Piracy

5. Saved By Him

The fall seemed endless, the wind rushing past my body until I hit the waves with a harsh smack to my back side. As I plunged beneath the surface, a sudden rush of fear seized me. I had a much-too-late realization that I didn't want to die, and I certainly didn't want to do so by drowning. As soon as my head was above water, I screamed as loud as I could, the ship moving swiftly away from me. As luck would have it, one of the deck hands sounded the alarm along with the cry of "Man Overboard!"

Despite the fact that they were aware of my predicament, panic settled over my entire body like a lead weight and I felt certain I would plummet straight to the bottom of the ocean. I began to kick my legs furiously trying to push myself up above the water, but I kept getting sucked back down into the frigid water. I was able to manage a few desperate gasps of air before I began sinking again. With new-found terror, I realized that I was indeed falling away from the surface, holding my breath for as long as I could.

I was completely paralyzed as I sunk down, down, down, the light going further and further from me. My head began to hurt terribly and without even thinking, I opened my mouth to draw in a breath of much needed air. But instead, salty seawater flooded into my body, burning its way through my chest. My vision began to blur and darken. This was much more painful than I'd thought it would be, but somewhere in my mind, I was beginning to accept that death was imminent and it would all be over soon.

Just as the last bit of light faded from my dying body, I felt a hand closing hard around my arm. It jerked me upward, but I was failing at staying awake. All I wanted to do was to rest in my watery bed. I was almost asleep when I heard a distant voice shouting, "Stay awake!"

I snapped my eyes open and somehow my head was above water, but my body was violently regurgitating sea water. I still felt like I could die from the fact that I couldn't get air into my chest. I gagged and choked, throwing my body forward with repeated attempts to vomit the water from my chest.

"Stop struggling," the captain's voice commanded. "Lay your head on my shoulder and let me swim."

I tried to comply, but my body betrayed me, still lurching forward as I coughed and sputtered. He moved us swiftly through the turbulent water with his free arm. I was only vaguely aware of a small wooden boat paddling close to us.

"Take her!" The captain shouted. I felt two strong pairs of hands latch on to either arm, and they pulled me effortlessly out of the water. I was set unceremoniously into the bottom of the boat where I continued to cough and gag as my body continued its violent attempt to discharge the salty water. The men's attention immediately shifted to the captain, whom they pulled from the sea with astonishing ease. We both spent several minutes coughing and sputtering, clearing the seawater from our chests. With a finally heave, I vomited onto the floor of the boat, but it was mostly water.

I looked up in complete disgrace. The other two crew members, one whom I recognized as Mr. Horan and the other whose name I learnt to be Liam, rowed silently towards the ship, which was surprisingly far away.

Once he'd caught his breath, Captain Styles glared at me. I dared not say a word just yet, although I was overwhelmingly grateful that they'd chosen to rescue me instead of allowing me to perish in the water.

I sat trembling in the cold, barely allowing myself to breathe so as to not further anger the captain or his crew members. They didn't seem quite as angry as the captain, but I could tell that they would rather be about their duties on board the ship than out to sea retrieving a troublesome woman.

When we were alongside the ship, the crew members attached ropes to either end of the small boat. It jerked and swayed as we were hoisted up to the level of the lowest deck, where Zayn and another crew member grabbed me and plopped me safely onto the ship while the other two crew members secured the boat.