Finding Montana

Woman Overboard

"Carver!" I shout, water forcing its way into my throat so only a gurgling sound actually escapes my lips. I flail my arms around, trying to gain enough traction in the water to lift my head above the surface. A sharp pain in my side causes me to scream out, breathing in more water as I struggle to stay afloat. I look around for anything to hold onto, but swimming in the pitch black is a lot harder and scarier than I'd ever thought. Something bumps into the back of my head and I swing around, latching onto it. It's a piece of wood from the deck of the ship, the debris is just big enough for me to pull my torso out of the water without sinking.

I cough out the water that was filling up my lungs and take a ragged breath before shouting again, "Carver!" My voice comes out hoarse and weak, but at least water won't fill my chest up this time. I shiver as the wind starts to pick up. I feel a small drop fall onto my hand and I look up astonished. White snow reflects off the full moon light as it starts its descent onto the lake. "Shit." I mutter and wrap my arms around myself, rubbing my forearms with the hope that I'll warm up a bit.

I hear splashing nearby and I quickly call out Carver's name again. The splashing increases as a response and I start paddling my little floatacious wooden slab towards the sound. It's a slow journey as my legs are starting to freeze up from the cold, but I will myself forward. If I don't get to Carver soon, he'll drown before I freeze to death. I get closer to the splashing and I'm finally able to make out the figure that's causing the noise. Disappointment overwhelms me as I realize it's not Carver.

A young blond girl, a little younger than me, is splashing around in the freezing lake water. "Help!" She gurgles out as the water enters into her mouth. I reach out to help her out of the water, but instead she pulls me off the wooden flooring that's keeping me afloat and back into the icy water. The air is knocked out of my lungs as my head is fully submerged and I strain my arms, reaching out to grab onto anything that'll bring me back up to the surface.

A pair of hands grab onto mine and I'm lifted back to the surface of the water. "Are you okay?" The young girl asks and I take in a deep, painful breath.

"What the hell?" I ask her as she guides me over to the other edge of the deck piece.

"I didn't realize how small the wood was. Sorry, I thought we'd both fit." She shivers, clinging to the wood to keep her afloat. Her complexion is extremely pale in the full moon light and I swim closer to her so we can try to warm up together.

"Why did you crash into us?" I demand, my teeth chattering. She shakes her head, unsure.

"We were having a party." She starts, "It was loud and I wasn't paying attention to the water. Mark was supposed to be in charge of steering the boat. He said he had it covered." I want to strangle her for her ignorance, you never let someone who's partying drive the boat, especially at night. There are so many things that could have gone wrong and, unfortunately for both boats and the passengers aboard, something did go wrong.

"How did you not see the lights from our boat? We're in the middle of the freaking lake with a neon sign that might as well have said 'boat here, don't hit'!"

"I'm sorry, okay! I wasn't the one driving the boat!" Tears fill her eyes and I take another ragged breath, trying not to give into fear. The pain in my side is slowly getting worse and it's becoming harder and harder to breath in the cold, snowy air. The top of wooden deck is completely coated in a layer of snow now and it's getting more difficult to hold onto the freezing wood.

"Well we're both stuck here now, it won't be much longer before hypothermia kills us." I mumble, looking out into the darkness. There's no way for me to see anything beyond our little make-shift raft, so we could be miles away from the boat wreck for all I know.

"You're real cheery, you know that?" She huffs and I roll my eyes. I don't have time to bicker with her over petty things, I can do that when we're out of the freezing cold water and warming up onthe safety of land. I can feel my toes start to go numb and no matter how much I kick in the water and move around, the sensation isn't coming back.

"We need to find a way to get out of the water." I say and start kicking my leg to guide us in a direction.

"How do you know this is the way back to land?" The girl asks and I shake my head.

"I don't know that, but I am hoping this is the way to the boats." My voice starts to fade. The exertion that I'm having to use in order to propel us forward is really taking its toll on my chest and side, making it harder and harder for me to breath.

"Molly!" I hear a voice in the distance. My spirit instantly lifts when I realize it's Carver's voice. The closer the girl and I swim, the louder we hear the voices shouting out our names and the names of others who must have fallen overboard as well.

When we're close enough to see the outline of the boat I yell out for help. The girl that's paddling with me, Amber, has started slowing down and I can hear her teeth chattering so loud I'm surprised she hasn't broken a tooth yet. "We're almost there." I wheeze and she kicks a little harder. As we pull up along the side of the wreck, a pair of strong hands reaches down from the boat and lifts me out of the water and into the air. I tumble onto the hard wooden deck, landing on top of the person that had plucked me out of the water.

"Molly?" I hear Carver say from underneath me. I have no more strength in my body to lift myself up, so I just lay there on top of him soaking in the warmth radiating off his body. "We need to stop meeting like this." He whispers in my ear as he gently kisses my neck and I let out a muted chuckle, my lungs and chest hurting as I do so. I'm still shivering, my body starting to slowly shut down as he wraps his warm arms around my core. "You're freezing!" He exclaims and lifts me up off of him. He cradles me in his arms as he rushes over to the other boat still lodged in the side of ours. He pulls his hand away from my chest for a moment to help steady himself, and as he pulls it away I see his palm is coated in a thick layer of my blood.

"Your hand." I whisper, struggling to suck in air.

"Oh shit, Molly!" He lifts me up a little higher and places me down onto the table the other boat had been using for food before the collision. One of the people from the other boat rushes over and hands Carver a handful of towels and sheets. He wraps me in a few of the thicker towels while applying pressure to the wound on my side. My eyes close from the pain and the warmth my body is slowly starting to come back.

"Are you okay?" I croak and he kisses my forehead. I can see in the dim lighting coming from the lanterns scattered around the ship that his head has a gnarly gash on it. Blood is slowly dripping down from the wound on his head and I reach up to try and stop it. I flinch in pain as another sharp pain wracks my body as I lift my arm.

"Don't worry about me, Molly. We need to get you to a hospital soon." He puts more pressure on my side and a whimper of pain escapes my lips before my vision starts blacking out. "The Coast Guard has already been radioed and they're on their way. It won't be much longer."

I sigh out a breath of relief and look up into the night sky. The first snow of the season is coating my eyelashes as I watch it fall towards me in the darkness. The stars are barely peeking through the clouds and I can only make out a few constellations before my eyes flutter shut. I can hear the murmur of Carver's voice as he barks orders to the other people on the ship, but I'm losing consciousness too quickly to make out what he's saying. I feel Carver's lips on mine right before I slip into the darkness.