poseidon

[ PROLOGUE]

The warm, summer chill rested on Charlie's shoulders. Although she has denied needing the hoodie her mother offered her, she still was very chilly. In the far distance, she could see dark, gray clouds looming over the water.

As she stared out the sea, pondering on whether there were would be a storm coming or not, she felt a rough push from behind her. Then, a grab of her shoulders, right before she could fall into the water and possibly drown.

Gasping slightly, she took one huge step back, elbowing her brother in the ribs as hard as she could.

"You ass!" she immaturely shrieked. "you scared me."

Buster only continued chuckling, a few wheezes coming from him as well. "You should've seen your face."

On any normal basis on these siblings rough housing around the small fish boat, Charlie would have pulled a similar revenge, and not take it this hard. but the chill and gusts of winds worried her, and this was nothing new. She was one of those people whose mood changes when the weather does so. Right now, she felt cloudy, a little sad. A little overwhelmed, too.

holding a bucket of freshly caught crabs from behind them, stood Allison, Busters girlfriend. Charlie was not the type of sister to immediately befriend her brothers girlfriend, or hate her guts either. if anything, Charlie only tolerated her. Allison was not that bright, but she worked at an dog groomers, and Charlie loved dogs, so Charlie could appreciate allisons presence a little more.

Busters girlfriend stood with her eyebrows furrowed, dropping the bucket on the ground and splashing a little salt water while doing so. "Can you maybe help a little? sixteen crabs are not going to fill six people up."

Her brother only smiles, and picks up the bucket while placing a little kiss on Allisons nose. "Take a break, then. Ill handle the crabs."

Charlie admired the way her brother treated his girlfriend. She liked that her life wasn't like some teen fiction where her popular brother (in which he was) liked to sleep around. He actually has been dating Allison for over two years.

going back to her own business, Charlie leaned over the boat, watching the water splash the side more viciously than it did before. She worried again. When she and her father were packing the boat up for a nice family and friends lunch on the water, the sky was so clear and sunny. But now, it looked sad and gray.

deciding this was a matter that maybe should be discussed, she ran downstairs to the basement, finding her dad trying to fix their GPS. he dropped a few screws, muttering a curse word under his breath.

"Dad," she picked up the screw, watching the GPS flicker and glitch. "theres a storm outside."

her father let out a string of chuckles, screwing new batteries back in the backside of the device. "just a little sprinkle, pumpkin. nothing bad."

"but its all cloudy and gray outside," she explained. he turned the gps back on, and it glitched again. Instead of trying again, he sighed and gave up. "I think the storm is messing with the GPS."

"Theres not a storm outside." he hissed. "If there was, I would be signaled."

Right after he says that, the boat rocks twice, and Charlie stumbles and falls to the floor. The light flickers.

I told you so.

"Go upstairs and grab the wheel, char- now!" Her dad was on the floor, pointing to the stairs.

Rushing up, she burst through the door, searching for any of her family. The wind was ten times worse, whipping her sandy hair and spraying water onto her face.

She spotted buster, leaning over and looking in the water. The boat rocked like a carnival ride, nearly making her sick.

Buster turns around, panting. "Sam fell in the water!" He cries.

No.

Rushing to the edge, Charlie spots her friends struggling body. Every time a wave blanketed her friend, she would drop more into the water.

Allison was standing behind the two of them, sobbing and hugging herself. She was wearing a life jacket.

Charlie notices this, and her eyes widen with hope, and an idea. "Ally- give me your life jacket!"

She only shook her head quickly, unconsciously tightening the life jacket with her quivering hands. "No!"

"Allison!" Buster starts yelling.

"Sam is going to drown if you don't-" the boat cuts Charlie off, nearly ripping on its side. The bucket of crab was spilled, live wild crabs running free. The siblings gasped, sliding across the surface. When the boat finally regained balance and turned back over, Charlie slammed the back of her head on the floor.

From that moment on, everything was incredibly blurry. There was ringing in her ears, drowning out all the screams and sound. Tears welled up in her eyes, turning her head to left to see her struggling mother try to rush towards her daughter.

But, her mother fails, all while holding the life jacket that could possibly save Charlie's life. Her feet slip, along with the boat, and her mother slides down the surface, exiting any vision Charlie had left.

That was the last thing she saw, her mother's struggling face and crash of water over her unmoving, numb body.

[i listened to Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys while writing this and it made it ten times better 110% guarantee]