wishful thinking ✩ jj maybank

chapter four

Kie is investigating the tanks. With every passing one, her frown deepens. "This is empty," she says. "You took...you took empty tanks?"

John B sits beside her, resting his arms on his knees. "I..." He doesn't even bother finishing his sentence.

"Dude, you had one fucking job," Aurelia says.

"Exactly! Get the tanks. And I did that. Nobody ever said they had to be full."

"Because that's common fucking sense."

Kiara ignores them and looks at the very last one, their last hope. "Okay. This one's a quarter full. That's enough for one of us."

Pope crosses his arms. "Love it when a plan comes together."

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asks.

Dead silence.

"Anybody?"

"It's kind of a Kook sport," JJ says.

"I...I read about it," Pope offers.

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die," she says.

Aurelia looks at the scuba tank, contemplating whether she'd be able to do it.

"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asks.

"Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends."

Aurelia pumps her arms in the air. "See! Pope's reading was for something after all. I always believed in you."

JJ puts his hands on his knees and bends over. "Bends like, bend over and..."

Pope interrupts him. "The bends kill you."

He sits up pretty quickly. "...Right."

"Pope, we would be dead without you at this point," Aurelia tells him. "I would like to thank you."

She stares at the scuba gear again. "I can — I can dive," John B says.

JJ nods. "You can dive. I'm cool with that." He traces his finger over his knuckles, which by now probably should have more rubbing alcohol put on them, but Aurelia isn't going to try to tell him — he definitely wouldn't listen.

"Since when can you dive?" Kie protests.

"I'll do it. It's fine."

Aurelia sits down, bouncing her legs as fast as she can. She remembers she promised herself she wouldn't lose anyone else to sea. She raises her hand. "I have some objections," she states, "that I cannot say for fear of oversharing, but nonetheless, I will dive. And there will be no further objections."

"Um, I have some objections," JJ says.

"Nope, you can't. It's against the rules," Aurelia says, patting his shoulder as she forces her legs to stop bouncing. She walks to Kie. "I will do it," she says under her friend's questioning stare.

John B shakes his head. "Um, no."

He's lost some people to the water, too.

Aurelia closes her eyes. She doesn't know what he's not understanding. She's diving, and that's the end of the story. "No. No. You're not. I am. You can't. Please."

She leans on the steering wheel, and it's enough time for John B to snatch the scuba gear from Kie's hands and put it on before she opens her eyes again.

"John B, please. Let me do it."

He can't die. She won't allow it. He's going to screw up and get the bends, and she'll have to watch him die—or worse, she'll never see his body, and she'll wait for him to come back. She can't do that. She needs to dive.