Never Say Goodbye

Chapter 12

I wake with two hands pressed to my chest and lips against mine. "Caleb?" I whisper against the lips. They spring off of me.

"Emma?" the owner of the lips asks. I look up. A dripping wet Caleb is sitting right in front of me.

"Caleb?" My voice sounds weak.

"You're okay," he says. "You're okay."

"What happened?" I ask, confused.

"You almost drowned because those doofuses shot bombs at you."

"Doofuses? Really?" I tease.

"Don't make fun of me!" he says, pointing at me. I laugh, and eventually he laughs, too. "Wait, Emma. Why are you here?"

I pause for a second. "I-I needed to see you. So I sailed out here to find you."

"You could've gotten killed! Does your life not matter to you at all?"

"Well, I-I'm not sure. I don't know."

"How do you not know?" he asks, anger injected into his voice.

"I want it to matter to me. For you, but I'm not special. A month after I die, you will forget all about me. You will move on. You will find some other girl, and I won't matter."

"You will always matter to me. I will never love anyone else, even if you die."

"But-"

I am interrupted suddenly by loud bangs against a wood boat. "Hayes!" the same person who yelled 'Fire!' screams.

"Yes, Sir!" Caleb says, snapping to attention, his back straight, and his hand in a salute.

"Hayes! They are firing!"

"Yes, Sir! And?"

"And fire back!" the person screams, his face red.

"Yes, Sir!" Caleb puts his saluted hand down and launches some kind of big bombs that make a deafening sound as they hit the adjacent boats. I hear more booming noises as the other boats fire at us.

And then we start sinking. It starts slowly at first, but I realize as soon as it happens that we are descending into the water. "We're sinking!" I scream. No one pays attention to me. "We're sinking!" I scream again. I keep screaming that until someone finally turns toward me.

"No we aren't!" the person snaps. "You are some silly girl who doesn't know anything. Don't tell professionals that we are sinking when we really aren't!"

I stand up and ignore the pain that bursts up my leg. "I'd know if we are sinking, and we are. Don't say I'm 'just a little girl'," I say putting quotes around that, "because I am more, and I am smart enough to know if we are sinking, and we are!" I scream. The man pushes me down on the floor, hard enough to send a shooting pain everywhere. I grit my teeth. I have to calm down. I have to save this ship. I stand up and pull off the captain's hat; I put it on. "Attention!" I scream. I will take charge of this ship if it's the last thing I do, and it probably will be. "Now! This ship is sinking! I want yo-"

"No offense!" someone yells. "But what do you know about taking charge of a ship?"

"I know more than you think! Now keep this boat from sinking!" Everyone frantically tries to keep the boat afloat.

"Give me my hat back!" the man yells. He reaches for me, and tries to grab his hat back. Caleb pounces on the man and knocks him down. Water is accumulating at my feet and then rises to my ankles.

"Faster!" I scream. Everyone frantically rushes to tie down this or attach that. No matter what everyone is doing, the boat is still sinking; the water is now at my knees, and it is rising fast. "Come on! The water is rising! Come on!" I yell. The water is now at my waist.

Caleb is standing next to me with his arms on my waist. I observe all of the workers. The water is at my chest. I tilt my head up in anticipation of the rising water level. I notice the opponent's boats left. Left us to die. War is a terrible thing.

The water is at my chin, and at Caleb's chest. As the water quickly rises up my head, I close my eyes so they don't sting. The water is above everyone, above everything. My lungs burn; I can't breathe. I try to swim up to the surface, but I am sinking, fast. I open my eyes and look through the darkening water to my leg. It is caught on a string tied tightly to the boat. I swim down to my foot and try to quickly untie the string. I see Caleb's legs treading water above me. I try to yell at him, but water just fills my mouth, my lungs. Caleb swims down to me and tries to untie the knot. I can't breathe. My lungs burn. I am not going to survive this. I will die. Knowing this, tears stream down my cheeks, or maybe my cheeks are just soaked from the ocean water. Caleb strokes my hair and swims up to the surface. Is he leaving me? Yes. He must have realized that I am not worth this; I am not worth anything. I sink and close my eyes, ready for my definite doom. My death. No more living. I fall and open my eyes. I see blackness, the depths of the ocean. I can't breathe. I close my eyes again. My lungs struggle to breathe. Drowning is very painful. Oh, please, Caleb. I know I will die. I open my mouth to speed up the drowning.

The last thought in my mind is He left me.

He left me.

And then my mind is empty as I see nothing.