Unforgiving Seas

The yellow lifeboat bobbed up and down with the freezing waves. Jasper pulled his life vest closer to him as he shivered. The stray corgi nuzzled itself further into his leg. Jasper rest his head against the inflatable. The water lapped over the edge, sending salty waves into the already water-filled boat. Jasper picked up the flare gun, which had previously been in the emergency survival kit. He closed his eyes and sighed, thinking of what had happened only hours prior.

Jasper was in a plane, with his wife. They were newlyweds heading to Paris. He smiled as he turned to the in-flight entertainment. Time seemed to be going by so slowly. His eyes flickered to the seatbelt sign, the light had turned on. He took out his headphones, there must be turbulence, right? Jasper began to look around the plane. Suddenly, the captain's voice boomed across the speakers. "We're expecting some turbulence," he said, "Just remain seated with your seat belts on."

Jasper always had an irrational fear of flying. Almost like something was destined to go wrong. His wife had told him plenty of times that his fears were ridiculous, that the plane was impregnable. They rarely made him feel better. He took a deep breath in to try and calm himself. He wanted nothing more than to wake up his wife, to have her comfort him, but he wasn't going to. Instead, he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, hoping to sleep through the turbulence.

Jasper flung himself off the inflated wall of his boat. He looked down at the corgi on his leg. She reminded him of Maxine. He missed playing with his dog, picking his sister up from school and getting ice cream. Hell, he even missed being a real estate agent. All the people looking for impossible water features. He chuckled to himself. Maybe he should have seen this coming. Years of complaining about customers looking for pools or fountains, it was all coming back to bite him. He put his hand on the corgi. She looked up at him and stuck her tongue out. She lost his gaze when her ears began to twitch. Jasper furrowed his eyebrows, but he heard a slight rumbling.

Jasper flung himself upon the unstable buoy. He looked in different directions until he saw it, a boat. Jasper began to shout at the top of his lungs. He waved his arms frantically, anything to get the boats' attention. He looked at the flare in his hand. Jasper sloppily loaded the flare, stuck the nose of the gun in the air, held his ears, and fired. He watched on in horror as the flare took a nosedive into the ocean. The rumbling of the boat soon disappeared as well. Jasper let out a yell of defeat, he felt drained. He picked up the packet of flares, and carefully read the instructions.

1) Load dry flare into flare gun (check)
2) Point arm at 45-degree angle (Closer to 50, but still, check)
3) Fire flare downwind (Che-)

Jasper stopped himself. He licked his finger and held it up in the air. His finger soon turned cold as the wind blew onto it. He had shot the flare upwind. Jasper collapsed to the lifeboat. He let out a cry of defeat. The scruffy, exhausted man soon closed his eyes.

Jasper bounced awake. He looked at the screen in front of him, three more hours until they were over land again. He looked up at the console, seatbelt signs were still on. He gazed back at his wife and shook her awake. "Izzy. Isabella?" She stirred before opening her eyes, "Hmm?" Jasper hesitated. "Something's happening," He said. Isabella playfully rolled her eyes at him. "You're just paranoid," She teased. Jasper felt his body jerk. He smashed into the tray in front of him. He heard people screaming, no, he heard Isabella screaming. Jasper pushed up to put him in an upright position. He tightly squeezed Izzy's hand, preparing them both for impact. Jasper whipped forward once again, this time his head hit the seat, hard.

The water in the boat lapped at Jaspers face. He breathed heavily. He grabbed the water bottle he left in the bottom of the boat. He purposely left the cap off in order to collect water. It was salty at times, but it wasn't harming him. Jasper sipped from the bottle and threw it back down into the boat. He reached for the survival kit and fished around in it. He hoped for food. He still had some, but it would run out soon. Jasper searched around a bit more before he grabbed something and pulled it out, a knife. He smiled, he wouldn't have to use his teeth anymore.

Jasper pried himself off of the seat in front of him. Everything looked blurry. He felt around the seat next to him. "Izzy?" He slurred. Jasper grabbed her arm and began to pull her into the aisle. He walked down the plane, water sloshing at his knees. Although he couldn't see too well, the plane lights pointed him towards the exit. He dragged Isabella onto the wing of the plane. Jasper pulled the cord for the inflatable raft and carried Izzy into the boat. He pulled her close and began to pet her hair. "You're going to be okay."

Jasper took the knife and began to cut his food. He smiled at the taste. Jasper reached down and grabbed his water bottle. He gulped down the salty water as he enjoyed being able to cut his food, but he grew impatient. He picked up the cut of meat and took a bite. Jasper offered some to the empty space the imaginary corgi once stood. He reached out his hand to pet her, not realizing it was just air, the unforgiving sea slowly making him more and more insane. Jasper never noticed though. He began to cackle as he took another bite of Isabella's delicious leg.