The Raft: Chapters 7–18

Leaning back a little, he grimaced and then yelled, “Do you understand?”

Shudders and squeaks and an anguished mechanical groan like something out of a horror movie.

The falling lasted forever, my arms windmilling in the void.

My arms flailed and my legs kicked, and after a moment, stopped my descent.

Something was there, soft and yielding, but I couldn’t push through.

In an airless, thoughtless frenzy, my legs kept kicking as my hands pounded, pushed, and slapped.

But there in the water I thrashed with my arms and legs, fought with everything I had as I choked, gasping for air.

I sat up, still hacking into the deluge of rain and wind. I pressed my hands against my chest, trying to hold back the pain of breathing.

Alone with my freezing wet clothes, clammy dead weight against my skin.

Between the waves and the wind, the raft bounced about, giving us a ride nearly as harrowing as the one we’d just endured.

A smudge of bright, glowing neon blue on the surface of the ocean, rippling and changing shape as the water moved. Phosphorescents. Algae, probably stirred up by the storm.

My gut churned and I leaned over the side and threw up.

The rain and wind still pelted us as the raft surged down into large troughs and back up steep crests, but it was slightly quieter than before.

The rain and wind still pelted us as the raft surged down into large troughs and back up steep crests, but it was slightly quieter than before.

My clothes were sodden and heavy, and I shivered.

I stripped off my bedraggled socks and dropped them by my side.

Max’s head lolled on the side of the raft and, with knees curled and arms crossed, he seemed to be sleeping.

I held it up and caught a few drops, which I used to moisten my mouth, but anything less than a monsoon would take forever to fill the cup.

I kept hoping for the sun to come out and warm things up. Warm me up. “Otherwise we’ll have to add hypothermia to the list.”

The joyless gray of the sky blended with the bleak darkness of the water.

Later, the rain tapered off and the wind became a light breeze as the clouds finally broke.

There were a few inches of water in the raft, which I was sick of sitting in. I wondered whether I should bail.

The silver at the end of the cord was oblong, with a swirly pattern of different blacks etched into the surface on one side.

Now that I had begun thinking about the movie, I couldn’t stop.
Men dying from dehydration, going crazy. Sharks attacking.

Tiger sharks seemed to be killing machines, reacting only on instinct, which was to kill and eat, not necessarily in that order.

So I had no time for people talking about great whites. Tigers are the true monsters of the sea. And I did not relish having a mere inch or so of inflated rubber between me and them.

Curling myself up, I laid my head down in his lap, my eyes scrunched, and, even though I was parched and famished, tried to sleep.

Curling myself up, I laid my head down in his lap, my eyes scrunched, and, even though I was parched and famished, tried to sleep.

Almost involuntarily, my hands caressed the bag for a moment.

Almost involuntarily, my hands caressed the bag for a moment.