Hazel Eyes: A SUMMER WAYHAUGHT

The sea of love

After resting a few hours, Waverly finally managed to take her sister out of the house and Wynonna was now, driving towards the sea. They were supposed to meet Chrissy at the small harbour of rentable boats but she cancelled at the last minute, saying that she preferred to meet up with her childhood friends since they had two whole months to spend time together. But the sisters went anyway. Indeed, after lunch, Waverly started going through the activities, and climbing on a boat, her dream of a little girl coming from deep in the countryside, was the only thing that could make her smile. Wynonna had finally decided to take care of her sister and reluctantly agreed, not willing to fight with her stubborn but heartbroken sibling anyway.

When they got close to the water, the view was even more beautiful. The sun at the end of the day was slowly descending on the distant horizon as they got out of the cart and approached the rental counter.

"Good evening! What can I do for you?" asked the employee at the desk.

"Hi, hm, my sister and I would like to rent a boat for a few hours..."

"Great! You're lucky, it's our last one, but I'm not sure that you'll be able to sail for too long, it'll be dark in an hour."

"It's okay we'll come back tomorrow..." started Wynonna but as she turned around, the sad and disappointed look of her sister, kinda broke her heart "Wave...It's already getting cold outside, tomorrow it'll be perfect"

But Waverly had made up her mind so she stated with a more scathing tone than she would have liked "You don't have to come with me."

"Huh? Yes, I do."

"Wynonna I'm serious."

"Me too, I'm dead serious, you're not going alone."

"Please...I know you're too tired anyway..."

"But-you...Wave...I can't...just...shit-okay...BUT, you'll be back before the sunset" hesitated Wynonna in front of her sister's broken eyes.

"Thanks, you're the best sister ever!" exclaimed Waverly, tiptoeing to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be waiting at the..."

"Bar, I know, see ya later..." interrupted Waverly, already far from her, following the employee towards the quay.

When they arrived in front of the boat, the employee looked back at Waverly and asked: "You can swim?"

"Yeah," answered Waverly focused.

"Okay so, no life jacket...On the other hand, I advise you to put on a bathing suit just in case, you always risk getting splashed"

"I'm good, thank you..." said Waverly a little shamefully discreetly pulling down her shorts to hide the bruises.

"Alright, you do you...just one last thing, it's really easy to go far on that thing, you look a little sporty and the stream will take you quickly to the edge of the reef. However, under no circumstances should you go beyond this limit, as the sea stream is incredibly strong there. But don't worry, keep your phone close to you, and in case, this distress button will alert all employees. It's all clear?"

"All clear.."

"Nice! Well, have a good time Miss!"

"Thank you!"

Waverly climbed on the boat, rolled up the sleeves of her blouse, picked up the paddles and set off on lagoon's turquoise water.

-45 minutes after: at the bar facing the sea-

"Another apple juice please..." asked Wynonna to the bartender, lost in her thoughts, staring at the sea.

"Right away. Anything else?" asked Nicole conscious that Wynonna wasn't really listening.

"Oh, but it's HaughtTequila! I didn't see you..." exclaimed Wynonna happy to see an almost familiar face.

"No worries, you settling in okay?" asked Nicole, starting to really like Wynonna's humour.

"Yeah..." said Wynonna going back to her trail of thoughts.

"Is everything alright? Sorry, I don't mean to cross a line, you just seem preoccupied so if there's anything I can do to help..." added Nicole.

"It's Waverly... She has been sailing alone for over half an hour, and I'm starting to worry, it's not like her." declared Wynonna looking at Nicole and ending her glass of juice.

"What-navigating or not coming back on time?" asked Nicole weirdly sharing Wynonna's concern.

"Both." and Wynonna's phone rang at this exact second, it was Waverly.

"WAVE FINALLY, where are you? Are you at the harbour?"

"Wynonna...I'm scared...the...I'm-shit-huh...please, help me..." mumbled Waverly with tears in her throat.

"Shhh, calm down baby girl, talk to me, what's happening?"

"I was taking pictures, I accidentally cross the coral reef and the stream is too strong...I'm trying but it's not working...WYNONNA"

"Wave...Waverly...WAVERLY ANSWER ME!" yelled Wynonna in her phone but only three beeps answered her.

A loud buzz sounded at Nicole's belt. She immediately took her walkie-talkie and stated calmly:

"Everyone near the beach, meet me at the rescue boat. We have an emergency, I need all hands on deck, over." the read head looked back at Wynonna, she was white, shaking and a tear roll down her cheek she just mumbled:

"Haught, please bring her back to me."

Nicole nodded, focused, and jumped over the counter. She started running as quickly as possible. The boat was not far away and her rescue team was trained. In three years, they had saved 20 people from drowning, had become the best, and no longer needed to talk to coordinate. Yet she had never felt the growing and painful fear tightening her chest. But she didn't have time to care. Nicole pulled out her binoculars, climbed onto the front dock and shouted to her friend holding the boat's engine: "Southwest, behind the reef, let's go, Robin, FASTER."

The boat began to cruise at a faster rate on the darkened waters and 20 minutes later it finally reached the reef. Nicole signalled to slow down and increase the light coming from the boat and from each of her colleagues' lamps. She, then, signalled to speak into the loudspeaker as she scanned the surrounding seas with her powerful lamp. Unfortunately, after a minute, the waters remained silent. Nicole took a deep breath and scanned every drop of water as the boat moved forward. She gasped. She thought she saw the red hull of the rental boat gleaming under her lamp. She pointed at the light beacon again, signalling to Robin to move silently to the left. The night was falling, but she would never give up, every inch of her body shouted that Waverly was there, alone, exhausted in the night, gradually sinking into the waters of the darkened sea. She felt her heart bounce inside her chest. Waverly was there, half of her body laying on the hull of the boat. She barely cracked her eyes, opened her lips, but no sound came out of her mouth. Nicole didn't think or say anything. She ripped off her binoculars, shirt and shorts, and dove into the icy water in her underwear. Her skin was burning, her lungs threatened to collapse from the cold, but she held on. She came to the surface and swam with all her strength. Her muscles tightened, the saltwater bit her eyes, so she beat the current with her feet even harder. She wasn't staring at anything but Waverly. She saw between two waves, the brunette's body gradually giving way to the force of the current, and her hands no longer struggled to hold on to the boat, her clothes and camera were too heavy, she was too exhausted from swimming. Nicole was about to grab her hand when she saw one last wave swallow her. She didn't think for a second, and dove behind her.