Washed Away

The Beginning

The sun beat down on the irresponsible college students spending their weekend out in the ocean. The waves crashed against a small boat where four people sat and drank. Laughter filled the air, while logic ceased importance and gray clouds rolled in. The air cooled a little, and every now and then a breeze caressed the boat's passengers.

"Hand me another one!" You yelled to your fellow classmates and the one near the cooler, Jonathan, tossed you a beer. It almost slipped out of your hands as you snatched it from the air. He took his seat by the side of the boat and stared out at the water. Another student was at the wheel, but seemed to be more interested in his phone. The group was taking a break from school for the weekend before their finals came. You stood up and walked over to the edge. Taking in a deep breath, you could taste the salt in the sea air.

Glancing up at the sky, you now noticed that the gray clouds had become threatening. A cold droplet of water dropped onto your nose. "Guys.." you turned your head to look at your friends, who didn't even turn up from their phones to acknowledge you.

"Guys.." you repeated, a little frantically. They finally looked up and locked eyes with you questioningly.
"We should head back to shore, it looks like the weather is about to get bad." You pull out your phone and unlocked it to check the weather, and as expected, storms were on their way. The boat started to rock slightly, and you stumbled a bit. But your friend Jonathan had walked over already, and caught your arm. You muttered a small thank you, but the boat rocked again causing you to crumple to the ground along with Jonathan.

"I think you're right.." he muttered. Rain started pouring heavily in sheets from the sky, causing the students to scramble like mice. Jonathan helped you to your feet as the others closed up the cooler and shoved electronics in dry places. Jonathan hurried over to help steer the boat in the direction of the shore.

The boat lurched in another direction, and your own phone slipped out of your pocket and onto the floorboard of the boat. It slid to the side and stopped at the side of a boat, and you instinctively dove to the ground for it while muttering out several swears. You reached for it and it slipped from your fingers while rain battered down on you. Your friends called for you to hurry up and get over to them, but you focused on retrieving your precious phone.

Your fingers securely grasped the device and you shakily got back to your feet with the other hand on the railing. The boat was rocking much worse now, and you could hear your friends voices shouting for you. You could hardly see them through all the rain..

You felt the sudden need to turn around. Slowly turning your head, a giant wave seemed ready to engulf the ship, and it was like time slowed down. You felt as though you stared at the ominous wall of water for minutes before turning and running to join your friends as though that may give you any more chance at surviving. In a flash, the water hit you like bricks and you were swept off the ship and under the water.

Your eyes clamped shut, you fought to reach the surface while your lungs ached and begged for air. Your head popped up above water and you could see through squinted eyes that your friends were all safe on the boat, and were trying to help. Jonathan screamed your name and threw out a life preserver towards you.

You swam to reach it but were meant with another crushing wave. Once you resurfaced, you were much farther from the boat.. but the life preserver was much closer to you. You swam a bit farther and were filled with relief when your hand closed around the side of it. But your hopes were dashed as another wave broke you from it. Wave after wave smacked you under the water while your friends frantically tried to reach you. The storm grew and grew until it finally came to a stop. You had finally gotten control of the life preserver and clung to it for dear life. You wanted to kick your legs and swim for shore- if you could even figure out what way it was, but every muscle in your body ached and your throat burned from excessive amounts of swallowed sea water. All you could do now was let the waves take you and try not to think about how possible it was that you could die.

Your phone was definitely gone now, and so were your friends. You rested your head on the side of the life preserver and wrapped your arms around it. All you wanted now was some sleep.. the sun had burned your skin a little after the storm, but now the sun had gone down and all you could do was hope for the best.

Perhaps a little shut eye would be okay..