John comes rushing out of his office just as the yacht’s alarms sound. With wide eyes, John swings the door to the cabin open and rushes down. Eric and I both run over just in time to see him open a passage at the back of the yacht. Thick grey smoke pours out, followed by flames.
“Oh God,” I whisper, clutching Eric.
“Get in the lifeboat,” John yells, running back up toward us. “The engine is on fire. I had someone work on it recently because it was playing up, I thought it was fixed, I’m so sorry. It’s very dangerous, if it breaks into the gas line, it’ll blow. I need to get you both to safety before I see what it is.”
Without even an argument, Eric and I run towards the lifeboat at the edge of the yacht. We climb in and pull the chain as instructed, and the boat lowers. When we hit the water, Eric uses the paddles to push us a little away from the yacht. As we float, eyes wide, we watch John running around frantically with his radio. He’s calling “Mayday, mayday,” and we both know that means emergency. Something has gone wrong in the engine, and it’s obviously on fire.
“Should we get him off the yacht?” I ask, frantically.
“No, he knows what he’s doing,” Eric says, gripping my hand.
“I’m scared, Eric.”
“It will be okay, it’s probably just an engine…”
We hear a loud boom, and then we see the smoke thicken. John rushes down, and Eric stands quickly, yelling for him to stop. He doesn’t. He goes below deck and then, for the longest moment, we hear nothing.
“We should go back,” I cry, standing too.
“No,” Eric says, gripping my shoulder. “If it blows…”
“We can’t leave him in there, that smoke will kill him!”
“It’s his yacht, he knows what he’s doing. We can’t go in there.”
“But…”
“If it blows,” Eric yells, “we die.”
“If we leave him there, he dies!”
“Indigo, there’s nothing you can do right now. Getting in his way will only cause a problem.”
I drop back down, wrapping my arms around my stomach and trembling. I feel sick. How did we end up here? Five minutes ago, we were chilling and enjoying the afternoon. Now, we’re sitting in a rescue boat, wondering what the next few minutes will hold.
“Hey,” Eric says, dropping down beside me. “It’s going to be okay. He’s probably just going to put the fire out and wait for help.”
“He hasn’t come back out.”
“He will.”
I stand, shaking. I was taught never to leave someone behind, and I can’t just sit here and wait. It’s not right. He could be hurt.
“I’m going to get him, he could have passed out, or worse…”
“No,” Eric says, gripping my arm. “It’s dangerous.”
“I’m not leaving him, Eric!” I scream. “This isn’t your choice to make.”
I lunge forward, and that’s when it happens. The explosion. I’m just gripping the paddles to row back toward it, when we hear the ear-shattering blast. Flames roar out from below deck, and black smoke fills the sky. I know I’m screaming, and I know Eric is pulling me back as I try to fight forward. I squirm in his arms, begging and panting. Fire roars up onto the deck, and right before our eyes the yacht begins to crumble. How can something burn down in the middle of a bed of water? It’s cruel.
“Please,” I rasp. “Eric…”
“He’s gone,” he whispers. “He couldn’t have survived that. Indigo, we have to paddle away. If that thing blows more…we die too.”
“Help will come,” I whisper, shaking. “We can’t go far.”
“We have to row back!”
“No, Eric!” I scream.
“Indigo, look at me!” he yells, spinning me around. “You have to trust me right now.”
“He could be alive!”
“Do you see those flames?” he bellows. “He’s not alive.”
“Eric!”
He pulls me down and into his arms, tucking me into his chest. “You have to trust me. Hush, Indigo.”
I close my eyes, and tears stream down my face. It hurts. It hurts so badly I want to throw up. My entire body shakes, and I clutch Eric like he’s the only thing keeping me alive. I guess right now he is. I hear more small explosions, and I clench my eyes harder together. I don’t want to open them. I can’t. I just hold onto Eric and try to push out the horror happening right in front of me.
Eventually, that horror becomes too much.
I black out.
Yo’ ho’ - A pirate’s life for me.
Two days we’re on that water; two long days. Eric made the mistake of rowing us too far out, and we lost sight of the yacht. We waited each day for a chopper, or a rescue boat. None ever came. We floated, with no food, no water, and no sun protection. My skin began to peel off at the end of the first day. Eric gave me his shirt to try and cover my skin, but I ended up giving it back when I saw his skin beginning to blister.
Two days without water in the blazing sun, and my throat is sore, dry, and burning. My body is weak. My skin is burned. My heart aches. I’m frightened, for my life and Eric’s. We have no escape. Unless someone finds us…but what if they don’t? Oh God, what if this is it for us? I don’t want to die like this. It’s not how it’s meant to go. I’m meant to grow old, and have children. Not become a rotting bag of bones on a stranded boat in the ocean. We have my phone with me, but it has no service out here, and the battery has long died.