong and she wouldn't be able to find a way to kill herself?

Fear drove her onward. She slipped her arms through the straps of her pack and dropped into the water. After bobbing to the surface, Cassie filled her lungs with air and dove under. She felt her way along the culvert wall as she swam toward the outlet submerged in the Gulf.

It took longer than she thought it would. Her lungs ached by the time she breached the surface and gulped air. At least the water wasn't cold, late September the Gulf of Mexico was warm as bath water. She swam behind a rock jetty that shielded her from view of the house and found a place where she could stand.

Unshouldering the pack, she fished inside and found her bathing suit. Stripping off her pjs, she threw them onto the jetty and pulled on the one-piece suit. Climbing onto the rocks, she spied out the house.

Should she stay in the Gulf and swim up the coast to Tarpon Springs like her momma said, or should she wait to see if the hunters would leave? If they left, she'd be able to sneak back into the house and help Momma if she was hurt and change into her regular clothes.

Cassie squeezed shut her eyes and wished as hard as she could for the hunters to go away.

Flashlight beams shone all around the house. The hunters were outside searching. If she stayed hidden behind the rocks, they wouldn't see her. They would give up after a while.

She counted two flashlight beams. They were slowly meandering their way toward her. Too close. She was so scared she froze, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Show yourself, little girl," one of them spoke in a sing-song voice as if he was talking to a baby. "I know you're around here somewhere. I'm not going to hurt you."

His spooky voice jolted her enough to unfreeze her. Quietly, she backed from the rocks and slipped into the waves. Worried one of the flashlight beams would see her bobbing, she dove under and swam away from shore. When she broke the surface, the hunters were shining their lights all around where she had been hiding. They would've found her and grabbed her if she had stayed there. They could still find her if they shined their lights in her direction.

She dove again and swam out farther, hoping they would think she'd never be able to swim that far from shore. Breaking the surface again, she looked back. Far enough out, even if the flashlight beams shined her way, they wouldn't be able to make out her small head sticking above the tide.

Cassie had no fear of the water. She and her momma spent hours in the Gulf as long as she could remember. A lot of times during nighttime too. She was used to it. That's why she wasn't afraid. When she tired, her momma taught her to rest by flipping onto her back and floating and how to move with the waves and let them carry her. If she swam out far enough, she could find the right current to take her in any direction she wanted to go.