Every Sunday, I release a new short story in the ‘Sunday Story Time’ series! These stories could be about anything, but they will all be short. Two-minute reads at the most—just a small bit of imagination to take you into your week. Enjoy!
Lost At Sea
“I can’t catch my breath,” Lily said in a panic, doing her best to stay afloat “My heart’s racing!” Jason didn’t slow down. Lily looked ahead, but all she could see was Jason’s black wetsuit, disappearing and reappearing between swells. “We’re almost there!” came his voice over the surf. She knew this was a lie, though she had no idea how far they had drifted.
The sun set 20 minutes ago. The tropical water was still warm, but it was beginning to dawn on both of them that they couldn’t see shore lights ahead. “Are we even heading in the right direction?” Lily shouted into the growing darkness. She had never been outside California before and was wondering why she ever let her friends talk her into this trip.
She collided with Jason, who had stopped swimming and was treading water, expressionless.
“We should have seen shore lights by now,” he said, flatly.
“No shit”, Lily thought, “So, what do we do?”
No answer.
“Jason? What now?!”
Still no answer.
Lily could feel her chest tightening up. Her mind started to race. Jason was useless. Maybe it was a psychotic break. Hopefully, he would snap out of it. She needed to catch her breath. “Breathe. Just breathe,” she said aloud, though it might as well have been to herself. Jason was floating on his back now, staring up at the sky as if he were in the pool back at the resort.
In high school, she had fantasized about death. Even wished for it. An escape. But now, faced with the very real threat of drowning, Lily wanted desperately to live. She estimated that they had been in the water for about 5 hours. By this time her friends would surely have realized she was missing and notified someone. She was having trouble keeping her mouth above the water line. Her legs felt like they had been cast in concrete. Her head was pounding. She wished she had taken more than a sip of water this morning.
“Do you hear that?” Jason said, snapping Lily back into the moment.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“It sounds like an engine.”, he said.
Lily held her breath. She could hear it now. It was faint, but getting louder.
Hope.
It was fully dark at this point. A rescue boat would have to practically run them over if they had any chance of being seen. “My phone!”, screamed Lily. It was tucked in a pouch in her wetsuit. No bars, but a full battery. She turned her flashlight on and started waving it frantically.
“Let me try. I have longer arms.”, Jason grabbed for the phone, knocking it into the water. Without thinking, Lily shot down after it. She could see the blurry light from the flashlight as her phone descended into blackness. She reached out. By some miracle, she managed to grab hold of it.
She burst out on the surface, sputtering, spitting, gasping for air. “Quick! It’s getting further away!”, said Jason, “Wave the light!” They both started screaming, “HELP! HELP! WE’RE HERE!”. Lily waved her phone back and forth.
The engine noises began to get louder. Suddenly, lights appeared on the horizon.
A BOAT!
A man’s voice came booming over a loudspeaker.
“We see you. Stay calm. We’ll have you out of there in no time.”
In a blur of activity, they were whisked aboard and found themselves sitting on the deck of a Coastguard Cutter, with blankets draped over their shoulders.
Alive.
MW 