Turning Tides

29. The Darkest Day

Even though he had left our shelter, Jayden was nice enough to give me his shirt as a barrier against the sand. I can best explain the way I felt as thinking of that night at the gay club with Tate, but instead of the typical pounding head and aching stomach, I still felt like I did after that third Captain Morgan and Coke.

The rain had stopped, but there wasn't any sunlight shining through our makeshift door of rain jackets. When I went onto the beach, Jayden was rearranging all of the gear that had been thrown all around the boat. My breath got stuck in my throat like it was the first time seeing him again. I didn't know if I should've mentioned the night we shared.

"Come on, got to get this stuff ready to go. Get everything from inside The Capsize," he said with a sense of urgency that I'd never heard break through his laid-back persona.

Okay. I guess we aren't going to talk about it.

I brought the supplies from The Capsize to him.

"We got lucky that the tide was high this morning. Otherwise, we'd be stuck until around noon," he said reading from a little green spiral booklet with golden letters titled: TIDELOG Southeastern.

"That's not the only way we got lucky, right?" I asked looking at his shirtless body.

"Yep, we survived after making a really stupid decision," he slammed the compartment he was packing shut.

I asked, "Oh-do you regret it, then? "

I handed him his shirt.

He opened his mouth to say something, but a wave crashing into shore snapped him out of whatever he was thinking. Instead, he said, "We've got to go. Dad and Ol' Frank are waiting."

The water was calm as the sun climbed from its edge, even with the wind still swirling, so we glided across it- a greatly appreciated difference compared to the stormy waters.

I touched my lips, wondering if our night in The Capsize was part of the stupid decision.

He slowed as we came up on a dock. I looked up to see what should've been Ol' Frank's, but there was a massive uprooted tree that had collapsed into the middle of the store. Cop cars and white pickup trucks surrounded the store.

"No, no no no no," Jayden's voice shook as he tied up the boat. He ran toward the madness without even putting on his shoes or shirt.

Remembering what he said about how it would be bad if his dad knew we were together, I sat frozen, not sure what to do. The ambulance wouldn't be here if someone wasn't hurt. Then again, I didn't want to further compound our mistake.

I stayed on the boat for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes before realizing I needed to be a good human being.

Paul was standing above his son who was sitting in the grass with his head in his hands. Meanwhile, a group of men wearing construction vests and hard hats were climbing through what remained of the building. Their chainsaws roared as they tried to cut through the tree. I stood at the old gas pump that I'd used when we first arrived here, and I took everything in. My chest ached as I remembered that Frank was supposedly in the shop during the storm. When I saw Jayden punching the wet ground and ripping up clumps of wet, muddy grass, I decided that it didn't matter what his dad would think if I were here. Bigger things were going on than the fact that his son was hanging out with the gay kid.

Paul saw me walking over. "Ellison?"

I asked, "Is everything ok?"

"It's bad. It would be smart to go home."

Jayden looked up at me with red, tearful eyes and said, "Ellis, don't. Stay."

I looked at Paul who nodded at me, and I sat down in the mud beside Jayden.

He didn't say anything, and neither did I. I wrapped my arm around him, saying everything that needed to be said between us. Every so often, I could feel him shake from a sob.

Chainsaws hummed, and the tree's wood screamed as I choked back my own tears.

When Paul got called over by one of the guys in a hard hat, I asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

He leaned his head onto my shoulder. "I could've saved him if I was here. It wouldn't have taken him as long, and we could've gotten out before the tree fell."

I squeezed him tighter. "There's no way you could've known. This isn't your fault."

He cried into my shoulder. The men started shouting across the scene, and more cars showed up. Some were workers, one was a police officer, and others were heartbroken people of the island or people who stopped by while evacuating.

When Paul came back to us, Jayden didn't move his head.

"They are about done in there. Y'all don't want your last memories of him to be seeing him like this. Go back to the boat, and leave. Jayden, start packing up to evacuate. We need to leave in the next two hours. Ellison, you make sure your parents know you're safe."

"Yes sir," I said.

He rubbed Jayden's head and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm here for you, son."

He and I didn't speak until we got to the Kingsley's dock again. Despite portraying a confidence to Jayden, I felt a tug-of-war in my mind. I was the reason he made the plan to sneak out into the marsh. Maybe he could've been enough help to save Ol' Frank. Or maybe, he would've been crushed too. I knew that I couldn't show him any sign of wavering. Jayden needed me right now.

He looked back at me with eyes even more tear-filled than before. "Be safe, Ellis. Do y'all have a place to go?"

"You too. Yes, we do. Are you going to be ok?"

He shrugged and looked out onto the water before biting his lip and throwing his broken phone into the ocean. He screamed as he let it go like he wished he were throwing himself into the water. Once he started punching the steering wheel of his boat, I grabbed his arms and hugged him.

His breathing finally calmed down as I clutched him.

"Call your dad. I'll see you when we get back," his voice groaned.

"You too. Please make sure you talk about your feelings with your family. Don't bottle it up, or it's going to tear you apart."

He nodded and sniffled.

As I walked away, he called out, "Ellison!"

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't all a mistake."