Mia
We were done with the raft and finally on the sea. It was calm as Jack had said and we paddled forward, gently as we could.
We kept quiet all through the journey, afraid that the sea was like the echoing forest and didn’t want to alert it to our presence.
We got to the middle of the sea and were glad, almost congratulating ourselves for making it that far when it happened. The calmness of the sea was a false alert, a trap into our doom. It suddenly swirled, the water moving with a disturbance that caused the rift to move sideways.
John looked like he was going to talk but Quinn gave him a look that silenced him. This wasn’t the time to remind us of how right he had been by telling us to be careful. Moreover, the raft had almost gotten us to the other side.
The raft moved violently, threatening to throw us into the sea. Oh God! No! That shouldn’t happen. Not at all.
We were glad that we had strapped our bags to the raft with ropes before getting on it or we would have lost them. We would have had a tough trying to hold on to them at the moment.
Jack and Quinn paddled with force, even as the sea rebelled, moving us forward with every of their strength. I could see the strain the effort of getting us to safety was having on them and I pitied them.
We had to live. We couldn’t die here. So much was dependent on our survival. I snorted as I realized that my prayers were wishful thinking. It wasn’t as if those who had died that we had seen hadn’t had a reason for coming here. I shook my head as I realized where my thoughts were headed. I couldn’t afford to be negative.
We would survive this. Yes, we would and that was the only thing that I should think of.
“Move and clamp.” Jack shouted.
The boys laid down on the raft at strategic positions, keeping a balance in the middle. Jack and Quinn kept rowing. It wouldn’t be easy to paddle in that condition but with the way they were, I could see that we were not going to be upturned into the sea.
I smiled as I noticed their formation. They weren’t going to stop being protective of me, were they? When we were getting in on the raft, they had made me sit in the middle so that they could protect me in case anything happened to us on the sea though we hadn’t been expecting anything to when we had started the journey.
Jack had been at the front, John seated by by side and Quinn at the back. We had started our journey that way and now, even with our formation changed because of the storm ravaging the sea, I couldn’t help but notice that I was still the priority. They had turned and held down the raft in such a way that even if they failed and fell into the sea, I would have an edge and survive. I didn’t doubt that they were still going to find ways to push me to the other side so I could live even if they fall into the sea, regardless of how much the poisonous water eat at their skins.
I shuddered at the thought of that. I didn’t want that. I wanted all of us to survive. I wanted us to leave this place together. What was I going to do here if they weren’t with me? They might be full of themselves and annoying but they were my hope here.
I thought of all they had done for me and couldn’t help being touched. Tears filled my eyes and I swallowed, hoping to compose myself without letting them see me. They had a lot on their minds without making them worry of why I was crying. I shouldn’t distract them.
I was too slow. I wasn’t fast enough. Quinn saw the sheen of tears in my eyes as he looked back, trying to hand over the paddle to John.
“Are you crying?” He asked as he turned towards me.
“No.” I shook my head.
We had already seen that talking didn’t affect the sea. I had shouted in panic when I had noticed the swirling of the sea and no strange creature had jumped at us as we had feared. Other than the forceful swirling of the sea trying to tumble us into it, there had been nothing here. The power of the sea must really be in its water and I could understand the anger it was feeling at the moment. We were so close to it and yet far away. It raged but the boys were stronger, clamping hard at the ropes they had tied to the raft so we could all stay afloat.
Quinn wasn’t going to have no for a response. “You are crying, mia. I saw some sheen of tears in your eyes just now.”
“The wind must have blown into my eyes. Why would I cry?” I replied, trying to act strong.
I shouldn’t have said that. His reaction was worse than I expected. I had said that, hoping that he would let me go but he pulled me closer to him and started to blow into my eyes.
I tried to pull away from him but he was stronger than I was. “What is wrong with you, Quinn?” I whined, glad when he finally let go of me.
“The wind of the Sea of Death when it blows into the eyes is bad. You told me that it did.” He explained.
I sighed. This was why they said knowledge was good. I wouldn’t have said that if I had known about it.
“I could have been mistaken. I’m fine. I mean it, Quinn. It might not be the wind. It might be the twitching of my eyes.” I lied again, hoping that he didn’t have anything to say about the twitching of eyes as well.
He seemed to relax and I exhaled as well.
“Hope you are not afraid, Mia?” Jack asked, looking back at me from where he was paddling at the front. “Is that why you are crying?”
I sighed. “For the last time, I wasn’t crying.” I cursed, wondering why Quinn had to look back when he had. I wouldn’t be in this situation if he hadn’t.
Moreover, why would I be crying? I had already noticed that the more we moved forward, the sea had started to calm down.
“We are almost at the shore.” Jack announced.
Yeah, we could all see that. If I could see it, I had no doubt that his brothers could as well.
I couldn’t wait to be out of this sea but my heart was already starting to calm down to normal and beat as it should.