If I would have known what was about to go down that morning, I would have never worn a robe. I had the perfect outfit for the afternoon. Part of me wished I was in those clothes after five minutes of being on the boat.
"So what exactly is the plan?" asked the driver of the boat who had his walkie directed to his ears listening for all the latest dam and water news.
"We somehow need to get to Arrow River before the ferry gets there. Is there any way can do that?
The GPS on my phone had no signal and therefore would have no use. We would have to figure this out the old fashion way with a map. Thank God he had one in his glove compartment. Looking at it, he pointed to what was known as the 'Green Trail,' which was apparently a hard walk up the mountain that started on flat land near the beach. It involved a lot of rock climbing. According to him, the trail would get us close to the Arrow River, but it wasn't clear just how close. With fireworks also in the glove compartment, we could use them to extended the stream that laid at the beginning of the trail to extend it into a river.
"It's a crazy plan, but that could work." I hated this plan, but it was either that or nothing. And I couldn't sit back and do nothing. "By the way, what's your name?"
"James," he quietly answered seeming a bit sad. "James McKing."
Sara sat the on floor of the ferry leaning against the wall of the boat. Her eyes were closed trying to catch every breath that she could. With every breath in her lungs being slow, it was hard to tell if she would make it. She sat there praying in her head hoping that she could make it out of this situation.
"Mam, are you thirsty?" asked the captain holding a camera. "I have some water bottles if you're interested."
"Why do you have a camera?" she could barely get the words out of her mouth. "And do you have any Vitamin Water? I would really love some."
"The company requires cameras to be on all our ferries for business and insurance purposes. I'm trying to make there's enough good evidence regarding the impact of the flood." He took a pause and brought out a couple water bottles. "I'm sorry, all we have is regular water. Is that fine?" She was thirsty and beggars couldn't be choosers at that point. She accepted what was offered to her. The captain went back to the wheel hoping for good news or any news at all.
Once we reached the trail, I saw that James was right. There was a stream and it was pretty large for a stream. Looking at him, he had the fireworks in his grip and stepped out the boat. He was planning on putting the fireworks at the end of the stream. I was instructed to rev up the engine once they went off. The force of the engine would hopefully allow water to create a river among the trail. There was no science to claim that this would work. We were just going on the resources that we had. The plan was carried out, and surely enough the fireworks went off. Boom! One by one. My foot pounded on the gas peddle giving it all the speed that this boat could handle. By a miracle, we were creating a river for the boat to go over. There was enough to time for James to hop back into the boat.
"Are you alright?" asked the captain who sat next to Sara. "What's your name?"
"Sara," she began crying. "Sara Rider. Her hands began shaking. Reaching into her pockets, her fingers caught notice of the pills. There weren't much left.
"What led you out to Little Beach?" His water bottle was officially empty.
"I came out here on my honeymoon. Got married yesterday." The captain's face developed a surprised look. What luck for an event like this to happen the day after a wedding? "You know, I had all these plans for my wedding and how I wanted my honeymoon to go. But I wasn't planning on dying during my honeymoon." Her pills were out of her pocket and in sight.
"That's sucks." His vision was on the pills. "If I might ask, What are the pills for?"
She had no desire of answering, but she couldn't leave the man wondering. "My heart. For my heart." He nodded and stood up heading back to his post leaving the camera next to her. She too also stood up and held the pills in her palm. The temptation was there to take one with her heartbeats slowing down. With the boat speeding through the river, her balance was hard to control. Sitting down again felt like a better option, but the pills were still there. Another temptation soon arose. A temptation to throw them into the water only to never see them again. Death about to loom over Sara? Was this medicine needed? Would death be a better answer?
Giving the boat full force wasn't an easy task. Our boat barely made it over most of the rocks that laid under the water, but it didn't matter. My spirit had the full determination to accomplish the impossible and nothing in my way could stop that spirit. It was hard to believe that this was being accomplished. Crank! My ears hated hearing those noises. There were points, it seemed like we weren't going to make it to Arrow River. With all the stress of trying to accomplish something this crazy, the noise of a helicopter was heard. Crap, we were being followed. This rescue mission was on the news. I was on the news!
"This is truly remarkable," announced the driver of the copter. "With two people in a small boat, great effort is being made to get to Arrow River. We are able to get a close up on his face and the driver does look determined. If he is going to make it, he doesn't have very much time."
"Sorry to interrupt," announced the anchor. "We just received information that the driver of the boat is a nineteen-year old Jimmy Rider who is attempting to rescue his wife Sara Rider from the ferry. What are the chances that this rescue mission will work?" he asked the driver of the helicopter.
"The chances are incredibly slim. If he is even able to rescue Sara. he somehow needs to get out of the river and avoid the waterfall. It should also be noted that the current is growing powerful by the minute.."
"Let's certainly hope he does survive for the sake of everyone in Little Beach."
By a great miracle, we made it onto Arrow River with a lot of catching up to. The current of the river was at a great speed that caused my skin to feel like it was falling off. The two of us had to hold on the best we could. This was live or die. Even though a new challenged had risen, my soul was grateful that we had actually made it to Arrow River. Sara was in reach. This was good. All we had to do now was get to the ferry before it reached the waterfall.
With her eyes closed, Sara felt like she was approaching her last gasp of air. At this point, she was praying for death. Death was not her card just yet. A ring came from her pocket. Was this her imagination? Was someone calling her. She had forgotten all about her phone. Taking it out, she noticed there was only half a battery left. While this was bad news, the person who was calling her was good news. On her screen read 'Dad.' Yes, Dr. Parker was calling her. Her heart skipped a beat. There had to be hope. Without any hesitation, she answered it.
"Dad?" She began crying not yet hearing the sound of his voice.
"Sara," he couldn't finish his sentence and began weeping like a baby. "Are you OK? I saw everything on the news. Please tell me you're OK."
Was she OK? She wasn't sure. All she wanted was to be comforted by her own father, but it seemed that Dr. Parker was one who needed comforting. Sara knew her life could potentially end soon. There was no way she could say she was fine.
"Dad," a large sigh was taken. "I'm sorry." Dr. Parker crying informing her that there was nothing to be sorry for. "Dad," talking seemed to be getting hard for her. "There's something I need to tell you." From this point, she would need to choose her words wisely. "Back on Valentine's Day when I went on that date with Jimmy," a quick speaking break was needed. What she about to tell her father felt like a dream. "We stopped by a little bonfire after the date and my heart overreacted and stopped. I almost died that night, but Jimmy... Jimmy rushed to the car to get my pills. If it weren't for him, I would've died that night."
For a good minute, nothing was said over the phone. Dr. Parker had a loss of words and began to cry again. "You almost died? But when I asked you if you had experienced heart problems lately during your birthday party, you told me no. You told me no."
All she wanted to do at this point was hang up the phone. She couldn't bare to talk to her father like this. "I lied dad. I lied." Her body grew numb knowing that she betrayed her own father. Her body fell to the ground with little energy. All she wanted to do was not disappoint him.
"Sara!" cried out the captain of the ship with both excitement and fear. "Sara! Wake up! Jimmy is on the other line of the walkie."
With her vision going blurry and Dr. Parker getting angry over the phone, she thought she heard that Jimmy was on the other line of walkie. Was it true? Did Jimmy really reach contact? The walkie was placed right next to hear ears where her struggling body laid.
"Sara! Are you there? Sara! Copy! This is Jimmy!"
It was true. With all her strength she stood up and picked up the walkie. Dr. Parker was still on the phone.
What a chapter! Can you believe this story is coming to an end? It is! I hope Jimmy can rescue Sara!
Is Sara going to make it out of this alive?