Stranded with Niall Horan || n.h.

Chapter 15 - The Perfect Moment

The press conference had taken place earlier that day, and hundreds of tips had been pouring in. Such and such saw a boy and a girl that looked like us walking around in Maui. Blah Blah swears he saw the two of us walk into a Wal-Mart. All the sightings led to dead-ends. Niall and I were still missing, and possibly dead. But now was not the time for writing eulogies, it was the time for a little search and rescue.

A meeting was scheduled with the Air Sea Rescue after the press conference. Harry, Isabella, Zayn, Chelsea, Louis and Liam decided it was best if they went without the parents; there was no need for more crying.

“Hello, I’m Admiral Johnson and I’m responsible for this search and rescue operation.” he said when they entered the room and settled into their seats. “And you’re here because Niall Horan and Nina Edwards are missing, correct?” he asked after glancing at a paper. They all nodded. “Well, I don’t want to discourage you all, but the outlook doesn’t look good.”

“Why do you say that?” Louis asked.

“Well,” he pulled out an enlarged map of the Pacific Ocean and laid it on the table. There were two different colored lines branching off in different directions. “This is the path that the ship was supposed to take,” he said as he pointed to the dark blue line. “And this is when the Captain decided to switch the course due to the storm.” as his finger moved to the red line that extended north of the blue line. His finger stopped at the red X at the end of the line. “And this,” he said. “Is the last known coordinate the Captain got out before the ship went under.

“It’s been three days since the cruise ship sank. We believe that any survivors travelled northwest with the current. The first day we picked up eleven survivors; the next day we managed to pick up five more, and we also found four people who were deceased. Today we have yet to find a person alive.” Everyone at the table looked glum. “If your friends aren’t dead yet, it’ll be a miracle.”

“But we can’t just give up yet! They’re still out there!” Chelsea exclaimed.

“I realize that Miss, but my men are trying as hard as they can to find them, dead or alive.”

“They’re not trying hard enough!” Harry shouted as he stood up from his chair, pounding his fists on the table.

“They’re doing all they can. But you all have to accept the fact that they might be lost at sea.” Admiral Johnson said solemnly.

“What if we helped you?” Isabella asked suddenly.

“Beg your pardon?” Johnson asked.

“Is there some way that the six of us can join you in searching for them?” she restated.

He looked around at all of them, unsure. “I don’t know. It’s against protocol, none of you are trained…you might just hinder the operation.”

“We won’t do anything. We just want to sit there and be an extra pair of eyes.” Liam said.

“I’m still not sure it’s a good idea…”

“Please,” Chelsea pleaded. “We just want to find them.”

“We’re desperate.” Zayn added.

Admiral Johnson sighed. “Well, if you kids really want to help, I suppose I can arrange that. I just want you to know what you’re in for. You might be the ones to find your friends dead.” They all nodded in somber understanding. “In that case, you can start tomorrow. We’ll take off at 7 am.”

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The next morning I woke up feeling weak. It was as if my body was drained of all its energy. I touched my forehead and realized I was sweating up a storm. That’s funny, it didn’t seem much hotter than any other day. I shrugged it off and looked around to see where Niall Horan was. It was so strange to say that name. It sounded foreign to me.