Maeve
The pressure on my chest is painful.
It’s rhythmic. Repeating a few times before stopping. Then again. There’s a second of nothing before I feel my lungs being forcefully expanded. It’s excruciating.
Another cycle starts.
Why can’t I breathe?
When the pressure on my chest returns, I feel the sting of water coming back up my throat before I gasp. It shoots from my mouth. Over and over. I gasp for air and cough, spitting water everywhere. My nemesis is sitting by my side on his knees. His breathing is labored. His eyes trained on my face with, well, I’m not sure what. Dare I say it looks like worry?
With a cough comes more water, and I keep retching, grasping at my throat as the never-ending supply of saltywater burns it. I can feel his warm hand on my back as he helps me sit up.
Once I can breathe normally on my own without trying to vomit the ocean, I look around. We’re on a beach, and it’s dark. The moon is bright in the sky, but not bright enough to grasp reality fully.
My clothes are soaked through; I can feel granules of sand all over me, and I don’t have my sandals on. Squinting in the moonlight, I don’t seem to have my two-wheeled suitcase or half of my sanity either.
I glance around and don’t see anything else. I meananythingelse at all.
“What happened?” I croak.
King appears to be scanning my body, only responding when he’s satisfied with his assessment. “We hit a storm.”
“And it hit us back?” I ask. My voice is still raspy from retching, but apparently my brain is still attached inside my skull if I can manage to crack a joke.
In the moonlight, I think I see a ghost of a smile play on his lips, but it’s gone as quickly as it appears. “Seems that way.”
My head whips around. “Where is the captain?”
The man stares at the direction of the ocean. “I couldn’t find him. I saw your hair in the water, and that’s how I was able to find you. The moon,” he points at the sky, “came out just for a second. You got lucky.”
“Oh.” My spirit instantly dies.
Taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I attempt to stand but quickly fail. The moment I’m up, my feet stumble, and I go down like a house of cards. He catches me right before my limbs get tangled underneath me, risking a broken bone. Something that would make this unknown situation way more complicated.
“You were out for a long time.” His voice is still husky,even though he’s been talking for some time. “Give your body a break.”
“Okay,” I agree easily. He’s obviously right. My shoulders slump in defeat, my legs folded in front of me.
“Do you know where we are?” I ask after looking around one more time.
He stands up, turning away from me and watching something in the distance. “Have no fucking idea. We didn’t make it even halfway when we got hit by a massive wave, so I’m sure we’re not at our final destination.”
“That’s weird,” I hum under my breath.
“What is?” He turns his face to me for a moment.
“Local waters are usually calm and not known for waves or storms.” My forehead wrinkles with confusion. This is the first time I’m hearing of anything of the sorts around here.
“One found us.” He sounds sarcastic. I think. I don’t know him well enough, but from what I’ve seen, he might not possess any sense of humor to actually deal with sarcasm. “Must be the rogue one they make shows about.”
The rogue waves that take big ships out. Ours didn’t stand a chance.
“True. Let’s wait then,” I say, pulling my knees to my chest.
“Wait for what?” He tilts his head, looking at me with open curiosity.
“Rescue,” I snap, stating the obvious.
