Mahingga

Chapter 14: The Storm

His musings were interrupted as a wave sloshed over the side of the boat and crashed into him, knocking him off his feet and splaying him against the side of the boat. He coughed up a bit of seawater and stumbled back towards Kita. She had tied a rope around herself and secured it to the mast.

"Come on, let's get you tied in," Kita yelled out to him. He could hardly hear her through a burst of thunder. She grabbed his arm and helped him get ahold of the mast, then she wrapped a rope around his waist and tied a quick knot. "Your rope is tied to the cabin. We need to split our weight," she said.

Ako nodded. It made sense. He didn't want the mast splitting in half. He took two unsteady steps to the cabin, went down the three stairs, and held on to the railing to either side of the compartment's raised section. There, he braced himself, amazed at how the boat could rise and fall to such great heights as the waves carried them on. He was soaked to the bones and shivering, and Kita was no better off.

Another massive wave started to lift the boat till it was almost vertical. Ako gripped the railings as tight as he could, nearly dangling off, moving his feet to brace against the normally vertical side of the top step. He looked back at Kita with wide eyes. She'd hooked a leg around the mast and wrapped her arms around it. If she lost her grip, that rope would be all that held her in.

They must've been about to tip just as they reached the upper curve of the wave and the boat started to straighten back out, but not for long. The boat tipped forward and began to slide down the other side of the wave. Ako fell to the front of the cabin, his body laying across the door. He stared straight ahead at the sea below. It was as though he were falling towards a deep abyss that waited to engulf him in a dark, cold embrace.

And sure enough, it did. They'd fallen down the back of the wave much quicker than they'd gone up. The momentum brought them down so fast that they'd crashed through the surface of the water, but as soon as it happened, they were up above once again, allowing Ako to gasp for breath. He'd somehow managed to keep hold of the railing. He spared a glance back at Kita. She was still there, arms and legs wrapped around the mast.

They were on the rise again, lifting up to the peak of yet another massive wave. They went falling down the other side so fast that Ako barely remembered to take a breath before they sank below the sea again. When they resurfaced, Ako already felt exhausted. I'm gonna die, he thought over and over. How long would he be able to keep this up? Some rescue mission this was.

Ako lost count with how many times they sank under the ocean and rose back up. His mind slipped into a state where he was only aware of the water that always seemed to be pressing in on him. Once, he thought he heard Kita scream, but he was too afraid to look back. All he knew was that he couldn't let go. He had no idea how he was able to hold on for so long—

"So I guess Mahinggans have a higher freezing temperature than Pawids or something, because I can move around just fine."

Ako's eyes snapped open. He was still deep at sea, the sky was still clouded and flashing with lightning, and waves still crashed around him—though they were much smaller than before. He looked back to see a drenched Kita, holding onto the mast with one hand and staring at him with a smirk.

"Thawing out I see," Kita said, her smile remaining. She had to shout to be heard over the noise of the storm.

Ako released his death-grip on the railings. His arms and legs ached with the exertion. "Just being thorough, of course."

"Well, I think we're through the worst of it," she said.

True, the waves had shrunk considerably, but he still didn't feel home free. He stretched his legs. What he wouldn't give for a warm, cozy bed right then. He doubted that Kita had ever been through a storm like this, but for some reason, her confidence was reassuring.