Close your eyes

Chapter 4

Amanda and I fall for what feels like forever. I catch glimpses of my reflection on the glass that falls with us. Amanda looks petrified and I can hear her screams echo in my ears long after she stopped.

Suddenly my back collides against water and I feel myself sink deep into it. I watch the glass touch the surface of the water only to fly back up and resume its original position as a barrier. Amanda begins violently thrashing around and opens her mouth in a silent scream.

She must not be able to swim but thankfully for her she doesn't need to. I look directly into her eyes to get her to calm down and this helps for a second before she begins swinging her arms and kicking her legs gracelessly.

I swim towards her and hold her by her shoulders tightly, she stops struggling and finally holds my gaze but still looks panicked. I suck in a deep breath and exaggerate my actions so she can see what i'm doing and her eyes go wide in wonder. I suck in another breath and nod at her before she does the same and relaxes.

I let go of her shoulders and point down at a faint light visible at the bottom before I hold her hand to help her swim towards it. The light gets significantly brighter the closer we get closer until finally we swim into it.

We find ourselves in an upright position with our heads above the water which now reflects the multitude of colours blazing above our heads instead of an inky black. It appears to be as if we are swimming in an aurora and I check the surface for a boat.

There is a small wooden boat a few meters away, it looked like it had enough room for about eight people, and I start waving my arms to get the attention of the people aboard.

"Hey!" I shout but my voice comes out softer than I expected so I try again "HEY! we're over here!".

This seems to have got their attention and the boat drifts over to us before we get pulled aboard by other carriers.

Amanda comes out of the water completely dry but i'm soaking wet. She gives me a curious look when she realises this and I simply reply by saying "Perks of being a soul".

Amanda starts to ask another question but the boat suddenly picks up the pace from slow to impossibly fast, she and the souls aboard look frightened but the others and I just laugh. Soon enough we reach the dock and we see hundreds of boats, from large ferries to small row boats like ours, pull in.

All of them are packed to the brim with Carriers and Souls, all the Souls look around at one another in awe and fear whilst the Carriers shout loudly trying to get the attention of their friends. Speaking of friends where is that goof ball?

The boat comes to an abrupt halt and we clamber out. Amanda looks at me in wonder "How did the boat move without any one driving it?"

"Well, you see..." I began but was rudely interrupted by a loud booming voice that came from behind me "The boats are like magic and they go where you tell em to, yeah?"

Amanda nods in understanding and I spin swiftly on my heel ready to tell off Phoenix but am once again interrupted but this time by the loud horn from a ship pulling in.

"You should go" says Phoenix to Amanda "Just follow the other Souls, yeah?"
"Sure" Amanda replied before scurrying away and falling into step beside the Souls
"Good bye Amanda" I called before adding " Take care". She spins her head around and smiled at me until I was out of view.
"Let's get outta here" Phoenix says " You're drenched"
"Really?" I reply, my voice dripping with sarcasm "I had no idea".

He gives me an annoyed look before pulling back the hood of his cloak to reveal tangled hair that fell past his shoulder.

"You should fix that soon before I cut it" I say while eyeing his red hair.
"Well good luck with that" he countered "considering ya don't have your knife"
"Yeah I do" I snap back before frantically searching myself for the knife and pulling a face when I realised it's still in the water.
"Fuck" I say in annoyance "Felix is gonna hit the roof"
"Ya think?" Phoenix questioned whilst raising an eyebrow "go get it" he finished and pointed to the boat I arrived on.

I jump frantically into the boat and I cause the boat to sway, threatening to tip over. I shut my eyes and hold the sides of the boat in an attempt to stabilise it, thankfully it worked.

I let out a breath and say "Take me to the open waters" this causes the boat drifts forward painfully slow and I say "Faster please". The boat shoots forward and I fall back in my seat clutching the sides of the boat in surprise, I'm heading straight towards a ship and am inches away from colliding into it when I scream "left" the boat jerks to the left long enough for the ship to pass and immediately snaps back to the right, I grip the sides even tighter.

The boat is headed to an intersection and there are dozens of ships and sailboats there. I scream loudly as Souls and Carriers alike watch on in shock, amusement and horror. "Right" the boat speeds of to the right, in the same direction as an oncoming boat "Left" I scream breathlessly, the boat sails to the left but is cornered by two ships in addition to the sailboat, I was going to get smashed "DOWN" I screech.

The boat on the right and the two ships quickly come closer. "Oh god I'm gonna get smashed, shit this is gonna hurt". The boat plunges down not a moment to late and saves me from getting crushed. It keeps going down and I open my mouth in a silent scream.

The boat dives past the colourful water and past the light into the darkness.

I hope that it was loud enough

I shut my mouth and am surrounded by silence. Dead silence. I look through the water aided by the dim light coming from the lantern attached to the back of the boat and stare at my knuckles which have gone white from clenching onto the wood in an attempt to stay with the boat.

I wait. I wait for what seems like an eternity before I hear it.

A soft scraping sound echoes from under the boat, the boat goes shooting down.