Sea (A Stranded Novel)

by Shaver, Theresa

  “It’s not okay! I want him to die! Is he dead? Did I kill him?” She half-screamed, half-sobbed. “Don’t tell me it’s okay! It isn’t; nothing is ever going to be okay again! You used me like I was nothing so he thought he could too, except he held a gun to my head while he did it. I will never let anyone take that from me again. Never!”

  Mason stumbled back. His face drained of all colour when the realization of what Lisa said sunk in. He flashed back to what Mark had said the night before about Lisa being back on the market. He remembered his flip words of “good luck”. Mark had raped Lisa and it was all his fault. Mason’s stomach heaved and he rushed to the rail to empty his churning guts into the sea.

  Lisa walked away to the front of the boat and settled down on the deck. Emily’s head ached from her words and what had just happened. David put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She laid her head against his chest and just breathed. She said the only thing in her mind at that moment.

  “I just want to go home.”

  It took a while before anyone moved from their spots. They all were trying to process what had happened and more importantly, what to do next. It was Emily that finally moved first. Standing in David’s embrace had helped but her eyes kept going to Mark’s body and she finally couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped back from David and asked,

  “Should we put him overboard?”

  David looked from Emily to Mason and then down at the body. He scrubbed at his face and then nodded.

  “Okay, I’ll help you,” Emily started to offer but was interrupted by Mason.

  “No. I’ll do it. This is my fault. I’ll deal with him,” he said firmly.

  Emily was going to argue that but David shook his head at her. Mason stepped over to the body and leaned down to hook his arms under Mark’s armpits. He got him a foot off the deck but couldn’t do more than drag him towards the rail. David stepped in and grabbed Mark’s trailing feet and together they lifted him up and got him over the rail and dropped him over the side. All three of them stood there for a few minutes, each trying to come to terms in their own minds with what they had just seen. Emily sighed and turned away from the empty sea. She looked towards the front of the boat and realized that Lisa was gone. The girl must have gone below while they were dealing with Mark’s body. Looking down at the deck, it took a few more seconds for Emily to understand that it wasn’t only Lisa that was gone. The gun was gone too.

  Chapter 14

  Mason moved back to the wheel, unlocked it and checked their heading. He was trying hard to suppress the panic he was feeling about being the only one on board with any knowledge of sailing. Tim had done all the hard work. He had shown and explained everything to Mason but that didn’t make him confident to do it all himself. What Mason really wanted to do was heave to and just sit for a few hours to think things through, but stopping the boat was a lot of work in itself and he knew he would have to do it before dark anyway. They were underway with a good wind and except for trimming the sails he knew that they could continue this way for a while. It was all the other things that were filling his mind. Tacking was a lot of work and the others had always been sent down to the cabin when Tim was doing this so they would be out of the way and not get conked in the head by the boom. Mason knew he could do it but was scared out of his mind at the prospect.

  David came to stand by him and looked back at the way they had come. He put his hands on the rail and stared over the side down at the water.

  “Do you think we should go back and try to find Tim?”

  Mason shook his head sadly. “I think he was dead before he even went over. The shot took him right in the chest. He wouldn’t have made it.”

  David nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought but it just feels so wrong to not try. He was a really good guy. He took on a bunch of strangers and tried to help get us home. He didn’t deserve to die like that especially so close to land.” David lowered his head in grief but it was quickly replaced by anger. “What the hell was wrong with Mark? Why did he do that?” he asked fiercely.

  Mason met his angry look with sorrow. “I don’t know. I don’t think I ever knew him. He was just a guy on the team. We never really talked about much except the game or going to parties. It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized how little I knew him.” Mason looked away but not before David saw the shame fill his eyes.

  David studied Mason, trying to understand him. The cocky, selfish quarterback he had always been was no more. Everything that had made up the guy’s life was gone. No more football, no girlfriend, no Lisa and now his “best friend” had turned into a monster and was dead. David felt sympathy for Mason but also knew that some of those losses were his own fault.

  “Had Mark said anything to you about Tim?” David asked.

  Mason couldn’t meet David’s eyes as he told him their plans. “We had talked about taking the boat. After, I mean. Once we hit land and Tim left, we were going to come back and take it and sail it up the coast to get closer to home. You have to believe me! We never planned to do this! I didn’t know he was a psychopath. I knew he was a bully but he had never hurt anyone before. It was always just funny. Ever since we got on the boat he had taken it to the extreme. I mean, we talked about taking the boat after Tim was gone so he goes and kills him? He asked me if Lisa was back on the market last night and I was being sarcastic when I said, “good luck with that” so he rapes her. I didn’t know any of this would happen! I didn’t know!” he ended on a wail.

  David closed his eyes in exhaustion. There was a load of grief and guilt on Mason’s shoulders. Some of it was deserved, but not the horrific acts that Mark had committed. There was nothing he could say right now to help him. It was something they would all need to talk about down the road but right now they had to make plans for how to proceed. David awkwardly reached out and patted the guy on the arm.

  “We need to figure out what we are going to do. I know Tim was teaching you a lot about sailing but do you think you can handle it?” At Mason’s sharp nod, he continued, “We all need to sit down and talk about what we are going to do. I know this will sound harsh but with Tim gone, we don’t need to sail to Washington do we? Can we change course and head to British Colombia? Is that something you know how to do?” At another brisk nod from Mason, David sighed and went on. “Okay, I’m here to help Mason. Just tell me what to do. Tim said we would be stopping at night from now on so why don’t we plan to all eat supper together and we can go over everything.” When Mason didn’t respond, David blurted out, “It’s not your fault! You couldn’t have known what Mark was going to do. Let it go for now, Mason. We need to focus on right now and getting to land.”

  When Mason finally met David’s eyes there were tears shimmering in them. He nodded again and let out a choked, “Thank you.”

  David softened and threw an arm around his shoulders. “We will get home, Mason, together.” They stood like that for a few minutes before David wondered where Emily had gone.

  ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

  Emily went down the steps to the cabin and paused at the bottom. She tried to calm her pounding heart. Lisa had been totally wrecked when she was up on deck so for her to have taken the gun was probably not a good thing. Emily was scared out of her mind with the thoughts of being on this boat with no real captain and adding an unstable girl with a gun to the mix didn’t make it any better. Being as settled as she was going to get, she turned to the door of the room that she and Lisa had been sharing.

  The door was slightly ajar and she gently pushed it open. The bed was empty and unmade with the sheets and blankets shoved into a pile on the foot of it. Emily stepped into the room and turned her head away from the bed. Lisa was sitting in the small armchair facing the bed. The girl was staring at the bed with a look of blank indifference on her face. The gun rested loosely in her hands in her lap. For some reason the look on her face worried Emily more than tears would have. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room and sat on th
e bed directly in front of Lisa.

  Emily struggled to find the words to reach Lisa. The expression on her face told Emily that the girl was close to letting go of all hope. She sorted through the words in her head, words of comfort, of consoling and rejected them all. She felt frustrated and angry at everything that had happened today and decided to just go with harsh bluntness.

  “So, are you going to kill yourself or not?” Emily asked in a flat voice.

  The shock of the cruel words had Lisa’s head whipping up and her eyes widened in surprise.

  Before she could say anything, Emily continued.

  “I mean, what’s one more death today? Tim’s gone, Mark, that bastard is dead and by the way, thanks for that. You probably saved my life and David’s life. I’m sure we were next on his to do list. So are you going to add yourself to the list? Because I’m really ready for this day to end.”

  Lisa sat opened mouth with shock at Emily’s harsh words. She finally managed to get herself together and speak.

  “Why shouldn’t I? I’m useless,” she breathed out in a choked whisper.

  Emily nodded thoughtfully. “Is that what you want to be? Because killing yourself would be just about the most useless thing you could do right now. Look Lisa, what Mark did to you was horrific. No one should have to go through that, but instead of cowering in the corner like a useless person, you stepped up and took the power back from him. Not only that but you stepped between him and your friends and protected them. That’s not something that a useless person would do. You have a choice now. You can stand with me, with us, and fight for our lives and fight our way home or you can do the easy thing and check out. You are the only person who can make that decision but I would really like it if you stood with me.”

  Emily held her breath in fear at Lisa’s reaction to her words. Was she too harsh? Would she make the right choice?

  Lisa had dropped her head again and stared at the gun that she turned over and over in her hands. Emily could see the tears dripping off the girl’s face and had to struggle not to reach out in comfort. This was something Lisa had to do herself. Emily slowly let the air out of her lungs when Lisa finally held out her hands towards her with the gun lightly resting in them. She reached out with both hands and used one to take the gun and put it behind her on the bed. With the other she pulled Lisa to her and the girl collapsed against her sobbing. It wasn’t long before Emily’s tears joined hers. The two girls held onto each other and sobbed out their sorrow for all they had lost, all that had been taken from them and the uncertainty of where they were going.

  Chapter 15

  The girls stayed down in the cabin for the rest of the day. Emily went up briefly to take the boys some food and bring down the last of the dried clothes. Mason had been giving instructions to David on how to trim the sails and Emily was reassured by his confident tone. Emily stripped the bed of the sheets in Lisa and her room and made it up with the clean bedding she found in the small storage cupboard in the room. Taking the gun off the bed, Emily stuffed it deep in a drawer under some clothes. She didn’t want Lisa to have to deal with the task. After that, they worked side by side tidying up the cabin and re-sorting the supplies that they still had. They knew they were getting closer to shore and they had to decide what to take with them once they left the boat. As they worked they talked to each other about their lives. Emily was surprised by Lisa’s revelations of her home life. She had no idea that Lisa’s mother was such a cold perfectionist. It gave her a better understanding of why Lisa acted the way she did. She couldn’t help but feel lucky with her kind, supportive parents. They had always supported and encouraged her in anything she set her mind to. Emily couldn’t help but wonder how Lisa’s mother was surviving in this new world without electricity. When she asked Lisa, the girl laughed without humour.

  “I don’t even know if my dad was home. He was away in the city more than he was ever at the house. Knowing my mother, she would have flirted or charmed some man into doing the heavy lifting. If there’s one thing you can count on with her, it’s that she can manipulate some guy into taking care of her. I’m pretty sure that’s how she got my father. I don’t think there are any real feelings between them. At least I’ve never seen any on display.” She shook her head. “Honestly? I’m not all that excited to be in the same house as her in this new reality.”

  They continued to share details about each other’s life and slowly the two girls saw each other with a new respect. Emily showed Lisa how to make a simple soup from the limited amount of ingredients they had, then whipped up a small batch of biscuits to put in the small oven under the stove. It didn’t surprise Emily that Lisa had no knowledge of cooking but she was happy at the interest that the girl showed at learning.

  After closing the oven door, Emily looked up and smiled at her new friend. Lisa still looked haggard but she was starting to get some colour back into her cheeks. The dark circles around her eyes would hopefully go away with some rest. She had seen tears come into her eyes throughout the afternoon but they never fell. It was going to take time to heal the wounded shadows in her eyes. Emily knew she had to broach a difficult subject before the boys came down to eat. They had to talk about Mason. After everything that had happened today they all had to work together if they were going to make it home.

  “Lisa, I know you blame Mason for part of what happened. I think you guys are going to have to talk about things. There are only four of us left and once we get off this boat we have to work together. I’m not asking you to forgive him but you do need to talk to him.”

  Lisa sighed sadly and looked away. “What I said before, on deck, I didn’t really mean. I know it wasn’t his fault what Mark did. It wasn’t even all his fault what happened between us either. I was the one that kept going to him. I guess I just needed someone to focus all my anger on. I’ll talk to him. I don’t know if we can ever be friends but we’ll work together. None of that really even matters anymore. I’m finally realizing that all the petty high school drama is over. This is real life now and I’m going to try my hardest to survive it.” She turned to Emily and met her compassionate eyes. “I just want to thank you for what you did earlier. I think I would have done something really stupid if you hadn’t said what you did. I just…I owe you. You saved my life right back,” she ended on a whisper.

  Reaching out, Emily squeezed Lisa’s hand and said, “I think we might have more lifesaving in the future so I’m glad you decided to stay.”

  It wasn’t too long after that conversation that the wonderful smell of baking biscuits filled the cabin. As if it was a signal, the girls felt the motion of the boat change and guessed that they were going to stop for the night. They had been sailing almost constantly since they left land and they really felt the difference in the boat’s rocking in the waves. Emily steadied herself against the counter as David came bounding down the stairs from above. His serious face was topped by wind-blown hair. He offered Emily a quick smile and nodded at Lisa.

  “Mason is doing something called heaving to which I’m guessing is sort of parking the boat for the night. He will be down in a minute. Wow, something smells amazing!”

  Emily smiled, “Good timing. Lisa and I made supper and the biscuits should be just about done. Man, I never knew how much I could miss butter but we can use jam or peanut butter on them.”

  David looked at Lisa in surprise. “Hey, that’s great. Thanks, you guys. I will happily take fresh bread any way I can get it!”

  Lisa nodded shyly and went to help Emily ladle out bowls of soup. There were rubber place mats on the table that helped to keep the dishes from sliding on the table. They really helped as the boat moved up and down with each wave.

  Mason came down the stairs and moved to the table just as Lisa placed the plate of hot biscuits on it. He looked up at her in surprise before quickly looking away. Everyone could feel the tension in the room. Until Lisa and Mason talked things out everyone would be uncomfortable. It was David that broke the silence a
fter a few minutes of eating.

  “So we need to talk about where we are going from here. It’s awful what happened to Tim and I would do anything to change it but we can’t. I really wish there was some way we could let his family know what happened to him. He deserves so much more than what happened to him but there’s nothing we can do and with him gone we have no reason to go to Washington anymore. If we change our course we can head northeast and try to sail up to British Columbia. If we can land somewhere south of Vancouver, it will save us weeks of travelling by foot. What do you guys think?”

  Mason was the first to reply. “I will look over the charts that Tim has onboard but I’m a little nervous about sailing between Vancouver Island and Seattle. There’s lots of room at first but then there are a lot of little islands all through there. I really don’t think I’m confident enough to sail through that. It would be a disaster if we wrecked the boat on one of them and were stuck with no way to get off.”

  Everyone was surprised when Lisa spoke up. There was so much tension between the two that no one expected her to talk to him. She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

  “We have all that gas. Why don’t we switch to the motor when we get close to them and not worry about using the sails? That way you would have more control of the boat.”

  There was silence around the table as Emily and David looked at Mason and waited for his reply. He sent a tentative smile at Lisa before quickly looking away from her intense stare.

  “You’re totally right. It would give us more control. I would have to do the math on how far we could go on what we have but I think we should be fine. We did take a lot of extra from the other boats back in the marina. Thanks, Lisa,” he ended softly.

  David was nodding and was about to speak when Lisa cleared her throat. All eyes went to her.

  She looked at everyone around the table and then dropped her eyes to her lap. “I just wanted to say a few things. I know I haven’t been the most useful person on the trip so far and I haven’t really contributed but I’m going to change. I…” Her speech stalled as she tried to find the words. Before she was ready, Mason jumped in.