Everblue

Chapter 48 - Ash

ASH

 

I sat on the deck off the back of the house with an afghan pulled tight over my shoulders; a foreboding sensation seeped into my bones. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't let go. The water whispered to me and I watched like I'd been compelled to do ever since the incident.

A loud boom rumbled the ground, forcing me to grip the arms of the chair. Then a large geyser of water shot into the air from the middle of the lake. I stood up in horror as the spray fell back downward. A wall of water began to build and came careening in slow motion towards the beach and the dock. And as if something jerked on The Sea Star's tether, the boat stood on end and submerged when the water rose up and covered the poor vessel. My hand muted my scream as the waves crashed up the hillside, almost hitting me where I stood.

"Fin?" I called out, my throat thick with uncertainty as my mother's potted plants rolled down the hill with the receding water.

Without thinking, I hobbled down the slick, muddied path to the dock and scanned the lake for any signs of life. The boat came back into view and righted itself as she knocked against the dock, drenched but whole. Fear gripped me. I wasn't sure what to do, but I couldn't just sit and do nothing. I got into the boat.

My muscles began to burn as I feverishly paddled the boat through the debris. I hoped to be the first to the spot and rescue survivors, for Fin and Tatchi. Helicopters appeared from nowhere and flew over the site I tried desperately to reach. I slowed as jet boats emerged on the water. Too many people. Would they find their bodies floating on the water? Would the world go crazy at the discovery of mermaids in Lake Tahoe?

Tears slid down my cheeks as I stopped and peered into the deep water, blue like Fin's eyes. Did they survive the blast? We'd learned in class the results of explosions underwater—effects far worse than above ground. I brought my hands to my mouth as more fish popped up on the surface, all dead.

"No," I cried as the possibility Fin and Tatchi could be dead as well haunted my thoughts.

I couldn't catch my breath, my heart racing too fast. I kept searching the water, hoping and praying they'd surface alive. If something did happen, how could I continue on? I grabbed the side of the boat, my body crawling for a way to help. There was nothing I could do but watch, wait. If Fin died, he'd never know how I truly felt about him; our last interaction was nothing but harsh words and rejection.

"No," I cried louder.

I reached my hand in the water, hoping they would see it and come to me. The bitter cold shocked my senses, awakening the painful memory of being fully immersed. I put my cold wet knuckles to my lips and rocked back and forth. The skin tingled like it had after I woke up in the hospital, after I remembered his lips on mine. How did this all happen? Why did I turn him away?

Shakily, I stood up in the boat, my eyes searching the water for the one I realized I loved. The one I had to spend forever with. The one who might not return.

My chest ached. I closed my eyes and turned my face towards the sun, praying for a miracle. My body swayed with the boat on the waves. Then insanity's black tentacles tangled its iciness in my thoughts. Fin had saved me before. Maybe if I fell in again, he'd come back to me. Then I could join them. I could go to the world that called to me in my dreams. With Fin. In the everblue.

I moved my foot and set it on the ledge, tempting fate.