7. Squall
1357 Words
We get to the steps and the water is flooding in. It's really raining, but I think some of it may be the waves hitting the deck.
Thora goes for the edge. She's puking off the side of the boat. Tye grabs her before another wave hits. He drags her to where the wheel is.
I grab the middle mast. It's not far from the stairs. I grab it and hug it. I love it. It's nice. Tre sits down beside me and holds onto the mast with 1 arm and my ankle with his other hand.
"Why are we up here Tre?"
When I say it, the front of the boat goes up high and slams back down. My body goes weightless for a second. When it hits, my grip on the pole breaks. Tre grabs me tighter, and I'm able to get my grip back quickly.
But it is beautiful. Water comes over the entire front of the boat. It sprays back to the wheel. Me and Tre are drenched instantly. It was a massive amount of water.
"Tre that's the most amazing thing I've ever seen."
"That was amazing. The captain doesn't seem to happy. I need to get you up there baby."
I glance and Dipak is yelling at us. We can't hear a word of it. It's to loud here. There is a built-in bench around the deck up there. Mary, Thora, and Tye are sitting on it. They have a hold on the railing. Tye has one arm through the rail, one hand on Thora's arm, and his eyes are locked directly on me.
Kane points at something.
Dipak yells, "HOLD ON."
I heard that. I grab on to the mast tight. The front of the boat goes up again. This time further and I go up with it. When it comes down, I slam hard onto the deck. Then the water does it again. Water goes high. Then it slams down on us. I manage to keep my grip though.
Kane is yelling something. Then Tre picks me up and runs. He throws me up the steps. Dipak catches me and puts me on the bench. "HOLD ON." He yanks Tre up the steps and flings him down beside me.
Tre moves me, so I'm between him and Tye. Tye grabs me and moves me, so I'm right beside him. Tre sits close on the other side. They are squishing me. "Boys space."
They shake their heads.
Tre pulls one of my legs over his and then wraps his arm around my thigh.
Tye kisses my hand. "You're ok babydoll. Just a sea storm."
"Why are we up here Tye?"
"HOLD ON." Kane yells at me.
I grab the railings behind me. Tye let's go of Thora and grabs my arm with his now free hand. Thora still has a death grip on the rails. So does Mary.
The front of the boat goes up and slams back down. We only get some of the mist back here. It's still amazing to watch. But it's not the same as when we were on the lower level.
We sit there until it gets dark. Holding on. The water lifts the front of the boat occasionally and slams it down. Kane and Dipak stay at the wheel.
Kane yells, "LAND HO!"
"Oh finally." We all relax.
They manage to get us in the port, and it's sheltered from the big waves. But the regular ones are still pretty big.
They dock without breaking anything.
Me and Thora hold each other for support and go to land together. Then we lay down. Right beside the dock. On the ground. In the pouring rain. In the dark.
Tre and Tye come up to us. I figure they'll tell us to get up. But they lay down too.
Kane helps Mary off. The second she gets to land, she pukes.
Dipak gets off last. He lays down by the boys.
After awhile, Kane and Mary come over and lay down too.
We lay in the pouring rain for about a half hour.
"Did you folks get caught out in that squall? I heard that had some pretty big waves. Took 2 boats out as big as yours south of here."
Kane looks at the old guy. "Yea, they were big. We came from the north. We didn't see any other boats."
"Why did you come from the north? What's up there?"
I giggle, and the man looks at me. "Bad navigating sir."
He smirks. "Oh yes, I see the young ones now. Probably came in entirely to fast and ended up way north."
Dipak smiles. "That's exactly what happened."
The man smiles. "I was a young pirate once too. The same thing happened to us many times." He winks at me. "You folks enjoy land. When you feel like moving, there's a bar up ahead on the path. They always got strong drinks and somewhat ok food."
Thora nods. "Thank you sir."
He walks away. "You folks seem like you could use the drink."
We laugh and agree.
"I've never been so happy to be on land."
Thora tries to sit up and then lays back down. "Me too."
Dipak rubs his eyes. "Those were some big ass waves."
"I wonder how the servants held up."
"I bet they had a hell of a ride." Tye rubs his eyes.
"Probably bouncing off of everything." Tre kisses it.
I glance at our boat. "That is one amazing boat."
"I've seen boats come apart in less than that. We're going to have to check her for damage once it gets light out. Engines and everything being that far down. Might have a lot of water around them. Cannons could have broke loose. We'll have to check it all."
"I'm going to go check the servants." Mary stands up and sits back down. "No I'm not. Never mind. I'm sure they're fine."
"Put those on the boy's list of stuff to check tomorrow."
"We'll need some light to see them stuck to ceilings and things."
Tye rubs his eyes. "Be scraping them off the ceiling."
"You boys almost had to scrape me off a wall when I went to get dressed."
"We almost had to scrape you off the deck baby. You hit that thing hard. You slammed into it."
"I was happy my grip didn't break."
Mary nods. "Dipak would have been catching you as you flew by."
Tye laughs. "One hand on the wheel. One hand grabbing the princess as she flies by."
Tre smirks. "Funny part is, that would have happened. Then he would have put her on her feet and yelled at her for not holding on. Then made her sit down where he could see her. To make sure she was holding on properly."
Thora smiles. "When Tre threw you up onto the wheel deck. He was like 'NOPE I'M DONE' He launched you."
I stand up. My legs are a little shaky, but I'm alright. I take a couple steps. "It's weird without the ground moving."
"You can have a couple of drinks, and it'll move again baby."
"I think I'll enjoy not moving for now."
Thora smiles. "That sounds nice."
"Why are you staring at the boat like that?"
"I want to go to bed. I'm tired. But I don't know if I should get on it without it being checked. And I think I need another shower. Pretty sure I peed on myself when the front of the boat went up that high."
Thora nods. "I think we all did."
We laugh again.
Dipak winks at me. "The boat will be fine to sleep on. We won't go anywhere until it's checked."
"I'm going to take a shower again and go to sleep. Good night."
Tre stands up. "I'll take one with you. I am covered in everything right now."
Amazingly enough, the shower still works. At the end of it, I am completely exhausted.
I put on underwear and climb into Tye's bed. I watch out the window at the stars and water. The boat rocking is soothing now.
- Writer
