Sunday Fiction - Ch 9

Dear friends and readers. I have been compiling a new novel through memes and posts. Please let me know if you would like this tale to continue. Who knows I might even publish it and you can be my first critics!

First 8 Chapters can be found on the Fiction page

Bruce surveyed the situation from on deck and determined there was no way to get to the land mass without getting in the water. He looked at his mom and said, "Mom, it's water time!"

Nicole smiled up at her son and said, "I remember that day as if it were yesterday. The whole family was together, we were celebrating your birthday and there were so many bodies in the pool!"

Bruce reminisced and agreed, "Yeah that was one of the greatest days ever. But don't worry Mom; we are going to get out of this."

"What about Adriana?"

"We'll have to come back and get her," he answered.

"Okay."

Bruce looked around the wreckage that surrounded to him to see if he could locate any type of flotation device. Everything that had been loose on deck had gone overboard so he headed back into the cabin to see what he could find. He finally decided that the cushions would have to do, but if he could just figure some way to tie them together. He remembered watching some movie when he was younger where a prisoner tore a sheet into strips to make a rope. There were no sheets down there, but there were towels. He quickly set to tearing the towels into strips and tied them together into one long string. Then he wrapped the string around the cushions and attached them all to each other to make a strand of cushions.

While he had been doing that Nicole had been watching, not saying a word.

He went over to her and said, "Mom, we are going to use this to get to that land over there. I need you to hold onto one of these cushions like your life depended on it; which is in fact true."

She nodded and grabbed one. Then he grabbed another one and said, "We are going to jump in together and stick together until we get there."

"Ok Nick," she said, looking directly at Bruce.

It was at that moment that Bruce realized his mother was not fully there.  He had to think quickly in order to get her to shore. Looking straight at her he said, “On the count of three we jump, and then we hold on for dear life. Once we get in the water I will grab you and the two of us will paddle to shore as one.”

They jumped in the icy water and resurfaced gasping for air. Bruce saw that his mom had not let go of the cushion, but she was definitely dazed. He reached an arm out for her and grabbed a hold of her leg and then pulled her closer to him. Once they were side by side he put his arm around her back and then started to paddle with his right arm. He looked over and asked, “Do you think you could try to paddle with your left arm, and then kick your feet as well?

She did what she was asked to do without saying a word. Bruce realized she was very weak and disoriented and thought that if they could reach land before dark things would improve.

They made progress, albeit slow progress, it was still progress.  Bruce could see they were further away from the boat and closer to the land; but he feared they would not make it by nightfall. He decided to try something different. “Mom, I want you to climb on top of my back and I’m going to see if I can swim. Maybe that will make it faster.”

Nicole tried unsuccessfully to climb on top of her sons back and then Bruce decided to dive underneath her. He opened his eyes to a murky darkness while underwater and when he resurfaced his eyes stung. It took several attempts to get directly beneath his mother, but he did manage to get it done. “Hold on tightly to me.”

He began to swim as if his life depended on it; which in fact it did. He kept moving, ignoring the cramping and exhaustion his body was screaming about. Right before dusk he saw land closer than before and giving one might spurt of energy swam with all his might. He felt the sand beneath his hand and gasped. “We did it!”

What he hadn’t realized was that his mother had slipped into unconsciousness during the trip. He went to stand up and his mom just slid right off of him. He turned around and saw her floating in the water and momentarily thought she was dead. He picked her up and felt her heartbeat. Scurrying to the closest tree, had gently placed her on the ground and started gathering anything he could to start a fire. He had watched more shows than he could count where someone struck two stones together to start a fire; he figured it couldn’t be that hard. It was much more difficult than he had anticipated; however he finally got a spark to catch on a dried leaf. He blew with all his might and the flame began to form. He continued to feed the fire, not taking into consideration who or what might be nearby watching.