The Storm of Thoughts

'Kaboom!' Layla woke up with a start. The boat was being tossed about. She could hear the wind howling and a thunderstorm brewing. The lightning was flashing and for a moment she could see the interior of her bunk. Her heart started beating fast. She had never been in such a big storm even though she had been living on a yacht for all her life. Suddenly she heard the noise that had woken her and realised that it was the crash of thunder. She winced. The boat appeared to be breaking apart. Slowly she started searching for her glasses, but a wave crashed against the boat, which made it lean over and threw Layla out of her bunk. Pain shot up her arm and made her cry out. For several seconds all she was aware of was the agony of the pain.

When she could think clearly again she very carefully got up by holding on to her bed. All of a sudden, she heard a scream, which was abruptly cut off. Shivers ran down her back. What had happened? Had one of her parents fallen overboard? In the water, nobody could survive very long in this storm, even though the water was warm because they were in the Caribbean. It was night time and the waves would be so high because of the storm, that it would be impossible to find the person fallen overboard. As fast as she could, Layla went to her door, but she couldn't get it to open. Something must have fallen against it on the other side and was making it impossible for her to open the door.

Her hands were clammy and trembling. Had something happened to her parents? She tried to think positive but didn't really manage. All she could think of was that she was only 13, too young to lose her parents. She felt guilty about the times she thought or even screamed at her parents that it was their fault that she couldn't make friends because they were constantly moving from one place to another. After all, they were the ones who decided to go sailing and continue sailing even when she was born. They shouldn't have done that. It made her the odd one out when being with people her age. She would never fit in with the others. It was horrible. Moments ago this would have been her view, but now she saw the situation with other eyes. Should they give up something that made them so happy? No, they shouldn't. And in this moment, in the middle of a storm, fearing that something horrible had happened to them, she didn't blame them anymore. How could she? It wasn't their fault that she didn't really make an effort to make friends because she was afraid of being hurt. It was her own fault. And why should it matter that some people might think the way she lived was weird? It didn't. She liked it and realised that in comparison to other people, she had a lot of awesome experiences. She should be thankful, that she had this amazing opportunity of seeing beautiful places and different cultures. And why should she try being like other teenagers? She was happy with the way she was. She didn't really want to become someone who only talked about boys and gossip. And she definitely didn't want to become squeamish, like a lot of other teenage girls her age were.

A noise interrupted Layla's train of thought. A kind of scratching on the other side of the door, then her mother's voice calling her name. Relief filled her; at least her mother seemed to be ok. She started hammering against the door and calling her. The next moment the door gave way and she fell into her mother's arms. She couldn't remember ever feeling such relief and happiness. When she looked into her mother's eyes, she saw tears and a trembling smile. As it turned out, her father was the one who had screamed because something had fallen on his foot. It hurt a lot, but there wasn't any serious damage. Her heart started beating at a normal speed again. They still had to survive the rest of the storm, but they could get through it together and that was the main thing.