Her Viking

Chapter 6: Dock

Light and dark gray clouds cover the sky. Rain falling softly. Mariana's leg bounces. The nightmare replaying. Over. And over. Again...

Arriving into town, Mariana quickly drives towards the dock across from the supermarket. Finding a parking, she exits her car. His jacket hanging on her arm. Mariana sees all the men working as she shakily walks closer.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

"Kage."

"Oh, well come around to the other side. The stairs are there. You can just walk right up." Mariana nods in thanks and acknowledgment.

Many of the men glance at Mariana. The screeching sound of a door opening catches Mariana's attention. Looking up seeing is meet with the sight of Kage. His cold stare on as always. His body is tense. Mariana doesn't move forward. Instead, he does.

"What are you doing here?" Mariana extends his jacket out.

"You could have waited till Friday." Her drops with his jacket still on it. "I don't need anyone interrupting my work. So, what time do you want me to show you around Friday?"

"I-I'm not sure..."

Kage huffs in annoyance, "I'll be there in the morning. 8:00 A.M. sharp."

"Ok..."

"Go." Kage turns around and starts to walk back to where he came.

Two men carrying a barrel walk in a hurry in Mariana's direction. Mariana is almost against the rail. She has no choose but to move back. Not realizing the open edge near, she falls. It's too late to catch herself. Water consumes her in a second. A seaweed is caught her foot as she tries to swim up. Holding her back, liquid fills up her lungs.

"Lady overboard! I repeat, lady overboard!"

Kage rushes out to see what the reason is for the chaos.  Seeing everyone crowding and pointing, he runs over, still not understanding. The men quickly move out of the bosses way. Panic rises in them as Mariana doesn't surface.

"Boss, a lady fell over!"

Kage's heart drops for a moment, "Mariana..."

Quickly taking his layer of jackets and boots, he dives into the water. Diving deeper and deeper. She comes into view. Swimming faster, Kage reaches her. His tugs on her body but, it doesn't budge.Swimming to her feet, Kage notices seaweed tangle around her foot. Getting thicker and thicker.

Kage struggles to untangle it. Finally, all is off. Grabbing her by the waist, he swims up. Breaking the surface, Kage takes a huge breath of air. He rushes to the dock. Men immediately pulling them up. Everyone moves a step back. Giving them space.

Carefully laying Mariana down, he checks for a pulse. After finding it, Kage checks for any sort of breathing or response. The answers to those are... No. He quickly begins to do CPR on Mariana.

A minute surpasses and just when everyone thinks that she died, there is a response. What starts as a small cough, turns into a regurgitation of lung-filled water. Kage sighs a breath of relief. Patting her back as he helps her sit up. A struggling cry escapes her throat. Kage holds her against his chest. Trying to soothe her as sobs explodes from her.

"Here." Kage hands her a mug of hot chocolate.

Mariana takes it without looking up. No out of nervousness. No out of embarrassment. But out of fear. Fear that if she looks anywhere else besides the wooden plank floor, she'll see... Somethings aren't meant to be spoken. Or even though of. At least not yet. Not until she is fully healed from her past. 

"I don't want you coming here again. We don't need another repeat of what happened. Understood?" She only nods. "You'll leave once you're dry."

His footsteps are distant now. She cracks a bit. It's just like home all over again. Not many have a little bit of heart to give her. It stings but, it's what she expects from everyone anyway. Tears well up yet, she refuses to allow them to spill. She hasn't let them spill then and she won't now.