Sunday Fiction

I am a writer. That is the very essence of who I am (not forgetting of course that I am a mother and a grandmother first!).  As such I have begun to dabble again - thanks in most parts to my friend over at Two Shoes in Texas.  Josie not only supported my respot from blogging, she continued to encourage me to go on. The fiction bug took hold during a Two Shoes Tuesday segment.  That was two weeks ago. I am planning on continuing adding segments to this tale every Tuesday. In case you have missed the beginning (and of course the continuation today) I have included the whole tale.

Bruce looked at himself in the mirror and all he could see was contempt. "Looks like we're stuck together forever," he said out loud to the image.  He hadn't always felt this self-loathing. In fact at one point in time he was actually a carefree, happy man. But those days were so far removed from his memory that at this point in time he actually felt stuck in his life.

When Bruce had grown up, he had for nothing; but then the accident happened and his whole world changed. The family (Bruce, his sister and their parents) had chartered a small boat to take them on the trip of their lives. His parents were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and they wanted to share it with their children. They often joked about life had changed when they decided to take the plunge and be stuck together forever. Life was good!

Then, the boat went adrift, somewhere in the middle of the ocean. They had no power, no radio and no way out. Days passed and his father assured them that they would be missed and someone would come looking for them. Days turned into weeks. No water was left on the boat, the only food they had was whatever they could catch. Both his mother and sister were very weak. The night the ocean stirred up its fury was the worst. The boat was tossed and turned and the wind was pounding. They each took shelter to ride out the storm.

Bruce had found cover in a tiny crawl space under the helm. His sister Adriana had crawled way up under the bow of the boat thinking it was a perfect cover to ride out the storm. Their parents had stayed together in the cabin wrapped around each other for comfort.

No one knew how long that storm lasted, it felt like days. When the seas had calmed all that was left to show for the storm were the downed mast, the missing riggings and gaggles of dead birds on the deck. Bruce was the first to surface and he called down into the cabin for his parents. Hearing nothing he ventured down the short ladder to investigate.  The interior of the cabin was in much worse shape than the deck of the boat. Broken dishes and glasses, pot and pans in a state of disarray and clothing strewn everywhere. He searched for his parents and found nothing. That did not make any sense. Hadn't they taken cover down there? Where could they be?

Through the cabin and further forward he found his sister laying very still on the bed that made up the front of the boat. She must have been tossed back and forth as the waves struck the tiny vessel.  He gently crawled on the bed next to her and said, “Hey Sis, the storms over. Time to get up.” But Adriana didn’t budge.

Bruce shook her a little harder and said, “Adriana, wake up!”

But the girl didn’t move. He turned her over and tried to see if she had a pulse. After all they made it look so easy on the television, you just put your fingers on her neck and then you know. He tried it, but because he had no idea what he was feeling for he missed the artery completely. Giving up on that idea he decided to put his ear next to her nose and see if she was breathing.  She was not. Bruce slid right next to her and held her in his arms. This was not fair! How could this happen to his sister?

Adriana was two years younger than Bruce and he had loved her from the moment he joined the family. He was her first teacher, protector and confidant. This was just not possible. She couldn’t be gone! He sobbed and didn’t care that he had been taught that boys don’t cry. Right now he didn’t care.

He knew she had been in a weakened state prior to the storm hitting, but he was sure that she would have the stamina to persevere. This was just the beginning of a number of rude awakenings.  They laid together on that bed for hours as Bruce drifted in and out of sleep. 

Waking up with a start, disorientation overtook him. It was dark and quiet and so very calm. Momentarily he forgot he was lying next to his dead sister. After his eyes adjusted to the dark he slid off the bed and went in search of his parents. He had seen them descend into the cabin and shut the hatch door; so it was impossible for them to have gone anywhere.

He sifted through a pile of clothes, hoping beyond hope that he would not find a dead parent under it. Darkness made the search virtually impossible.  He felt his way to the steps to the deck and entered into the brisk night. The stars lit up the sky. How could a world that was literally turning upside down twelve hours earlier be so calm and beautiful? He realized the boat was still adrift and he had no idea where they were, but at that very moment he was just grateful to be alive.

Spending the balance of the night on deck, Bruce witnessed an amazing display as the sun came over the horizon. Never had he seen the colors, the array or the sheer magnificence of a sunrise. Hope filled his being.

Then he caught a glimpse of land!