Saving Ellie

Chapter Four: The Start of an Adventure

Chapter Four

    “Oh my gosh!” I shouted. “No, El, come back! Come back!” I was so shaken that I didn’t know if it was the rain or my own tears wetting my face. I refused to look back at Landon. He can’t see me like this.

    “Valerie!” He shouted over the growing storm. “What are you going to do?!”

    I paused.

    “Go after her, of course.”

*~*

    “You don’t have to come with me, Landon. It’s okay.”

    “No. I will. You’ll need help! You can’t do this alone!”

    “Alright. We’ll do this together?”

    He looked me straight in the eyes. “Together.”

    We had to find a boat. The empty lifeguard stand had a rowboat always perched against it, so that’s where we went.

    A rowboat. In a storm like this? We were going to get killed!

    There was no time. Landon and I grabbed the boat and pulled it into the ocean. Then, we each grabbed a paddle and started paddling as fast as we could towards the spot where Ellie disappeared.

    “This isn’t going to work!” I kept telling him. He never replied, just keeping his eyes on the raging water. His hair was soaked down into his face.

    The waves were huge. We were lucky we didn’t capsize but came close to it multiple times. We focused everything we could on keeping alive.

    Finally, the waves died down, and the storm slowly stopped. Feeling like my arms were going to fall off, I stopped paddling. Landon did the same, and we just floated along.

    Now, there was no doubt about it. I was crying. I didn’t want Landon to see me like this, so I brought my legs up to my chest and buried my head in my arms, sniffing slightly.

    “Valerie.” Landon said softly. “Valerie, everything’s going to be okay.”

    I said nothing.

    “Hey, it’s okay. I’m your best friend, Val, you can tell me.”

    He moved over to my side.

    I raised my head slightly, then put it back down. “Landon, it’s not okay.” I choked. “Ellie’s g-gone.”

    “Shh.” He gently put his arm around me. I moved my head and cried in his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Just don’t worry. We’ll find her, I promise.”

    We floated like this until I pulled myself together, smiling up at Landon. “T-thanks.” I muttered. “Let’s row.” He smiled back. “I’m on it!”

    We rowed and rowed. It was starting to grow dark, and before I knew it, Landon was half asleep, trying to stay awake long enough to paddle. His head drooped down. He just couldn’t stay up any longer.

    Knowing how much stress today has been, I let him sleep. He needed it.

    I took this time to call my mom and tell her what happened. I’m sure she was worried by now.

    “Hello, Mom?” I whispered into the phone.

    “Oh my gosh, Valerie, I was so worried about you. Where are you? It’s almost completely dark! What happened? Are you okay? Do you need me to come pick you up because --”