For You

Chapter 8

"Two more days?" Douglass laughed. He had been merciful by giving them a day, and they had provided him nothing in these past weeks. When the most crucial time in a search was hours, they wanted... more time?

Frederick's body could be at the bottom of the ocean, weighted down by the tides, or burning in the deepest part of the forest. He could be... dead, and they wanted more time.

"Get out of my office."

"Sir..."

"Now."

There was one thing Frederick's father got right: Frederick was struggling against the tides.

Frederick had wanted to believe he could handle the journey Darla had wished to embark on, but it had been a while since his legs had been in direct contact with water. It seemed the salt was shriveling the wound. He flinched at the touch of its fingertips, causing him to suck in air at intervals. It was intervals of two at first, but trying to catch up with Darla, who danced at the unknown—it morphed into ten.

"Darla!—can—woo—can we take a little break?"

Her body swung between the island peeking through the mist ahead, its shades of green waving at her proximity, and then to Frederick, whose hands clenched onto her forearm. She sighed, "Sure."

Before Frederick could slump his way to a rock, Darla said, "Okay, let's go again."

"Darla."

"Frederick?"

He offered a smile, burnt by the light in her eyes boring into his. "Why don't you go ahead, and I'll meet you later."

"Fred..."

"I'm not suited for this journey yet, Darla. Go without me."

Darla turned away from him to see a mist as thick as the clouds with a blurred layer of blue. It was getting late. She lifted her gaze to Frederick. It was the first time she was really looking at him. While his lips held a button smile, mud and sweat accentuated the curves. His legs flickered as his arm pressed firmly against them in an effort to stay upright.

"Let's head back," she said with a smile.

Yet later in the evening, while Frederick closed his eyes, he slowed his breathing listening to her muffled cries competing with the cricks and cracks of the night.

He was useless.