Bad Karma

nineteen

Leilani Elrod

Episode 3. The Forbidden Zone

By seven o'clock that next morning, we were on the water and out at the point. I wasn't exactly sure what my roll here was, so I was just sitting in the cockpit with my friend, JJ. Did I want to be more than friend? I'm actually not really sure, but hearing him say that so casually right after we kissed definitely did something to me.

"All right, JJ. Pin it here."

"Roger that! X marks the spot."

I watched as John B put the drone into the water, "All right, ladies and gentlemen. To going full Kook." He let it sink for a moment, "Ten seconds Northwest, JJ."

JJ began spinning the wheel, "Ten seconds Northwest."

Kie had recruited me to help feed the line down, "One hundred feet!" I told Kie that I could handle it, so that she could go watch the footage with Pope. One of us was going to have real romance this summer, I was sure of it and I was going to do everything in my power to make it happen.

"Four hundred feet." I told them, placing another tally on the side of the boat.

Kie came up next to me, looking down, "The tide's turning!"

"Hey, JJ?" John B saw something on the screen, "Ten seconds easy. South southeast."

"Copy that!"

"JJ, twenty seconds mid-speed, all right? South."

"Copy that! Aye, aye!" JJ looked back over to me, "Keep the tether out of the prop!"

"I'm trying!" Just then, there was the sound of thunder. I froze, the tether slipping from my hand, leaving Kie to jump in and grab it, taking control.

Kie's gaze fixated behind me and I turned around, following her eyes. There was a storm coming. A big, big storm coming. My ears began ringing.

"No, no, Lani, it's okay." Kie tried comforting, but when she put a hand on my arm, I jumped back.

"We need to go back. We need to get out of here, Kie, we have to go!" I had never been out in a storm, or even a light rain, since the accident. Watching the dark clouds get closer was like replaying that day in my head, only last time, I didn't think about the outcome.

"Guys!" My breathing grew heavy, "Guys, someone get her!"

John B appeared next to me, dragging me into the cockpit, "It's going the opposite way, Lei, it's okay, it's all right."

No, no, no. It wasn't all right. We needed to go back home, we needed off this boat. I couldn't do this again, I couldn't. A wave crashed against the front of the boat, sending us into the wall next to us. This was just like last time. It was happening again.

"Guys, we have to go! Please! JJ, turn it around, I don't- I don't care- get us out!" I wasn't in any control of my body.

"JJ, come sit with her, I'll take the boat." John B told him.

They switched quickly and JJ slowly bent down in front of me, "Hey, hey. It's okay."

No.

"Mom, should we head back? That storm looks pretty bad."

Mom knelt down next to me and shook her head, "We'll be fine, honey. It's barely even gonna touch us."

A wave hit the boat and we were sent to the side, landing on the wall.

"Lei, you okay, honey?"

I rubbed my arm from the impact, "Yeah, are you?"

"You kids okay in here?" My dad peeked into the cockpit, glancing between Mom and I.

"Mhm."

"Great, because I'm the only one enjoying the weather out here."

Mom and I smiled at dad, following him outside. We held onto the side of the boat, as Mom and Dad told me that the storm wouldn't do anything but toss us around a bit. The wind from the storm whipped our hair around and my mom pulled out her camera, taking pictures of dad and I with hair all around us.

It was a picture perfect day. Another wave hit the boat, this time harder, knocking Dad and I to the ground. The next thing we knew, it began down pouring. While we were in our own little world, the storm had ridden up on us quicker than we imagined.

"Honey, pull the anchor up." Mom instructed Dad, helping me up from the ground. Another wave hit the boat, this one bigger and water covered us, not giving us anytime to recover before the next one hit us.

Mom grabbed me and ran us into the cockpit, where she quickly started the boat. Dad didn't wait on the anchor rising before joining us. Before the boat could even start, another wave hit, this time sending the boat sideways and throwing all of us into the side, the keys going flying out of our reach.

"Mom, what's happening?!"

Mom was too scared to reply, only sharing a quick look with Dad, who also was panicking in his own head. As a another, larger, wave hit and the boat slowly tipped the side, as if in slow motion, my mother looked over at Dad and I, tear stained cheeks and mouthed "I love you."

The next thin any of us knew, the boat had flipped and water rushed into the cockpit, trapping us. Water filled my lungs and I didn't even have time to hold my breath. My father, with the last amount of strength that he had, began pushing me to swim.

I couldn't move. He grabbed me, swimming to entrance of the cockpit and pushed me out. The next events were a blur of my vision going in and out, only catching glimpses of my fathers horror stricken face as he shoved me up and over the boat, before diving back down to get my mom. I blacked out, waking up on top of the boat, well, the bottom of the boat that was upside down, coughing and throwing up water.

"Mom!" I looked around, the only thing I saw for miles was blue water. In that moment, I knew that my parents were somewhere below me, "Mom! Dad!"

"Lee!"

"Mom?"

"Lee, snap out of it!"

I blinked and JJ was in front of me, shaking my shoulders. Tears were falling from my eyes and I was about to be sick.

"Lee, honey, look at me." JJ grabbed my face in his hands, "It's going to be okay, yeah?" I shook my head, closing my eyes at the sound of more thunder, "Lee, I promise you, hey, look at me. Do you trust me?" I slowly nodded, "We're going to be okay. It's okay, I swear to you. Look." JJ moved my head to look at the clouds that most definitely were coming towards us, "It's leaving, okay?"

I swallowed deeply and gripped his shirt. While we were in here dealing with my meltdown, the rest of the gang was outside, getting ready to find out whether our lives were about to change for good.