Atticus

Chapter 12

[A bit of a short chapter but you will see why.]

Nausea, sadness, fear, betrayal. I feel every emotion that I have been given over the last few days.

I feel like I belong in the black, stormy waters that slam against my boat. Each wave it goes over slams hard agains the water and rattles my ribs.

I can feel the shock go up my spine as I try to stand in the right position and keep my balance.

My hair is wet and swinging in the wind as I scream at the wave that crashes on my boat. My body is thrown and luckily I gab a rope in time before I go over board. As I slide over the edge, the rope rips into my hand making me grunt in pain. I crawl back on board before the waves can throw me over completely.

I climb up to the control panel and hit the throttle on the boat, tying a rope so it stays at full speed.

Even when the waves are not on me, I struggle to breath. The mist, salty spray from the ocean, makes it hard to keep my eyes open. The rain pelts against my exposed skin as the speed picks up.

I climb to the sails and pull some ropes to keep them straight.

The line is straight ahead. I'll be hitting it any second. I use the last few moments to wrap ropes around my wrist in case something goes very wrong and so I won't get swept away.

I scream out all of my emotions as the ship hits the line. Like a track, my ship gets sucked back violently and I go flying forward. The ropes yank on my arms and I scream as I feel the skin being burned and made bloody.

Because of the speed I was going at, I feel the ship flip quickly and slap hard against the ocean's waves.

The rope pulls more at my arms as I dangle and I scream out as more pressure is put on them. My shoulder isn't even completely heeled and I can feel it starting to rip open.

I reach for the pocket knife I clipped to my belt while working on the motor and cut the rope on my arms.

The only downside to that is falling into the black waves. I reach for a sail that is floating near by but a big waves comes crashing over me and rips me from it. I am thrown under the water, kicking and fighting to find which way is up.

I have no choice but to open my eyes and as I do, I see a tale flash by me.

My brain screams at me. I pray that it is Atticus here to help me. If it's a shark or a different one of his kind then I am done for. I will have gone down fighting but failing miserably like the fool I am.

I swim to the surface as I feel a rush of water under me propel me up. I gasp for air but one big wave looms over me. I feel my whole body go numb as the suspense of this wave builds. Just as it is about to come crashing down, I feel an arm around me. I scream at the same time that the wave shoves the boat at me.

A loud thud echoes in my head and soon after, I feel pain in my temple. Something hit me.

The arms are still around me but struggling to hold me. They are big and strong and I let myself believe that it's Atticus.

"Open your eyes! Please, Kaia!" I hear him shout to me.

I didn't even realize that my eyes were closed. I fought to open them in time to see a wave hit me again, flooding my eyes with salty water.

Oh God, is he doing this? Is he trying to kill me?

I feel another thing hit my head and my mind goes fuzzy. The last thing I hear is his scream and the waves begin to calm after he yells out his command.

"Stop!"