Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 18 - The Reef

TW: Blood.

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Darkness glides over you, but you're still awake. You look up at the rippling surface - the waves have subsided now, but your still underwater - why are you still underwater? You know you've probably spent way too long without oxygen by now, but you still just gaze up at the surface.

Suddenly, you feel your weightless body hit something hard behind you, and your eyes catch on the reef. For some reason, you realise you need to get away before the next set comes hammering down.

Your eyes fix on the ripples above you, and you begin swimming upwards. Something suddenly breaks the water, arms thrashing as the figure paddles. With one last push, you feel your face emerge from the depths into a warm summer night.

"Y/N!" You hear a voice shout, and you turn around as you tread water to see Ari paddling up next to you. As soon as his board is within a reaching distance away, you put your arms on it, trying to pull yourself up, coughing from the amount of sea water you've swallowed.

"Y/n are you okay?! Ari shouts as you continue to cough, the shock of it all starting to wear off now as it fades back to reality. You're about to reply that you're okay, but you see Ari's face. His features twist into a look of dread as he stares behind you.

You suddenly wonder if now there's a shark or something heading your way to finish you off, but then you look behind you.

The current's dragged you pretty far from where you originally wiped out, and you've been leaving a trail of crimson blood in the water. Even in the dark it's pretty visible.

"Oh shoot." You say, letting your head rest on your arms on the board, which Ari obviously doesn't like much.

"Hey, Y/n. Don't go passing out on me or anything."

"I'm not." You say, the words probably coming out muffled as you remain face down in your arms.

You have no idea where the blood is coming from - in fact, you can barely feel anything. The water feels ice cold and you're shivering.

Ari paddles you in to shore, and you stumble off the board in the shallows. Your whole body is in agony, but you try and stand up straight, trying not to let Ari know that you're hurt. You just need to get home. 

"Y/n? You okay? What was bleeding?" Ari asks urgently, but you shake him off when he touches your arm. 

"Nothing. Just a scratch on my leg." you say. Thank god you're wearing a long wet suit, you think, otherwise the wound would have been even more obvious. It looks like the leg fabric has been ripped but you manage to position yourself so it looks completely normal.

"That was a hell of a lot of blood for just a scratch." Ari says, undoing his leg rope in a hurry.

"I'm fine Ari, just take me home." you say shortly, and he looks like he nearly agrees, but then his face turns more serious, adamant.

"It's way too far to your's. Let's go to the club and there'll be a first aid kit there too." he says, his voice still riddles with worry and you suddenly feel incredibly guilty; this can't exactly be good for his anxiety.

He puts your arm around his shoulder and you let him support your weight as you begin to feel incredibly heavy. You can't deny the fact that with the shock and the coldness wearing off you're starting to feel worse. Pain is shooting up your leg and you try incredibly hard not to limp too much against Ari.

You stumble up the rocks and onto the cliff path. "Ari...we forgot the boards." you mutter, but he just shakes his head gently.

"I'll get them in the morning. If I can even find yours. You came off pretty hard."

"I know. It was a good wave though." you smile.

"Not a good one to catch in the dark and practically alone though." Ari replies.

"Maybe not." you murmur, feeling sleep starting to overtake you. You haven't slept since after that night you played 'Shame' on the roof of your aunt's house in Jackson Bay. 

Eventually, you reach the surf club, Ari practically carrying you under the balcony where all the sports equipment is and where you guys hang out when you're not in the water. You fall back into one of the couches in exhaustion, but you hear Ari click his fingers in front of your eyes and realise they must have drooped shut.

"Hey. Y/n. Don't fall asleep." he says, going over to the one of the walls and pulling off the first aid kit.

He opens it up on the couch, taking out its contents one by one. "Don't you think maybe you should go to the hospital or something? You could be really hurt and I don't even know..."

"Ari. I'm fine." You unzip the back of your wet suit and pull down the sides so it's at your waist, and you can survey if there's any damage to your upper body. Doesn't look like it, but your side is aching from where it hit the reef. 

"You're not fine. Let me go get Manu, or call your mum or something..."

"No Ari!" you say a little more loudly. "I'll be fine tomorrow - if anyone finds out they won't let me surf in subtropix. I'm okay, honestly."

"But you're not okay!"

"Neither are you." you snap. "But you don't let me tell anyone so why should I let you?"

Ari doesn't say anything after that, just continues to rummage through the first aid kit, although you're not exactly sure what he's looking for, or if he even is looking for anything. 

You pry open the jagged edges of your ripped wet suit leg to reveal the source of the bleeding. There's a gash about the length of your hand, but thankfully it doesn't seem too deep. 

You groan as you throw your head back in exhaustion. You don't even notice Ari patch up your wound and lie down next to you as you drift off to welcoming sleep.