Sea (A Stranded Novel) (13 page)

The girls stayed down in the cabin for the rest of the day. Emily went up briefly to take the boys some food and bring down the last of the dried clothes. Mason had been giving instructions to David on how to trim the sails and Emily was reassured by his confident tone. Emily stripped the bed of the sheets in Lisa and her room and made it up with the clean bedding she found in the small storage cupboard in the room. Taking the gun off the bed, Emily stuffed it deep in a drawer under some clothes. She didn’t want Lisa to have to deal with the task. After that
, they worked side by side tidying up the cabin and re-sorting the supplies that they still had. They knew they were getting closer to shore and they had to decide what to take with them once they left the boat. As they worked they talked to each other about their lives. Emily was surprised by Lisa’s revelations of her home life. She had no idea that Lisa’s mother was such a cold perfectionist. It gave her a better understanding of why Lisa acted the way she did. She couldn’t help but feel lucky with her kind, supportive parents. They had always supported and encouraged her in anything she set her mind to. Emily couldn’t help but wonder how Lisa’s mother was surviving in this new world without electricity. When she asked Lisa, the girl laughed without humour.

“I don’t even know if my dad was home. He was away in the city more than he was ever at the house. Knowing my mother, she would have flirted or charmed some man into doing the heavy lifting. If there’s one thing you can count on with her, it’s that she can manipulate some guy into taking care of her. I’m pretty sure that’s how she got my father. I don’t think there are any real feelings between them. At least I’ve never seen any on display.” She shook her head. “Honestly? I’m not all that excited to be in the same house as her in this new reality.”

They continued to share details about each other’s life and slowly the two girls saw each other with a new respect. Emily showed Lisa how to make a simple soup from the limited amount of ingredients they had, then whipped up a small batch of biscuits to put in the small oven under the stove. It didn’t surprise Emily that Lisa had no knowledge of cooking but she was happy at the interest that the girl showed at learning.

After closing the oven door, Emily looked up and smiled at her new friend. Lisa still looked haggard but she was starting to get some colour back into her cheeks. The dark circles around her eyes would hopefully go away with some rest. She had seen tears come into her eyes throughout the afternoon but they never fell. It was going to take time to heal the wounded shadows in her eyes. Emily knew she had to broach a difficult subject before the boys came down to eat. They had to talk about Mason. After everything that had happened today they all had to work together if they were going to make it home.

“Lisa, I know you blame Mason for part of what happened. I think you guys are going to have to talk about things. There are only four of us left and once we get off this boat we have to work together. I’m not asking you to forgive him but you do need to talk to him.”

Lisa sighed sadly and looked away. “What I said before, on deck, I didn’t really mean. I know it wasn’t his fault what Mark did. It wasn’t even all his fault what happened between us either. I was the one that kept going to him. I guess I just needed someone to focus all my anger on. I’ll talk to him. I don’t know if we can ever be friends but we
’ll work together. None of that really even matters anymore. I’m finally realizing that all the petty high school drama is over. This is real life now and I’m going to try my hardest to survive it.” She turned to Emily and met her compassionate eyes. “I just want to thank you for what you did earlier. I think I would have done something really stupid if you hadn’t said what you did. I just…I owe you. You saved my life right back,” she ended on a whisper.

Reaching out, Emily squeezed Lisa’s hand and said, “I think we might have more lifesaving in the future so I’m glad you decided to stay.”

It wasn’t too long after that conversation that the wonderful smell of baking biscuits filled the cabin. As if it was a signal, the girls felt the motion of the boat change and guessed that they were going to stop for the night. They had been sailing almost constantly since they left land and they really felt the difference in the boat’s rocking in the waves. Emily steadied herself against the counter as David came bounding down the stairs from above. His serious face was topped by wind-blown hair. He offered Emily a quick smile and nodded at Lisa.

“Mason is doing something called heaving to which I’m guessing is sort of parking the boat for the night. He will be down in a minute. Wow, something smells amazing!”

Emily smiled, “Good timing. Lisa and I made supper and the biscuits should be just about done. Man, I never knew how much I could miss butter but we can use jam or peanut butter on them.”

David looked at Lisa in surprise. “Hey
, that’s great. Thanks, you guys. I will happily take fresh bread any way I can get it!”

Lisa nodded shyly and went to help Emily ladle out bowls of soup. There were rubber place mats on the table that helped to keep the dishes from sliding on the table. They really helped as the boat moved up and down with each wave.

Mason came down the stairs and moved to the table just as Lisa placed the plate of hot biscuits on it. He looked up at her in surprise before quickly looking away. Everyone could feel the tension in the room. Until Lisa and Mason talked things out everyone would be uncomfortable. It was David that broke the silence after a few minutes of eating.

“So we need to talk about where we are going from here. It’s awful what happened to Tim and I would do anything to change it but we can’t. I really wish there was some way we could let his family know what happened to him. He deserves so much more than what happened to him but there’s nothing we can do and with him gone we have no reason to go to Washington anymore. If we change our course we can head northeast and try to sail up to British Columbia. If we can land somewhere south of Vancouver
, it will save us weeks of travelling by foot. What do you guys think?”

Mason was the first to reply. “I will look over the charts that Tim has onboard but I’m a little nervous about sailing between Vancouver Island and Seattle. There’s lots of room at first but then there are a lot of little islands all through there. I really don’t think I’m confident enough to sail through that. It would be a disaster if we wrecked the boat on one of them and were stuck with no way to get off.”

Everyone was surprised when Lisa spoke up. There was so much tension between the two that no one expected her to talk to him. She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

“We have all that gas. Why don’t we switch to the motor when we get close to them and not worry about using the sails? That way you would have more control of the boat.”

There was silence around the table as Emily and David looked at Mason and waited for his reply. He sent a tentative smile at Lisa before quickly looking away from her intense stare.

“You’re totally right. It would give us more control. I would have to do the math on how far we could go on what we have but I think we should be fine. We did take a lot of extra from the other boats back in the marina. Thanks
, Lisa,” he ended softly.

David was nodding and was about to speak when Lisa cleared her throat. All eyes went to her.

She looked at everyone around the table and then dropped her eyes to her lap. “I just wanted to say a few things. I know I haven’t been the most useful person on the trip so far and I haven’t really contributed but I’m going to change. I…” Her speech stalled as she tried to find the words. Before she was ready, Mason jumped in.

“Lisa, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for what I did to you. It’s my fault that Mark hurt you. If I could go back and change things, I would do it in a heartbeat. You didn’t deserve what happened and I’m going to try my hardest to protect you and take care of you and get you home safe! I hope one day you can forgive me.”

David and Emily’s heads swiveled towards Lisa to see how she would respond to his heartfelt admission. Lisa had tears trickling down her face and she brushed them away before raising her head and looking directly at Mason. She took a deep breath.

“It wasn’t your fault. We haven’t been very nice people and we have both done really stupid things. Mark did what he did because he was evil. He wanted to be in control of us and he was jealous of you. From some of the things he told me, I know he would have made a move no matter what happened. He was a really damaged guy and no matter what he did, I will have to live with killing him. It wasn’t your fault
, Mason.”

Mason’s eyes had tears in them
. They both sat silently. David looked at Emily and she shrugged. This was something that Mason and Lisa would have to work together to get through. After a few moments of silence, David started talking.

“I don’t think anyone knew that Mark would go psycho. Lisa, I really don’t think you should
feel guilty for killing him. After what he did to you and Tim, he would have come after me. So you probably saved my life. I’m not saying that killing someone is okay but I really believe that you did the right thing. If I had had the chance, I would have thrown him overboard after what he did. You did the right thing. Mason, Mark made his own choices. No matter what happened before, he made the choice to hurt people so stop blaming yourself. What happened between you and Lisa is between you two but you guys need to talk about it and get past it. I know I’ve said it before but I’m going to say it again. After we get off this boat, we need to work together. We have to trust each other and watch out for each other. We’re just teenagers. We aren’t trained commandos or fighters and we might have to fight so we need to count on each other. If we are fighting with each other then we won’t make it. So, from now on we are a team and we work together and help each other or we might as well go our separate ways once we hit land. Do you guys agree?”

Everyone nodded their heads so after a minute David leaned over the map and they got to work.

It wasn’t very late before everyone started to yawn and feel the effects of the emotional day. After cleaning up the supper dishes, they made a plan to start packing up supplies in the morning and they all went to bed. Emily wasn’t sure if Lisa would want to sleep in the room where Mark had hurt her but she followed Emily into the room. Once they had settled into bed, they both stared at the ceiling, each girl lost in thoughts of the day they had just lived through. The sound of Lisa crying brought Emily back to the present and she reached across the bed and took hold of her hand. Lisa squeezed back and tried to get control of her tears.

“Emily, I’m scared
,” she whispered.

Emily closed her eyes, “Me too.”

“Will you help me? I…I don’t know anything. I don’t even know how to cook food. I don’t want to be taken care of. I want to learn to take care of myself. I never want to be dependent on anyone to survive.”

Emily nodded her head in the dark. “I’ll help you
, Lisa. I’ll teach you as much as I can but there’s something you need to understand. In this new world, we are all going to be dependent on each other. I don’t think anyone can survive on their own. What’s important is picking the right people to depend on and giving back as much as they give. Being taken care of isn’t a weakness when you take care of each other. It has a name. It’s called family and that’s what we are now. The four of us, we are a family.”

The two girls laid there holding hands thinking about that term and it comforted them as they fell asleep.

They got a late start the next morning. After a quick breakfast of leftover biscuits with jam and peanut butter
, they all sorted through their belongings and supplies to determine what they would take with them when they left the boat. With only four people to carry supplies, they wouldn’t be able to take as much as they would like. Emily knew they would take the backpacks that they had already packed and attached to the life boat but she was wracking her brain to find a way to take more. What they really needed was a way to transport the extra supplies. She discussed the idea with David and they decided to try and find a wagon, stroller or shopping cart once they landed before they all left the boat for good. Mason spent some time studying the maps and charts that were onboard to plot out their new course. His best guess was that it would take them an extra two days to go further north and land them on the B.C. coast. Once he was finished with the charts, he and David went up on deck to get underway. There wasn’t much more that they could do until they actually came ashore so the girls went up on deck as well once Mason had gotten them up to speed.

The sun was shining bright and clear but there was a build
up of clouds in the distance. There wasn’t much conversation as they sailed closer to land. The events of the previous day weighed heavily on them all. It would be a long time before Emily got the sound of the gunshot and the image of Tim flipping over the rail and into the ocean out of her head. Tim’s death filled her with so much sadness and guilt. He had been such a nice man and she felt partly responsible for his death. She remembered sitting in the golf cart with David and deciding to split from the others after Mason had left her in the street. If she had followed through with that, Tim wouldn’t have taken them on his boat and he would still be alive.

Sighing deeply
, she looked at the others spread out on the deck. Lisa was staring out to sea and Emily could only imagine what must be going through her head. She had suffered major emotional trauma. Having been raped and then having to kill would damage anyone. Emily had seen a new side of Lisa before those events had happened and she admired the core of strength that the girl had shown by not taking the easy way out or reverting back to the shallow, useless person she had been previously. It took a lot of guts and strength to make it through what she had and become a better person. Emily knew in her heart that she and Lisa would grow closer and be there for each other.

Looking back at Mason
, she saw that he was frowning in concentration at the wheel. He had said all the right words about being a different person but Emily knew it would be hard to trust him fully until he proved that they could count on him.

David stood tall at the mast, scanning the sea ahead of them. He was her biggest comfort in the whole mess of this trip. He had not had the easiest life
, but he was a strong and loyal friend. She marveled that he wasn’t full of anger and bitterness. After his father had left for the final time, his mom had struggled with depression herself. He had stepped up and looked after himself and his little sister, Emma. Even after his mom found her feet and moved on from the loss, he had taken so many responsibilities on himself. They had scaled down their farm quite a bit, but there was still so much work that he took care of himself after his mom had to get a job in town. Emily knew that David harboured a lot of anger and disappointment towards his dad but he never let it affect his attitude towards others or life in general. She was just so thankful that he had come with her when she had split from the rest of their friends.

Emily looked out at the ocean and wished for land. She knew how much harder it would have been to walk the huge distance that they had traveled by boat but she was sick of the water and wanted to be on land. She had to laugh at the irony of that. Her biggest passion was swimming through the water and here she wanted to get away from it. Shaking her head at the way life could
change, she stood up and headed towards the cabin steps. Making food and cleaning up at least helped to pass the time. She was almost to the stairs when David called out for the binoculars. Grabbing them quickly she returned to David and handed them to him.

After looking through them for a few minutes he handed them back to her. “Take a look. There’s a boat ahead of us. It looks like a cabin cruiser and I can see at least two people on board. It’s still too far
away to see clearly who they are. Keep an eye on it. I’m going to talk to Mason and we should decide what we want to do.”

“What do you mean what we should do? These are the first people we have seen alive since we set sail. Aren’t we going to stop and talk to them? They might be stuck out here. We need to help them!” Emily exclaimed.

“I know, Em, but they might not be friendly. We have to be careful. If we stop and they try and take the boat from us, we could be in a huge amount of trouble. We need to be smart about this so keep watching and let us know what you see, okay?”

Nodding her head in understanding, Emily brought the glasses up to her eyes and tried to focus on the boat that was ahead of them. She could see it but the details weren’t clear. There was definitely movement on its deck but they weren’t close enough to see who it was. She looked away when she heard Mason, Lisa and David arguing.

“I’m just saying that we are so close to land that it would be stupid to take such a chance!” Mason argued.

“That is so selfish! What if those people have been stranded out here the whole time? Don’t you remember the life boats with all those dead people? We have to help them. It’s the right thing to do!” Lisa said forcefully.

“Whoa, cool it down guys! You are both right. We need to be careful and find out who is on that boat and help them if they are in trouble. So, we go in slow and keep our distance until we know the situation. Then, if it looks safe, we will do what we can to help them,” David intervened.

“No way
, man, this is a bad idea! We only have so much food and water for ourselves. We can’t just be giving it away,” Mason protested.

Before David and Lisa could start in, Emily pushed past them and got into Mason’s face.

“How dare you? A good man took us in and helped us when he could have just left us to die in that city. We repaid him by killing him. Mark might have pulled the trigger but we were the ones that brought him onto the boat. We owe Tim and we need to repay his kindness. We will help these people if it looks safe because it’s the right thing to do and because that’s what Tim did for us. If you can’t understand that then you really are an asshole and I don’t want anything to do with you!” Emily’s chest was heaving with anger and Mason took a step back with shock from her words.

“Emily…I…I’m sorry. I know it’s the right thing to do, it’s just…I’m scared!” he said softly with shame.

Emily’s face relaxed slightly. “Yeah, well, so am I. I’m scared every minute of every day but that doesn’t change the fact that helping those people is the right thing to do.” She heaved out a breath. “Slow us down and switch to the engine or whatever it is that you have to do but get it done. We are getting closer and we need to be able to manoeuvre closer or away depending on what we find,” she ordered and walked away.

Lisa followed her down into the cabin and they gathered water bottles and power bars together. They felt the speed of the boat drop as Mason and David adjusted the sails. As Emily added the first aid kit to the bag they were going to take on deck, she felt the vibrations of the engine as Mason fired it up. The girls were about to go back on deck when she heard David call out. As they rushed up the stairs to see what was going on, Emily came to a dead stop and spun around, almost knocking Lisa back down. She thrust the bag of supplies at her.

“Here, take this up. I forgot something. Be right up!” she said as she pushed past her and ran back down into the cabin. Making her way quickly in to the main bedroom she ran to the dresser and reached out to yank one of the drawers open. She paused for a minute as her head whirled with possible scenarios of what they might find on the other boat. She shook her head abruptly at her indecision and pulled the drawer out. Reaching under the folded clothing, she grasped the cold metal of the gun and pulled it out. It was a simple revolver and she could see that there were five bullets in the chambers. She kicked herself for not searching through Mark’s things to see if he had any more bullets hidden. Emily studied the gun for a few minutes. She had fired many rifles and shot guns in her young life on a farm but she had never fired a handgun. She closed her eyes briefly and prayed that today wouldn’t be the day that she would. She quickly stuffed it in to her pocket and pulled her shirt out so it would hang down and cover the bulge and then flew back out into the cabin and up the stairs.

Mason was at the wheel and he locked eyes with her the minute she stepped on deck.

“Emily, I sorry, you were right.” he said seriously.

“I know
, Mason, but we need to be stronger and make better decisions,” she said distractedly, trying to adjust her shirt to cover her front pocket.

“I know but that’s not what I meant. That boat has little kids on it. We do have to help them
,” he explained.

“What? Oh no! I hope they are ok
ay.” Emily whirled around to get a look at the boat they were slowly approaching with concern on her face. She couldn’t imagine how scary being stranded at sea would be for little kids. She almost went back into the cabin to return the gun to the drawer but decided she could do that after. She moved towards the bow of the boat where Lisa and David were standing. Lisa was waving at the two kids who were watching them come closer with scared little faces. She scanned the rest of the boat looking for their parents but the deck was empty.

Emily turned to David who had a frown on his face and asked, “Their parents?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen any adults so far, just the two kids but we don’t know if anyone is in the cabin.”

“Why wouldn’t they come up with the kids?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re hurt or sick. We’ll have to wait and see. But Emily, this feels wrong.”

Emily frowned and turned back to look at the children. They were close enough to see that it was a little girl who looked about eight or nine and a smaller boy who might have been six. They both looked scared which confused Emily even more. If the kids were stuck out here alone then why would they be scared of other people? Why wouldn’t they be happy or excited or even relieved that there were people here that could help them? She was about to say as much to David when she felt the engine stop and Mason came forward with the long handled paddle. As they drifted closer he leaned out and used the paddle to hook onto the other boat so they were closer and quickly dropped it and tied the two boats together.

Lisa was trying to talk soothingly to the kids but they just stepped back away from the rail and said nothing.

“It’s ok
ay, we can help you. Do you need help? We have food and water. Are your parents on board? Is anyone hurt? We can help you.” Lisa tried to get a response but the kids just backed away further. She turned to look at the others. “They are terrified but I don’t know why. They’re dirty but they don’t seen hurt. Maybe you should try talking to them, Emily.”

Emily nodded and reached down to brace herself on the rail so she could swing across to the other boat when David grabbed her arm. She looked up at him in confusion but he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring hard at something on the other boat. She turned her head and found herself looking down the barrel of a shotgun.