The next two days were brutal. Clouds had provided a barrier between us and the sun up until this point, but the eighth day of our journey, the sky was clear, leaving our bare skin at the mercy of the intense rays. Our sleeping mats provided some cover, but the heat was still stifling. It was worst up front steering. For each two hour shift, there was no protection, nothing to slow the sweat that rolled off of our bodies like a leaking faucet.
This would not have been so bad if it weren't for the lack of water. By the second day of the heat wave, we were all feeling the effects of dehydration. The waves swam hazily in front of my eyes when I stood up and my tongue felt rough and dry. Still, we had to ration what little water we had left since we didn't know when another rainstorm would come up.
There were no more games. Everyone just lay around in a dazed sort of state, trying to keep cool and submit the least amount of skin to the punishing rays. Isaac tried swimming around to cool off, but he tipped the raft so much getting back in that we lost two days' worth of bananas to the sea. After that, we all agreed it wasn't worth the risk.
It was amazing how drastically changed everyone looked by the eve of the second day. Rita and Jessie's respective shades of bronze skin were flushed red and dried. I was sure my own tanned face looked no better. Toby's eyes were rimmed with red and looked dull.
Isaac was the worst off. His fair skin looked like it was stretched tight on his gaunt face, but it had lost the sheen of sweat. It was his leg, however that concerned me the most. The sweltering heat had induced its swelling until there was a lump roughly the size of half a grapefruit around the cut. When he rose to take his turn steering that night, he moved stiffly.
"How are you doing?" I asked him as I reluctantly relinquished my hold on the rod. He didn't look like he was in any sort of shape to be steering.
"Fine," he said shortly.
I knew he would never let me take his shift for him, he was far too stubborn for that. So I said nothing and moved to my sleeping corner. My skin itched but scratching it only made it raw. I looked at the red scales on my hands that were in grave danger of splitting. Perhaps Rita knew how to make a salve for them. I looked over and saw that she was fast asleep. That was good. The last time I had talked to her, she had looked exhausted.
For the millionth time, I reflected on how grateful I was for Rita. Without her, we would all be dead. Period.
I didn't want to think about dying. I rolled over onto my stomach and closed my eyes. Tomorrow morning, I would ask Rita about the salve.
The next day was cooler, but there was no rain. Our water supply was dangerously low and we allowed ourselves two sips each for the day. I dreamed of lakes and rivers and waterfalls that night but the next morning, I felt more parched than ever.
Only one swallow each that day. Then the water was gone. I knew that I should have been terrified by the empty shells, but at this point, death was seeming like a welcome option.
God, I wanted water. I thought about lemonade on a summer's day, ice cubes clinking against each other. My lips parted uselessly and I tried to suck moisture out of the very air. Thirsty. So thirsty. My eyes drifted towards the waves that lapped against the edge of the raft. Water was inches from my fingertips. Why wasn't I drinking that? I knew there was some reason but whatever it was, it probably wasn't that important. It was pretty water too. Sparkling and blue in the sunshine.
My thoughts made no sense. I felt far away. I shook my head and it hurt, but I felt a little less foggy. I couldn't have water and I needed to get over it. Salt water would just dehydrate me more and make me sick.
I dragged my gaze from the ocean to the raft again and saw Isaac leaning over the side, slurping water frantically from his cupped hands. A ragged cry leapt from my throat and I lunged at him. The entire raft lurched wildly as I grabbed the back of Isaac's shirt with both hands. Jessie shrieked and clung to the opposite side.
Toby's eyes widened as he took in the situation. Wordlessly, he sprang to my side and helped my haul Isaac back on board.
Isaac was coughing violently and his entire body shook.
"What the heck was that?" Toby panted. "You know you can't drink salt water; that just makes it worse!"
"I was thirsty," Isaac rasped. He fell to his knees, retching up salt water.
I said nothing, thinking of how close I had come to doing the same thing.
Toby opened his mouth to say something but then seemed to think better of it and crawled back to the shelter of his sleeping mat.
I patted Isaac listlessly on the back as he continued to cough. Concern for him welled up in my mind. He was looking worse, even, than he had yesterday. We all needed water, but Isaac needed it soon or he was going to die. I knew I should feel something about the extremity of this news, but my emotions seemed distant, like I wasn't actually present. I knew I was dull and stupid but I couldn't muster enough energy to care.
Gradually, Isaac's coughing ceased. I returned to my corner of the raft and curled myself into a miserable ball beneath my sleeping mat. My whole body felt like one giant itch and my skin crawled with every second that I did not scratch it.
Night came and went and another day began. Still, there was no rain. As the hours ticked by, the line between sleep and wakefulness was becoming blurred. When I was awake, I was dreaming. Strange animals and people appeared in front of me but I could not touch them. Everything else was so out of focus that it hurt to look at things. The sun especially was torturing my eyes. In a daze, I got up to steer and then forget what I had done once my shift was over.
I was staring vacantly at the wooden surface of the raft when I felt a drop on my shoulder, followed quickly by another on my head. Looking up, I saw a huge dolphin suspended above me as it leapt over us, water dripping from its glistening tail. I shook my head a little. No, it wasn't a dolphin; the gray shape above us was a cloud.
Just as the faintest of hopes entered my mind, the floodgates above opened and rain came pouring down. I heard Jessie or Rita scream next to me and on my other side, Toby yelled. My throat was too dry for me to make a sound so I just opened my mouth and let the cool, fresh water run over my parched lips and collect on my tongue. Never had anything tasted as good as that water, that life. A small pool formed in my mouth and I swallowed all of it, a whole mouthful of water all for myself. A smile creased my face and I threw my arms open to let my whole body experience the rain.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement beside me. It was Jessie, flipping over coconut shells so they could be filled in the downpour. I scrambled over to help her, grateful that she had been conscious enough to think of that. Rita and Toby followed suit, but Isaac remained where he was, sluggishly blinking into the rain. Rain was running off of his pale face in rivulets, slowly awakening him from his comatose state, but his mouth was closed. I abandoned the coconuts and went to kneel beside him.
"Hey," I said, shaking his shoulder gently. "Look, it's raining."
His eyes were unfocused as he turned his head toward me.
I cupped my hands in front of me and within a few seconds, a small pool had formed in my palms. "Drink," I urged, holding it up to him."
Isaac stared blankly at it.
"Isaac!" I dropped the water and shook him again, a little harder. "Water!"
He shook his head slightly and his eyes lost some of their glaze. "Huh?" he croaked. His voice was barely above a whisper.
Turning, I grabbed a partially filled coconut shell. I brought it to his face and tried to pour the water directly into his partially open mouth. Most of it dribbled down his chin and what did manage to get in his mouth caused him to start choking. I thumped his back as he threw up over the side. "Come on Isaac," I murmured, mostly to myself. "Hang in there, come on."
"What's wrong?" Rita was at my side, her dark hair plastered to her head and streaming water.
"Isaac won't drink."
Her lips pressed together and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him, still retching into the sea. Wordlessly, she got up and grabbed another half full coconut from Jessie's side. Returning, she knelt beside us. "Hold his mouth open," she told me firmly.
I obeyed, coaxing Isaac back to a sitting position when his coughing had subsided and held his jaw as gently as I could. Slowly, Rita dribbled a bit of water threw his cracked lips. I held my breath, watching Isaac as he swallowed reflexively. Bit by bit, Rita and I eased the rest of the water into him. He started coughing again, but ultimately most of the contents of the coconut ended up inside him. When we were finished, Isaac curled up with a small sigh and went to sleep.
The rain was just a drizzle now but it didn't matter; the coconuts had filled quickly in the downpour. My skin felt tingly, like my whole body was bursting with electricity. I was still thirsty, but not desperately so, and I felt more alert. It was amazing how much the rain had changed everything. The storm seemed to have woken us from our varying levels of unconsciousness.
Beside me, Toby and Rita were putting our replenished water supply into a secure corner of the raft. I wanted to ask for a drink, but knew better than to do so. Our supplies needed to be carefully rationed now. The last thing we wanted at this point was to get that close to dehydration as we had before the storm. We might not get so lucky the next time.