Back to the Sea

In Memory of an Industriales Fan

[BTW, these characters don't belong to me, the backstory is from Refugee by Alan Gratz, I made up Daniella and will probably make up characters further in the story, but Isabel's family, the Castillos, and Amara are all from the book. now back to the story.] 

Okay, sorry. Cliffhanger. Not to make it sound like little Mariano died or anything. He's perfectly okay. I just meant that he didn't wake up again that night. 

Isabel did, though. 

Iván was dead. Isabel couldn't grasp it. One minute he had been alive, talking to them, laughing with them, and the next he was dead. Lifeless. Like every other Cuban who had ever died trying to get to el norte by sea. But Iván wan't some nameless, faceless person. He was Iván. Her Iván. He was her friend. 

And he was dead. 

Isabel realized where she was. Alone in the boat Iván and Señor Castillo had built to get to Miami. In the middle of a storm. No, she wasn't alone. 

Iván was there. 

She reached out and touched him, sure that she was hallucinating. 

She could feel him, and at the same time she couldn't. She knew it was a dream. 

"Iván..." whispered Isabel. "I didn't think... I'd see you." 

This is stupid, she told herself. He's my imagination. Of course he's not going to respond—

Iván opened his mouth to talk, to Isabel's shock. What came out was a cry—

"Isabel! Wait for me!" 

A wave crashed over the boat, and he was gone. 

Isabel started getting a flash of images in her mind. The first were memories— Iván's lifeless body being lifted into the water, shark fins all around them, Luis shooting and killing the shark that had taken his brother. Forever. 

Then there was the present, as Isabel imagined. Iván floating to the bottom of the ocean. Lito in Cuba, suffering. Starving. Dying...

This woke her up. She cried out for her parents, who came into the room in surprise. Isabel told them she was worried about Lito, and thinking about Iván's body alone in the water. 

Gone. Forever. 

She couldn't sleep all night. The next morning, it wasn't Daniella who bothered her. Her best friend, Katrina, was at her locker and noticed Isabel's expression. 

"What happened?" 

Isabel turned to look at her friend. She'd shared almost everything with Katrina. But it pained her to bring it back up. "I... couldn't sleep last night. I kept waking up. I saw..." 

Her voice trailed off in discomfort as they made their way to their homeroom. Daniella wasn't there. 

"What did you see?" Katrina asked Isabel, concerned. 

"Not what. Who." 

"Oh, okay. Who did you see?" She must have felt like it was a guessing game of some sort. 

"My friend. But he wasn't real." Isabel didn't want to say any more. She'd already been either talking or dreaming about him all last night. 

"Okay." Katrina was frustrated. She got up and walked off. 

He liked the Industriales. He wore a cap with their logo. I have that cap now. It's a memory of Iván. He wanted to play for the New York Yankees. Señor Castillo wanted to open a restaurant with his sons in the U.S. We could be neighbours. We could have been. Just like in Cuba. But it would be even better. I miss him. He can't talk. Can't think. I wonder if Lito's thinking of me. I hope he's alive and okay. But Iván... I know exactly where he is. Not moving. Not breathing. Not thinking of me the way I'm thinking of him. 

Dead. 

Gone. 

Forever.