Dolphin Tale 6

Chapter [18]

C h a p t e r   E i g h t e e n

Sawyer sighed as he watched Hazel sleep. It wasn't even evening yet - it was three in the afternoon - but all the constant stressing and worrying had exhausted Hazel to the point where she just needed to sleep, no matter what time of day it was.

Sawyer, himself, couldn't sleep. He would close his eyes, but the bliss of sleep would never come and carry him away. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was worried about Hazel, and wanted to be awake if she had a nightmare, or woke up crying. She had done that several times before, and each time it happened, it chipped away at Sawyer's heart, leaving his heart in tiny pieces within his chest.

Just as Sawyer stood to make himself a cup of coffee - he had been binging on it in order to stay awake - the phone rang, and he dove towards it, picking it up before its ringing tone could wake Hazel up.

"H-Hello?" he stuttered, moving into the kitchen and away from Hazel.

As he listened to the speaker on the other end of the line, his heart felt like it was being twisted into a huge knot.

"So it's done?" he asked, a lump in his throat. "Okay, well, we'll be back home on the next available flight. See you then? Yeah, okay, bye."

Sawyer hung up and placed the phone on the kitchen counter, walking over to the coffee machine.

"How many cups of coffee have you drunk, Sawyer?" a soft voice said from behind him, her tone laced with sleepiness.

Sawyer paused in the act of pushing the ON button. "A few," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Just go back to sleep, Hazel."

Hazel sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She took a quick glance at the clock on the wall before facing Sawyer again. "I thought you hated coffee," she said matter-of-factly.

Sawyer turned to face Hazel. "I do. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, it helps me stay awake."

Hazel sighed. "So . . . who called?" she said, gesturing towards the phone.

Sawyer pressed the START button on the coffee-maker machine before turning to face Hazel again. "Kat."

"And?"

"They performed a necropsy on Bondi, and although they haven't gotten the results from the lab yet, it looks like he died from acute intestinal necrosis, more commonly known as a twisted gut. Kat said that Bondi wasn't showing any symptoms before he died, so they're waiting on the lab results to determine what actually happened."

"Poor guy," Hazel whispered, a sheen of tears clouding her eyes. "Poor, poor Bondi." 

Sawyer nodded. "I know. Kat says that they want us back at Clearwater Marine Aquarium as soon as possible . . . Bondi has been cremated and they want us to be at the scattering of his ashes."

The thought of Bondi reduced to ashes made a sob rise up Hazel's throat. Her eyes were glistening as the wall of tears built up, and eventually one broke free, trickling slowly down her face. She looked up at Sawyer, her eyes full of turmoil. "Why do things like this have to happen? Why did this storm have to happen? Why did Bondi have to die? Why is life so unfair?"

"Hazel," Sawyer began, walking over to kneel in front of her, "I know that life is unfair - it always rains the hardest on those who deserve the sun - but there's nothing we can do to change what has happened. And . . . if you could turn the clock back and make things the way they used to be . . . would you?"

Sawyer had cornered Hazel and she knew it. Her emotions and thoughts were conflicting with each other as she thought about what he had asked: Would she turn the clock back and make things the way it used to be? On one hand, she desperately wanted to turn the clock back because she missed Bondi so much. But on the other hand, she thought it was better to leave things the way they were; Bondi was in a happier place where he could finally be free.

Hazel shook her head. "No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't turn the clock back because that would be selfish of me. Bondi deserves to be happy and free, and that's where he is - in a place where he can be both happy and free."

Sawyer noticed how her words had been choked out, and he wrapped his arms around her as the torrent of tears began to fall. "It's okay, Hazel. I miss him, too, but I wouldn't turn the clock back, either."

"I miss him so much," Hazel whispered, "and I just wish I had the chance to say goodbye."

"You will get a chance to say goodbye, okay? You can say goodbye at the scattering of his ashes. We just need to book a flight and we'll be on our way home in no time at all."

"Things will have changed, Sawyer," Hazel said, a twinge of pain in her voice, "and I don't know if I'm ready to face the changes."

"You are ready, Hazel. I believe in you," Sawyer said, pulling away from her to look into her eyes. "You're strong, and I know that you can do this. You can do anything!"

Hazel shook her head, biting her lip. She opened her mouth, but closed it; no words were forming; her mind was numb.

"Hazel, I believe in you. You can do anything! You are strong, and you are ready - I know you are."

Hazel closed her eyes and turned her head so that she wasn't facing Sawyer. And then the words appeared on her tongue, and she swallowed, not daring to look at Sawyer; not daring to see the expression on his face. And this time, when she spoke, her words weren't choked as though she was about to cry - they were spoken with a tired finality that was laced with sadness and guilt and remorse. Laced with a defeated tone.

"Not anymore."