[Charlotte Kendall]
A faint ringing echoed in my ears its constant pitch was coming from God knows where. I couldn't see anything either except for the red and black lights beneath my eyelids. I couldn't breathe as the water burned my nose and escaped into my mouth. I screamed, feeling rapid bubbles blow up in my face as my body was shot up into the air by some kind of current.
I was too afraid to open my eyes as large objects brushed past me underwater. When I opened them I freaked out over how far down I was sinking. I water current was too powerful as the ship's top spun completely under. Before this point, I remember holding onto the rails and taking in my deepest breath possible. The water sucked us down under and I lost my grip on the rails. I lost everything as the boat capsized on top of me.
I was losing breath quickly, I could feel my lungs burning as my arms and legs worked together to climb through the current. My time passing underwater was going fast. Luckily my life vest was pulling me quickly through the water. I was close to the surface as pieces of scrap kept collapsing under the waves.
Once I broke the surface I was screaming for air, coughing up blood and water as my life vest kept me afloat. Saltwater washed me around in the dark waters as large waves kicked me into space. I gasped at the sight of the ship. It was flipped under and bubbling as the suction started forcing me over. The propeller was spinning slowly on top ready to crash down into the side.
I screamed for help several times, fighting the waves of the storm as the propeller began falling to the water behind me. "Help!" I cried, crackling underwater as the force began to pull me under again. My muscles ached terribly but I didn't make it this far to give up now.
"Over here!"
Suddenly I heard a deep voice call out from in front of me. It was too dark out to notice who was calling or where so I kept screaming at it. A male's voice crashed over the sound of the waves and the flickering of the thunder.
Even with the force of the massive ship I was able to swim out of the mess and out into the open, far enough to rest with the shape of the waves.
Then something unbelievable happened and a bright orange octagon floated over a wave that soon crashed over me. I gasped for breath as the wave crashed over me, flipping me around under the current and then spitting me out on the other side.
"Help!" I called for the voice again but didn't receive an answer until I saw the octagon float back into view.
I recognized it as a lifeboat and started racing to its safety. As I swam, screaming frantically for the male's voice that never responded again. I was so close to reaching the side of the rubber lift when suddenly I felt a hand latch onto my right ankle. I screeched once I was pulled under again, out of breath immediately. I kicked and screamed out air from my lungs, fighting the hand that started dragging me under. My arms whipped around in the cold current, batting at the bubbles as I shook the hand from my ankle. Whoever was down there suddenly let go and I took no chance to help them up again. I was out of air and slowly weakening under the current. My arms were giving out finally yet I was so close to the surface. . . so close to the air once again.
My eyes blinked sheepishly and my lungs burned a heavy burden as I tilted my head away from the faraway sky to stare at the unconscious female body floating around below me.
The fading lights of the cruise ship were flickering like a haunted story as I sat still in the freezing liquid, watching the disaster finally bubble up one last time. Slowly my mind started shutting down as one by one lights shut off in the stern of the ship. Underwater screams echoed in my mind and then nothing.
+
I felt my fingers flinch in a sleeping state. I wanted to move my shoulders but my body felt like bricks were laying on top of me, making me feel 100 pounds heavier as my wet skin stuck to some kind of rubber material. I was finally able to scrunch my nose as a pair of wet lips blew into my mouth. I felt the heaviness come rushing up my throat while fists pounded into my chest. I swallowed and immediately shot up into the air, gasping frantically as every surreal moment flashed back through my mind. I wasn't dead.
"Thank God!" A blurry figure leaned in closer, holding my cheeks as I coughed up the cold salt from my insides. I gagged several times feeling hot blood rush from my nose. "Hey, you're okay- you're okay!"
Suddenly my face was tucked into a wet and strong chest. I weakly wrapped my hands around the boy's back still too blind to barely open my eyes. I kept coughing under his embrace, rubbing my eyes into his sleeves praying to see again. The boy pulled away and held my face passionately, rubbing his thumbs down my freezing skin.
"Charlotte look at me." He cooed.
"Tyson?" I squeaked with such a different taste on my tongue. I heard his laugh before he cradled me back into his heavy chest.
I felt our bodies float on top of the waves for many minutes, embracing under the winds and spraying waters. It was too dark out to look around and at this moment I was temporarily blind from drowning. My legs stretched out underneath me as Tyson hugged me from the side. I accidentally kicked another body inside the lifeboat, looking to the side to notice a girl's body passed out against the rubber headrest.
During the rest of the storm, our three bodies braced ourselves over the killer waves and upside-down currents. We prayed and cried until the storm began to disappear around us.
By the eighth hour, my mind was washed away in despair and the girl Tyson had rescued from the same waters as I passed away from hypothermia in her peaceful sleep.
+ Day 1
I couldn't recall how long we were drifting alone in the waters but on the better side of things, the storm was officially over. I remember being held by Tyson the entire time as the octagon floated endlessly around in circles. My body was still shivering from shock over our survival with my mind racing over the loss of my best friend. I never knew where she ended up and I guess it was better to never know than to experience it firsthand.
I missed her. When my body was out of fluids and I could no longer weep for her I had nothing to strive for the rest of the way. Now it was nothing but dark blue waters.
I shifted in my position to face Tyson. His eyes were finally shut but he kept fighting to stay open. We kept our body heat close together the entire float so none of us were left freezing. Tyson's features looked sunken in and pale just by the little moonlight hitting his skin. Moist blood was smeared down the side of his face yet the cut on his forehead was scabbed over.
"Tyson? How long have we been out here?" I instantly ask as my body adjusted to the coolness of the night air.
Tyson sighed and rolled his arms out to grip the outside edge of the boat, resting his clenched muscles. "I have no clue," His voice was so low and scratchy. He tossed his head back against the rubber edge and squinted his eyes shut as if he was in pain. I scooted aside to give him space to breathe some. I hadn't realized how tightly packed were together out of this entire lifeboat.
I looked around the boat and noticed the female's body was missing. Some time during my in and out of consciousness Tyson had tossed her flesh overboard. I remember seeing him for a moment during the night and that he was crying over the edge, there was so much pain inside us both.
Tyson took in a heavy breath before blowing it out between his lips. When he pulled his neck back up to look at me, chapped skin picked almost raw around his chin mixed with blood blisters and dried scabs.
"Oh Tyson," I gasped at the gash peeling around his jaw, "What did you do to your chin?" I instantly scoot over and lift his head up to look under the cut. It was dangerously loose skin but nothing butterfly stitches couldn't fix.
He groaned once my cold fingers quivered against his chin, "I just remember sinking into the water and being smacked off the rails-" He paused as I turned away to look for the first aid kit that came with every lifeboat. I noticed the box strapped to the edge farthest from the both of us, "It was this large shard of glass from the ballroom ceiling. I was lucky." He finished explaining as I crawled back over with the box in my hand.
"How-how did you get out?" I wearily ask.
Tyson just stared down at me as I bandaged his jaw up with tape. I slowly wiped down the blood and cleaned out the cut while pulling out small sparkles of shredded glass. His lips pulled up in grimacing pain but his eyes never drifted from mine.
"How did you?" He stopped to ask me instead.
I just shook my head. "It honestly. . . it could have been a guardian angel." I briefly smiled to myself while tucking away the bloody wipes and stuffing the used wrappers inside the kit again.
Tyson smiled too before taking a breath to speak out, "I heard you calling for help. Then a wave flipped me off the boat again and I saw you floating under. I was upside down then because I strapped the safety line to my ankle. It was you and that other girl." He admitted. "I had to get to you." His slow breaths were raspy and the movement of his chest rising was uneven.
"Thank you,"
"Charlotte," I noticed him blushing suddenly.
"No. You saved my life. . . twice." He tried to smile but his lips were too chapped to curl upwards. "I don't think I'll ever know how to repay you," I admit before scooting in and sweetly pecking him on the cheek. He tilted his head up to my lips as I pulled away slowly, blinking my eyes at him nervously.
"I only made a promise, that I intended to keep."
I laughed softly before turning over to rest my back against the rubber boat like Tyson, mimicking his position in the dark. The full moon was back and illuminating the much calmer waves. The ocean's openness sounded so peaceful even after the nightmare the Poseidon wave had cursed upon us. I blinked my heavy eyelids ready to sleep in the night however when I kept shutting my eyes something close by in the distance kept catching my attention. I leaned forward finally, shaking Tyson's shoulders awake before crawling out to the opposite side of the lifeboat.
"Do you see that?" I gasp in the night. I feel the boat flop around underneath me as Tyson crawled over on his knees.
He was focusing really hard on the outline I had pointed out. I slowly traced my finger up and around the dark curves in the sky.
Perhaps a boat, or rescue team? No, we would see lights and sharper edges.
Then a cloud disappeared from in front of the moon and the natural light cast down immediately on top of an enormous island.
"No fucking way," Tyson cursed under his breath before scattering backward towards the octagons holding loops.
I spun around and watched him wrap the safety strap back around his ankle before crawling over to me and pulling me into his chest. We were directly under the height of a mountain outlined in the sky and falling in fast above the tide. We were yards away from land without even knowing it.
"Charlotte hold onto the loop handles," Tyson directed while pulling my arms out from under me. He placed them around the octagon loops as he scrambled to the other side of the orange float. "The waves are going to be rough so help keep the raft balanced or we'll tip." I nodded in anticipation while keeping my eyes peeled straight ahead.
Just as he said the waves were vicious, taking us and the boat high between unstable rocks and rip currents. I held on and pulled my weight along with Tyson's as we jerked around to find the sand. This wasn't a safe entrance to the beach but it was our only opportunity. The last wave almost tipped us inside out. Fear flashed through my veins as I squeezed my eyes shut from looking straight into the sharp rocks ahead still.
"Quick shift up!" Tyson yelled over the crashing wave and we moved the boat upward until finally bumped land.
The front end smacked down onto sand as Tyson accidentally flipped over the edge and rolled off somewhere underneath. I was on the back screaming as the float tipped and capsized into the cold rough sand. I landed on my stomach and rolled in the rubber, losing my sense of up and down.
My momentum didn't seem to stop rolling up the beach until the boat jerked backward and paused on top of me.
"Charlotte!" I heard Tyson scream out behind me, kicking up sand as he ran to my side.
The tarp of the boat was lifted off my back and all I could do was stick my face in the sand and laugh. I started laughing so hard that tears threatened at the corners of my cheeks. Tyson's hands pulled my shoulders to the side and I rolled onto my back, laughing undeniably.
"Are you okay?" He quietly chuckled under his breath as my laugh grew contagious.
"We. . . we survived!" I came to put words together while in between laughs.
Tyson smiled brightly and helped sit me up in the sand. My arms burned from crash landing and my hips were twisted in pain but I was too happy to see the ground again to care. I reached up and hugged Tyson once again, squeezing him into my chest as we laughed together in joy.
"I can't believe this!" I continue gasping in glee.
We pulled away from our hug and struggled to help each other up. My legs wobbled in the thick sand as my ankles had trouble straightening out. I used Tyson's shoulder as a crutch as he gathered the lifeboat and pulled it way up the beach.
One last tear rolled down my cheek and as I wiped it away I also whipped a trail of blood from under my left eye. The pads of my fingertips showed fresh blood and I glanced up at Tyson suddenly. He wasn't looking at me but straight ahead with a puzzled look on his face. I kept my hand to my eye and trailed my eyes down the way he was looking. We slowly stumbled to a pause, hearing the tug of the lifeboat stop behind us in the wet sand.
I looked up and dropped my jaw slightly at the height of the trees veering back down at us. The untamed landscape had an eerie feel beyond its walls. Tyson shuffled in the sand pulling me and the lifeboat along with him. He was gazing up towards the tops of the giant mess and mixture. The wind was short, blowing the evergreen leaves so slightly.
"What is this place?" I don't particularly ask Tyson but the question kept dizzying around in my head.
"I don't know. . ." His voice was low with a lack of confidence, "We should just stay on the shoreline for a while, maybe we can spot someone."
He began dragging me alongside him again, heading up the shoreline towards the North. Tyson wasn't keeping a fast pace. His footprints in the sand had drops of blood around the placement of his toes and his uniformed swim trunks spotted holes at the bottom seam. We were soaked from head to toe and the earlier adrenaline rush quickly faded back to our previous condition out in the deep waters.
The mass of trees seemed to grow thicker along the beach and soon was too thick to look through anymore. It was frightening the longer you stared inside the walls of the dark trees. My arm was tucked behind Tyson's neck and as he helped drag me through the sand my face was pinched at these figures walking alongside us. I swear I was seeing things because every time I would blink to point them out to Tyson the figures would be gone. It was probable that this wasn't a normal island off in the pacific and the more possible normal minded inhabitants weren't around.
Suddenly Tyson came to a quick halt and I didn't ask questions right away. Instead, I just looked out along the edge of the beach from as far as we could see for now. From where we were, a hillside connected the land to the water. It was an enormous cliff that ran from the area of trees and out to the ocean floor where boulders blocked massive waves and extreme currents.
"Looks like a dead end," Tyson mumbled yet the voice behind his sentence wasn't at all disappointed. This was strange considering there was no other way off this part of the beach.
"Could we take the raft around that wall?" I ask. My body temperature was hot again even though night winds shivered down my skin. I realized we shouldn't even try and attempt those waters again.
"No wait, do you see that." He mumbled again raising his arm to point directly at the middle of the mountainside. "Look, there's like some sort of. . . cutout."
I looked out along the beach and squinted my eyes towards the center of the cliff side. Soon my eyes adjusted to the moon's whitey glow and a lopsided shape glowed between the sand.
"Do you think we can pull this through there?" I look over to ask Tyson and his frown drops.
He looks back behind us and stares down at the safety string velcroed to his ankle. He wiggles his ankle around a bit in front of him causing the lifeboat to shift in the sand behind us. Then he peers up into the trees again.
"We're gonna have to." He shrugged. I could tell that the closer we got to the other side the safer the beach was beyond the cliff's cave.
I slowly gathered my steps, taking several minutes to follow Tyson's anxious pace before reaching the base of the hillside edge. And there was the tall cutout on the side of the cliff, a thick cave shape that lead straight through to another beach. Water ran along the rock wall, distributed between the trees and the ocean. The cave had developed shallow water inside, with small pockets of tide pools and stone steps. You could hear the mass waves from the left and echoing winds from the right. An intelligent area that only nature could have made.
I tugged my arm up around Tyson's neck some more as he helped pick me up into the cave. I held his hand as he attempted to pull himself in with the deflating lifeboat tugging behind him in the slippery shadows. The short climbing exhausted me even more and if it weren't for the developing tide I would consider resting here for a while. Foggy moonlight beamed through the other end and in a few short steps we reached the opposite end of the caved walkway.
I let go of Tyson's hand as he came up around me, pulling the lifeboat up against the cave walls. It was almost peaceful in here with the soft sound of waves crashing all around us.
"It's a couple of feet down on this side," Tyson said as he grabbed the left side of the cave's wall.
His shoulders wrapped around a rocky structure and he cradled the wall with his chest. I squatted down on the right side of the slope, feeling the water rush past my ankles. It burned my open flesh around my lower shins and flushed out the drying blood from my skin.
"Tyson I can't jump that far." I point out, noticing the height of the drop from the cave's point to the sand.
"How about I go first then." He answered and I twisted my face in slight disappointment. Tyson was much paler again in the shadows but the dark rings under his eyes told a different story. We could jump; it's just right now we aren't physically cable of it.
He started to slide along the outer crust of the cave before shimming his weight down the rocky steps. The lifeboat flicked to the side of me and then tossed over the edge of the cave dip, falling limply behind Tyson in the lower sand. I watched carefully as his bloody bare feet fit into each crevice of the mountains cliff. Then I mimicked his technique.
Tyson jumped once he was close enough and then directed me to fall back into his arms. I trusted his voice and leaped off the wall. Arms tucked under me, catching my hips before slowly setting me to the sand peacefully.
Soggy sand intertwined with my toes again and we were back on a much larger and buoyant beach. It was brighter where the moon hit its sparkling sands just perfectly and the waves were softer against the shoreline.
We walked for several minutes again in silence and by the time the cliff side was out of sight, you could hear both of our heavy breathing louder than the ocean waves.
"I need. . . I need to just sit down for a bit. I'm- I'm having trouble breathing." I complain before plopping down onto the gentle sand to rub my feet.
My breath became wheezy so Tyson turned back around to sit beside me. His hair was damp still with his dried blood shiny against his sweaty forehead. He sat down and stretched out to rest his palms behind his back while closing his eyes and directing his face back up towards the dark sky. I stretched out my legs and bent my back forward to touch my toes. My lower back ached and one small kink caused my hip to pinch in electric agony. I flinched away accidentally bumping Tyson.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He panicked as I pulled away from my hip and rubbed the side. "Are you hurt? You were limping back there."
"It's fine," I answer bitterly through my teeth. I instantly feel bad and look up at him with apologetic eyes. "I was just injured- during the um. . ." I couldn't even speak about what had happened hours ago without wanting to break down.
I grimaced as I twisted and Tyson sat up closer, "You want me to take a look at it?" he asked with sympathy. I declined politely. However, I did help him with his stitches, checking my hip couldn't be as bad but I decided to let it rest for a while as we waited for rescue.
I leaned back, about to lay on top of the sand but something dark and prominent caught my eye down below in the tide. I turned my neck sharply towards the ocean and watched the object float on top of the sand, as two arms wobbled to pull up against the ground.
"Do you see that?" I squeak.
Instantly Tyson was back on his feet, taking no time to brush sand from his shorts. I waited on the ground as he cautioned his steps forward. The figure pushed up in the tide before being knocked over in the waves that snuck up behind them. It was a body, struggling to pull from the water. A dark wooden board stretched out on the sand and slid across the glowing water.
"It's a survivor!" Tyson's voice called out and I stumbled to stand after he took off running towards the ocean break.
A body kept floating in and out, moving with the waves as dark golden hair and a male's upper figure grew into view. I held my breath nervously as I fought through the pain while running out after Tyson. Every step I took shocked my leg and zapped my nerves. I finally slowed down, not even halfway to the water again before plopping down to my knees defeated. Tyson was already down there calling my name as he helped pull the boy away from the tide and up the sand.
"Charlotte!"
I scrambled to stand on my two feet again but collapsed after air was sucked from my lungs. Tyson had a flimsy arm wrapped around his neck as he fought with every muscle to run back up the beach where I lay. The boy ran beside him, losing his footing and scraping his shins down in the sand.
"It's okay!" Tyson called out as I rolled over onto my back, gasping for air, "It's okay!" He recalled.
My hands were shaking as I muttered out breathless pleads, taking up his offer again to check my hip. Tyson laid the boy into the sand beside me as the shaggy headed boy coughed up small amounts of water onto his stomach.
I raised my hand to my mouth once I recognized something small about this boy in particular. The floppy bundle of wavy hair pushed up from his forehead exposed a particular eye shape. Two simple scratches were slashed across his left cheek. The scruffy jawline was sharp and opened in wobbly breaths but by the simple features of this one boy, I recognized him from the stairwells inside the second plaza, minutes before the ship capsized.
Tyson's hands reached out to cup my cheeks as he panicked over who to help out first. Everything was suddenly cut short as a loud gasp cut through the air between us. My eyes were pinned to the boy's face in relief as his damp eyelashes blinked open and gulps of water coughed out from his purple lips. The golden hint in his cheeks rushed with red and his torso rose in an instant cutting the little space. While heaving heavy breaths he looked from Tyson then to me. I dropped my hand from my mouth and kept my lips a gap as familiar hazel eyes pierced in shock towards me.
"Lan? Wait- Where am I?" A thick Australian accent begged in horror between his panicked breath.
[A/N]
Ooo guess who just arrived!
Chapter Songs:
"Blue Ocean Floor"- Justin Timberlake
"Unsteady"- X Ambassadors